lunes, 14 de septiembre de 2015
lunes, 15 de junio de 2015
What is Asperger Syndrome?
Asperger Syndrome (AS) is a neurobiological disorder on the higher-functioning end of the autism spectrum. An individual’s symptoms can range from mild to severe. While sharing many of the same characteristics as other Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD’s) including Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) and High-Functioning Autism (HFA), AS has been recognized as a distinct medical diagnosis in Europe for almost 60 years, but has only been included in the U.S. medical diagnostic manual since 1994 (“Asperger Disorder” in the DSM-IV).
Individuals with AS and related disorders exhibit serious deficiencies in social and communication skills. Their IQ’s are typically in the normal to very superior range. They are usually educated in the mainstream, but most require special education services. Because of their naivete, those with AS are often viewed by their peers as “odd” and are frequently a target for bullying and teasing.
They desire to fit in socially and have friends, but have a great deal of difficulty making effective social connections. Many of them are at risk for developing mood disorders, such as anxiety or depression, especially in adolescence. Diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorders should be made by a medical expert to rule out other possible diagnoses and to discuss interventions.
Characteristics of Asperger Syndrome
Each person is different. An individual might have all or only some of the described behaviors to have a diagnosis of AS.
These behaviors include the following:
- Marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as: eye gaze, facial expression, body posture, and gestures to regulate social interaction.
- Extreme difficulty in developing age-appropriate peer relationships. (e.g. AS children may be more comfortable with adults than with other children).
- Inflexible adherence to routines and perseveration.
- Fascination with maps, globes, and routes.
- Superior rote memory.
- Preoccupation with a particular subject to the exclusion of all others. Amasses many related facts.
- Difficulty judging personal space, motor clumsiness.
- Sensitivity to the environment, loud noises, clothing and food textures, and odors.
- Speech and language skills impaired in the area of semantics, pragmatics, and prosody (volume, intonation, inflection, and rhythm).
- Difficulty understanding others’ feelings.
- Pedantic, formal style of speaking; often called “little professor,” verbose.
- Extreme difficulty reading and/or interpreting social cues.
- Socially and emotionally inappropriate responses.
- Literal interpretation of language; difficulty comprehending implied meanings.
- Extensive vocabulary. Reading commences at an early age (hyperlexia).
- Stereotyped or repetitive motor mannerisms.
- Difficulty with “give and take” of conversation.
By Jessica Gastán
More about Autism
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. CDC is committed to continuing to provide essential data on ASD, search for factors that put children at risk for ASD and possible causes, and develop resources that help identify children with ASD as early as possible.
Diagnosing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be difficult, since there is no medical test, like a blood test, to diagnose the disorders. Doctors look at the child’s behavior and development to make a diagnosis.
ASD can sometimes be detected at 18 months or younger. By age 2, a diagnosis by an experienced professional can be considered very reliable.[1] However, many children do not receive a final diagnosis until much older. This delay means that children with an ASD might not get the help they need.
Down there is pa web page that you can visit for more information:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/index.html
Also it would be interesting if you read this article about Screening and Diagnosis.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/screening.html
The Raven BY EDGAR ALLAN POE
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—
Nameless here for evermore.
And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
“’Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door—
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;—
This it is and nothing more.”
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
“Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you”—here I opened wide the door;—
Darkness there and nothing more.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!”—
Merely this and nothing more.
Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
“Surely,” said I, “surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore—
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;—
’Tis the wind and nothing more!”
Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door—
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door—
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
“Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore—
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning—little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door—
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as “Nevermore.”
But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing farther then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered—
Till I scarcely more than muttered “Other friends have flown before—
On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before.”
Then the bird said “Nevermore.”
Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
“Doubtless,” said I, “what it utters is its only stock and store
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore—
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
Of ‘Never—nevermore’.”
But the Raven still beguiling all my fancy into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore—
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking “Nevermore.”
This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion’s velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o’er,
But whose velvet-violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o’er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!
Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
“Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore;
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”
“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!—
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted—
On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore—
Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me—tell me, I implore!”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”
“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us—by that God we both adore—
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore—
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”
“Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!” I shrieked, upstarting—
“Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted—nevermore!
Pediatric Social Phobia and Selective Mutism
Selective mutism is a disorder in which an individual is not able to speak aloud in specific situations when there is an expectation of conversational speech.[2]Communicative language is generally intact in such individuals, although selective mutism can coexist with language and communication disorders.
