autistic%20disorder
AUTISTIC DISORDER
Treatment Guideline Chart
Autism involves impaired social interaction, impaired communication and lack of developmentally appropriate behavior, interests or activities.
Deficit in social skills eg abnormal eye contact, failure to orient name, failure to use gestures to point or show, lack of interactive play, failure to smile, lack of sharing & interest in other children, and often withdrawn and spends hours in solitary play with restrictive or repetitive interests and behaviors.
Impaired social interaction showed as impairment in joint attention, deficits in empathy for what another person might be feeling and deficits in understanding what another person might be thinking.
Autistic child also presents with deficit in language and communication (eg nonverbal or having some speech), aberrant play skills (eg little symbolic play, preoccupation with parts of objects), variation in intellectual functioning, heightened awareness to stimuli and lowered sensitivity to stimuli.

Autistic%20disorder Patient Education

Patient Education

  • The parents will remember the manner by which they were informed of the diagnosis
    • Present the diagnosis in a sensitive, unrushed manner without interruption
  • Allocate enough time for parent counseling
  • Inform the parents that autism varies widely in presentation, severity of behavior, intelligence and prognosis
  • Creating a network with other parents of autistic children may be done
  • Genetic counseling before subsequent pregnancy is important
    • Prevalence of abnormality in subsequent children is higher when language delays, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or social deficits are present
  • Parents should be informed of available interventions and their role
    • Family and caregivers should be trained to continue to teach the child and improve the child’s compliance
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