Autism Treatments That Work

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Recently, on Malaysian news, was a story about a boy in Kampung Kuala Sanglang, Alor Setar who was caged. Although sad as it sounds, the family did not know what to do and did it to keep the boy safe. Yes, this boy was later found to be autistic. They didn't know and things would have been different if this boy had the opportunity to receive some autism treatments.

Thursday (June 26), is another story in the newspaper of an autistic boy who also did things to jeopardize his safety. He ran away from home and jumped onto an LRT train track. Once, he even went missing for 13 hours and when they found him, he had sustained injuries to his left arm and left heel. Until today, they don't know what happened to him.

The mother of this boy shares this story not to scare other parents of autistic children. But rather to give hope as she relates how autism treatments helped her son improve. Here are some treatments and programs that she sought:

• ABA (applied behavior analysis). This is an intensive one-on-one program. The child is taught basic skills such as eye contact, imitation and compliance. Desirable behaviors are enforced while undesirable behaviors are extinguished. Basic skills are first taught and then later progresses to more complex skills.
  
• Speech therapy. This treatment is more than just learning how to pronounce words. The therapist teaches communicative skills such as non-verbal communication, speech pragmatics (saying the right things at the right time, the right way to the right person), conversational skills and understanding abstract concepts.
• Occupational therapy. This is to build their daily living skills. It helps the autistic child improve on their fine motor skills such as buttoning a shirt, tying their shoelace or handwriting. There is also sensory integration to help them overcome their sensitivity to light, sound and touch. Play activity is used to build the child's intellectual, emotional and physical skills.
• Cassein and gluten free diet.

As you can see, early intervention is important. Here is what that mother has to say about her autistic child:

"Today, he is able to tell us what he wants and where he wants to go, and can obey simple instructions. We taught him self-help skills like going to the toilet on his own, bathing and feeding himself. He is able to fold and iron his clothes with some supervision, and is required to wash his plate after meals."

Unfortunately autism treatments do not come cheap. However, they do give hope. Autistic children can be independent when given the right kind of help.

p.s. If you want to know the six most common autism treatments used today - plus, whether or not it is good to combine treatments, read more in THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO AUTISM