Autism Spectrum Disorder Analysis

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a low-incidence disability that is a unique disorder that can occur in a variety of forms. The three classifications of Autism include: Autistic Disorder, Asperger Syndrome, and Pervasive Development Disorder. ASD is a disorder that has many variations in how the disability affects children’s cognitive skills, social skills, etc. Some children with ASD have an average ability, some are considered gifted or talented, while others suffer from severe disabilities.

Autism was first identified as a disorder in 1943 by Dr. Leo Kanner (Friend and Bursuck, 2015). This disorder has been one of the most researched and debated disability because of its unknown cause and its many variations and/or characteristics.

An example of this is the long debate about whether vaccinations were the cause of this disability. Recent research has shown that there is currently no link between these two items. According to Friend and Bursuck (2015), ASD disorders have been rising steadily over the past decade due to the fact that doctors have the information and/or resources to make a better diagnosis of children displaying the characteristics of ASD (Friend & Bursuck, 2015). Friend and Bursuck (2015), go on to explain that ASD occurs in some form in 1 and 88 children and it affects boys more than girls in a ratio of approximately 4:1. (Friend & Bursuck, 2015).
“ASD cannot be treated as a single disorder with a single set of adaptations; however, ASD does have specific characteristics” (Friend & Brusuck, 2015, p.

177). One such characteristic is the difficulty with social relationships. Students’ with ASD often resist human contact, social interaction, and have difficulty learning the subtleties of social interaction. Students’ with ASD rarely make eye contact, are often uninterested in developing social relationships, and cannot take on the perspectives of others (i.e. empathy or sympathy) (Friend & Brusuck, 2015). Another characteristic is that students’ suffering from ASD also have difficulty in using and responding to tradition verbal and nonverbal communication. Students’ often have delayed language development, have problems maintain conversation with other people, or suffer from echolalic speech. Echolalic speech is when child repeat what others have said instead of producing their own original communication (Friend & Bursuck, 2015). Yet another characteristic is that students’ with ASD have narrow range of interests. Students’ find one or two interests and focus on it with the exclusion of nearly everything else (Friend & Bursuck, 2015). ASD children will often spend endless hours on an interest and find boredom in everything else. According to Friend & Bursuck (2015), this narrow range of interests can have a negative impact on social relationships with peers because ASD students’ may not be able to “discern” that others may not be interested in their preferred topic; however, these preferred topics can be used as a tool to foster social and communication skills (Friend & Bursuck, 2015). Student stress can also be identified as a characteristic of ASD. Students’ with ASD have a “low threshold for and difficulty dealing with stress and may respond with anxiety” (Friend & Bursuck, 2015, p. 178). ASD students’ often experience stress and anxiety when dealing with things such as: changes in

schedules, physical changes within their environment, noise, different types of sounds, odors, etc. The responses to these stresses are often completing the same action and motion over and over again, displaying different forms of aggression, and/or utilizing disruptive behavior. Each child with ASD can display different characteristics at different times so it is important to understand students’ strengths, needs, and isocracies related to the ASD disorder.
Students’ with ASD have different educational support levels based on their variation of disorder. Some students’ may need extensive support and a specific, modified curriculum; while, other students’ are able to spend their school day with peers in general education classrooms and even move on to higher education institutions (Friend & Bursuck, 2015).
There are many strategies to support and help students with ASD. Some of them include: institute highly structured behavior support programs, recognize and provide appropriate intervention to students’ needs, establish clear procedures and routines and follow consistently, teach ASD students social cues such as waiting, taking turns, stopping activities before it is complete, negotiating, changing topics, finishing an activity, monitoring own behavior, etc., use communication tools such as sign language, communication boards, video monitoring, etc.