Autism is part of a group of conditions which together are called Autism spectrum disorder. It includes Asperger Syndrome and it is a developmental disability that lasts a lifetime. It affects how people see the world and interact with other people.
Autistic people see, hear and feel the world differently to other people. If you are autistic, you are autistic for life; autism is not an illness or disease and cannot be ‘cured’. Often people feel being autistic is an important aspect of their identity.
Autism is a spectrum condition but all autistic people share some difficulties. It affects different people very differently and should be addressed as individualistically as possible. Some autistic people also have learning disabilities, mental health issues or other conditions, meaning people need different levels of support. All people on the autism spectrum have the ability to learn and develop. With the right sort of support, all can be helped to live a more fulfilling life of their own choosing. Stem cells have the ability to repair and replace dead or injured brain cells
What causes Autism?
There is no known specific cause of autism but it is generally accepted that it is due to abnormalities in the brain structure or function. It can be hereditary, genetic or as a result of certain medical conditions.
What are the signs and symptoms of Autism?
Autistic patients are usually challenged in three areas. This triad can be used in the diagnosis of the disease. They include difficulty in interacting with people and their mates, poor communication skills, and repetitive behavior.
- Interaction difficulties: People that have autism find it difficulty interacting with people. It has been observed that kids affected by autism respond less to stimuli such as smiling, crying. They also usually don’t give a response to their own name when called. Autistic children are more interested in the quality of interaction they have with people than the number of interactions they have. They feel a sense of loneliness when they feel like they do not have a strong interaction, with whomever they want to connect with. It has been shown that they surely do tend to have a good relationship with whoever cares for them. This could be their mother, father or even the nanny. They are usually not capable of having interactions with a lot of people. In addition, they feel uncomfortable in parties and get-togethers; generally, anywhere there are many people
- Communication: More than a third of kids affected by autism find communication difficult. They do have delays in achieving the speech milestones. They usually are incapable of pronouncing words, consonants and combining words. They are also fond of repeating words in an irregular manner. It has been observed that autistic children tend to shy away from talking and commenting on things. They like to keep to their shell, basically, to avoid communicating.
- Repetitive behavior: Autistic individuals like routines. They do not like to alter the way they do things. This can be attributed to their repetitive behavior. Some of the repetitive behaviors found in autistic children are as follows
- Repeated body movements: Autistic children usually do repeat somebody movements such as the flapping of their hands, and body shaking.
- Self-inflicted injuries: Kids affected by autism are fond of inflicting injuries to themselves. The severity of these injuries varies in people. While some cause major injury to themselves such as hitting their head against the wall, others just bite their fingers. There is no specified pattern of injury caused.
- They hate changes: As earlier said, autistic kids try their possible best to resist changes. They like doing things the same way and achieving the same result. This is also evident in the way they arrange their things. As an illustration, an autistic kid might insist that the color of his room should not be changed, or the arrangement of his room not altered. They do not like anything to change the way they think or see things.
- They have limited interests: People affected by autism do not have a lot of interest. They are usually focused on one thing, and they dedicate themselves totally to it. As an illustration, they can watch just a particular television channel all day. Also, they can choose to play a particular game every day, every week for months.
- Routine lifestyle: Autistic people tend to live their lives in a particular pattern, and they resist changes. They do the same things, every day. For example, they might have a routine of waking up at a particular time, then proceed to go shower, then to watching television and so on. They also resist anything that tries to alter their routine. They like to do things the same way. They dress the same, eat the same kind of meal.
- Other symptoms: About ten percent of persons affected with autism often display exceptional abilities in performing some tasks. Some of these unusual abilities include excellence in paying attention to details, brilliant memory, excellent artistic abilities and so on. In addition, over half of the people affected by autism do display motor dysfunction such as imbalance, abnormal gait, inability to walk, poor muscle tones and so on. Also, eating disorder used to be one of the criteria for diagnosing autism. Autistic kids are selective about the kind of food they eat. This might be attributed to the gastrointestinal problems associated with a percentage of them
How Is Autism Currently Being Treated?
The goal of autism management is to improve the quality of life of affected kids and also to better the relationship they have with their family. Generally, the kids need a lot of support from their families and guardians. However, it has been observed that kids with higher intelligent quotient improve faster than the ones with less IQ. There is no general method of managing the patients, each management style is tailored for the patient’s need. The help of professionals is needed to help the patient improve their speech, communication, and interactive skills.
Stem cell therapy treatment for autism
Stem cell therapy is an effective way of treating autistic kids. Stem cells have the ability to repair and replace dead or injured brain cells. They are also good immune modulators. The stem cells migrate towards the abnormal brain cells and try to repair them. In the case that the nerve cells cannot be repaired, they regenerate and replace the brain cells. They are capable of restoring the brain to normal function.
References
Anon, (2017). [online] Available at: http://autism stem cell [Accessed 30 Dec. 2017].
Bailey, A. (2014). Autism Treatment Research. Autism Research, 7(1), pp.1-3.
Scadden, D. and Srivastava, A. (2012). Advancing Stem Cell Biology toward Stem Cell Therapeutics. Cell Stem Cell, 10(2), pp.149-150.Siniscalco, D. (2012). Stem Cell Research: An Opportunity for Autism Spectrum Disorders Treatment. Autism- Open Access, 02(03).
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