About the Author
Sandra Kim Leong
Sandra Kim Leong provides free research and special reports in her newsletter on
Detox Diet.
One of the more effective treatments for autism belongs to those that have a behavioral therapy component. In a behavioral therapy, appropriate behavior is rewarded while inappropriate behavior is ignored. It has been found that this type of therapy seemingly has a high rate of success. The success rate increases if this treatment it started while the child is still young, usually before the child turns 3-years-old.
Many parents have discovered that their autistic children will challenge their parenting skills with their extremes of behavior. Extremes of behavior would include such things as temper tantrums, self injurious behavior, aggression and agitation. Essentially, the autistic child is “training” the parent to give him what he wants. If he does not get what he wants, the parents are made to know the consequences. Rather than giving in, parents should learn how to teach their child a more appropriate way in which to get what he wants.
This is where a consistent program of behavioral modification will work very well. It will not only help you to cope with your child's behaviors but it will also teach your child more socially appropriate behaviors. Such a program must consist of 4 components: a structured daily routine; behavioral control; communication; and applied behavioral analysis.
A structured daily routine is important because autistic children need to know what to expect. These children do not deal well with inconsistency or change. Therefore, parents must stick to a daily routine as much as possible.
The next thing that a parent must learn is how to control tantrums and other such behavioral issues. In doing so there are 3 priorities that must be kept in mind:
1. Those behaviors that are dangerous to the child or those around him must be dealt with first. These behaviors need to immediately be stopped with firm words and actions. You cannot show your child any anger while doing this though.
2. Autistic children need to be taught how to sit. The best way in which to do this is to reward appropriate sitting behavior while either ignoring or giving a negative consequence for inappropriate sitting behavior.
3. Autistic children tend to have bizarre, stereotypical, repetitive behaviors. The most obvious of these are finger flapping and rocking. These can be very distracting and thus a firm “stop” command must be used while redirecting the child to another activity that will not allow him to continue these behaviors.
Communication is also of importance. Whenever you are talking to an autistic child you need to be both simple and direct. You need to use short, clear sentences without going into explanations or using too many words. So, instead of telling your child, “Come here so that I can fix your pants and tuck in your shirt because you need to look nice” simply tell him, “Come here now.” This is an easy command to process and understand so the child will not get completely lost in confusion.
Applied behavioral analysis (ABA) is one form of behavioral therapy. This involves breaking down tasks into individual components. Then, whenever a child successfully completes each step of the task he should be rewarded. It is believed that this form of therapy has a 47% success rate. However, there is a lot of controversy surrounding the effectiveness of this treatment. Undoubtedly there are some cases where it works extremely well, but ABA definitely is not the only behavioral approach to treating autism nor is it a cure for autism. Nevertheless, it is recognized that behavioral therapy can help improve a child’s behavior in many cases with early intervention.
Read about autism diet as another way to help your autistic child here.
Published by Sandra Kim Leong on June 1, 2007 07:56 PM
| TrackBack
