Autism has reached epidemic proportions between American children with cases increasing amongst adults and children worldwide. Treatments initially began with helping children improve their social and communication skills. With medications like risperidone and aripiprazole to treat irritability, children with autism were managed short-term. However, these medications only present a temporary fix with symptoms continuing after stopping of medication and symptoms recurring even with higher doses. For there to be a

Autism is a developmental disorder as it is marked with pervasive and severe impairment revolving around areas of development such as communication, imagination, reciprocal interaction and behavior. The diagnostic criteria for autism as incorporated by the DSM IV TR includes symptoms such as impairment in the use of nonverbal behaviors like eye contact, gestures, bodily postures during the normal routine social interaction, the inability to form good peer relationships, delay

A brief but insightful article that stresses the importance of communication is Autistic Kids Benefit from Dads' Involvement. This also applies to the issue of parental stress but echoes other studies that emphasize the importance of communication skills in treating autistic children. There article notes that autism is a disability or disorder that appears during the first three years of life and is characterized by problems interacting and communicating with

Psychological Disorder Autism Spectrum Disorder Background and History of Disorder DSM 5 diagnostic criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder Severity of the condition Table for DSM 5 ASD Diagnosis Approaches to Treatment of ASD Background and History of Disorder For this research, the mental illness that is generally visible in children has been chosen, which is Autism Spectrum Disorder. This is a mental problem that is seen in growing children which essentially represents a brain dysfunction and has the

Teaching Communication Skills for Students With Autism The conditions for diagnosis for autism that are presently prevalent within the U.S. are those mentioned in the American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistic Manual for Mental Disorders," Fourth Edition, which is generally pinpointed as 'DSM-IV." Autism is taken into account by the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual (4th Ed, DSM-IV, American Psychiatric Association, 1994) as an existent development disorder (PDD) that is impacted by

Self-Monitoring in Education Putting individuals with "intellectual disabilities" and "challenging behaviors" into regular classrooms is clearly a good idea - the educational literature supports this. But what happens once they are in the classroom? How does one then improve the social behavior and learning opportunities of these students? One idea, cooperative learning (also called peer tutoring), does show some promise; however, another idea based around the technique of self-monitoring/self-recording is specifically