Author: Firas al Omari, Yr 12
Autism is the fastest growing developmental disability of our time. Autism is a very misunderstood condition, and therefore possesses many different definitions. The most recognized definition describes it as a condition where one is unable to communicate effectively and regulate behavior. This can include not being able to comprehend emotions and feelings of others through social cues and especially an inability to effectively express their own feelings and thoughts to others. Autism sufferers may also find it difficult to grasp certain skills in life but excel in others. This uneven distribution of development leads them to be able to problem-solve to a high standard but lag behind considerably in language. The extent to which this disorder debilitates one’s quality of life is dependent on a multitude of factors and can be the difference between a few oddities and requiring round the clock care.
Nowadays, there is an increased number of children who are getting diagnosed with the condition. Just over 10 years ago, 1 in 2500 children in the United States were classed as having the syndrome. This number has shot up to 1 in 68, which is just under a 40 times increase in cases. This could be due to our heightened understanding of autism as the research develops, however, (more dangerously) this could be due to discrepancies in how the condition is diagnosed. To the same effect, the average age at which the diagnosis was made was 4 years and 4 months just 10 years ago but is now as low as 3 years 10 months. The most common symptoms that physicians identify include: awkward social responses; such as avoiding paying attention to others by failing to maintain eye contact or not listening to what they are saying; a fragile sensitivity to mundane occurrences (including certain sounds or images); and finally, evading someone’s touch or loudly reacting to it. As research progressed through the years, autism became a spectrum, were severity of one’s condition is relatively measured. Further, it has been classed into 4 different subsets: Asperger’s syndrome, Autistic disorder, Childhood disintegrative disorder and Pervasive developmental disorder. Each has key distinctions but resides on one spectrum. Autistic disorder is usually how the majority encapsulate the condition but is in fact just a part of it. It describes those who experience problems with communication and social interactions, particularly identifiable as young as 3 years of age. Almost the opposite of this is Childhood disintegrative disorder, where children will not exhibit any atypical behavior when young, but lose their social and language skills after 2 years of age. Asperger’s syndrome (brilliantly depicted by Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man) outlines children who possess above average IQ and outperform others with their logical puzzle skills. However, they experience very limited interests and possess social problems also. Finally, PDD refers to children who cannot be categorized but are thought to exhibit enough symptoms to be on the spectrum.
Due to autism’s very nature (it is a syndrome), there is no cure. Medical doctor’s have the impossible task of individually evaluating each case and targeting specific symptoms in an attempt to ameliorate someone’s condition. It is also vital to note that treatment that is successful for one person may not be transferable to another, further complicating the issue. These treatments can include therapeutic and educational solutions. Emerging technologies have allowed for increased accuracy in diagnoses. For example, an automatic screening tool developed by the LENA foundation yielded promising results, boasting an accuracy of 90%. It applies machine learning algorithms to speech signal analysis to dictate the likelihood of a child having autism. The recording device must be worn by the child at all times during its developmental years, and it is able to determine the presence of a language delay, as well as rating a child’s language environment to ascertain its quality. This helps towards the standardizing of the diagnosis of the syndrome, which as was mentioned earlier, could have contributed to the increased statistics in ASD suffers. This also could remove human error, which would allow autism to be identified earlier and more treatment can therefore be provided for a child.
Another, much more accessible and familiar technology is the invention of apps for iPads and other portable tablets. Currently, there are thousands of such apps available, and can range from simple pictures paired with voice prompts, to transformative adaptations of therapeutic stimulus materials. These have now been made more portable and are a huge improvement on the bulky formats that were available in in earlier, more primitive iterations.
Beyond these tools, new technological advancements have been made in treatments. For instance, a new technology for treatment developed by MIT is a wearable camera that allows the recording of interpersonal exchanges, which can be reviewed t a later date to improve social awareness and communication skills. This tool has been shown to be very effective in the betterment of the understanding of emotions and thoughts of others in people who are on the spectrum. In addition, it has also developed as cameras decrease in size, allowing it to be much more discreet and portable.
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