Part 1
The objective of trying to find out whether everybody is somewhere on the autism spectrum led to the observation of two family members. This included my siblings yyyy and xxxx. The observation revealed various aspects of their communication, behavior, and social interaction. To begin with, yyy is 16 years old and is currently in high school. YYY has an obsession for video games. There are times when he will play video games for a long period if uninterrupted. He does not have any problem playing on his own. YYY also has the tendency of responding to social interactions, but rarely initiates them. The moment you bring up something he will contribute in various ways, but rarely will he be the source of these interactions. His prospect of sharing experiences and observations is also limited. He has the aptness of only being open to people that he feels close to. The proximity seems to give him more comfort and confidence.
XXX on the other hand, is nine years old. She has never shown interest in playing with dolls or other objects that children her age would be fond of. On occasions, she leaves the company of her friends the moment they start to play games that do not interest her. However, she is friendly and accommodative. She has a lot of friends with whom they spend a lot of time together. With her age, it is quite weird that she is very interested with house chores. There is no moment when you will find something out of place if she is in the room. She is generally very clean and neat. She has the inclination to arrange things in the house even when nobody else is taking interest. There are times when she makes everyone feel guilty of the small things that we take for granted. However, she is never upset since other people are not following in her footsteps. She just takes the pleasure of doing it on behalf of other people.
Part 2
The hypothesis that everybody is somewhere on the Autism spectrum is not true. This is based on the observations that I made on my siblings. In the case of yyy, the obsession with video games is something that is quite prevalent in many teenage boys in the current generation. They always seem to derive pleasure from this activity. This is just like a hobby and people tend to get more involved with their hobbies. It would be safe to say that yyy is an introvert. This explains why his interactions with other people seem to be minimal. The moment something is introduced, she is usually receptive. The only problem is that he will rarely initiate the interactions. Yyy’s tendency of only being open to people he is close to is also understandable. This is because it is easier for anyone to trust people that they know well. From this observation, it would be misleading to conclude that yyy demonstrates aspects of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Conducting clinical tests would help determine this aspect with certainty.
XxX’s behaviors do not demonstrate aspects of autism disorder too. She does not show interest in playing most games that children enjoy, but this does not mean that she has autistic attributes. This is because she is friendly with her peers and interacts with them often. It might also be an indication that she is maturing rapidly, and that is why she seems not to be interested in various games. The tendency of being neat and ensuring that everything is in order could mean that she is well-organized. Her symptoms are synonymous with the mild obsessive compulsive disorder.
Some of the characteristics associated with ASD can be prevalent in people, but this does not mean that they are somewhere on the Autism Spectrum. It is favorable to conduct clinical tests in order to ascertain this aspect.
Part 2.5
Yyy is an introvert. Introversion is a behavior that would be targeted. It is a target behavior since it affects his social life in many ways. While in the house, yyy is playing video games like now and then. He is more comfortable while playing alone. He does not mind when some of his friends are around, though. Most of the times, he is not even aware of the things going on in the family. The propensity of failing to initiate social interaction is also an example that showcases attributes of introversion. The aspect of being poor with socialization might be detrimental with time. It might diminish his self-esteem due to the inability to initiate interactions in future. As a result, the introversion behavior should be changed.
Among the ways that this can be achieved is reducing the time he plays video games while in the house. Limiting this time will ensure that he gets more time to interact with other family members. Another helpful strategy is ensuring that he spends more time with friends. This will help him improve when it comes to sharing his observations and experiences. Along the way, he will also meet new people, and he will learn the art of initiating social interactions.
The observations were made for 2 days, and the tally marks indicate the number of times within that week when that particular behavior was observed.
YYY’s Tally Marks
Activity | Frequency (Number of times) |
Playing video games alone | |||| ||| |
Failure to Initiate interactions | |||| |
Failure to share experiences | |||| |
YYY’s Graph
XXX’s Tally Marks
Activity | Frequency (Number of times) |
Avoiding playing games | ||||| |
Tiding the house | |||| |||| |
XXX’s Graph
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