Peculiarities in Education of the Autists - Term Paper Example

Autism and Education Introduction Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by impaired development of communication skills and repetitive behavior. This disorder appears in the first three years of life. Autism alters the functioning of nerve cells and their synapses and ultimately impacts the brain’s information processing system. As per the DSM-IV-TR criteria (as cited in Jimerson, McNerney, Fredeen, and Brookman (2002), the major symptoms of autism include qualitative impairment in social interaction, quantitative impairment in communication, repetitive behavior, lack of social reciprocity, and idiosyncratic language. Autism diagnosis is based on behavior but not mechanism. The Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale are the two major autism diagnostic instruments available. However, there are many ethical issues associated with autism diagnosis, and the situation notably reduces the scope of the diagnosis. This paper will discuss various ethical issues associated with the autism diagnosis, scope of the diagnosis, and ways to improve the situation by focusing on perspectives from two distinct professions including teaching and medical field. History and Prevalence The history of social and ethical issues associated with autism diagnosis can be dated back to several decades. Autism is sometimes extremely difficult to identify due to its diverse range of symptoms and heterogeneity. As Marchant and Robert (2009) point out, autism screening measures are historically based on behavioral data such as parental reports, clinician observations, and developmental questionnaires: and these screening measures are not much effective for diagnosis of individuals having milder autistic spectrum disorders like Asperger’s disorder or high functioning autism. In order to overcome those limitations, some genetic testing approaches have been developed. However, all genetic testing and behavioral data approaches have their own ethical and social issues from the perspectives of teaching profession and medical profession. Hence, the ethical/social issues related to autism diagnosis techniques become potential constraints to further researches on this field. With the emergence of internet and other improved telecommunication channels, ethical aspects have further raised constraints to autism testing methodologies since media often gives a negative image to genetics based diagnosing methods. In addition to media, many social reformers, politicians, and other reputed professionals point out ethical issues concerning autism diagnosis. This problem has been a matter of focus in the field of education also since ethical aspects relating to autism testing prevent teachers from effectively addressing this issue. Despite all awareness programs conducted for people regarding the necessity of autism diagnosis, ethical issues remain to be an impediment to the advancement of autism treatment sector. Assessment and Intervention Disciplines In this session, assessment and intervention disciplines are analyzed by giving focus on three helping professions including teaching, medical field, and other nonprofit interest groups. In a school setting, teachers can play a notable role in treating autism affected children. Psychologists suggest that teachers have to adhere to some strict disciplines while working to assess, intervene, and treat this issue. Primarily, teachers should be aware of various symptoms of autism as it is necessary for them to identify children with autism through daily classroom observations. The individualized education program (IEP) requires teachers to jointly work with parents and school psychologists to address the issue of autism (WebMD). In order to effectively treat autism in a classroom setting, teachers must know the various behavioral intervention strategies. More precisely, teacher must ensure that intervention mechanisms do not discriminate autism victims from other students. Sometimes it may become necessary for teachers to place autism affected students in special education settings. Under such circumstances, teachers must make sure that students do not feel inferior to others and instead they get enough chances to mingle with other students. Similarly, healthcare professionals should also comply with some disciplines to avoid ethical issues associated with autism diagnosis. A recent study by a group of British scientists indicates that prenatal testing can be used to diagnose the possibilities of autism at an early stage. Since the ethics of prenatal testing is already a highly debated topic, this invention has raised calls for an ethical debate. Hence, healthcare professionals must obtain prior parental consent to apply prenatal testing or other genetics based method to diagnose autism. According to the American Psychological Association, psychologists who are dealing with autism diagnosis and intervention must have adequate mental ability as their professional judgments and actions are likely to affect the lives of victims (Autism treatment). Similarly, other independent interest groups also should strictly abide by the code of ethics proposed by the American Psychological Association while working to curb autism issues. According to Prof. Baron (as cited in News Medical,2009), the director of the Cambridge research team, time is up for the society to determine if prenatal test is desirable for diagnosing autism. The new findings of the research team was that “high levels of testosterone in