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Research Assignment

Bachelor of Applied Science (Hons)

Early Childhood Studies Online Program

ECS 2070: Children with Exceptionality

Sunday, March 28. 2021

Impacts of Autism Spectrum Disorder on Children and Their Families

American Psychiatric Association (2021) state, “Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a

complex developmental condition that involves persistent challenges in social interaction,

speech, and nonverbal communication, and restricted/repetitive behaviors” (para.1). Its

symptoms include abnormal social skills, communication skills, interests, and behavior

patterns. To increase people's Canada (2018), "Approximately 1 in 66 children and youth are

diagnosed with ASD in Canada (Para, 2). WHO (2021) also mentions, “One in 160 children

has an autism spectrum disorder all over the world”( para.1). Since the rapid growth of autism,

its cause has received attention and research from many disciplines such as sociology,

psychology, and medicine. Chase & Leboyer (2012) mention that ASD is a disease caused by

genes, environment, and the complex interaction between genes and the environment. It is

estimated that its heritability ranges from 40% to 80%. Genetic research reveals there are
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hundreds of genes related to autism (p.282). If the father, mother, or other people in the family

have autism, it is possible to pass the gene to the child. Environmental factors also may cause

autism. When a child is in a relatively monotonous and lonely environment for a long time, it

is easy to cause the environmental factors may produce autism, such as autism caused by

genetic mutations stimulated by external environmental factors.

In this article, I will further comprehensively explore the impact of autism on children's

behavior, language, and social interaction, as well as the economic and psychological stress

suffered by families of children with autism. Finally, I will discuss and analyze the current use

of the two intervention methods, skills training based on Applied Behavior Analysis and

Cognitive Behavior Therapy.

Impacts on behaviors of children with autism:

Children with autism do have some differences in behavior from ordinary children.

O’nions argues (in class, like blue and so on. Children show uncooperative behavior, a child

with autism is yelling, making strange noises, or knocking on his head with his hand in class.

Besides, Wolff et al. (2018) argue that children with autism spectrum disorder have a common

characteristic of their restricted, repetitive behaviors or restricted interests. Some children with

autism have fixed behaviors, such as the specific time for eating, sleeping, classes, and the

same route when going out. They have their own set of rules and live strictly according to

these rules. Once the rules and anxiety, and even resist the behavior. Some children with

autism may have repeated stereotyped movements, such as repeated clapping, turning in

circles, licking the wall with the tongue, stomping, and so on. Moreover, most children with

autism are not interested in the games and toys that normal children are keen on, but like to

play with some non-toy items, such as a bottle cap or the rotating electric fan.
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Impacts on the language and social communication of children with autism:

The barrier of language and social -communication is a relatively common manifestation of

autism. Wolff et al. (2018) argue that children with autism show difficulty in social interaction

with each other, verbal and nonverbal communication difficulties, or limited interest in the

surrounding environment. They usually learn the language and communicate later than

children with typical is difficult for them to establish normal interpersonal relationships with

others. They only live in their world and do not take the initiative to communicate with family

and friends. They do not expect the embrace and care of their parents. lacking the ability to

distinguish between relatives and friends result in them having the same attitude towards

everyone and cannot establish a normal attachment relationship with their parents. Meanwhile,

it is difficult for them to establish a normal partnership between their peers. For example, in

childcare centers or schools, they are more lonely and do not like to play with their peers.

When they see some children playing games enthusiastically, they are just interested in

watching them.

Impacts on family’s finance and psychology

The family with children with autism will have financial and psychological

difficulties. Autism is a disease that is difficult to heal by itself. People with autism need long-

term care from their family members and huge medical expenses. Booth et al. (2018) mention

that due to long-term caring with autism in the family weaken family functions and affect the

relationship between family members. Because parents have to spend more energy and time on

children with autism, their siblings will receive relatively less attention from their parents.

Also, the work of parents is affected to varying degrees. One parent could choose to give up

his/her job to help their child's treatment and recovery. The other party is mainly responsible

for the family's financial resources, working hard to get more salaries, and maintaining the
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family's financial expenditures. In short, the families of children with autism are under

financial and mental pressure. Their family functions are constantly weakening, and cause

many family problems.

