Parenting Tips for Daily Life With an Autistic Child

Learning all you can about autism and getting involved in treatment will go a long way toward helping your child. Additionally, the following tips will make daily home life easier for your both you and your autistic child:

1. Be consistent.
Autistic children have a hard time adapting what they’ve learned in one setting (such as the therapist’s office or school) to others, including the home. For example, your child may use sign language at school to communicate, but never think to do so at home. Creating consistency in your child’s environment is the best way to reinforce learning. Find out what your child’s therapists are doing and continue their techniques at home. It’s also important to be consistent in the way you interact with your child and deal with challenging behaviors.

2. Stick to a schedule.
Autistic kids tend to do best when they have a highly-structured schedule or routine. Again, this goes back to the consistency they both need and crave. Set up a schedule for your child, with regular times for meals, therapy, school, and bedtime. Try to keep disruptions to this routine to a minimum. If there is an unavoidable schedule change, prepare your child for it in advance.

3. Reward good behavior.
Positive reinforcement can go a long way with autistic children, so make an effort to “catch them doing something good.” Praise them when they act appropriately or learn a new skill, being very specific about what behavior they’re being praised for. Also look for other ways to reward them for good behavior, such as giving them a sticker or letting them play with a favorite toy.

4. Create a home safety zone.
Carve out a private space in your home where your child can relax, feel secure, and be safe. This will involve organizing and setting boundaries in ways your child can understand. Visual cues can be helpful (colored tape marking areas that are off limits, labeling items in the house with pictures). You may also need to safety proof the house, particularly if your child is prone to tantrums or other self-injurious behaviors.

5. Make time for fun.
A child coping with autism is still a kid. For both autistic children and their parents, there needs to be more to life than therapy. Find ways to play and have fun together. Don’t obsess over whether or not these activities are therapeutic or educational. The important thing is to enjoy your child’s company!

Finding help and support
Caring for a child with an autism spectrum disorder can demand a lot of energy and time. There may be days when you feel overwhelmed, stressed, or discouraged. Parenting isn’t ever easy, and raising a child with special needs is even more challenging. In order to be the best parent you can be, it’s essential that you take care of yourself.

Don’t try to do everything on your own. You don’t have to! There are many places that families of autistic kids can turn to for advice, a helping hand, advocacy, and support:

  • Autism support groups – Joining an autism support group is a great way to meet other families dealing with the same challenges you are. Parents can share information, get advice, and lean on each other for emotional support. Just being around others in the same boat and sharing their experience can go a long way toward reducing the isolation many parents feel after receiving a child’s autism diagnosis.
  • Respite care – Every parent needs a break now and again. And for parents coping with the added stress of autism, this is especially true. In respite care, another caregiver takes over temporarily, giving you a break for a few hours, days, or even weeks. To find respite care options in your area, see the box to the right.
  • Individual, marital, or family counseling – If stress, anxiety, or depression is getting to you, you may want to see a therapist of your own. Therapy is a safe place where you can talk honestly about everything you’re feeling—the good, the bad, and the ugly. Marriage or family therapy can also help you work out problems that the challenges of life with an autistic child are causing in your spousal relationship or with other family members.

Helping a Child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder

1. Don’t wait to seek treatment.
Early intervention is the most important key to autism treatment success. Seek help as soon as you suspect a problem in your child. Don’t wait for a diagnosis. You don’t need one to start treating your child’s symptoms.

2. Learn about autism.
The more you know about autism spectrum disorders, the better equipped you’ll be to make informed decisions for your child. Educate yourself about the treatment options, ask questions, and participate in all treatment decisions.

3. Become an expert on your child.
Figure out what triggers your kid’s “bad” or disruptive behaviors and what elicits a positive response. What does your autistic child find stressful? Calming? Uncomfortable? Enjoyable? If you understand what affects your child, you’ll be better at troubleshooting problems and preventing situations that cause difficulties.

4. Accept and love your child for who he or she is.
Rather than focusing on how your autistic child is different from other children and what he or she is “missing,” focus on what makes your child happy. Enjoy your kid’s special quirks, celebrate small successes, and stop comparing your child to others—developmentally-challenged or not.

5. Be patient and optimistic.
It’s impossible to predict the course of an autism spectrum disorder. Don’t jump to conclusions about what life is going to be like for your child. Like everyone else, people with autism have an entire lifetime to grow and develop their abilities.

6. Choosing treatments
With so many different autism treatments available, and it can be tough to figure out which approach is right for your child. Making things more complicated, you may hear different or even conflicting recommendations. When deciding on an autism treatment plan for your child, keep in mind that there is no single treatment that will work for everyone. Each person on the autism spectrum is unique, with different strengths and weaknesses.

