Understanding the Autism Spectrum: Diverse Challenges and Abilities

April is Autism Awareness and Understanding Month; April 2 is designated as Autism Awareness Month due to the increasing number of children with autism spectrum disorder.

It is necessary to shed light on understanding the autism spectrum and how to deal with these children and help them integrate into society and improve and develop their social, behavioral and cognitive skills.

An autism spectrum patient needs extreme care and attention, great attention in dealing with others, an exception in treatment, and good discrimination, not discrimination as a stigma in society. This child has the right to live a normal life, integrate into society, and take his chance.

What is autism spectrum disorder?

Definition of autism spectrum disorder is a condition related to brain development, and greatly affects a person's development and how a person distinguishes others and interacts with them socially, which leads to the occurrence of many problems.

The autism spectrum must be understood because it includes limited, repetitive patterns of behaviors. The term “spectrum” refers to a wide range of symptoms that affect a child and levels of severity.

When does autism spectrum disorder start?

Autism spectrum disorder begins very early in childhood and eventually causes significant problems in social interaction with others at school, work, and in everyday life.

The autism spectrum must be well understood when dealing with children with autism because it is a disorder that has no cure, but early diagnosis of this disorder contributes effectively to developing the lives of those with autism and making a big difference in their lives, interactions and skills.

Autism spectrum conditions

Autism spectrum disorder includes several conditions that were previously separate:

• Autism
• Asperger's Syndrome
• childhood disintegrative disorder
• A non-specific form of pervasive developmental disorder.

Some people use the term Asperger's syndrome because they believe it is on the mild end of the autism spectrum disorder.

How do we prepare a supportive environment for students with autism?

In order to be able to prepare a supportive environment for students with autism, you must understand the autism spectrum well because autistic students expect special treatment from teachers. You can use some instructions that help teachers support and understand the autism spectrum and prepare a supportive environment for them. The most important of these instructions are:

• Although autistic children have lower IQs than others, they are good at many things, so don't stifle an autistic child's creativity and discover his skills.
• Encourage children with autism to form relationships and friendships. It seems to us that children with autism like to isolate themselves and withdraw into themselves and do not care about the presence of others around them, but in reality they strongly desire to form friendships.
• Share your autistic child’s interests. An autistic child may be overly interested in some drawings or colorful pictures. Do not belittle anything he likes and try to talk to him about it, because that makes him feel interested and he does not have to make an effort, especially when you encourage him to do what he likes.
• Treat autistic children positively and accept any failure they go through, and do not be upset about their inability to concentrate or understand quickly.
• In order to understand the autism spectrum well, try to talk to parents who are going through this condition and learn from them how they deal with it.
• Support autistic children if they try to cause any problems for themselves and do not describe them with bad names.
• Because of autism, the child is a little late in understanding what you say, so you have to wait for the child until he is able to respond to you and understand and process what you are saying.
• Do not try to show exaggerated feelings of pity when dealing with children with autism and try to understand the autism spectrum better because these feelings will not help anything.
• Do not give an autistic child too many instructions, as too many instructions will be difficult for the child and he may try to hurt himself.
• Do not take an autistic child's reaction personally. Sometimes an autistic child leaves you talking and goes somewhere else, not interested in what you are saying, and this is not intentional.
• Do not insist on making eye contact with an autistic child and try to understand the autism spectrum because this child cannot make eye contact as usual.
• Do not speak in a sarcastic or exaggerated manner to the autistic child and keep your style simple and easy.
• If an autistic child feels angry, leave him in a safe environment so he can express his feelings and not hurt himself.

How is autism dealt with in our society?

Unfortunately, some people view children with autism with discrimination and stigma, which makes them suffer more than they already do, and makes parents of children with autism afraid to deal with people.

Many parents have stated that the thing they fear after their children are diagnosed with autism is society’s view of them. Society does not treat autism as a disease or disorder that the child has nothing to do with, but rather considers it a stigma.

Despite the benefits of early treatment and early detection of the disease, some parents prefer not to go to a doctor or specialist for fear of knowing that they have a child suffering from autism spectrum disorder.

This problem is based on the lack of understanding of the autism spectrum and the lack of a culture that makes you understand what autism is and how to deal with it.

Autism is not a stigma, but rather a disorder and dysfunction that occurs for reasons that are still uncertain, and unfortunately there is no specific treatment for it.

So we must understand how autism is and deal with this disorder better in order to contribute to treating these children, and support their families because they endure the unbearable in order to help their children.

Autistic children's abilities

If you can understand the autism spectrum , you will realize that autistic children have diverse and unusual abilities. They may literally be able to amaze you with their capabilities and creativity.

Some autistic children at the age of three have shown extraordinary drawing abilities and have been able to draw beautiful pictures, such as drawing some animals and buildings, even if they have seen them only once. We find that they excel at drawing them with the same precision as they are in reality.

Some autistic children are also distinguished by their ability to memorize and store lists of information in their memory and retain them for long periods with all their details without any change.

Some arithmetic skills are also evident in children with autism, who are sometimes faster than a calculator in performing arithmetic operations such as addition, subtraction, division and multiplication.

Autistic children also showed the ability to put together picture puzzles, regardless of their difficulty, even if they were beyond the chronological age of these children.

Children with autism also showed extraordinary abilities when listening to songs and playing, repeating the lyrics of the songs with great accuracy, even if the lyrics were long.

Although the autism spectrum is being understood, the reasons behind these extraordinary talents and abilities are not yet known. However, it is likely that intensive training is one of the reasons for these skills, although some children with autism show these talents and abilities at a very early age before receiving any training. Therefore, it is believed that there is an unusual organizational pattern in the brain processes of people with autism that is responsible for this matter and these creativity.

The role of the Madrasa.com platform in understanding the autism spectrum

The Madrasa.com platform offers many training courses for autistic children and parents to help them understand the autism spectrum in a simple way. These courses are provided by specialists in developing and improving the skills of autistic children. It also offers interactive individual sessions with the child, with flexibility in timings, and the sessions are completely confidential.

The Madrasa.com platform also offers various packages to help and understand the autism spectrum, including:

• Developmental Learning Difficulties Sessions Package

It is an individual session that focuses on the child’s feelings and problems that hinder his progress and concentration.

• Academic Learning Difficulties Sessions Package

It is a pivotal session in the life of a child who has learning difficulties and struggles to achieve academically.

• Autism children's skill development sessions package

The sessions provide how to develop the child's senses and consist of 8 sessions, in addition to the skill of motor imitation, which is essential in the child's learning path.

• Aggressive Behavior Modification Sessions Package

These are sessions based on observing and evaluating the child’s behavior, and applying many methods such as biofeedback and positive reinforcement. This package works to improve communication with the child and develop skills in dealing with others appropriately.

• Speech and Verbal Communication Sessions Package

Speech therapy sessions, learning to speak, and developing verbal and non-verbal communication skills . These sessions address the problem of delayed speech in children and greatly improve their communication abilities.

After we have presented to you many advantages of training courses for children with autism, do not hesitate to use them to support your children, or to seek the help of specialists from the Madrasa.com platform to help you understand the autism spectrum and how to deal with it and your children.