Running head: ARTICLE REVIEW 1

Article Review

TITUS Koech

Chelsea.d Chandler.d;  Susan Modarai;  

AL 4950

February 17, 2019

ARTICLE REVIEW 2

Article Review #1

Autism Spectrum Disorder in Primary Care

Weill, V., & Zavodny, S. (2018). Autism spectrum disorder in primary care. The Nurse

Practitioner, 43(2), 21-28. doi: 10.1097/01.NPR.0000529670.62188.1a.

The article of Weill and Zavodny (2018) provides a brief overview of the challenges

faced by the clinicians when providing services to patients with an autism spectrum disorder.

Mental health nurse practitioners have high clinical responsibilities when delivering health

care services in a variety of settings. It is important for the clinicians to be responsive to

subtle developmental signs that can lead to early diagnosis of the illness.

People, who suffer from autism spectrum disorder (ASD), represent a group of

patients, the number of which is increasing, and they require physiological and psychological

treatment. These estimates of the authors reveal that ASD is one of the most frequent mental

disorders and therefore, this condition presents one of the main public health concerns (Weill

and Zavodny, 2018). Provision of medical service to patients with ASD can be challenging

and requires the application of a special approach for building communication with such

patients. Weill and Zavodny claim that communication is impaired by repetitive behavior,

restricted interests, and inappropriate responses to stimuli.

The practitioners have also outlined the core symptoms and secondary symptoms of

ASD. The former is represented by impairment of social interactions and communicative

skills, repetitive actions, and rigid interests (Weill & Zavodny, 2018). The secondary

psychological symptoms may include aggression, hyperactivity, insomnia, self-injurious

behavior, depression, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and emotional problems.

Communication with patients is an essential part of medical services provision,

especially when it comes to individuals suffering from mental disorders. Therefore, the work

of Weill and Zavodny has focused on the development of comprehensive treatment and
ARTICLE REVIEW 3

management plan for patients with ASD. The scholars have discovered that individuals can

become hypersensitive or hyposensitive to selective stimuli. For instance, some patients with

ASD can be too sensitive to smells or have tactile defensiveness. Therefore, nurse

practitioners should consider these aspects, when managing encounters with such patients. It

is important to reduce the effect of external stimuli as much as possible, because they may

overwhelm the sensory system of ASD patients and prevent them from effective

communication. The researchers highlight that the following factors may be a source of

distraction or irritation: bright or flashing lights, loud noises, strong smells, unfamiliar

textures, and non-verbal behavior (Weill & Zavodny, 2018). Individuals with ASD have

deficits in social communication and therefore, speech and language therapy should be an

integral part of their management framework. The latter suggests the use of augmentative and

alternative communication methods, such as gestures, pictures, and sign language, to help the

patients develop useful speech skills.

The article of Weill and Zavodny (2018) has set a good background for further

investigation of the topic. The authors have provided a solid description of the challenges the

practitioners can face while providing service to ASD patients. Additionally, the scholars

have explained which symptoms of the autism spectrum disorder have caused these

challenges. Moreover, the scholars have made an attempt to develop a treatment plan that

would account for possible deficits in communication.

Article Review # 2

Mental Health Treatment for People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Weiss, A. Baker, J., & Butter, E. (2016). Mental health treatment for people with autism

spectrum disorder (ASD). American Psychological Association.

ARTICLE REVIEW 4

The article by Weiss, Baker, and Butter also raises the issue of the importance of

communication with patients who have mental disorders. The scholars claim that it is the

responsibility of clinicians to optimize communication that is essential for the provision of

health care services. Therefore, the work is centered around the development of strategies for

building effective communication with ASD patients.

The research emphasizes that the visual pathway is the most appropriate method that

can facilitate communication with the patient. To reduce the effect of sensory stimuli, the

practitioners should speak in low, quiet voice and break their speech into small pieces, which

facilitates procession of information. While asking questions is a necessary aspect of

treatment, nurse practitioners should avoid open-ended questions. To avoid misunderstanding

and ensure adequate responses, practitioners should also avoid metaphors, jargons, slang,

analogies, and idioms (Weiss, Baker, & Butter, 2016).

The article also suggests that patients should be provided with adequate time for the

processing of information. The nurse practitioners should consider the specificities of

communication style observed in ASD patients. The medical staff should be aware that these

persons have limited eye contact, and are not able to predict the desired answers, have no

recognition of personal space, and may use some phrases incorrectly (Weiss, Baker, &

Butter, 2016). Thus, practitioners should constantly observe the patients' behavior and

carefully listen to them.

Management of emotional and behavioral outbursts is another important aspect of

building effective communication with ASD patient. The emotional breakdown may occur

when the patient is unable to process the message sent by the clinician properly. The patient

may exhibit irritation, aggression, refuse to respond to the questions, ignore requests, or ask

for clarification. In such cases, the clinical framework suggests to repeat the message, modify

it, or recast (Weiss, Baker, & Butter, 2016). A recast requires the practitioner to rephrase the
ARTICLE REVIEW 5

message in such a way that it would not contain any words that have been used to form the

previous message. The use of such strategies will help reduce the harmful effects of

communication breakdown and build effective interaction with the patient. Parent training is

a significant aspect of the treatment and management plan that should be considered by the

clinicians. Family involvement plays an important role in the development of intervention

programs for children with ASD. Thus, the nurse practitioners should educate parents about

the needs for an intervention program to facilitate effective two-way communication flow.

The article by Weiss, Baker, and Butter is of great practical value. The authors have

proposed several strategies that would help the nurse practitioners to build effective

communication with ASD patients. Due to the physiological and psychological manifests of

their condition, they experience difficulties in establishing social interactions. The researchers

have equipped the medical practitioners with a set of tools that would help to optimize

communication and make the treatment more effective.