Development of Emotional Enhancement Intervention for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that can cause significant impairment in one’s neurological system and affect the individual cognitive, social and emotional condition. International Classification of Diseases (ICD 11) which was developed and released by the World Health Organization (WHO  2018) has given an updated on the criteria for autism. As per the updated ICD 11 guidelines, ASD is characterized as the continues deficiencies in the ability to initiate and continue the social interaction and communication with a range of restricted, repetitive pattern of behaviour. The onset of this disorder occurs in early childhood and tend to continue throughout the person’s life. It severely causes significant impairment in one’s personal, family, and social life. To enable the quality of life of individuals with ASD;  The Rights Of The Persons With Disabilities Act, 2016 which is also called RPWD act 2016 passed in the parliament under The Ministry of Law and Justice in India on December 2016 recognized autism spectrum disorder as one of the 21 disabilities.  It ensures the empowerment of disability individual’s full participation and inclusion in the society with non-discrimination, respect for their different ability and accepting them as a human being. There are many interventions for ASD available in different cultural and environmental settings which range from behaviour, development, medicine and alternative therapy. Some therapeutic interventions combine several different types such as a combination of cognitive behavioural and developmental approaches method. Behaviour-based approaches in ASD focuses on teaching children new behaviour and skills by using behaviour modification techniques. These procedures are the best performing devices for creating abilities and empowering proper behaviour. But emotional regulation is a complex domain requiring the recognition of key elements in social situations and a set of interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. Poor emotional regulation,  social interactions and school engagements in children with ASD may be a result of the deficits in social communication, restrictive/repetitive interests, and behaviour.  The cognitive and behavioural aspects of treating children with ASD by various intervention techniques provided significant improvement in their normal functioning. The advanced research carried out in the medical field on autism contributed a lot in terms of accurate diagnosis and to find the level of functioning such as mild, moderate or severe. All of the above yielded theoretical and empirical evidence for the effort carried out over the decade by numerous mental health professionals but still, it does not provide the comprehensive treatment outcome because of the least focuses on emotional communication. Children with autism frequently find it hard to perceive and control emotions. Their ability in the area of emotional reciprocity can be improved, which thus can assist them with comprehension and react in an appropriate way to different people. As of now, no treatment has been appeared to cure ASD, yet a few interventions have been developed and implemented for the benefit of children with ASD. These interventions may reduce symptoms, improve cognitive ability and daily living functioning, and boost the capacity of the children to work and participate in the social gathering. Research shows that early intervention treatment can altogether improve a child’s general development which I am trying to bring it in the one of the most important domain on human emotion. It assists the child to develop the self-regulation, social relationship and emotional reciprocity with which their overall development can be improved. The emotional domain on children with autism is least focused in terms of interventional aspect hence this study will exclusively focus on the enhancement of emotional regulation in children with ASD.