Biology Study Guide Essay

“Just Because You're A Bird Doesn't Mean You Can Fly..”

Imagine waking up everyday knowing that the minute you step foot out your front door people are going to stare and judge you constantly. People you don't even know are going to look at you and feel a sense of pitty and disbelief. Picture yourself sitting in a classroom full of people knowing that you are different but not being able to figure out why. Children everyday around the world are being diagnosed with Autism Disease. “Just because you're a bird doesn't mean you can fly..” a quote my aunt is proud to recite when talking about my cousin Matthew and his disease. A disease that in the next few paragraphs I am going to talk in depth about and share with you my experiences and personal reflections on. Before telling you about my relation and experiences with the disease I am going to talk to you about what Autism really is. Autism is a type of childhood disorder that appears within the first three years of birth and continues on with the child throughout their life. A child who has been diagnosed with autism has difficulties when it comes to verbal and non verbal communications with others and because of it ofen avoid any social contact with others. Some of the social problems that people with autism have involve things such as failure to respond when people call their name, poor eye contact when speaking with people, don't like to ask for help or play with other children, and they are often unaware of other peoples feelings when communicating with them. They have a hard time understanding commands or answering questions when you ask them something, and sometimes speak in odd voices or song when communicating. Over time as the child grows up they become more engaged with others sharing experiences and speaking to them about anything and everything. Some of the behavioral or physical challenges that children with autism face are that they are always moving, are sensitive to some sounds and lights, they develop odd preferences, and they may display self-injurious behavior. As they grow older behavioral problems like those listed above could either get worse or better and some even develop new habits and routines that will stick with them throughout their life. No two people with autism are exactly a like, they are going to have their different symptoms and behaviors that make them unique and in come cases either easier or harder to handle. Although there can be many traits in common there will not be another who experiences exactly the same problems another does. There is a spectrum of autistic disorders them being; Autistic Disorder, Asperger's Syndrome, Atypical Autism, and Rett Syndrome. Each specifies a different type of child for example Autistic Disorder is the one that comes to most peoples minds when they hear the word “autism” which is children who have trouble socially and interacting with others. Asperger's Syndrome is considered to be on the high end of the spectrum and consists of children and adults with a high intelligence level but have trouble communicating, they often have trouble in large crowds or hearing loud noises. Atypical Autism consists of children who have traits from all types of autism. Rett Syndrome is found in girls and they show more repetitious hand movements while communicating with others. Autism is an important subject to me because my cousin, Matthew, struggles with it everyday and constant feeling of being different from others. His disorder has affected our whole family in many ways but we continue to watch him grow everyday. I've grown up looking at Matt like a brother to me, spending practically every weekend together doing little things like apple picking and cosmic bowling. Only being a year older than him he still looks up to me as his role model, and I've been making sure I’m the best role model possible for him. My cousin shows some of the social and behavioral problems that I talked about above. Matthew is

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