Autism is a developmental disorder with persistent impairment in reciprocal social communication and interaction, restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interest, or activity. The difficulty in social interaction and communication is pervasive and sustained.
The symptoms of autism can overlap with other disorders so it wants to be differentially diagnosed from disorders like ADHD, Selective mutism, language disorder, social and pragmatic communication disorder, intellectual disability, stereotypic movement disorder, schizophrenia, and Rett syndrome.
Treatments for Autism
No treatments can completely cure the situation but can reduce the symptoms and make them able to cope with their daily life situations.
Currently, there is no standard treatment available for autism, however, most people responded best to highly structured and specialized programs.
A multidisciplinary approach is BEST for autism therapy.
Multidisciplinary approaches for autism include:
- BEHAVIORAL
- DEVELOPMENTAL
- PSYCHOLOGICAL
- SOCIAL – RELATIONAL
- EDUCATIONAL
- PHARMACOLOGICAL
- COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE.
All the above-mentioned treatments together can create a huge reduction from the symptoms of autism and help to improve their daily living skills.
The Importance of Autism Treatment in Autistic Children:
Intervention can make a dramatic change in the life of children with autism. Considering the intervention early intervention plans have much more results due to brain plasticity.
The main goal of the treatment is to reduce the child’s unwanted behaviors improve the childs wanted behaviors and give assistance to be as independent throughout life as possible. The important thing we want to consider is that autistic children have the potential to grow and improve and if we are giving them the support they can bring out their skills easily.
The symptoms of autism can appear as early as 12 to 18 months and diagnosis can be possible by the age of 2- 3 years. Once diagnosed, we need to start the treatment as early as possible. There are studies that show that starting management as early as possible can help in improving all the skills of the child during infancy and this significantly helps improve the child’s later development because of the neoplasm of brain tissues. Moreover, the management options help to prevent the problematic behavior from becoming a habit.
The children want to get a positive environment from the therapist and therapy setup and this environment wants to be continued throughout the whole learning period which helps to make the child more interactive, energetic and bring out a more beneficial outcome for the child. In our treatment plan, all the goals want to be set according to the child’s level.
Management is needed to be carried out with appropriate support and reinforcement so that the child became successful. Management options can reduce child’s signs and symptoms of autism and also helps improve the overall development that will let them be more independent throughout their life, its because they are receiving proper treatment at key developmental periods.
Children with autism have the ability to gain essential social skills and to act better in social situations so the treatment techniques can act as valuable tools that will help the children to be more independent with fewer assistance as they grow up. Management can help the child to bring out his strengths and caliber and give them the capacity for a better, more independent life throughout childhood and in the future.
Many children with autism are interested to be in a structured environment because of their instance of sameness, therefore creating a routine for the child and keeping it consistently without any change and this can create a great change in children.
Assessment and intervention program is also very helpful for the parents too. It helps the parents to avoid worrying about their children and the parents can take part in the intervention.
