Autism, everyone often hears about this disease in film and television dramas, or in the news media.
But in fact, the number of people with autism may be more than you think.
According to the latest data from the US CDC, one in every 44 children has autism. On the mainland, the number of people with autism has exceeded 10 million, of which more than 3 million are children.
According to WHO, about 1 in every 160 children worldwide will be diagnosed with autism in 2021.
Autism, also known as autism, as one of the more common mental illnesses in children, the age of onset is relatively small for many mental illnesses, which will have a significant impact on the future physical and mental development of children.
Autism is not a mental illness, but a mental disability
Many people always think that children's loneliness is autism.
But this is not the case, autism is a generalized developmental disorder of the nervous system, and children will have stereotyped behaviors such as social communication disorders, communication disorders, and repetitive limitations.
However, at present, the general level of awareness of this disease is low, and many parents lack awareness of children's development, psychology and behavior.
Therefore, when children can't speak after more than 2 years old, don't love to interact with people, always think normally, and even have a biased cognition of autism, many parents are reluctant to admit that their children may have this problem.
In a 2017 article published by the Chinese Academy of Pediatrics, "Expert Consensus on Early Identification Screening and Early Intervention for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder", it is shown that when parents find that their children have -----
Do not see, should not, do not point, do not say, improper, this "5 no" behavior, you need to be vigilant against autism, you need to take the child to a professional medical institution in time for further diagnosis and screening.
(Chinese Journal of Pediatrics, Vol. 55, No. 12, December 2017)
Does the introverted child mean that he has autism?
Some parents worry that their child is always shy and introverted and does not like to interact with others, will he or she suffer from autism?
Autism is a persistent symptom of social communication and social interaction that occurs during a child's development.
Autism has many manifestations, such as language communication disorders, social communication disorders, symptoms of strange behavior and lack of interest in many things.
At the same time, there is no definite age of onset for children with autism, but in general, parents may find that their children have a tendency to have autism around the age of two.
If it is detected early enough, the intervention can be carried out early, and the effect will be much better.
Children with autism, very few are "geniuses"
Many people think that autistic children are actually a manifestation of high intelligence and genius, and celebrities like Jobs were autistic children when they were young.
In fact, autistic children are not all geniuses, in fact, less than 10% of children with autism have different talents from ordinary people, and many autistic children have difficulty in taking care of themselves.
Some have high-functioning types of autism, such as Asperger's syndrome, and these children may be very good at the field, and some types of abilities are far beyond the average person.
But unfortunately, this "talent" is almost rare, and most children have difficulty taking care of themselves if they leave the help of their families.
Children diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome or high-functioning autism should be very careful not to treat them casually with medication, as if given the complete treatment of this child's medication, it may overwhelm the specialities of these children.
If parents find that their child has special abilities, this does not mean that the child does not need treatment.
The choice of treatment plan should be specific, no matter what kind of autism the child is, experts recommend personalized treatment for autistic children.
Lonely children, but behind the lonely family
Behind every autistic child, there is a lonely family.
According to the "White Paper on the Investigation of Autistic Families in China", more than 60% of the surveyed families actively or passively reduce external social interaction, 58% of families give up work and care for children, and 34% of families suffer from various psychological diseases such as anxiety and depression due to excessive stress.
In addition, the current cost of autism rehabilitation training is a considerable expense, medical insurance commercial insurance can not be reimbursed, for some ordinary families, a month of thousands or even tens of thousands of expenses are undoubtedly a burden.
What makes the parents of the children more painful is that even if they pay great patience, persistence and care, they still cannot be accepted by the children, the children cannot understand some social information, and they cannot enter the lonely and closed world of the children.
We often say that love is powerful, but it is always defeated by a harsher reality.
And what exactly are we doing?
What we can do is to replace discrimination with kindness, give more patience and love, and use the system to arrange their integration into society, so that this group of "star children" is no longer alone.
bibliography:
[1] Xu Qian, Ding Jie Tang Hua, Shi Xiao & Liu Lu. (2013).A survey on the current situation of autistic children in mainland China: A case study of Shanghai area. Business Economics(19), 102-104.
[2] Mandy, W., & Lai, M. (2016).Annual review of research: The role of environment in the development of psychopathology under autism spectrum conditions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(3), 271-292.