Impact of Condition on Client Factors

As ASD is a wide-ranging disease, for each individual diagnosed with the disorder, the impact on client
factors ranges. Understanding the influence of ASD on these customer factors is important as they can
greatly affect performance skills and occupations.

Sensory system.

The sensory system serves as a compass for one's body, as Dawson and Watling have said, and guides
children through development. Individuals with ASD have no difficulty in perceiving sensory information,
but have difficult times in processing the information, causing them to react abnormally (as mentioned
in Shangraw, 2012). Prizant, Wetherby, Rubin, Laurent & Rydell state that children with ASD are often
known to rely on their skills in visual processing to cope with ASD symptoms (as mentioned in Shangraw,
2012). Although these visual processing skills are likely to be intact, most children with ASD are deficient
in integrating a figure's details into a whole (Deruelle, Rondan, Gepner & Tardiff, 2004). Children with
ASD also struggle with the interaction of audiences. Kids tend to be over-responsive to some common
noises, according to Kientz & Dunn, whereas they may not respond to other common noises. These
children have mixed responses to vestibular sensations as well (as described in Shangraw, 2012).
Numerous children with ASD exhibit patterns of inappropriate object smelling as well as attachment and
intense avoidance of certain smells, according to Williams, Dalrymple & Neal (as stated in Shangraw,
2012). Thus, while children with ASD rely on strong visual processing skills, these children may have
problems with other visual functions, auditory, vestibular and olfactory processing

Mental function.

Attention deficiencies for people with ASD are a common assumption (American Psychiatric
Association, 2013). According to Minshew and Golstein (2001), the memory of those with ASD becomes
gradually compromised as the difficulty of the tasks / routines increasesAlthough not every person with
ASD has cognitive impairments, a low IQ rate affects nearly three-fourths of the ASD population
(American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Lord and McGee summarize that children with ASD often have
problems playing appropriately, symbolically and generalizing concepts with toys (as stated in
Shangraw, 2012. Gordon states that the ability of children to use executive learning functioning skills is
also adversely affected when they have ASD (as mentioned in Shangraw, 2012). ASD can result in focus,
memory, and cognitive issues.

Digestive system function.

Children with ASD often report gastrointestinal problems such as gastritis or reflux (Levy et al., 2007).

Urinary function.

Although in ASD, as Ruble and Dalrymple say, urinary functions are not usually impaired, children with
severe cognitive problems or sensory issues may struggle with toilet training (as stated in Shangraw,
2012).

Gross and fine motor skills.

Children with ASD typically have a certain degree of motor dysfunction. Rapin, Dawson and Watling
claim that motor joint laxity, clumsiness, apraxia, toe-walking, and hypotonia have been observed in
children with ASD, along with issues of hand-eye coordination, pace, praxis, imitation, posture, balance,
and ability to move. Motor patterns are characteristic of children with ASD, shown by hand flapping,
jumping, repetitive running, spinning, flipping light switches, and sometimes self-injurious actions such
as scratching, punching, or head banging ASD (as cited in Shangraw, 2012). These motor impairments
and stereotypes can adversely affect the work performance of children.

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Neurodevelopmental Disorders. In Diagnostic and statistical

manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). : 10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596.dsm01

Shangraw, K. (2012). Autism spectrum disorders. In B. J. Atchison, D. K. Dirette (Eds.), Conditions in

occupational therapy: Effect on occupational performance (pp. 23-46). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott
Williams & Wilkins

Levy, S. E., Souders, M. C., Ittenbach, R. F., Giarelli, E., Mulberg, A. E., Pinto-Martin, J. A. (2007).
Relationship of dietary intake to gastrointestinal symptoms in children with autistic spectrum disorders.
Biological Psychiatry, 61 (4), 492-497. : 10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.