Special Needs Guide: Each autism child or adult is unique. According to their stage intervention plan should be tailored to address specific needs. It can involve behavioral treatments, medicines or both. Treatment for autism usually involves the child’s entire family and a team of professionals. Some programs may take place in your own place(home) and few are delivered in specialized center, classroom or preschool. It is not unusual for a family to choose to combine more than one treatment method.
The autism treatment include a wide range of services and teaching methods, You should choose the right one according to your child which helps in reaching his or her potential
Contents
A Special Needs Guide for treating Autism
Various types of treatments are available in this special needs guide such as Auditory training, Discrete Trial Training, Vitamin Therapy, Facilitated Communication, Music Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy and Sensory Integration.
The treatments can be divided into the following
Behavior and Communication Approaches
These help children with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) by providing direction, structure and organization for the child in addition to family participation, According to reports by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Research Council.
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
The child’s progress is tracked and measured by applied behavior analysis (ABA). There are different types of ABA such as
Discrete Trial Training (DTT)
It is a style of teaching that uses a set of trials to teach each step of the desired behavior. Lessons are broken down into simpler portions, correct answers and behaviors are rewarded using positive reinforcement and incorrect answers are ignored.
- Pivotal Response Training (PRT) : PRT aims to increase a child’s motivation to learn, initiate communication with others and monitor his own behavior.
- Occupational Therapy: This involves skills that help the person to be independent and might include skills such as dressing, eating, bathing, and relating to people.
- Speech Therapy: This helps to improve the person’s communication skills, allows them to learn verbal communication skills. Sometimes using gestures or picture boards is more realistic for other people. know more about Speech Theraphy over here.
Medication
Medications can help some people with related symptoms with ASD, but cannot cure the disease or even treat the main symptoms for example, medication might help manage inability to focus, high energy levels, seizures or depression.
Occupational therapy
It helps in finding ways to adjust everyday tasks and conditions to match a person’s needs and abilities. This type of therapy also teaches self-care skills such as eating, getting dressed, writing and even using a computer.
Treatment Therapies for DOWN SYNDROME
- Physical therapy includes many activities and also exercises that help in building motor skills, increasing muscle strength, and improving posture and balance.
- Speech-language therapy can help the children with Down syndrome improve their communication skills and also use language effectively.
- Children with Down syndrome often learn to speak much later as compared to their peers. A speech-language therapist can help them develop the early skills necessary for communication such as imitating sounds.
- In many cases, children with Down Syndrome understand language and want to communicate even before they learn to speak. A speech-language therapist can help a child use alternate means of communication
- Emotional therapies work to find useful responses to both desirable and undesirable behaviors. A psychologist or other mental health professional can help your child to deal with emotions and build coping and interpersonal skills.