the amniotic fluid of pregnant women was linked to autistic traits, such as a lack of sociability and verbal skills in their children by the time they reached age eight” (News Medical,2009). Referring to the result of the research, Prof. Baron proposes debates on the relevance of prenatal test, and he believes that the finding is potential enough for drug companies to develop treatments for autism since there are already drugs that can obstruct testosterone. Educational Background for Professionals In addition to the ethical compliance, professionals concerned (education and medical field) should possess the stated educational qualifications. According to Winerman, the Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) is an effective treatment program that focuses on a one-on-one instruction approach and spends 40 hours per week. Application of ABA principles in a classroom setting would greatly promote the efficiency and economic feasibility of autism intervention programs in schools. Hence, teachers must be well well-informed of the ABA theory and techniques. There are a number of training facilities available to teachers who work with autism affected students. Although a range of classroom based intervention policies have been developed for students with autism, none of them is effective enough for every autistic student. Hence, teachers must be efficient and skillful enough to develop distinctive intervention mechanisms for individual autistic students. Practices show that special education teachers can effectively deal with autism intervention in a classroom setting. In the field of healthcare, a specific degree or license is not suggested for professional psychologists dealing with autism. The professional psychologists dealing with autism must achieve a doctorate in psychology, special education, or behavioral analysis. In addition, those professionals should have adequate working experiences in applied behavior analysis. Furthermore, autism practitioners should obtain a deep knowledge about the code of ethics concerning the autism diagnosis and treatment. For other independent autism service providers, a range of training packages is provided by national bodies including Autism Treatment Center of America and US Department of Health and Human Services. Ethical Implications As mentioned above, autism professionals playing an interventionist role in autism need to face numerous potential issues, especially in treatment diagnosis. The fact that this disorder generally affects children increases the degree of ethical and social concerns related to this social issue. According to researchers, genetic factors associated with autism susceptibility are of great help in genetic epidemiological studies. It has been also proven that autism is heavily related to the interaction of a number of environmental as well as genetic factors. Hence, a genetics based study approach would help to discover the potential environmental causes of autism. However, it is necessary for clinical practitioners to get prior consent from parents to apply genetic testing methods in children for diagnosing autism. In the view of Marchant and Robert, in some contexts, healthcare professionals cannot disclose test results to the affected child’s parents because such a disclosure may often involve a chance of psychological stress, misunderstanding, and/or misuse of information by external parties. From an autonomy perspective, every individual has the right to obtain their genetic information if they desire. Debates are still on the ethics of keeping genetic information secret. Strouse states that “another issue of relevance regarding informed consent to genetic research on complex disorders, including studies of gene-environment interactions, is the scientific desirability, but ethical quagmire, of consent to future use of genetic samples and associated environmental data, whether de-identified or not” (as cited in Marchant and Robert). Similarly, many people argue that the prenatal testing based autism diagnosis process is likely to cause many serious issues, particularly abortion. Parents would terminate a pregnancy if they come to know that the embryo is likely to develop an autistic child. Likewise, teachers also face a series of ethical issues while dealing with the treatment of autistic children. It is obvious that autism affected children cannot par with the academic excellence of other normal students. However, untrained teachers may not give specific focus on autistic students and this situation will obviously hurt autism victims’ right to study. In addition, sometimes teachers may be forced to place autistic students in special classroom settings to give more focus to their intellectual development. Many people argue that such a practice clearly comes under discrimination. In a classroom environment, students are less likely to communicate or interact with their colleagues with autism since autistic students’ responsive ability is lower than other normal students. This situation in turn may further affect the victims’ development of social and communication skills. Suggestions In order to avoid all ethical constraints associated with autism diagnosis, firstly it is necessary to make people aware of the increasing prevalence of autism. For this purpose, professionals working with this issue have to convince people about the complications of this disorder. In case of education sector, teachers and school administrators must take initiatives to convince parents regarding the environmental causes of