Question

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

1)Give at least 8 to 10 nursing interventions and rationales for the disorder/disease

- Must be mental health related – Cite Interventions/Rationales

2) provide with Patient, Family, or Community teaching needs

- at least 6 - 7

3) Provide Diagnostic criteria as outlined by DSM-V

4)Provide Medical treatment for disorder

please cite the sources.

Answer 1

1.Nursing interventions for autism

• Work with the child on a one-to-one basis and assign limited number of caregivers to the child. Rational (R) - The child will develop a sense of acceptance with the care givers
• Give positive reinforcement for eye contact with something acceptable to the child . R- it helps the child in conveying non verbal expressions.
• Teach simple self-care skills by using behavior modification techniques. R=Autistic children have personal identity disturbance and need to be assisted to recognize separateness during self-care activities, such as dressing and feeding.
• Determine if self -mutilitative behavior occurs .R= This could happen in response to increasing anxiety.
• Intervene with diversion or replacement activities as anxiety levels starts to rise. R= These activities may provide needed feelings of security and substitute for self- mutilative behavior.
• Eliminate unnecessary clinic visits. R=The physical demands of traveling on an appointment.
• Assess the primary and referred means of communication such as verbal, written and gestures. R=May have skill with many forms of communication, yet they will prefer one method for important communication.

2

• The goals of therapy for a child with ASD and their family include advocating for parent support and coping groups.
• Using focused techniques and behavior management.
• Implementing treatment that decrease maladaptive behaviors.

2

Parents with autistic children are so busy meeting the needs of their child that they forget themselves. It is essential to teach the parents to acknowledge about their own emotions and to deal with the impact of autism their child is suffering from. They should be taught that autism being a multifaceted condition will not change the way that you look at your child, instead change your perspective of looking into things. Teach them to enroll themselves in support groups and educate themselves so that they can keep going. Appreciate the small victories made by your child and spend quality time with your children and spouse and refrain yourself from speaking and thinking about autism all the time.

3.Diagnostic criteria

• Persistent deficits in social communication and social interactions across multiple contexts, as manifested by the following, currently or by history.
• Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior interests, or activities, as manifested by at least two of the following ,currently or by history.
• Symptoms must be present in the early developmental period( but may not become fully manifest until social demands exceed limited capacities or maybe masked by learned strategies in later life)
• Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning.
• These disturbances are not better explained by intellectual disability or global developmental delays.

4.Pharmacotherapy is a valuable treatment for associated symptoms like aggression, temper tantrums, self-injurious behavior, hyperactivity and stereotype behavior. Some drugs that have been used are risperidone, serotonin specific reuptake inhibitors, clomiprsmine and lithium.

Behavioal methods include contigency management may control some of the abnormal behavior of autistic children. The term contingency management refers to a group of procedures based on the principle that, if any behavior persists, certain of its consequences are reinforcing it.