Social Anxiety and Autism Essays

Social Anxiety and Autism Essays Social Anxiety and Autism Paper Social Anxiety and Autism Paper In the journal Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, Scott Bellini examines the prevalence of social anxiety in teenagers with autism and Asperger’s Syndrome in his study entitled â€Å"The Development of Social Anxiety in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum.† The author seeks to answer the question, â€Å"Does the combination of social skill deficits and physiological arousal make a significant contribution to the variance in social anxiety?†Ã‚   Basically, his thesis is that both a lack of social skills and a higher prevalence of physiological arousal does contribute in a significant way to the social anxiety levels of adolescents with autism and Asperger’s.   Specifically, Bellini asserts that adolescents with ASD do have higher levels of physiological arousal which makes is â€Å"more likely that the individual will become overwhelmed by interactions with others/† The author supports his thesis first with a discussion of other studies which have addressed certain aspects of his theses.   First, he notes that recent studies do show that people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) do have higher levels of anxiety than people without ASD which can create difficulties in life.   These difficulties can approach debilitating in that they often produce fear, isolation, thoughts of suicide and substance abuse tendencies.  Ã‚   Another study found that children with autism scored higher on anxiety tests than children with other learning disabilities. The author defines social anxiety, then, as â€Å"an intense fear of social situations or performance situations where embarrassment may occur.† He goes on to identify two subcategories of social anxiety:   performance based anxieties and social interaction anxieties.   The author notes a study which found that children with ASD have a more difficult time regulating their own levels of physiological arousal in stressful situations and are more likely to be â€Å"adversely conditioned by negative social interactions. Many studies have asserted that the function of the body’s limbic system can contribute to this situation, specifically, the amygdale.   According to one cited study, the amygdale helps regulate the emotional impact of sensory input such as facial expressions and other types of cues.   If this amygdale is not functioning properly, then the person will be unable to react appropriately socially and emotionally.   This may cause him to avoid social situations. Studied forty-one adolescents, aged 12 to 18,   with ASD; nineteen had autism and sixteen had Asperger’s Syndrome.   Their IQs were all within the normal level.   Each participant was given measurements to assess their levels of social anxiety.   These included the Social Skills Rating System, the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents, and the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children. They then measured physiological arousal, social skill deficits, and social Bellini found that the levels of social anxiety may begin with poor experiences with social interactions but that they are definitely exacerbated by physiological tendencies.   He says, â€Å"social anxiety may be the result of aversive social experiences, but the impact of these experiences may be mitigated by a combination of temperamental characteristics and the environmental supports available to the individual.† He closed by noting his own small sample size, but feeling that his study will be helpful to those that are seeking to continue the study of social anxiety in ASD patients. Bellini, S. (2006). The Development of Social Anxiety in Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities 21(3), 138-145

Learn About Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones

Learn About Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones A tropical storm is a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds of at least 34 knots (39 mph or 63 kph). Tropical storms are given official names once they reach these wind speeds. Beyond 64 knots (74 mph or 119 kph), a tropical storm is called a hurricane, typhoon, or cyclone based on the storm location.   Tropical Cyclones A  tropical cyclone  is a fast-spinning storm system  that has a  low-pressure  center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation,  strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of  thunderstorms  that produce heavy rain.   Tropical cyclones tend to form over large bodies of fairly warm water, typically oceans or gulfs. They get their energy from the evaporation of  water  from the  ocean  surface, which ultimately  recondenses  into  clouds  and rain when moist air rises and cools to  saturation. Tropical cyclones are typically between 100 and 2,000  kilometers in diameter. Tropical  refers to the geographical origin of these systems, which form almost exclusively over  tropical  seas.  Cyclone  refers to their cyclonic nature, with wind blowing  counterclockwise  in the  Northern Hemisphere  and clockwise in the  Southern Hemisphere. In addition to strong winds and rain, tropical cyclones can create high waves, damaging  storm surge, and  tornadoes. They typically weaken rapidly over land where they are cut off from their primary energy source. For this reason, coastal regions are particularly vulnerable to damage from a tropical cyclone as compared to inland regions. Heavy rains, however, can cause significant flooding inland, and storm surges can produce extensive coastal  flooding  up to 40 kilometers from the coastline.   When They Form Worldwide, tropical cyclone activity peaks in late summer, when the difference between temperatures aloft and sea surface temperatures is the greatest. However, each particular basin has its own seasonal patterns. On a worldwide scale, May is the least active month, while September is the most active month. November is the only month in which all the  tropical cyclone basins  are active. Warnings and Watches A tropical storm warning is an announcement that sustained winds of 34 to 63 knots (39 to 73 mph or 63 to 118 km/hr) are  expected  somewhere within the specified area within 36 hours in association with a  tropical,  subtropical, or  post-tropical  cyclone. A tropical storm watch is an announcement that sustained winds of 34 to 63 knots (39 to 73 mph or 63 to 118 km/hr) are  possible  within the specified area within 48 hours in association with a  tropical,  subtropical, or  post-tropical  cyclone. Naming of Storms Using names to identify tropical storms goes back many years, with systems named after places or things they hit before the formal start of naming. The credit for the first use of personal names for weather systems is generally given to the  Queensland Government  Meteorologist  Clement Wragge  who named systems between 1887-1907. People stopped naming storms after Wragge retired, but it was revived in the latter part of  World War II  for the Western Pacific. Formal naming schemes have subsequently been introduced for the  North and South Atlantic, Eastern, Central, Western and Southern Pacific basins  as well as the  Australian region  and the  Indian Ocean.