Intervention based on the Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA)

To reduce the symptoms of children with autism, currently, there are various treatment

methods and strategies behavior analysis is a behavioral treatment plan. Its purpose is to

improve the positive skills and behavior and reduce problematic behaviors of children with

autism. ABA emphasizes dividing each ability into the smallest and simplest unit for teaching.

For example, to teach about colors, start with red (not teach other colors first), the first step

should be to match and classify, let the children "put the same color together", this is the

perceptual stage of learning the law. If the child can put the red and red objects together

quickly and correctly under the presence of distractors, it means that the child has perceived

red. As the teaching progresses, the teacher’s instructions have changed from the initial "put

together in the same color". It becomes "put the red ones together". After the child has this

ability, the second step of training-understanding is to let the child bring red to the teacher, if

the child can be among the distractors with multiple objects of other colors quickly and

correctly take out one or more red objects, indicating that the child can understand red, so

perform the third step of training to let the child express red. For example, the teacher asks

"what color is it?" the child answers "red". Also, this approach enables interveners to

implement it anytime and. To obtain effective results, when performing rehabilitation training,

it is necessary to develop a separate training plan according to the specific situation of each

child with autism. For example, to improve the communication difficulties of autistic children,

intervenes can set up a scene for them to practice communication skills. They can invite

children to participate in activities they like but intentionally withdraw some necessary

materials. The intervener waits for the children to ask for these materials. In this way, children
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can practice verbal or body language to achieve their goals, thereby improve their

communication skills. Also, Booth et al. (2018) suggest that one of the core content in ABA

training is the long-term training of children with autism through certain rewards and

punishments. After repeated training, children with autism can understand the consequences of

certain behaviors. When they are unable to perform appropriate behaviors, interveners may

prompt them to try again. should immediately encourage and praise their behavior so that they

can do it next time.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (ABA):

Scarpa et al. (2013) argue that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a psychosocial

intervention therapy. It teaches individuals to understand the ways to change problem

behaviors and have two problems. In Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, interveners should

consider the causal and effect relationship between patients’ thoughts and action, and solve

specific problems related to specific mental disorders. children’s understanding and feelings of

others’ emotions and children’s control of their own emotions are the focus of training to

promote children’s nonverbal communication with others and enhance their understanding of

others. To establish a trusting relationship, the therapist can perform play therapy and imitate

the children's movements and sounds to attract their attention. When the child realizes the

existence of the intervener and begins to get used to the intervention the interveners gradually

become their loyal playmates. Before the children begin to accept us and are willing to let the

therapist participate in their activities, the intervener can increase eye contact with the

children. The enhancement of imitation ability can promote children's cognition of human

emotions and find their points of interest. By playing some novel games or doing some

activities that can attract the attention of children with autism and stimulate their desire to

imitate， the intervener should look for opportunities to discover events that arouse children's

attention. In this way, children with autism can gradually reduce their aggressive behaviors.
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After the training achieves a certain result, non-verbal communication with the child should be

increased. In the head and wave our hands to say "No"; When they show correct behavior,

interveners can clap while laughing. All those actions let children know the relation of action

and the way they perform. Their cognitive ability can be increased.

Summary of part B and Conclusion:

Childhood autism is a developmental disorder that involves perception, emotion,

language, thinking, movement, and behavior that occurred in early childhood. It is also the

most common certain behavior is accompanied by a certain reward, the behavior is more likely

to be welcomed and repeated (Booth et al., 2018). Cognitive Behavioral Intervention

originated from cognitive therapy and behavioral learning theory, emphasizing the relationship

between cognition, behavior, and emotion. the purpose of this method to reduce the anxiety,

aggression, and depression of children with autism(Sukhodolsky et al., 2013). Under cognitive

behavior therapy, children recognize their inner world and attempt to understand others’

feelings.

In conclusion, the autism spectrum disorder causes some children to suffer various

psychological and physical problems. Their family members face financial and psychological

difficulties. However, the harm caused by autism spectrum disorder to people has been widely

recognized by our society. Sociologists, psychologists, and geneticists study the causes of this

disease from different fields and are committed to creating more effective intervention

methods. All their hard work is to detect the autism spectrum disorder early and provide an

effective treatment plan.

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