Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a condition related to brain development that impacts how a person perceives and socializes with others, causing problems in social interaction and communication. The disorder also includes limited and repetitive patterns of behavior. In 2020 the CDC determined that approximately 1 in 54 children is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Boys are more likely to be diagnosed with autism spectrum than girls. ASD can be diagnosed by the age of two, but can still be diagnosed by the age of 4.
Some symptoms of ASD is obsessive movement, which means that someone that has the disorder shakes things constantly or would rock back and forth in place.
A day to day life for a person with ASD consist of any other normal day for a person without ASD. People with the disorder learn slower than the average person. Was of a child being born with ASD are from older parents having a child, a fragile X syndrome, low birth weight, genetic mutations, and having another family member with autism.
There is no known source of treatment for ASD, but when the child with ASD is family centered, social interaction skills advanced. (Impact of Family-Centered Early Intervention in Infants with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Single-Subject Design, retrieved 3/03/2020).
There has been a lot of research about autism spectrum disorder. The research is from the Department of Occupational Therapy, Seoul Metropolitan Children’s Hospital, and Republic of Korea and Department of Occupational Therapy, Yonsei University, Republic of Korea. The research started on January 7, 2018 and ended 14 weeks later on April 15, 2018.
The research took place at the three different homes of the participants. The research was used to discover what happens with the children with ASD go through and to see what happens when the child socially interacts. (Impact of Family-Centered Early Intervention in Infants with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Single-Subject Design, retrieved 3/03/2020).
The researchers posted an advertisement on an online community website for applicants to participate in the study. The researchers looked for children under the age of two to be participants in the study. There were three participants in the study who all have ASD. The participants where three infants and their ages are 29 months, 25 months, and 24 months. All three participants are male and have no other diagnoses besides ASD. (Impact of Family-Centered Early Intervention in Infants with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Single-Subject Design, retrieved 3/03/2020). The research had different stages and phases.
The first phase was the recruitment, where they would choose which applicants would be a part of the study. The next phase for the study is called the baseline phase. This phase happened three times a week where one of the researchers would go to the participants’ house and watch the infant play with their care giver. While the infant would play, the researcher video record for ten minutes. The researcher would record so that they could find a beneficial way for the infant to play to help with the ASD. After the baseline phase, the next phase is intervention phase.
The intervention phase happened 12 times over a six week period. This phase consisted of feedback from the researcher to the parent/ care giver. The researcher would give the parent/ care giver ways of playing that could help with the infants social interaction skills. The last phase is the follow up phase where follow up tests would be performed using the tests free play, M-CHATR/F, and ESI. The M-CHATR/F test was used to evaluate the infants with ASD and ESI is an epidural steroid injection. The researcher would suggest changes in the infant’s day to day life to accommodate the infant having ASD. (Impact of Family-Centered Early Intervention in Infants with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Single-Subject Design, retrieved 3/03/2020).
The results show that children with the autism spectrum disorder tend to become better at social interaction when practicing social interaction. Since this study the participants improved on speech and social interaction. Participant three did show the most improvement, but the other two participants showed improvement as well since the beginning. Since the study started the ASD in the three participants was less then what it was at the beginning of the study.