This document summarizes research on autism and discusses the experiences of Tito Mukhopadhyay, an autistic author. It covers topics like motor skills, repetitive behaviors, sensory issues, aggression, social anxiety, independence, and mastery of skills over time. The document analyzes Tito's development and how, with support from his mother and others, he was able to improve his communication and contribute to society through writing about his experiences with autism.

1. Author: Tito Mukhopadhyay
Created by: Amanda Anderson
Athens Technical College
Human Growth and Development Phycology

2. Emotional
Physical
Social
Cognitive

3.  The severity of autism is correlated with the
severity of their motor skills.
 Tito showed severe autism in his gross motor
skills when not being able to put on his shirt.
 He showed severe autism in fine motor skills
when trying to hold a pencil.

4.  Improvement in motor skills suggests
improvement in autism severity.
 Even though it is hard for him to learn motor
skills, he does end up mastering them through
hard work.
 He learned to put his shirt on and eventually
wrote novels with using a pencil.

5.  Repetitive behaviors and obsessions are higher
in autistic individuals.
 These behaviors include movements, repetitive
language, routine and strong desire for the
same environments.
 Tito showed repetition in movements by
having an obsession in climbing up down
stairs.

6.  He showed repetition in routine by wanting to
go on the train everyday.
 Although he could not talk he showed
repetition in his thoughts
 He showed repetition in environment by
needed to go to the train station so badly
everyday.

7.  Hyposensitive and hypersensitive behavior in
autism.
 Tito’s ability to develop normally was affected
by these sensory difficulties.
 Tito showed an hypersensitive behavior when
staring for hours jut looking at the ceiling fan.

8.  He showed an exaggeration with the sensory of
touch as well as vision. He would turn on and
off the light switches until forced to stop.
 he displayed hyposensitive behavior when
screaming in a tantrum. When he creamed he
could only hear his screams.
 Also showing a lack of sensory when having a
man read to him he did not know. He could
not hear the man read.

9.  Aggression in autism comes from the need to
voice their feelings
 Autistic individuals who learn to communicate
better reduce their aggressive behaviors.
 Because Tito could not talk he often felt
frustration that would lead to anger.

10.  When his teacher told him good job he took
that as an insult and showed his frustration by
ripping his shirt.
 The only communication he had between his
mother was through a letter board, which lead
to aggression towards her at times.
 As he became older, his language also
improved a little, which lead to him having
friends.

11.  Autistic individuals use pictures as a main
thought process and in performing duties.
 To Tito the mirror on the wall spoke to him
through the reflection of colors in his room.
 In his mind he heard what he saw.

12.  In autism, individuals struggle with word
representation and as a result they souly relay
on visuals.
 Tito amazed people in how fast he could solve
the hardest puzzles.
 He used also described his feelings about
people in colors. He described his neighbor as
having a smile of the ugly yellow.

13.  Greater social anxiety without the fear of
another’s opinion.
 Autistic individuals tend to have a lot anxiety
associated with many phobias.
 Tito had anxiety in not being able to look at
someone in the eye.

14.  Being around new people made him anxious
 Become anxious from the phobia of losing his
shadow.
 Had a fear that caused anxiety from not being
able to predict what might happen.

15.  Autistic individuals do well in the skills of self-
awareness/self knowledge and acationly in
goal setting skills.
 Skills such as decision making/problem
solving, leadership/self advocacy and self
management/self regulation are difficult.
 Tito is able to be independent, having his own
thoughts about life as an individuals and
setting his own goals.

16.  Tito shows his independence by having his
own ideals of autism. He had a goal to give
people his perspective of autism.
 With the help of his mother he was able to
reach his goal by writing his novel about his
ideas on autism.
 He contributes to society, despite autism by
giving people a new understanding about
autism through his book.

17.  If more emphasis was put on the five skills that
cause difficulty, it could lead to better mastery.
 Even though Tito was unresponsive to people
even to his mother, she still continued to teach
him these seven skills.
 Even when people discarded him as unable, his
mother early on pushed him to learn.

18.  Sociocultural Theory by Vygotsky
 Vygotsky emphasized the influence of culture
and more experienced adult teaching as ways
of learning.
 Tito wanted to learn the ways of his culture
and with the help of his mother and speech
therapist he was able accomplish this.

19.  Some individuals reach normal behavior limits
with only some struggles in concentration,
language and controlling emotion.
 Although Tito will always be autistic, he has
improved from the severity of his symptoms
and will continue improving.
 He learned to begin talking a little, was able to
make friends and talked about his pursuit for
independence.

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