Running head: JOURNAL OF AUTISM
Journal of Autism
Delvika Mallory
EDUC 521 B08
September 28th, 2014
Dr. Kimberly Lester
1
JOURNAL OF AUTISM 2
Journal of Autism
Tammy and Paul always knew their son Donald was "eccentric" — that something just
wasn't right with him. As an infant, he didn't make eye contact. And by 14 months old, he
showed no interest in walking or talking, and never called for his "Mama" or "Dada." Even
though they knew that something was wrong, the news that their 3-year-old son had autism sent
Tammy and Paul into a state of shock. Like many other parents whose children face the same
diagnosis, they felt angry, scared, and uncertain about their son's future. Without Donald’s
diagnosis of autism, he would have been bounced back and forth from doctor to doctor, and
missing out on the care that he really needs for early intervention. Here, I will review the article,
“Autism” by Lombardo Lai.
Autism has been increasing since the last decade. It is a neurodevelopmental condition
that onsets difficulty in social communication and unusual restricted, repetitive behaviors and
interests. (Lai 2014 ) It usually affects more males than females. Since females with autism
may have been might “under-recognized; empirical data suggest that high-functioning females
are diagnosed later than males are,23,24 and indicate a diagnostic bias towards males age 25.”
(Lai 2014) Females need more concurrent behavioral or cognitive problems than males do to be
clinically diagnosed. Comorbidity is common in autism. “Comorbidity can be simply defined as
two or more diseases occurring in the same individual.” (Pliszka 2009) “Individuals with autism
have a typical cognitive profiles, such as impaired social cognition and social perception,
executive dysfunction, and atypical perceptual and information processing”. (Lai 2014) Genetics
is one of the key factors in the etiology of autism as well as early developmental environment
factors.
Assessing this disorder can be quite tricky. It is best to start early for intervention.
“Assessment needs to be multidisciplinary and developmental. (Lai 2014) This will help to
Reference
Lai, M., Lombardo, M. V., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2014). Autism. The Lancet, 383(9920), 896-910.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736 (13)61539-1
Pliszka, Steven R.. Treating ADHD and Comorbid Disorders : Psychosocial and
Psychopharmacological Interventions. New York, NY, USA: Guilford Press, 2009.
ProQuest ebrary. Web. 21 September 27, 20142014.
JOURNAL OF AUTISM 3
improve social communication and reduce anxiety and aggression. Drugs only act temporary to
reduce symptoms, but it will not improve social communication skills. The best way to help a
child with autism is through support whether family or the whole environment. With a
supportive environment that accepts that an individual is different can be quite helpful. This will
encourage the child and will not make him or her feel bad and out of place.
Struggling with finding the right diagnosis can be extremely difficult. Most of the time
children go undiagnosed until adulthood. I believe in trying to figure out what we can do to help
individuals struggling with disabilities. The earlier you can find out what is going on, the
earlier you will be able to help a child to succeed through early intervention.
