The Alarming Increase of Children Diagnosed with Autism Essay

The Alarming Increase of Children Diagnosed with Autism - Essay Example What is autism? Recognized a half century ago (Hanchette), Autism is a developmental disorder that has been deemed very severe and begins anytime between the birth of the child and 2 Â ½ years of age. These children are normal in appearance, but they will engage in various disturbing behaviors that are obviously different than the behaviors of normal children. There are also varying degrees of autism. Those who have less severe cases may be diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) or Asperger’s Syndrome in which the child may have normal speech, but display some social and behavioral problems that are associated with autism (unknown, autism.com/autism). But believe it or not, it was once believed that autism was to be accepted as is because it was thought that nothing could be done about it. But now there have been a variety of treatment methods developed which have proven to be very helpful in leading to great improvement. Yet there is also the unfortunate fact that some treatments may have little or no effect at all on the autistic child (unknown, autism.com/autism). So why was autism thought to be hopeless? Well, for many years autism was thought to be a very rare occurrence. The average number of children born with autism was 5 out of every 10,000 live births (unknown, autism.com/autism). But since the 1990’s, there has been a very noticeable rise in the number of children developing autism. This rise is telling us that there is an average of 60 children out of 10,000 born with autism in which boys outnumber the girls four to one. As of 2007, the Centers for Disease Control reported that 1 in 150 children are diagnosed with autism (unknown, autism.com/autism). To think that in 1992 there were only 2,800 kids with autism in the entire state of California. When 2002 rolled around, that number had increased to 20,400 and as of 2004, the number of autistic children in California reached a staggering 24,000. That is a 440% increase between the years 1994 and 2004. New York is up 200% in the last decade and Pennsylvania has reached a 900% incr ease (Hanchette). It is very obvious with the latest statistics that autism is undergoing a significant rise, which makes it very important that the behavioral and physical signs are recognized as early as possible to ensure the appropriate treatment is administered. It is said that the sooner the child is treated, the better the outcome. With increased awareness of the signs and treatment being administered early, there are autistic children attending regular classrooms and some can live somewhat independently in a community setting. However, autistic people do not lose the impairment that comes along with autism that affects their ability to communicate and socialize successfully. This aspect, unfortunately, continues to haunt them for the duration of their lives. Behavioral signs of autism There are various behavioral signs associated with autism. These signs include: repetitive behaviors, lack of speech, withdrawal from parents or siblings, very little or no social interaction (Hanchette). If the child displays no big smiles or other expressions of joy by six months old, then that is a huge red flag. Another sign is if they do not share facial expressions, sounds or smiles, or if the child has not spoken by 16 months or has used multiple worded phrases with meaning by 24 months, those could all be

Does Music Influence Sexuality Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Does Music Influence Sexuality - Research Paper Example This paper will explore the question as to whether music, or indeed any other media art form, has the power to influence sexuality and bring about sexual expression in its audiences. Discussion Music, like any other art form, is eminently able to evoke emotions in us. That is why you find people moved to tears by violin concertos or entranced by the lifting spirit of trumpets and cymbals in a March composition. Music is a language by itself, but while it has the ability to thrill you or move you emotionally, I have hardly ever heard it being able to stir sexuality in the human mind or body. We may refer to a particular music video as sexy or provocative, but hardly rate its music as so. Take any video by Shakira, or Madonna, or Britney Spears for example. While people talk about it in hushed tones, and berate its sexually explicit content, few would say that the music itself was sexy. The oohs, aahs and other gushes of excitement are linked to our memories of what was transpiring in the videos of the particular song at that moment. It is the video that is sexy, not the music. The notion that sex sells has been used to sell everything from cigarettes to cars, so why leave out music. And right from the time that Queen created ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, the very first English music video, music videos became a more and more important art form. There was even a time when the music didn’t really matter, the videos did. You could have the crappiest music and lyrics, but if you had a good video, with handsome boys and sexy girls doing their thing without a second thought, you had the makings of a hit on MTV. Take Lady Gaga and her ‘Bad Romance’ video. I don’t think I could come up with a worse video if I searched for years. Yet she is a top selling artist, even more famous than Avril Lavigne or Taylor Swift, whose songs and music definitely have more merit. Let us now consider the argument often put forward by parents and politicians that sex and violence has been the mainstay of music videos for some time now. Most likely this started with videos by Madonna, or Prince, or Shakira, in which sexual content and contentions are the order of the day. Look, sex sells and while such videos have often been used by upcoming artists to increase their publicity and shock value, the effect is fleeting. That is because airplay is limited, and competition is fierce in the music industry. Right from the time Madonna burst on the music scene with Like a Virgin, she has been ‘using sexual innuendo to shock audiences’ (Streitmatter, 34). It is like monkey see, monkey do. If we take the lyrics of Shaggy’s ‘It Wasn’t Me’ or Pink’s ‘Fucking Perfect’ or Akon’s ‘She’s Getting Naked’, most of the 40 plus crowd will be shocked to hear the lyrics, much less see the songs on MTV. Yet most of us hardly react with a shrug. It’s all make-believe, w e say, and our kids should know that. But do they really? Let’s say some Lothario or super vixen wants to act this out in real life. Does it catch on, and how bad would it be? I would say the effect would be limited. No one wants to make a fool of themselves or be taken advantage of, no matter what they are doing in the music videos. I for one believe that music does not influence sexuality and sexual expression. There are many positive things that music can do to you. It can lift up your spirits, help you