Observation Assignment: Child with Autism

Observation Assignment: Child with Autism

Introduction

For this observation assignment, I choose to study a six years old child Clark Brown who is suffering from autism. In this article, I will present general information about Clark, his social relationship, his restricted patterns of behavior, his communication skills, cognitive differences, motor differences and emotional vulnerability, after describing the autism, its symptoms and its causes (Kronenberger & Meyer, 1996).

What is Autism?

Autism is a disorder in children, which is more prevalent in boys than in girls. The skills of an autistic child can either be high or low depending on both their level of IQ and verbal communication skills. The causes of autism are still unknown, but there are some theories that may explain the disease. Autistics children have a high functional level and can repeat the same actions several times, like television commercials or perform complex rituals at bedtime.

Method of Obtaining Information

To obtain the information regarding Clark, I have used variety of ways in which first of all I interviewed Clark's mother to gain insights regarding his strength and weaknesses. Student's special education teacher and his speech therapist were also interviewed for the same purpose. I also read documented response like his IEP report, and his educational goals to further verify the strengths and weaknesses mentioned by his mother, teacher and speech therapist (Maurice, Green & Foxx, 2001). The current assessment of Clark is also obtained to analyze further consolidate the responses collected earlier. Besides these observations, I obtained concrete information regarding Clark by observing him personally.

General Information

Clark, the autistic child has been detected with autism since his infancy. Autism has been observed in him when he makes monotonous babble of sound, a babbling late and demonstrates a lack of contact with their environment, even to sign language. In his first interactions with his mother, Clark is detected because when his mother in their attempts fail to communicate and entertain the child through her reactions. Clark stay focused on the objects rather than sign languages to her mom. In preschool, Clark begins to seem strange because he fails to establish social relationship, because of poor verbal communication skills. Clark often exhibit aggressive behavior, even for himself. Another characteristic of autism in Clark is the tendency to conduct limited scope activities repetitively as spin or perform rhythmic movements with his body (arms flapping) (McEachin, Smith & Lovaas, 1993). Clark is a six year old student who is suffering from verbal Autistic. Clark's energy level is as high as normal children of his age and he prefers to be entertained throughout the day. However, a person will easily understand that Clark is suffering from autistic if a person knows the symptoms; the main symptom is that he fails to provide attention when he is having conversation with someone. However, he prefers to play video games and actively participate in indoor and outdoor activities. He enjoys tasty foods and prefers to eat chocolates made dessert every day. He loves to play and watch baseball, soccer and ...