Philosophy

This article supports a theory which explains autism, a mental disorder. Indicators of Autism will be discussed in detail in this paper. According to American Psychological Association (APA), Autism can be analyzed in two stages and those 2 stages will also be discussed later. Experiments which had been done on the Autistic person and the researches on Autism will also be discussed later.
     
About autism, it had been observed that it is usually found in children, at the early stages of their lives. It appears mostly within the first 3 years of life. Autism is known as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in the medical world. Autism is also known as Brain development disorder. An Autistic person behaves in a different manner as compared to normal person. He faces numerous difficulties in his daily life, especially when he comes into changeable and uncertain environments.
     
Autism may be from the birth of child or may be visible in early years of hisher life. Autism is a disorder which mainly affects the working of the mind. It is an obstacle in the development of mind. Social interaction and communication skills are affected by Autism. People affected by Autism face problem in verbal and non-verbal communication. They also experience problem in communicating ideas and feelings, imagination, social interaction and leisure or play activities.
   
It is analyzed by the American Psychological Association (APA) that 1 out of 166 births is affected by this disorder. On the basis of this analysis it can be stated that at present 1.5 million Americans are suffering from autism. The effect of autism is consistent around the globe. Boys are four times more affected by this than girls. Racial, ethnic, or social boundaries cannot bound autism. Family income, lifestyle, and educational levels cannot change the effect of autism. It is free from all these things.    

Certain set of behaviors are used for defining autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There are many indicators for identifying ASD. Public Health Training Network Webcast defined some indicators.

These indicators are-
 Does not babble, point, or make meaningful gestures by 1 year of age
 Does not speak one word by 16 months
 Does not combine two words by 2 years
 Does not respond to name
 Loses language or social skills

Poor eye contact, Doesnt seem to know how to play with toys, Excessively lines up toys or other objects, Excessively lines up toys or other objects, Is attached to one particular toy or object, and Doesnt smile are some other indicators of ASD. ASD is first time detected by the parents of the child. This is noticed by the different kind of behavior of child. Thats why General Physicians or the Pediatricians notice early behavior of the child.

This disorder is analyzed in two stages.
In first stage childs behavior is analyzed by the pediatrician. This analysis is done by the observations given by the parents.

In second stage analysis is done by the team of psychologist, a neurologist, a psychiatrist, a speech therapist, or other professionals for identifying ASD.

Earlier it had been thought that autistic children face difficulty in interpreting state of mind on the basis of facial expression. But American Psychological Association (APA) did an experiment over 18 autistic children of the age between 10 to 14 years. Some images, in which facial expression was static or freeze, had been shown to those children. Most of them were not able to interpret the state of mind on the basis of static facial expression. But they were able to do that when animated or dynamic imaged had been shown.  It signifies that autistic children can understand mental states when information is conveyed by eyes and mouth.
     
A protein, carnosine is attracting many researchers towards the study of Autism. An experiment had been done on 31 autistic children. In which those children had been given a synthetic form of carnosine, called L-carnosine for 8 weeks. After 2 weeks an improvement was found that in those autistic children. There was some improvement in their communication ability, recognizing power and eye contact. There were improvements in communication and behavior of 60 children and 27 were now more socialized. It was the result of this experiment.
   
I support these experiments and researches. A better care and good treatment could be the tools to close this mental illness. Now days a small but an important portion of world population, is facing this problem. Efforts had been made in this direction and lots of efforts are being made in this field by many countries. Movies and documentaries based on autism have been released recently to make the world aware about this disorder. It is going to become a big research field during the coming days.  Research on autism has begun to explain the causes, remedies and caution related with this mental disorder.

Experiments and researches have been done at every level. Next few years will bring further expansion in this biological field. Experiments and researches which had been done in this field will definitely be useful in future for further research in this field.