Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a condition that involves difficulties in verbal and nonverbal communication as well as challenges in processing sensory inputs. Such challenges could render it almost impossible for children with autism to participate in activities that the ordinary child would perform with ease. Children with such a diagnosis experience social and emotional challenges as well as sensory processing issues which ultimately affect their communication, behaviours, and interaction with their environment, thus resulting in social isolation and frustration.
While traditional autism counselling techniques are proven to be beneficial, adventure therapy offers a unique, engaging approach that can provide significant benefits. It involves using outdoor activities to support your child with autism in overcoming various challenges in life. Let’s find out how!
Challenges Faced by Children with Autism
Children with ASD often experience:
Social Difficulties: Challenges in interpretation of social intentions, initiation and maintenance of eye contact, and reciprocal exchange of conversation.
Emotional Challenges: The inability to regulate emotions which may cause melts downs or withdrawal.
Poor Sensory Discrimination: Individuals might have trouble distinguishing between different textures or identifying where a touch is coming from.
Sensory Seeking: Sensitivity to light and sound that causes distress or the constant need to receive stimuli due to under-sensitivity to sensory stimuli.
Poor Motor Coordination: Challenges in activities such as writing, tying shoelaces, or using utensils.
Difficulty with Transitions: Changes in routine or new environments can be particularly challenging, as they struggle to adapt to unfamiliar sensory experiences.
Solutions
Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all treatment for Autism. Every child with ASD is different and so are their needs. So, it is up to the support worker for autism to decide how to help your autistic child. The goal of treatment is to maximise your child’s ability to function by reducing autism spectrum disorder symptoms and supporting development and learning. However, the key is to seek early intervention, so your child learns critical social, communication, functional, and behavioural skills. Some common interventions for autism include-
Behaviour and communication therapies: Many programs address the range of social, language, and behavioural difficulties associated with autism spectrum disorder. This may include therapies like Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Discrete trial training (DTT), Early intensive behavioural intervention (EIBI), Verbal behaviour intervention (VBI), etc.
Family therapies: Parents and other family members can learn how to play and interact with their children in ways that promote social interaction skills, manage problem behaviours, and teach daily living skills and communication.
Occupational therapy: This kind of treatment helps your child learn life skills like feeding and dressing themselves, bathing, and understanding how to relate to other people. The skills they learn are meant to help them live as independently as they can.
Managing Autism Through Adventure Therapy
While trying to manage these issues, autism support workers often rely on the traditional therapeutic approaches which can often be stressful or repetitive for the kids. Adventure therapy, on the other hand, presents the kids with a novel approach to healing through physical exercise and outdoor activities. Adventure therapy allows your child to not only engage in hands-on experiences, but reflect on them, which develops skills, values, self-knowledge, and a strong sense of community.
Benefits of Adventure Therapy
Teamwork & Communication: Many outdoor activities have to be done in groups meaning that the child has to communicate with others, taking turns and carrying out tasks together. This can foster their social skills and their competence in dealing with their peers.
Calmer & More Focused: Exposure to nature and physical activity has a positive impact on the level of calmness and grounding for children with ASD. The outdoor environment helps to lower the anxiety levels for children and this in turn has a soothing effect on the children that is essential for the children to concentrate during therapeutic activities.
Better Sensory Management: Adventure therapy involves exposing children to different stimuli so that they can have contact with their surroundings. This helps them to be desensitised to different stimuli and enhances their ability to manage and tolerate sensory inputs.
Stronger & More Confident: Activities such as hiking and climbing are exercises that can make people physically stronger and have more stamina. Children learn to gain confidence through rewards, which helps them master new challenges in both therapy and everyday activities.
Activities Involved in Adventure Therapy
Adventure therapy is an extremely versatile therapy that can involve a wide array of activities that can be tailored according to the capabilities and age of the child. Some common activities include:
Hiking/Camping: Activities like these provide rich input to the sensory systems and allow ample opportunities for physical activity. Hiking and camping with children of appropriate age are beneficial for developing children’s relationship to nature, learning survival skills, and fostering children’s independence.
Team Challenges: Some of the specific team-building exercises involved in adventure therapy include rope courses, scavenger hunts, and team problem-solving. Such challenges develop such skills of socialisation as children learning to work in a team, to share their thoughts and ideas, and to help each other.
Nature Art: Introducing children to art projects that include nature such as leaves, stones, and sticks stimulates their imagination and helps them develop their senses. Creating nature art is a great de-stressor while helping to develop fine motor and creative skills.
Finding the Right Program
When looking for an adventure therapy program for your child, consider the following factors:
- Qualified therapists- Have qualified personnel run the program and they have worked in an environment handling children with autism. These people should be skilled not only in therapeutic methods but also in first aid and safety related to activities outside of rooms. The NDIS support workers in Australia are one of the most reliable personnel to reach out to.
- Focus on Safety- Precaution needs to be taken against injury in adventure therapy. Seek programs that focus more on risk management and which have elaborate safety standards.
- Location and Accessibility- Select a program that is in a geographically favourable place for you. It must provide an environment suitable to the ability of the child so your child can keep up with the program.
- Age fit and cost- Check that the activities are suitable for the targeted young audience and that the program does not exceed your financial capabilities. If the difficulty level of the program is more than what your child can take on for his age, it might bring in negative results.
Adventure therapy is a relatively new domain yet holds great potential for children with autism. It is a unique approach to helping children with autism because it unexpectedly encourages them to learn socialisation and manage sensory stimuli. With the right support, adventure therapy can help your child become stronger, more confident, and better equipped to handle the challenges of autism.
