Editorial Vere Álvarez N
This neurodevelopmental disorder causes social, behavioral, and communication deficits, the levels of which vary from individual to individual and persist throughout the lifespan. Dr. Mosqueira Clinic has launched a training workshop for parents of children with ASD.
For many of you the acronym will sound unfamiliar TEA, the opposite occurs if we are told the word autism, which is more common to hear or deal with in everyday conversations. Autism Spectrum Disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder that occurs during the first 3 years of life., that is, it is a brain-related disorder that causes problems with social interaction, behavior, and communication. We take this opportunity to learn more about this disorder, serving as a precedent to training workshop dedicated to parents for children with ASD that Clínica Dr. Mosqueira launches with expert Anabel González Rueda as speaker and our psychologist Estefanía Villanueva as intervener.
Main features and indications
Its main characteristics, which vary from one individual to another and persist throughout the life cycle, are diverse. As our psychologist Estefanía Villanueva explains, "They manifest with persistent deficits in communication in social interaction in different contexts, difficulty in socio-emotional relationships, deficits in communicative behaviors that do not involve words and that are used in social interaction.".
Children who suffer from this problem use repetitive and restricted patterns of behaviors, interests and/or activities, such as repetitive movements and speech. Furthermore, Villanueva states that the excessive adherence to routines, very restricted and fixed interests which are abnormal in intensity, and which show little interest or excessive reaction to sensory stimuli from the environment (pain, temperature, sounds, textures).
When do these responses or symptoms occur?
From the beginning of childhood, from the first months, warning symptoms are observed"These limit and alter the child's daily functioning and are not due to a general developmental delay or intellectual disability" according to DSMV, says the psychologist who points out that we must be cautious when defining whether a child is ASD or not, since There are numerous similar behaviors that can be confused with other nervous system disorders. In the first years of life, there is no exact diagnosis of difficulties that would require going to a center: "You can go privately, but ideally it should be done through Social Security, so that the pediatrician can refer you to the ENT specialist and, if there are no problems, go to the neuropediatrician for the child to be evaluated.
It is impossible to predict exactly when a child will learn a particular skill, as each child develops at their own pace. There are developmental milestones that encompass different areas: social, cognitive, language, motor, visual, and emotional. The pediatrician should be alerted if the baby exhibits certain milestones, which may indicate a developmental delay for that age group. To determine if a child has autism, in addition to the above, It is necessary to specify whether there is an intellectual disability, whether language development is affected, whether there is another medical or genetic condition, or whether it is associated with another neurodevelopmental disorder.
Warning or alert signs
More and more is known about autism and there is a series of warning signs (indicators of possible Autism Spectrum Disorder, collected by the IRIDIA team) which indicate that there is a significant difficulty in developmentEstefanía comments that, broadly speaking, they can be classified into two types: "On the one hand, the failure to acquire a series of developmental milestones, and on the other, the appearance of unexpected behaviors that are characteristic of development." When these warning signs appear, the child must be evaluated by an expert professional. "This is an important moment; we must help understand the child's needs, determine the diagnosis, and it is best to consult an autism spectrum disorder professional," explains Villanueva. The areas to be evaluated include intelligence, language, adaptive behavior, and specific autism symptoms.
At Dr. Mosqueira Clinic, we are here to provide information and assistance if you need it. Call us without obligation at 951006638.
