How can you help a child with autism?

Answer 1

For the most part, the same as any child. Since autism is a mental disability, not a physical one, their physical needs aren't very different.

However, the parts of the brain responsible for processing sensory information and planning out movement can be affected in autism, making the child have poor coordination and react more or less intensely to sensory stimulation. This can result in issues.

For example, some autistic kids can't feel pain, so they aren't careful to avoid injuries and to avoid worsening an existing injury. I heard of one woman with a high functioning form of autism who broke her arm and wandered around for half a day before she noticed that her arm hurt a little bit. She even tried to join in a tennis game!

Clumsiness can result in increased risk of injury, for obvious reasons. Also, it can lead to a kid avoiding movement (especially since clumsy kids are often bullied) which results in problems such as obesity and poor cardiovascular health. It's important to encourage a clumsy kid to keep trying, and make sure not to tolerate other kids laughing at them for failure. Physical therapy can sometimes reduce clumsiness.

Some autistic kids are picky eaters, due to hypersensitivity to taste, smell and tactile sensations in the mouth. While most picky eaters still get a balanced diet, occasionally severe pickiness will result in a child getting malnutrition, or else starving themselves when their preferred food isn't available. It's important not to turn pickiness into a power struggle - the kid isn't choosing to be picky - but instead figure out healthy foods they are willing to eat.

There's also evidence that some autistic people have trouble feeling the physical sensations of hunger and/or thirst. This is mostly a problem in adulthood, for those high-functioning enough to live independently. Building a routine whereby the child always eats and drinks at certain times, even if they're not hungry, can be a big help.

There is some suggestion that a subset of autistic kids may be prone to Asthma/Allergies, digestive problems and autoimmune problems. There is not much evidence for this yet, but if a child has any of those problems, the treatment is the same regardless of autism.

Answer 2

There are two categories to this: how you help them developmentally, and how you help them emotionally.

Developmentally, autistic children benefit from specialized training. Social skills training is helpful for teaching the child how to interact with others. If they have sensory and/or motor issues, occupational therapy can be helpful - look for an occupational therapist who deals with sensory integration. Speech/language therapy helps those with speech delay. If they are older and still unable to speak, assistive communication, such as PECS, Dynavox, etc can help.

Applied Behavioral Analysis is also helpful for teaching skills. However, be careful - many proponents of this treatment overstate its' effectiveness. On average, a kid who gets a lot of ABA treatment will show an increase in tested IQ of about 20 points, though this can range from no effect to 30-40 points in individual kids (some of this could be increased compliance rather than increased intelligence). It's more effective if you start it before age 5, but a few years delay won't make that big a difference. And although most proponents of ABA suggest 40 hours a week, some studies suggest that 20-30 hours is more effective (too much ABA overloads the child).

There are also some biomedical treatments that may help, but be extremely careful with these as many can have serious side effects (a few kids have even died from improper biomedical treatments). Make sure to clear these treatments with your child's doctor. Stay away from chelation - it is not effective and is extremely dangerous. Dietary treatments, such as gluten/casein free diet, are a better choice. However, most biomedical treatments have very little research into their effectiveness, so don't get your hopes up.

There is no cure for autism, however, high-functioning autism is compatible with attending university and getting skilled work.

Emotionally, autistic children need to know that they are loved, regardless of their disability. Many autistic self-advocates say that autism is a part of who they are, so hating autism can lead the child to think you hate them.

Make sure to be patient when the child has difficulty. Don't take offense at their blunt statements or inappropriate social behavior, because they don't understand social rules.

Be tolerant of unusual behavior and interests. If it's not hurting themselves or others, why shouldn't they flap their hands or obsess over a certain topic? Like most kids, autistic kids appreciate it if you show interest in their interests, even if their interests are strange. For example, if the child spends hours staring at a fan, try playing with the fan - waving your hands behind it or making noises into the fan. This is also useful for building social interaction.

Build on the kid's strengths. Not only does this help to lead into useful skills, but it allows the child to feel good about something they can do. If they have a talent or savant skill, use it. Incorporate their interests into teaching, and encourage them to learn as much as they can about whatever interests them.

Also, be proactive about bullying. Many autistic kids are bullied at school. Make it clear to the child that bullying is the fault of the bully, not the victim - even if they were selected as victims due to their autistic behavior, it's still the choice of the bully to bully them. Teachers and school administration need to identify bullies and treat them, and make it clear to the class as a whole that they are supposed to be tolerant of diversity. Social skills training can sometimes help autistic kids avoid being targets of bullying, but be very careful to make it clear that this doesn't mean blaming them for the bullying.

Encourage autistic kids to self-advocate. Make sure they know what accomodations they're entitled to, so they can insist on those. Don't punish them for disobeying if the authority figure was in the wrong - instead talk about better strategies for advocating for themselves. With lower-functioning kids, listen to their attempts to communicate, and offer them choices as much as possible. Make sure that if they use an assistive communication technique, it's available for them to use in all settings.

Answer 3

From common sense it will give the child something to do. May be a short term fix, but realistically it will have a small effect on the child's disability.

Dr. Joe

^ You are an excellent doctor, Joe.

People with autism can have problems with muscle tone due to either genetic disorders, or irregular postures and activities. Physical therapy can help a person correct the body movements that cause these problems.

Also, part of the neurodevelopmental impact of autism appears to be difficulty with higher-level motor processing, such as integrating movement and sensory feedback, and planning out complex movements. As a result, many autistic kids are clumsy, have difficulty learning new motor skills, and/or have difficulty activating or inhibiting movements (they may be able to do something in one situation but not another, or be unable to stop themselves from doing something). This can often be helped by therapy.

Answer 4

Occupational therapy is a very diverse field. Years ago, an occupational therapist would typically only help patients of any kind with skills such as getting dressed or writing with a pencil. This will still apply to autistic patients today. However additionally to fine motor skills, occupational therapists in todays society will also help autistic patients with social skills. It does take very much repetition but with the outcome I personally don't think the time spent in therapy matters very much.

Answer 5

Treat them equally not treat them different then the others.

Don't but them in the center of attention