How Should You Treat Autism?
There is no known cure for autism, although some researchers claim that their methods allow autistic people to lead relatively normal lives. The fact is, autism has many causes and symptoms, and there is no single best way to treat it. In the most severe cases, all that can be done is to control the troubling symptoms. Skills that allow them to interact with others can be learned by higher functioning autistic people. The following treatments have been helpful in some cases.
One treatment that works for autism is called Applied Behavior Analysis or ABA. This is a treatment that is use for smaller children with autism, and consists of working with children on an individual basis. ABA operates by teaching children various skills which are generally taught in the child's own home and also supervised by a psychologist. One disadvantage to this approach is that, because it involves so much one-on-one teaching it can be expensive and difficult to use in institutions such as schools. However, for parents who have access to an ABA program in their city, this is a helpful autism treatment too.
One way to treat autism is through social skills training. This is mainly for higher functioning autistic people, such as those with Asperger's Syndrome, who have some ability to interact and communicate. Even higher functioning autistic individuals have a difficult time comprehending the many different parts of social situations, like tons of voice, body language and the typical back and forth of conversations. Where you are helping small children, this form of therapy could include showing them some pictures and teaching them to learn and communicate. The intention of social skills training is to permit autistic people to gain knowledge of some of the easier but important skills of everyday social interactions, making it less complicated for them to speak to others.
