autism

autism

  • Submitted By: mango951
  • Date Submitted: 04/25/2014 8:18 AM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 2141
  • Page: 9
  • Views: 3

Helping with Horses

The Center for Disease Control estimates that 1 in 88 children are affected by some form of Autism. In fact many people know someone with Autism or know of someone with Autism; but what they do not know is what exactly Autism is. Many times Autism is thought of to just be one specific problem and it tends to be very generalized. However, Autism is not just one kind of disorder. In actuality it is a spectrum of many different kinds of disorders ranging from Cerebral Palsy to Asperger’s Syndrome. Just as there are many different types of Autism, there are many different types of therapies to aid in treating it. These therapies range from the well-known physical and speech therapy to the lesser known aquatic therapy, music therapy and the focus of this paper hippotherapy.
To begin with, what exactly is Autism? Autism is defined as “a complex neurobehavioral disorder that includes impairments in social interaction and developmental language and communication skills, and rigid, repetitive behaviors” (Understanding Autism par 1). Basically Autism can affect all aspects of a person’s life, ranging from their social skills to their speech and body movements. Since there is not just one type of Autism physicians have developed a way to diagnose it by placing all the types of Autism on a spectrum. This spectrum is known as the Autism Spectrum of Disorders or the ASD. On the ASD the different types of Autism range from Autistic Disorder to Asperger’s Syndrome to Rett Syndrome. Diagnosing autism can be a difficult task since there are many differing signs and symptoms that need to be looked for. Some of these signs and symptoms can be anything from difficulty communicating to difficulty adjusting to changes within the environment. Other warning signs can include a child not making any sounds or gestures by a year old and not saying any words by sixteen months old. Although there is no cure for autism, there are many treatment options available. With...

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