this disorder. Once parents are aware of the genetic contribution to autism, they may support genetic autism testing approaches including prenatal testing. It is recommendable for school authorities to show documentaries or short films depicting the risks of autism during parents meeting or on world autism awareness day (2nd April). In addition, school management should obtain consent from autistic students’ parents before arranging separate classroom settings for those students. However, they must get a friendly classroom environment and a common platform to mingle with other students. Similarly, healthcare professionals should not use any genetic approaches to diagnose autism for children unless they obtain prior consent from parents. It is clear that healthcare practitioners can more easily convince parents regarding the essentiality of autism diagnosis. It is recommendable for practitioners to disclose each and every possible information to parents as this approach would increase parents’ confidence level in the medical procedures. As per the reports of Australian Psychological Society, new Medicare items are made available from 1st July 2008 for the diagnosis of autism or any other developmental disorders; and these services are to be provided by “eligible psychologists, speech pathologists and occupational therapists, on referral from a consultant psychiatrist or pediatrician” (APS, n. d.). Outcomes This research has covered interdisciplinary ethical issues associated with autism diagnosis in the field of education and healthcare. This research clearly illustrates that professionals working on autism need to face a range of ethical dilemmas as this disorder generally strikes children. The most striking idea obtained from this study is that parental consent is of great importance in dealing with autism diagnosis and intervention practices. If professionals (teachers or psychologists) get prior consent from parent, ethical problems can be avoided to a great extent. A combined effort from the part of healthcare practitioners and school authorities/teachers are necessary to improve the country’s autism status. The research reflects that parents-based awareness programs are essential to promote genetic based autism diagnosis practices in the country. It is also observed that professionals dealing with autism intervention should have adequate skills and experience; otherwise, diagnosis and intervention practices may cause adverse impacts on victims. Evidently, the Australian initiative in this regard is highly admirable, for The Australian Psychological Society collaborates with various other organizations like ‘Allied Health Professionals Australia, Speech Pathology Australia, and OT Australia’ in order to intensify the promotion of evidence based practice in the ‘care’, and for the effective introduction of the Medicare items (APA, n. d.). Evidently, many of people’s conventional beliefs become potential barriers to diagnosing and treating this disorder. Admittedly, developments in the field of medical science will be of no use unless people are willing to change their attitude toward various diagnosis and intervention approaches. Conclusion Educational and healthcare professionals face numerous issues while dealing with autism diagnosis because many people hold the view that genetic based diagnosis approaches are unethical. The recently developed prenatal testing approach is highly debated since many people argue that this method would raise abortion rate. In order to improve autism treatment practices, professionals have to strictly comply with a set of disciplines. Teachers must ensure that they do not discriminate students on the basis of this disorder whereas healthcare practitioners should specifically try to serve patients’ basic individual rights. Health professionals must acquire a doctorate in behavioral analysis or other relevant subjects to be qualified for treating autism while teachers need to get some special training packages that would make them aware of the standards like ABA. It is advisable for the school management to make use of documentaries and short films to make parents aware of the necessity of autism diagnosis. References American Psychological Association Code of Ethics. (2010). Autism Information for Practitioners, Parents & Professionals. Retrieved from http://www.travisithompson.net/frequentquestions/Ethics/ Australian Psychological Association. Helping children with autism. Retrieved from http://www.psychology.org.au/practitioner/resources/autism/ Jimerson, S. R., McNerney, E., Fredeen, R & Brookman, L. (2002). Autism. Retrieved from http://www.education.ucsb.edu/jimerson/aut.html Marchant, G. E & Robert, J. S. (2009). Genetic testing for autism predisposition: Ethical, legal, and social challenges. Houston Journal of Health Law & Policy. Retrieved from http://www.law.uh.edu/hjhlp/Issues/Vol_92/Marchant.pdf News Medical. (2009). Possible test for autism raises calls for an ethical debate. Retrieved from http://www.news-medical.net/news/2009/01/12/44865.aspx Winerman, L. (2004). Effective education for autism. Psychologists are working to help struggling schools--faced with limited budgets and increasing enrollment--educate children with autism. American Psychological Association, 35, (11): 46. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/dec04/autism.aspx WebMD. (n. d.). Individualized educational programs for autism victims. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/individualized-education-programs-ieps-for-autism Read More