Assignment: Neurodevelopmental Disorder Timeline

Autism Spectrum Disorder Your Name Subject and Section Professor’s Name Date Clinical Description Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that becomes apparent in early childhood and does not end in adulthood. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), the diagnosis of ASD requires the presence of specific criteria across two main domains, namely, persistent deficits in social communication and deficits in social interaction (Barlow et al., 2018). Notably, individuals with ASD have issues in social and emotional reciprocity, where there is a lack of an adequate and fluent way to express oneself; nonverbal communicative behavior or muteness and the lack of eye contact; difficulty in creating and maintaining meaningful relationships; the presence of restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities; stereotyped movements such as hand flapping, rocking, or sticking to routine activities; highly restricted interests or extreme focus on one activity.; and high sensory sensitivity as manifested by increased or decreased interaction or response to environmental stimuli (Kuo et al., 2022; Barlow et al., 2018; Hirota & King, 2023). Childhood Implications Presentation In childhood, different diagnostic features of ASD include severe or abnormal patterns of socio-communication development. Also, a child may show no or little eye contact, poor ability to process and interpret body language or gestures, and impaired ability to engage in planned conversations and interactions. For example, a child with ASD may not turn their head when someone calls his/her name, may not point at objects the child is required to or may flap their hands excessively, or may repeat words that he/she has heard (Kuo et al., 2022; Barlow et al., 2018). Effect on Practical Daily Living Skills and Learning Several developmental milestones can be significantly disrupted in children with ASD, including the following: 1) The issue on social skills development entails that the sharing and turn-taking happen in the preoperational stage, and children in groups of two start to play cooperatively by age 3. However, the child with ASD will prefer to play alone or play alongside other children but does not interact with them.; 2) Most little children can use single words and form simple sentences by the time they are two years old.; 3) Later in development, speech is a potential issue and may be delayed in children with ASD; some children with ASD do not speak at all by the age of 5, or they engage in echolalia, which involves repetition of phrases irrespective of actual understanding (Kuo et al., 2022; Barlow et al., 2018). Possible Treatment Options Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) is one of the regular tactics, followed by skill development and modification procedures. ABA can also be helpful with children, as they can understand essential aspects of social relations and communication. Moreover, speech therapy is critical in ensuring that a child learns the proper use of words, and occupational therapy helps manage the child's ability to handle day-to-day tasks and deal with sensory issues (Gitimoghaddam et al., 2022). Adolescent Implications Presentation Children with ASD experience new developmental tasks in terms of social relationships and self-management when they grow up into adolescents. Possible manifestations of the condition may be increased social anxiety, problems in handling relationships and friends, as well as fear and need for independence contrary to the communication disorder. For instance, a teenager with ASD may overestimate the behavior of a companion as being a joke and overreact, resulting in avoiding other people (Barlow et al., ...