How Therapy can help children with autism?

How Therapy can help children with autism?

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that causes notable challenges with social skills, speech and communication, engagement in repetitive behaviours. Some of the behaviours that are commonly present in individuals with ASD include difficulty in making eye contact, delayed language, challenges with executive functioning, poor motor skills, sensory difficulties and engagement in challenging behaviours like aggression, self - injury, tantrums and elopement. It is important to manage these behaviours at an early stage before it becomes a habit.

The diagnosis of Autism is usually made in early childhood. There are certain early signs of Autism which can be picked up by the parents/ caregivers. Picking up these early signs in your child may help you to intervene at an early stage, thus yielding better outcomes. Enumerated below are some of the early observable features of Autism:

• Absence of eye contact and responding to name
• Absence of social smile
• Short attention span
• Prefers to stay alone/ doesn’t like cuddling
• Repetitive behaviours/actions with a body like hand flapping, rocking
• Repetitive behaviours/actions with objects and toys
• Lack of functional play
• Presence of hyperactivity (excessive physical activity, restlessness, not sitting at one place)
• Delayed development of speech and language skills
• Not approaching parents for comfort even when ill or hurt.
• Fixated interests (preoccupied with parts of objects such as playing with only wheels of the toy car)
• Self-injurious behaviours such as self-biting, self-hitting
• Aggressive behaviours towards others
• Abnormal reaction to sensory stimuli – such as avoids touch or seeks more physical touch, hypersensitive to noise, smelling objects etc.

Once the signs and symptoms are identified, it is advisable to start early intervention for your child. Intervention in Autism requires a multi-disciplinary treatment approach such as Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA), Speech and language therapy, Occupational therapy, Psychological intervention etc.

Applied behaviour analysis or ABA is a treatment approach that helps in reducing challenging behaviours and learning appropriate behaviours and new skills. A variety of skills can be taught using strategies based on the principles of ABA including social skills, communication skills, ability to follow directions, engage in self-care etc. The specialist to assist in this therapy is known as a BCaBa or BCBA. In order to manage behaviour, it is essential to understand the events occurring before and after the behaviour to understand ‘why’ it is occurring. To do this, we need to attend to what is happening before (antecedent) and after (consequence) a behaviour.

Some of the strategies of ABA therapy are:

1. Reinforcement and Punishment

In behaviour management, reinforcement and punishment are the underlying factors that influence all behaviours. Reinforcement is something that increases the future frequency of behaviour and punishment reduces the future frequency of the behaviour. There are 2 types of reinforcement:

Positive reinforcements (praise, tickles, preferred toys/ activity)

Negative reinforcement: means something is taken away, which makes the behaviour more likely to occur in the future.

2. Shaping a behaviour by tell, show and do strategy
3. Chaining: breaking a task down into small steps and teaching each specific step within the sequence
4. Prompting
5. Extinction
6. Natural Environment teaching
7. Redirection

Speech and language therapy: addresses challenges in language and communication and helps children with autism improve their verbal, nonverbal and social communication. The specialist to assist your child in this therapy is called a speech and language pathologist. The speech language pathologist’s role is planning and executing a program that emphasize on the development of communication skills. The role of speech and language therapy is not just limited to development of language skills but implementing a holistic approach for communication skills (both verbal and nonverbal), cognition and social skills. It is important to remember that the aim is effective communication and not just speaking. Training modes of speech and language therapy are:

• Picture exchange communication system (PECS): Through this technique, therapist, teachers and parents help the child build a vocabulary and consistently communicate needs, desires and feelings through pictures
• Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) – sign language, speech output devices (DynaVox).
• Modelling and shaping for speech output
• Verbal prompts to initiate speech.
• Parallel talks to improve verbal imitation skills
• cueing or redirecting the child on the topic

The intervention strategies are planned based on whether the child is verbal or non-verbal. In case of non-verbal children with Autism, the SLP needs to work on enhancing the pre requisite skills such as compliance, eye contact, joint attention, receptive and expressive identification. Various special schools in Mumbai implements speech and language therapy for not only children with Autism but also for children with ADHD and other special needs.

Also read- Behaviors To Avoid In Front Of Children With Autism. How Do Special Schools Help In Calming Down Autistic Children?

Occupational Therapy: The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) defines occupational therapy as “skilled treatment that helps individuals achieve independence in all facets of their lives. Occupational therapy assists people in developing ‘skills for the job of living’ necessary for living an independent life.”
Occupational therapists focus on teaching Activities of daily living (ADL’s) like eating, bathing, grooming etc. More specific in autism, Occupational therapists works on their sensory difficulties, and developing their fine and gross motor skills. As children with Autism has sensory processing difficulties, the intervention mainly involves ‘Sensory Integration Therapy’. The sensory strategies involve:

• Provide calming activities (music, vibration and fidget toy, colouring)
• Offering opportunities for heavy work (lifting books, chewing gums or crunchy foods, pushing objects, etc.)
• Utilize visual strategies (pictures, social stories)
• Providing tactile stimulation using kinetic sand, clay etc.
• Providing vestibular stimulation using swing, balance board, trampoline etc.

Also read,

Behavior Strategies To Help Children With Autism. Find The Best Autistic Schools Near You.

How Is The Curriculum Of Schools For Autistic Children Designed? Find The Best Autistic Schools Near You.