1

[Title Here, up to 12 Words, on One to Two Lines]

Michael C Neuman

Erie Community College

 What could be so powerful that can literally affect a humans brain to the point where

there social and communication skills are slim to bare? Pervasive developmental disorders (PPD)

is a terrible condition that is first noticeable within the first two to four years of life . There are

numerous types of pervasive development disorders that can alter a human life to the point where

it is almost impossible to have a normal conversation. The manual that is used to diagnose

people with mental illness is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Menal Disorders, fifth

addition (DSM-5)

The most common form of pervasive development disorder is and Asperger's syndrome. 

Low functioning autism are usually the worst form of autism that we know of. “Spectrum

disorder” is a broad range of developmental issues and many people fall in the category of. There

is a large amount of causes and risk factors that are thought to cause this awful disorder.

Although scientists have spent years and trying to figure out what causes this disorder. With all

the years of searching for an answer it is still unknown what the actual causes of this disease

actually is.

When diagnosed with some sort of autism, usually those people are often classified by

the sheltered world as being “mentally retarded”. This is not the case though. Someone

diagnosed with autism may be a high functioning part of society, though some may not. This

being said, many people with the type of autism “Asperger’s” often have an extremely high IQ,

but lack in the understanding of human taught behaviors such as sarcasm, or jokes. Others

diagnosed with autism may have trouble dealing with different textures or substances, just

because of their senses.

There is no found cause of this disorder but there are many theories surrounding it. Some

theories state that women who did not eat the right foods or were unaware that that type of food
(such as mercury in fish) can cause a child to become autistic . Another theory is based upon the

idea that some children respond different to vaccinations, leading to digressing emotional

expressions wih each vaccination, that at a young age most parents are told is “colic” or just a

cranky baby.Another link that has been common aomongst many families with autism is that

more then half of the parents were either obeice, diebetic, or had prenatal diebetes. Also, many

famlies with one autistic child are more likely to have another family member with autism.

contrary to this, Environment ,social class ,and learned behaviors are not commonly associated

with being theories leading to the cause of autism.

Autism effects almost 3 out of every 1,000 children in the United states.

(www.webmd.com) However, worldwide, the average amount of children with autism last year

was 1 out of every 88 people. A dramatic increase from 2010 which was 1 in every 110. Also, a

common factor of autism is that most of the people effected by it are male. In fact, males are four

times more likely then females to have the disorder. Children are starting to show the first signs

of autism as early as 18 months. The earlier the child shows signs the earlier the parents can seek

for help. Although this is true, a child cannot be diagnosed with autism until they are of the age

of three. This means, any child with autism is unable to receive any sort of physical,

occupational or aba therapy until after their 3rd birthday.

As far as autism goes, rarely are two cases the same or even alike. Each child, and grown

person diagnosed with this disorder can be affected differently and more or less severely. For

example, many adults were never diagnosed with autism say 30 years ago would been classified

as just “different” or “strange” but today, the autism spectrum is much wider, and doctors believe

this widened spectrum, explains the increase of diagnosed children. 

 Aba Therapy is a form of therapy introduced to children and young adults who are

generally diagnosed with “classic” or severe autism. This form of therapy focuses more on the

reward system, to promote learning in a stable learning environment. It also uses a daily

schedule(which most autistic people prefer) to regulate their ideas and thought processes and

help them relate things such as a picture to a word, and a heard action to a performing action.

This type of therapy involves a specialized therapist(with a higher level college degree) to come

to a child’s home and perform this therapy with them for up to hours a day 5 days a week. This

complicated and experimental therapy has had major improvements in childrens

communicational and psycological skills, and for others has shown no improvement and caused

nothing but stress for some children. This is why some parents choose not to have the therapy, in

order to spare their children from more pain then they already endure each day. 

Speech therapy is another form of therapy often used to help children diagnosed with

autism.Speech therapy incorporates the  rewarding similar to aba. On average, a child would

receive speech at a specialty center or in their home for anytime between a half hour and 5 hours

a week.Speech helps to incorporate the verbal and communicational aspects of life to help

improve these daily neccessary skills that most autistic children and some  adults either lack in,

or don’t have at all. Speech therapy is improving each year as more and more about autism is

uncovered each day.

Tomatis therapy is also a newer but rapidly spreading idea on th venture to cure

autism. Tomatis works in a way which seems strange to the outside world. Tomatis uses classic

calming music (like shakespeare, Bach etc.) and uses the tunes and vibrations to calm the child

and perform simple therapies at the same time. Boosts of these classes can happen only about

twice a year but often help with problems like bowel movements and lack of speech. Tomatis,
becoming more and more popular has helped alongside mny of the other therapies that help

autistic children.

Aspergers, a high functioning form of autism is usually grouped into the

classic autism diagnoses is actually very different. Those suffering from aspergers often are

extremely intelligent but don’t understand why jokes are said, or why insults that seem true

offend those they are directed towards. Those with aspergers do not like to be treated as

different, but often stand out in a crowd due to their social awkwardness or blunt comments. This

is why it is important to understand this disorder and be are of it, as to not offend those who do

not understand the full effect of their actions or words. 

Many families are affected by autism each year.Though not often seen in public, family

members with autism are often forced to stay in their home for most of each day in fear of their

child or family member having  a meltdown in public.Since autism is not understood by most of

those effected by it, autistic families are forced to keep their children at home and away from the

outside cruel public. Most families are forced to have one family member stay home and watch

the child since most can not function in mainstream schools.Autism does not only effect those

diagnosed with it. But everyone around them as well.

As with any disorder opposed to a disease or a disability, their is an extreme lack of

information due to the fact that each case differs so much from the last. With increasing changes

and developments in diets, lifestyles and even unhealthy halts, more and more cases of autism

seem to appear. This number is exponentially growing each year without a proven cause or cure-

yet only percent of research funding goes towards autism!Autism is a commonly misunderstood

and misconstrued the pulic ecause those uneffected by it wether it be because they havent had the

misfortune of it or whatever the case may be, they dont realize the struggles these people
unwillingly are forced into each and every day. Autism through the eyes of a family member

however are still not a facsimile of that of someone diagnosed with autism.Ideas, thought

processes and motor skills are key aspects that effect and autistic person each day. Their skills

are limited by a disorder we’ve come so far to understand, ut understand so little about.

So a common question about autism...why do we care? If they dont effect us why

should someone care. Everyone should care because there is a 1 in 88 chance that your next xhild

could be autistic, your cousin,brother or sister, even your grandchild. A thought to think about

when having a child, a thought about taking that risk, knowing if something should happen you

would be ale to devote your entire life to your child. So he thought everyone should be thinking

is what can i do for autism. How  can we raise awareness, funding and support. Each person can

help make a difference in the autistic world.

Many forms of autism exist in the world today, and though there is no diagnoses, many

experimental cures have been tested and performed on those with the disorder. People with

autism are not mentally retarded, but otherwise those who don’t understand the norms of society.

Autism research, continuing each day is becoming closer and closer to an answer, to help solve

the problems people with autism face each and every day.