Your child’s treatment should be tailored according to his or her individual needs. You know your child best, so it’s up to you to make sure those needs are being met. You can do that by taking the following important steps:

  • Put together a trusted autism treatment team. As a parent, you have the ultimate say when it comes to your child’s treatment. However, treatment planning is a lot easier if you have trusted professionals you can turn to for advice. Autistic children often have a range of treatment needs best served by a team of specialists. In addition to a pediatrician, your child may benefit from the expertise of other doctors, therapists, and teachers.
  • Develop a personalized treatment plan for your child. Build on what you know about your child’s unique needs and abilities, and work with your treatment team to build a plan that targets your son’s or daughter’s weakest areas while taking advantage of his or her strengths. Each team member can provide a unique perspective on autism, helping you come up with a comprehensive, well-rounded therapeutic approach.

As you design your child’s autism treatment plan, ask yourself the following questions:

  1. What are my child’s strengths?
  2. What are my child’s weaknesses?
  3. What behaviors are causing the most problems?
  4. What important skills is my child lacking?
  5. How does my child learn best (through seeing, listening, or doing)?
  6. What does my child enjoy and how can those activities be used in treatment?

1When looking into a specific treatment provider or an alternative therapy, it’s also smart to do your research. Learn what evidence there is for the therapy’s effectiveness, how safe it is, who will be working with your child, and how progress will be measured.

Finally, keep in mind that no matter what autism treatment plan is chosen, parental involvement is vital to success. You can help your child get the most out of treatment by working hand-in-hand with the autism treatment team and following through with the therapy at home.

Support for Autistic Children

There are many things parents can do to help autistic children overcome their challenges and get the most of life. From learning all you can about the disorder to getting your child into therapy right away, you can make a big difference.

This article will teach you where to find government and educational services, how to choose effective treatments for your child, and where to look for support. Plus, you’ll also find parenting tips to help make daily home life with an autistic kid easier.

Helping an Autistic Child

If you’ve recently learned that your child has an autism spectrum disorder, you’re probably wondering and worrying about what comes next. No parent is ever prepared to hear that a child is anything other than happy and healthy, and a diagnosis of autism can be particularly frightening. You may be unsure about how to best help your child. You may be confused by conflicting treatment advice. Or you may have been told that autism is an incurable, lifelong condition, leaving you concerned that nothing you do will make a difference.

While it is true that autism is not something a person simply “grows out of,” there are many treatments that can help children learn new skills and overcome a wide variety of developmental challenges. From free government services to in-home behavioral therapy and school-based programs, assistance is available to meet your child’s special needs. With the right treatment plan, and a lot of love and support, your child can learn, grow, and thrive.

As the parent of a child with autism or related developmental delays, the best thing you can do is to get your kid in treatment right away. Don’t wait to see if your child will catch up later or outgrow the problem. Don’t even wait for an official diagnosis. The earlier children with autism spectrum disorders get help, the greater their chance of treatment success. Early intervention is the most effective way to speed up your child’s development and reduce the symptoms of autism.

With the right treatment plan, and a lot of love and support, your child can learn, grow, and thrive.

What Is Music Therapy

Few people understand the significance and importance that music therapy and music therapists contribute to our society. Music therapists help the needy in many ways. To some people, the phrase music therapy holds little significance. While we all recognize the influence that music has on our society it seems much more difficult to associate this influence with anything more than a recreational diversion. In truth, since its modern founding in 1944 at Michigan State University, the study and practice of music therapy has brought about a number of changes in the way we can help individuals with various conditions.

Music Therapy and Personal Wellness
The most widely used and most noticeable application of music therapy is the personal reduction of stress levels. Just as intense, driving music can increase a person’s awareness and anxiety levels, calming, soothing music can reverse it. Music therapists use such music along with other relaxation methods to get troubled individuals past their immediate issues and teach them to better control their anxiety in the future.

Music therapists work with a wide range of people from all social groups and ethnic backgrounds. Many hospitals now commonly utilize the services of music therapists to promote wellness, positive mental attitudes, and healing with the understanding that a happy, stress-free person will often get better more quickly than one that is depressed over his or her medical condition.
Music Therapy and the Mentally Disabled

In increasing frequency, music therapy is being used as a method to aid and educate those challenged by autism and other mental disabilities. Autistic children often have difficulty focusing due to an overloading of their senses. Music therapists will very often create individualized songs, motor activities, and verbal activities to help an autistic child work toward reaching an educational or social goal.

In older individuals suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease, music therapy is used quite often to help patients retrieve lost memories. Playing or singing along with personally significant music can help these individuals to remember memories that have been lost to the disease.