Selective mutism can be accompanied by other anxiety disorders such as separation anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder (formerly called social phobia), agoraphobia, and panic disorder, as well as by shyness and anxiety; however, it can also exist without other anxiety-related disorders.[3]
Selective mutism generally occurs by age 5 years; however, usually it is not diagnosed until the child starts school. In some cases, adolescents and adults continue to experience an inability to speak in public. This inability is generally most disabling at school, as the child cannot be assertive and speak when called on by teachers. In adults, functional impairment occurs when public speaking or lecturing is required in one's vocation. Often, the child with selective mutism designates a friend or close family member to serve as an interpreter of communication and whispers into that person's ear, so that communication occurs with the designated person as intermediary.
Often, selective mutism can coexist with social phobia, also known as social anxiety, and is defined by marked and persistent fear of social or performance situations in which embarrassment may occur; exposure to the social or performance situation almost always causes an anxiety reaction such as a situationally bound or situationally predisposed panic attack.
Selective mutism can also be the precursor to agoraphobia and/or panic disorder. Agoraphobia is a specific phobia in which the individual fears being in crowded places. People with agoraphobia often become homebound. Panic disorder can result in significant disability and iatrogenically induced illness, especially in situations when invasive medical testing is done, because the severity of symptoms such as chest pain and palpitations and medical testing can intensify the severity of the panic symptoms.
The anxiety reaction is not due to psychosis; individuals are able to recognize their fears as excessive and unreasonable. However, the ability to fully comprehend that the reaction is out of proportion to the precipitant may be less complete in children and may depend on their cognitive-developmental level of functioning due to deficits in emotional regulation. Recent studies have looked at physiological measures reflecting the severity of anxiety. Children with selective mutism were compared with children with social phobia in a study of 35 children (average age, 8 y). Those with social phobia and selective mutism had chronically higher levels of arousal as reflected by respiratory sinus arrhythmia and skin conductance levels. This may help explain why children with selective mutism may appear to others to not be overtly anxious; their silence may serve to decrease outward signs of anxiety observable by others.[4]
Studies that use physiological measures to objectively measure the severity of anxiety have shown that children with selective mutism and social anxiety as compared with children with social phobia alone have chronically higher levels of arousal (more intense anxiety) as reflected in the presence of respiratory sinus arrhythmia and skin conductance levels. Children with selective mutism may appear to others to not be overtly anxious, especially because of their silence, as their anxiety is not directly observable by others.[4]
Selective mutism significantly impairs the individual's level of functioning, as the individual is unable to complete required educational, social, and family tasks, and the emotional distress engendered in situations requiring the person to speak out loud can result in school refusal.[5]
Selective mutism is a disorder that first occurs in childhood and can continue into adolescence and adulthood. In adults with this disorder, functional impairment occurs when public speaking or lecturing are required in one's vocation. Severe social anxiety may not be evident, as the person may actually function in a relaxed manner when using nonverbal (ie, gestures, signing) communication styles.[6]
Shyness does not necessarily persist in adolescents with social anxiety disorder. A study by Burstein et al found that almost 50% of a group rated themselves shy; however, only 12% of adolescents who identified themselves as shy actually met criteria for lifetime incidence of social anxiety disorder as measured by the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0, and 5.2% of adolescents who did not identify as having shyness had social phobia.[7]
There is significant comorbidity of social phobia with anxiety disorders, major depressive disorder, and drug use disorders, without regard to the presence or absence of shyness. Adolescents with shyness were more likely to report agoraphobia compared with the no-shyness group. Adolescents with social phobia versus adolescents with shyness had greater impairment in the areas of school/work, family relationships, and social life; however, they were no more likely to obtain professional treatment. Eighty percent of adolescents with social phobia failed to seek or to obtain professional treatment for their anxiety, and rates of prescribed medication use were systematically low across groups: 2.3% of adolescents with social phobia and 0.9% of adolescents with shyness used paroxetine.
Adolescent gender did not have a significant effect on the prevalence of social phobia. However, culture can cause parents to underreport anxiety; a clinically referred sample of 408 parent-youth dyads of African American adolescents versus Latino and white adolescents that used the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) found that parents tended to significantly underreport anxiety symptoms.[8]
By Antonella Brunetto
http://www.parlamento.gub.uy/leyes/AccesoTextoLey.asp?Ley=18437&Anchor=
Hey guys we´ll need to bring the printed article for tomorrow !!
By Romina Acuña.
By Romina Acuña.
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