People with autism spectrum disorder face neurodevelopmental disorders that make it difficult for them to communicate with others, interact with them, and understand their expressions and language. Therefore, we need in our society to support individuals with autism because they follow a specific and repetitive behavioral pattern and have specific activities in their lives, including art and creativity, which play a major role in their development and self-expression, especially since they sometimes suffer from anxiety and depression due to the isolation in which they live, so they need an outlet and support to be able to communicate with the outside world.
What is autism disorder?
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a condition related to brain development that affects social interaction with others.
Autism spectrum disorder involves restricted, repetitive patterns and behaviors, and the disorder includes conditions that were previously separate, namely:
- Asperger syndrome, which some consider to be the mildest form of autism.
- Childhood disintegrative disorder.
- One of the non-specific forms of pervasive developmental disorder.
When does autism spectrum disorder start?
Autism spectrum disorder begins in early childhood, sometimes appearing from infancy until three or four years of age, and sometimes appearing after the age of four. The disorder progresses until it leads to many problems related to communicating with others, whether in schools, jobs, or dealing with them in general.
What are the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder?
We must support individuals with autism because they suffer from many symptoms that accompany them from early childhood until the rest of their lives. These symptoms include:
- Lack of eye contact with others.
- Not responding to them when called by their names.
- Repeating words or phrases over and over.
- Inability to express emotions or feelings.
- He is sometimes insensitive, hostile, or destructive.
- Speaking in an unnatural, robotic, monotone manner.
- Walking in an irregular, unbalanced motion, such as walking on tiptoes.
- Being fascinated by strange things like a wheel that turns while a car is moving.
- Sensitivity to certain things such as touch, sound, and light.
When should an autistic child go to the doctor?
One of the most important ways to support individuals with autism is to help them go to the doctor as soon as any strange symptom is discovered in them since early childhood, as early detection plays a major role in developing their skills. Among the important symptoms that parents should not ignore if they see them in their children are:
- Not responding with a smile or not expressing happiness at 6 months.
- Does not imitate sounds or facial expressions at 9 months.
- He doesn't make any sounds or even stutter by the time he's 12 months old.
- He does not make any movements such as waving his hands from the fourteenth month.
- The child does not pronounce separate words at the sixteenth month.
- A child does not play pretend games until he reaches eighteen months.
- The child is not able to say phrases consisting of even two words by the time he reaches twenty-four months.
- A child loses language or other social skills at any age.
If parents notice any of these symptoms in their children, they must quickly go to the doctor to do what is necessary to help the child.
How to support individuals with autism
In order to be able to support individuals with autism, we must first understand the autism spectrum well and know the correct ways to deal with individuals with autism.
Autism spectrum disorder refers to conditions in which individuals have difficulty communicating socially and interacting with others, as well as difficulty using language skills normally, and exhibit repetitive and complex behaviors. It is also difficult for people with autism to relate to others and show their feelings.
As for the best ways to support individuals with autism, they are as follows:
- Help them follow their regular routine. Autistic children tend to be organized and prefer not to change. If you make any changes to their eating or drinking times, you must alert them in advance.
- Using image programs that help them perform some activities in their day without getting bored.
- Psychotherapy contributes greatly to the rehabilitation of autistic patients and helps them to speak and integrate into society.
- Be patient with people with autism as they may have difficulty understanding some instructions and are very slow.
- If you are the parent of a child with autism, try to discover their personality and know their most important and prominent strengths and work to support them.
- Avoid negative criticism because it will increase their feelings of pain and depression.
- Avoid hitting an autistic child because it increases their anger and violence and only has the opposite effect.
- One of the most important instructions in supporting individuals with autism is to be flexible in dealing with them, and not to take any abuse personally.
- Remain calm no matter how violent or unacceptable the autistic person's actions are.
Does art help support people with autism?
Of course, drawing contributes greatly to supporting individuals with autism, as it reflects the personality of the autistic person and expresses what is going on in his mind. What he cannot express in words can appear in the form of drawings. Therefore, children with autism must be taught to draw from a young age because it has a great benefit in expressing oneself, the ability to relax, and the ability to communicate with the outside world.
Drawing is an activity that has many benefits and works greatly to support people with autism. Among these benefits are:
- Drawing is considered one of the most important means of communication between the child and the environment in which he lives.
- Drawing is an important way to help understand the life issues of an autistic patient. Through it, we can teach the child many behaviors.
- Drawing and playing with colors in paintings, even if they are small, helps him get out of the state of isolation he lives in, and develops his abilities during his young age, and also has an impact on them in adolescence and youth.
- An autistic child has a great and distinct artistic ability compared to normal children, so drawing can modify his behavior to a large extent.
Drawing and the role of the family in supporting individuals with autism through it
The family can contribute to supporting individuals with autism by providing all the needs that the child needs to be able to draw. These needs include:
- The family should prepare the autistic child’s room to be far from the TV or many games that could distract the child.
- Cover the ground with some leaves to protect it from the colors that may spill on it.
- At first, you should start with the autistic child by choosing one color out of two.
- Arrange the colors and drawing pens so that the child does not get distracted.
- Use acrylic, ceramic, and cardboard colors.
- Try to use edible colors and stay away from unsafe colors.
- One of the most important ways to support people with autism in drawing is to give them positive feedback on their drawings so that they gain great confidence in themselves.
- It is better for the duration of the drawing sessions for the autistic child to be short so that he does not feel bored, and the time can be gradually increased in each session.
A realistic picture about autism that shows the effect of art on it
As we said before, drawing greatly supports individuals with autism, and there are many examples that have succeeded in developing their skills because of drawing. Among the most prominent talents among those with autism, we find a 21-year-old young man who has greatly succeeded in drawing wonderful artistic paintings and has been able to communicate with others through his paintings.
This autistic young man drew the flags of all members of the United Nations and international organizations in one painting. He was also able to draw a Kuwait Airways plane with all its details, due to his passion for flying.
This young man also succeeded in drawing many diverse architectural designs such as mosques. This young man intends to continue his education until he joins the American University. He was able to draw more than a thousand paintings in one year, as he participated in many exhibitions since discovering his creative talent at the age of eighteen.
It is worth noting that people with autism see art as a passion and a way to express what is on their mind and helps them release their energy.
Parents have a major role in supporting individuals with autism, as helping parents discover and exploit their children’s talents greatly helps them develop their skills, modify their behavior, and be able to communicate with others better.
One of the realistic examples of supporting individuals with autism is the discovery by a school of the skill of a 22-year-old autistic student in drawing natural landscapes that greatly imitate reality, influenced by the environment around him. This student was not able to discover his drawing and creativity abilities on his own, but the role of the school that followed him and helped him discover this talent greatly helped him to draw professionally and to know the extent of his efficiency and abilities to draw in an imaginative and unparalleled way.
After we have learned about the role of art and drawing in supporting individuals with autism, do not hesitate to discover your child and help him know his abilities and skills. You can use the school.com website, as it contains many training courses that contribute to helping and supporting individuals with autism and developing their social and fine motor skills. These are individual online courses with flexible morning or evening times, depending on what is best for you, and are characterized by complete confidentiality to maintain the confidentiality of information.
There are also training courses on the Madrasa.com platform for parents of autistic children, conducted by specialists, to help them deal properly with their children.
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