Autism — Therapies in Autism — ASD — ASD Therapies — OT BT SPLT

Autism is a spectrum disorder that exhibits a wide variety of symptoms. Autism Spectrum disorder or ASD is a complex neurological disorder that results in the impairment of language and communication skills hindering social interaction, combining with rigid and repetitive behaviors.

A person affected with Autism experiences many difficulties such as behavioral, cognitive and psychological. The behavioral difficulties include rigid and repetitive behaviors, compulsive behaviors, impulsivity, inappropriate social interactions, poor eye-contact and self-harm, etc. The cognitive difficulties include speech problems, learning difficulties, and attention deficit, etc. The Psychological difficulties include having depression, anxiety, being unaware of or unable to understand other’s emotions, being sensitive to sound, etc.

With all these problems around, it becomes highly difficult for them to interact with people and to have an independent existence as they grow up. This highly affects their confidence and hurts their emotions making them too harsh inside. Being unable to express their anguish, results in self-harm like head-banging, rocking back and forth vigorously or hurting others.

Early intervention and treatment plans according to their needs, helps the Autistic people to come out of their difficulties and lead a peaceful life. There are many therapies offered to Autistic people to cater to their needs. Therapies such as Speech therapy, occupational therapy, special education, behavioral therapy, social skills therapy, and psychological therapy are the major ones.

Speech Therapy

Communication is highly important for anyone in the world to convey what he/she feels or thinks. Being in a society, a person has to converse with fellow beings for daily activities. It is only then, one can be able to live individually and independently in this world. But Autism hinders the ability to communicate effectively. An autistic patient will find it difficult to convey what is there in his or her mind and will be unable to understand what others say. They experience speech delays and disorders, voice disorders and learning disabilities, expressive and receptive language difficulties, language delay and impairment, attention and listening problems, social communication problems along with difficulties in eating and swallowing, etc.

Speech therapy is given to improve their speech, language and communication skills. The children having difficulty with speech therapy find it difficult even to eat, drink and swallow. Speech and language therapists assess, diagnose and treat the difficulties in speech, verbal and non-verbal language, communication, eating, drinking and swallowing in babies, children and adults, as safely and as independently as possible.

Speech and Language therapists or SLTs work closely with the Autistic child to provide treatments such as oral-motor exercises, speech improvement exercises, expressive and receptive language programs, social skills therapy along with both group and individual therapy, and the exercises for eating, drinking and swallowing. Such treatments that are designed according to their needs help the child in overcoming speech and language difficulties.

Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy relates to physical and psychiatric conditions, which are assessed, diagnosed and treated in a procedural way. To lessen the disability of an individual and to maximize their ability in their day-to-day activities efficiently, occupational therapy helps a lot. Due to a wide variety of variations experienced by individuals with Autism, the treatment approach adopted by occupational therapists would also be different from each one.

Occupational therapists achieve this by taking care of each step. They check if the environment that the patient being treated is compatible and if the needs are met, and check if the patient is safe within that environment and doesn’t harm anyone or himself. Occupational Therapists help the patients to support and manage the difficulties that are experienced to their senses like hyposensitivity or hypersensitivity. They train the individuals to behave properly and also to take care of themselves in their daily lives. Accordingly, they make the parents and close relatives aware of the patient’s abilities and need and train them too, if necessary.

Special Education

It is said that “If a child cannot learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn”. The concept of special education is based exactly on the same principle. The learning disabilities like dyslexia, dysgraphia, etc., non-verbal learning disabilities, language processing disorders, communication disorders, emotional and behavioral disorders, inabilities due to physical and developmental disorders, etc., affect the child’s ability to perceive what others convey and hinder the ability to express themselves too.

With different scientific approaches to teaching methods and with a specifically adapted area, special education helps the students with disabilities to learn the things that are useful for life.

Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a combination of psychotherapy and behavioral therapy to cope up with their cognitive difficulties that might affect their cognitive processes like thinking, behaving, having attitudes and beliefs, and develop new ways of thinking that results in their overall well-being and improvement in their quality of life.

The psychological conditions like depression, panic attacks, anxiety, etc. are usually faced by Autistic individuals, which can be successfully treated by cognitive behavioral therapy. This therapy focuses on changing thought patterns and dealing with problems caused in both present and past experiences. Not only Autistic patients but also the individuals who have negative thoughts and psychological conditions like depression, anxiety, etc., can be treated by this Cognitive behavioral therapy.

Social skills Therapy

Social Skills therapy includes the activities designed to train the Autistic children to mingle in groups of a certain age and ability they have in similar. This program is designed to help children with those specific diagnoses that experience difficulty in mastering social skills from typically developing children.

Practicing interactions and communications in a specific group of similar age and ability enables them to communicate well. These programs include responding to peers, making good body language, maintaining friendships, social initiation skills, and self-comfort skills, observational learning, playground skills, group behavior skills, etc.

All these therapists work closely with the patient, their parents, caretakers, and the other professionals involved in their health care, by providing support, training, and advice on all aspects of the individual’s treatment.

We at Wellness hub have a team of experienced professionals who work as a special team for each child, providing individual treatment that helps the Autistic child to cope with the difficulties he or she faces. Every Autistic child is different and they define Autism with their needs. Hence special care is needed for each child in a different way, and we are here to provide it. Log on to call or book an appointment for the early intervention of Autism.

Originally published at https://www.mywellnesshub.in on January 6, 2020.