A five-year-old boy can't speak; instead, he grunts or screams when he wants something. Another boy, four-years old, can't touch a new object with his hands; he prefers to explore it with his foot. And then, there's the nine-year-old girl with the cognitive ability of a two-year-old who has panic attacks when given something new to learn at school.
Not every child with autism will have the same level of severity. For some, the symptoms are barely noticeable. For others, it is all too apparent. Abnormal responses to certain sensations, inability to communicate, and lack of empathy are a few things autism will cause. Sometimes, the condition is so debilitating that the student is rendered extremely developmentally delayed or nearly incapable of living and functioning independently.
The key to understanding the severity of autism that a child may have is based more on certain developmental milestones that have not been reached as they get older. Developmental milestones are a set of functional skills or age-specific tasks that most children can do at a certain age range (Boyse, 2009). When the child does not reach their developmental milestones at the expected times, the child is said to have a developmental delay. This does not refer to a child who is slightly or only temporarily lagging behind, according to Kyla Boyse R.N of Michigan Health System.
Often the time between a child's birth and the third year of his/her life is an important time for development. Skills such as gross motor, fine motor, language, cognitive, and social abilities start development during these critical years. Developmental delays often associated with autism will affect these areas.
Although research indicates children with autism are born with it, the symptoms usually are more noticeable at later ages. Sometimes, it's between six and 18 months of age when autistic conditions are noticeable. Milder forms of autism - or those that fall on the high end of the autism spectrum disorder - can go undetected for years. It's not unusual to have students diagnosed with classic autism, Asperger's syndrome or PDD-NOS (Persuasive Developmental Disorder not otherwise specified) in their pre-teen or early teenage years.
So what are these milestones? According to Advocates for Youth, an advocacy group for youth and sexual health, by their third year of age children start to develop language and communication skills, advance from using single words to phrases to complete sentence; begin to interact with peers through imitation; master the idea of being happy, sad, or angry and express emotions through verbal and non-verbal communication (more non-verbal at this age); and develop motor skills such as running, jumping and climbing up stairs.
Pediatricians use developmental milestones to assess the child's development. Outside of the parents, they will be the first to notice if there are any abnormalities. However, the pediatrician cannot make the final decision for the autism diagnosis. Although each milestone has an age level, the actual age when a normally developing child reaches that milestone may very quite a bit (Boyse, 2009). As a result, the pediatrician will refer to other specialists or experts to make a final diagnosis.
The severity of autism may vary; however, there are several markers to consider. First, refers to the student's ability - or lack of - to communicate. Communication may involve verbal and non-verbal communication. In the most severe cases, the student with autism cannot communicate through use of speech. They may grunt or scream.
A second marker is their socialization skills. At an early age, children learn to imitate their peers or parents. It is part of learning to socialize, communicate verbally and nonverbally through gestures, and regulating expression through emotions. Children with autism have difficulties with imitation due to their inability to have empathy for others. This may also be the cause to why students with autism have trouble reading people's facial expression or expressing them through appropriate body language.
Thirdly, abnormal response to particular sensations plays an important role in determining the severity of the autistic conditions in a student. Some students are very tactile, flailing their hands or refusing to touch unfamiliar objects. Most of them will repeat a particular function or regulate themselves to do the same menial tasks.
So much still needs to be understood when it comes to autism and those with autism. Those with severe forms of autism have had their development delayed. However, early diagnose can help the student get the appropriate help he/she will need.
WORK CITED:
Boyse, Kyla, R.N. "Developmental Milestone" University of Michigan Health System. Retrieved 2009 from www.education.com. Boyse, Kyla, R.N. "Developmental Delay" University of Michigan Health System. Retrieved 2009 from www.education.com. Advocacy for Youth, "Growth and Development, Ages Zero to Three: What Parents Need to Know" Retrieved 2009 from www.education.com .