Autism: a great barrier for language

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autism

If you expect this to be one of those articles where vaccines are pointed out as the evil, please go find something else to read. I am not a doctor, I do not have any scientific knowledge, nor right, to speak about what may cause or may not cause autism.

I just found myself very interested in the topic after having read “Se ti abbraccio non aver paura” (‘Don’t be afraid if I hug you’, its English title) by Fulvio Ervas. This little book tells the story of Andrea, his father Antonello, and their incredible journey through Andrea’s autism. At least, that’s how I read it. It seems to me that the whole book is a huge metaphor.

Apparently it tells the story of Andrea and Antonello’s 3-month journey around the American continent. But if you take a deeper look, you’ll realize it is more about their journey around Andrea‘s autism, and the infinite therapies they have ran after for years. It is more about their relationship, and the struggle parents of autistic kids have to go through. As Antonello himself said, “it is a story of pure adventure, irony, and simple truth”.

Autism – or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) – is usually thought of as a behavioral and social communication impairment. It is now recognized that language in autism is extremely variable, and that there are likely to be subgroups of individuals within the autism spectrum that have distinct language profiles, some of which are similar to those found in other developmental language disorders. So yes, there is an enormous variation in the timing and patterns of acquisition of language among children with autism. Autism is not usually diagnosed until age 3 or 4, so there is relatively little information about language in very young children with autism. Various retrospective studies, using parent report and videotapes collected during infancy and the toddler years, suggest that by the second year of life, the communication of most children with autism is different from other children’s. Several studies have found that, as early as 1 year of age, compared to other children, kids with autism are less responsive to their names, to someone speaking, and to the sound of their mother’s voice.

About 25% of children with autism are described by their parents as having some words at 12 or 18 months, and then suddenly losing them. Just as if someone switched off their “speech button”. Scary, isn’t it? But that’s autism, and it sucks. And it is not fair. But we can either sit around and feel pity, or try do something useful.

There are several “therapies” that can be helpful, not only for the kids, but also for their parents. One of them is called occupational therapy. This therapy can make it easier for children with an ASD and their families get involved in activities that, for all the other children, are quite ordinary.

Antonello is very active towards this direction. He established a foundation called “I bambini delle fate” that raises funds to support projects for autistic people. All these sponsored projects share the will to get autistic kids more socially involved. So they will be able to play sports, music, get some pet therapy, and many more activities.

What can we do? We can give some of our time to these kids and their family. Just think how awesome it could be if each and every one of us gave only one hour per week to this kind of activities. If we dedicated that one hour to the kids. So that they could play soccer, or swim in a pool, learn how to write their names, or just simply pet a puppy.

It would be only one hour for us, but an infinite moment of joy for them.

 

By Sabina Grixoni

Editor and Social Media Strategist

Communication Trainee at TermCoord