Describe and Discuss the Triad of Symptoms in Autism
... Leo Kanner (1943) observed a young autistic patient and noticed his apparent indifference to those surrounding him. “He behaved as if people did not matter or even exist…When he had any dealings with persons at all, he treated them, or rather parts of them as if they were objects.” This complete lack of emotional investment on the part of the child is consistently observed in studies of those who are pure autistics, and can cause a great deal of distress to parents of patients.. Despite an ability to perform just a capably as normal children on non-verbal IQ tests, Autistic children tend to score far lower on social maturity scale (lord and Schopler, 1988). It is unsurprising then that very little interaction occurs between autistics and others around them. An autistic child tends to give little or no outward sign of attachment to its mother in the early stages of infancy, and as they develop interaction with others is infrequent and minimal. Hobson and Lee (1998) in their work with autistic children found that on both the meeting and departure of a significant adults any form of greeting would be only very rarely observed. A tendency to stare “through” objects and people (Mirenda et al 1983) and their seeming inability to differentiate between people may be a result of the autistic child’s lack of sense of self. (Tustin, 1990). This dysfunction may also help to explain the tendency to form attachments with inanimate objects such as their toys. Without an appreciation of other people being separate beings with differing perspectives, interaction proves difficult. It may also explain the language impairment present in most autistic children. Many children may employ what Tustin (1990) identified as protective behaviours, such as spinning or rocking. This complete self-absorption in sensory experience creates a barrier between the child and the outside world, serving both to protect the child from trauma, and simultaneously isolate him from others. When an autistic child turns his back on his mother, it represents more than nonchalance, but signifies a protective shell. It is an instance of of an autistic child may do to create a ‘tactile hallucination’ (Aulangier, 1985), creating the illusion of encapsulation. Unfortunately however as the protective shell serves its purpose it also hinders severely the child’s psychological and social development. The reasons behind autistic children’s tendency to impose this THINGY on themselves are complicated. In most clinical cases, when the protective barrier has been pierced, autistic patients have been found to be severely traumatised. In her extensive studies with autistic children, Tustin (1990) observed that at the patients mother was often severely depressed during pregnancy. She postulates that a lonely or distressed mother may subconsciously use the baby inside her as a confidante and support. On giving birth to the baby many of Tustin’s mothers reported feelings of loneliness as if the baby had been wrenched from her, leaving a ‘black hole’. The baby may well be susceptible to these changes in its mother and, as Tustin found in 1966, the protective shell employed covers the original trauma of parting physically from the mother. The trauma of being parted from the mother is also likely to be very much accentuated for an autistic child, due to the child’s distorted sense of existence. Just as Colin, a four year old autistic boy, attempted to explain to his psychotherapist that he felt a loss on discovering he was separate from his milk bottle teat, an newly born may perceive birth as an upset to their perception of oneness with their mother. Many autistic infants show from a very early age that their language capabilities are somewhat behind those of normal children. Ricks(1972), found that ‘babbling’, an early infantile form of communication is far less frequent in autistic children. If autistic children do learn to speak, their inability to separate themselves, others and objects as separate beings takes its toll on syntax. Pronoun reversal is the most obvious of these autistic peculiarities. Patients often refer to themselves in the third person. Their inability to envisage themselves as an entity means the concept of ‘me’ and ‘I’ cannot be comprehended. Instead there is a tendency to re...