Also known as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), autism is more common than most people think. In America alone, roughly one in every fifty-four kids is diagnosed with autism, as per recent statistics from the CDC. The same data indicates that autism tends to affect boys more than girls. While there is no known cure for autism, health experts have proven that autism can be treated and managed, ensuring that the kid lives his or her life as normal as possible.
Especially if it is recognized early and intervention is sought, autism treatment can help reduce symptoms while helping the child with learning and development. This is possible through various kinds of treatment, which are combined in most cases. Here are some of the effective therapies parents with an autistic kid need to know.
1. Behavioral Therapy
Behavioral therapy comes in handy in helping the child to change damaging behaviors that might be unwholesome. It helps the child to distinguish and keep away from ruinous acts while embracing the desirable behavior. It aims at enforcing good deeds and doing away with negative ones. The therapy uses different approaches like punishment, reinforcement, molding, and the like, with the main aim of promoting learning. In line with Autism Parenting Magazine, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) has proven to be an incredible therapy for autism. It works using various types of training, including discrete trial, incidental, and pivotal response training. It involves an ABC approach, which stands for the Antecedent, Behavior, and Consequence respectively. As will be described below, other forms of behavioral therapy for autism include cognitive and verbal behavioral therapy.
2. Hippotherapy
Horseback riding is a favorite hobby for many. But did you know it's a form of treatment for autism? Well, hippotherapy is a superb tool for treating autism. It provides an excellent sensory stimulant to the rider's muscles and joints. The attachment between the horse and the rider helps the child to create an interaction with other living beings, which is quite difficult with autistic kids. Autistic children have difficulties with verbal and nonverbal communication, bonding, and interacting with other people. Taking care of a horse helps them to develop an emotional bond. This, in turn, helps them to relate with others. It also helps the child develop communication skills, which are quite pivotal in life.
3. Verbal Behavioral Therapy
Autism poses a challenge to a countless number of parents around the globe. With all the desperation for a cure, it can be quite confusing the type of treatment to give such a child. The good news is, with early intervention, you can lessen the chances of the child developing more complicated symptoms in their lifetime. This kind of behavioral therapy motivates children with autism to learn language by connecting words with their meaning and purposes. This helps the child in communicating as it keeps improving with time. The child gets to learn a language, pictures, and so forth. They can even ask for an object which they desire to have.
4. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Every day, more children are diagnosed with autism in this age and day. With the latest advancements, CBT is among the wide range of treatments that parents can choose from. Cognitive therapy treats autistic children with mental health problems such as depression. It teaches the child the skills to cope with difficult situations and how to react to them positively. The talk therapy helps the child to learn how he can change his beliefs to avoid negative emotions. The child is enlightened on how his feelings, thoughts, and behaviors impact each other. The therapy trains the child on how to cope and manage emotional distress. It also helps him alter false and negative notions that crop up out of different situations in life.
5. Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapy helps the child in a myriad of ways. It aims at helping the child develop the skills to help him function and succeed in life as he grows up. The therapy helps the child with their normal daily tasks by finding ways to help them make the most out of their interests and skills.
For instance, it can help the child learn how to dress, eat, draw, cycle, and so forth. It gives the child an advantage to function in different environments like home, school, community, and navigate to be more successful in life.
6. Speech Therapy
Speech is an essential component in one's life. It enables us to communicate and interact with ease. Autistic children have deficits in communication through speech and language to a certain degree. Some children may not speak at all, others may have restricted speaking ability. Speech therapy treats speech and communication problems. It helps the child enhance and refine their spoken language and nonverbal communication, making speech clearer with improved utterance. As a parent, you have a greater role in growing their communication abilities for your child to make progress in speech. The more you take time to converse with him the better he will get.
7. Social Skills Class
Man is a social being. We all need to interact and mingle to be successful in life. Autistic children lack basic interaction skills. They are mostly antisocial. They have difficulties trying to interact with other people around them and maintaining eye contact. Social skills class helps a child on how to interact and socialize at ease. Social skills help a child become more independent, make friends, develop confidence, and get along with people around them. They are taught how to talk to play with others, manage emotions, problems solving, and much more.
Raising a child with autism can be a taxing task for parents. Starting treatment early enough can bring some tremendous benefits to the child's life. Yes, it is one of those incurable conditions, but that doesn't necessarily spell doom to autistic children and their parents. Fortunately, there is a myriad of treatment options through which parents can help their loved ones lessen some of the symptoms. The above few kinds of autism therapy can help you and your autistic child to live a happy and more fulfilling life.
