World Autism Day, Sunday.
There are 200 million autistic people in the world.
Autism, what is it?
One word: it includes very diverse behaviors.
More than autism...autisms?
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD), the Everest of child psychopathology.
What behaviors does it include?
Three basic ones, and all three make interpersonal relationships and sociability difficult.
And.
A speech with little language and little functionality.
Of the.
A very weak social interaction.
Three.
Stereotyped acts.
Can you give me an example?
The child lines up pieces or prams, rigidly. Or it turns on itself. Or open and close a door. There is mental rigidity and he is limited to repetitive acts, because they calm him down.
what is happening to him
It has no symbolic play. What is, is.
No fable, no imagine?
No. Autistic people do not understand deception.
The rest, on the other hand, always cheat.
If I see an autistic child reach the symbolic game, 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.
which book
I want to stop being an insider, by Birger Sellin, German poet, first autistic to publish a book: he relates his suffering. And I decided to educate myself to alleviate it.
What did you learn first?
That for every ten thousand births there were six autistics: it was the convention 30 years ago.
And today?
The diagnostic range of ASDs now includes more symptoms: one in every 44 children is born autistic, we agree today.
In Catalonia, therefore, there would be around 160,000 children; in Spain, a million...
And badly treated; Europe applies a wrong protocol, only educational. What a mistake! It's like treating cancer with ibuprofen.
A severe comparison.
The ideal would be a healthcare approach, from the health system. With more resources.
Arguments.
The child does not speak, does not eat, does not sleep, does not control sphincters, suffers rebuke due to his inability to communicate well... We should intervene intensively!
And so we will cure him?
No.
No?
No, but he will learn to interact better and thus gain more quality of life.
What causes autism?
mystery The disorder is innate, but we ignore its origin. Genetics? Heavy metals? Bad stomach-brain connection? Risks of assisted reproduction? We do not know. That's why we can't cure him.
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, in the child's home, treats him for 20 to 40 hours a week.
What does the therapist do?
He interacts with the child and his family: making him have fun, teaching him social behaviors, not to self-harm, to interrelate appropriately...
And the ultimate goal is...?
Match the autistic child in typical child behavior.
To the statistically normal child, right?
Exactly, and in 47% of the cases that autistic child treated so well will end up being schooled in an ordinary context.
A success And the other half, what?
It will reach varying degrees of closeness to neurotypical behavior. And here his peers should be educated to treat the special child in a special way.
Tell me a case.
Look for yourself, on my mobile, this 15-year-old girl...
I see her reciting a poem.
This little girl was born autistic and... just won a poetry prize!
Is Messi autistic? I read this.
Fits into the Savat syndrome. Because the numbers don't lie, there are autistics among mathematicians, architects, engineers... And there are some with a photographic memory, too. Autistic people are optimal for focusing on a specific mechanical activity.
And are there famous autists?
Einstein, Picasso, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs... are personalities who fit into the autistic spectrum disorder.
