World Autism Day, Sunday.
There are 200 million autistic people in the world.
Autism, what is it?
One word: it encompasses very diverse behaviors.
More than autism... autism?
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD), the Everest of child psychopathology.
What behaviors does it encompass?
Three basic, and all three hinder interpersonal relationships, sociability.
One.
A speech with little language and not very functional.
Of the.
A very weak social interaction.
Three.
Stereotyped acts.
Can you give me an example?
The child lines up pieces or cars. Or it turns on itself. Or he opens and closes doors. There is mental rigidity and he limits himself to repetitive acts: they calm him down.
What is happening to him?
It has no symbolic game. What is is.
Don't you fable, don't you imagine?
No. The autistic person does not conceive of deception.
The rest, meanwhile, always deceive.
If I see an autistic child come to the symbolic game, to that one thing represents another... I get excited!
What led you to the study of autism?
I was shocked, at the age of 15, to read a certain book.
What book?
I want to stop being inside me, by Birger Sellin, a German poet, the first autistic person to publish a book: there he recounts his suffering. And I decided to educate myself to alleviate it.
What did you learn first?
That for every ten thousand born there were six autistic: it was the convention 30 years ago.
And today?
The diagnostic range of ASD currently incorporates more symptoms: one in 44 children is born autistic, we agree today.
In Catalonia, then, there would be about 160,000 children; in Spain, a million...
And very badly treated; Europe applies a wrong protocol, a merely school approach. That mistake! That's the equivalent of treating cancer with ibuprofen.
stark comparison.
The ideal would be a sanitary approach. With more resources.
Arguments.
The child does not speak, does not eat, does not sleep, does not control sphincters, has tantrums due to his inability to communicate well... We should intervene intensively!
And so we will cure him?
No.
¿No?
No, but they will learn to interact better and thus gain a better quality of life.
What causes autism?
Mystery. The disorder is innate, but we ignore its origin. Genetics? Heavy metals? Bad stomach-brain link? Risks of assisted reproduction? We do not know. That's why we can't cure it.
From what age can we detect symptoms of ASD?
We usually diagnose it between 18 months and two years.
And what treatment do you propose?
In the United States, Canada and Australia they do it well: the specialist, at the child's home, treats him from 20 to 40 hours a week.
What does the therapist do?
Interacts with the child and his family: making him enjoy himself, teaches him social behaviors, not to harm himself, to interact appropriately...
And the ultimate goal is...?
Match the autistic child in behavior to the typical child.
The statistically normal child, right?
That is, and in 47% of cases. that autistic child treated so well will end up being educated in an ordinary context.
Exit. And the other half, what?
It will reach varying degrees of closeness to neurotypical behavior. And there his companions should be educated to treat the special child in a special way.
Tell me a case.
Look for yourself, on my mobile, this fifteen-year-old girl...
I see her reciting a poem.
This girl was born autistic and... she just won a poetry prize!
Is Messi autistic? I read that.
It fits the Savat syndrome. Since the numbers don't lie, there are autists among mathematicians, architects, engineers... And there are those with photographic memory, too. The autistic person is optimal to focus on a specific mechanical activity.
And are there famous autistics?
Einstein, Picasso, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs... are personalities that fit the autism spectrum disorder.
