Treatments for Autism: What Works, What Doesn't

Ishler
Your post just shows these kids know what there doing and just decide to do what they want regardless on what there told.
The best way to handle your kid is explain what you want done and make sure he / she understands. Then after the 3rd warning to get it done and they refuse slap them hard and keep it up till they break down. Kids need to learn whos in charge and its NOT them.
Its time parents take back control of there child.

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I knew when my son was 2 that he needed a doctor...I knew when he was 5 he needed some kind of therapy. I knew when he was a teen that he needed intensive social therapy.Now he's 22 and still receiving NOTHING. WHY? I would have LOVED to get him in therapy 25 hours a week..but who was going to pay for that? No one, that's who. Insurance covered the medicine his doctor's gave him -- risperidone, multiple anti-depressants, ritalin, clonidine (alpha blocker), lythium, etc, etc., etc., you name it. Did they work? Of course not! They should have just drugged me, then I wouldn't have cared so much, I guess. I needed therapy, too, dealing with him and all his problems. We had two other children. These Asperger's kids are exhausting, trust me.

Write an article about how to get your insurance company to pay, THAT would be of GREAT interest.

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I have a daughter with Asperger's and for years I spent virtually every school night from suppertime until 11 p.m. or midnight at my daughter's side helping to get her through her homework, until about her junior year of high school. For ignorant people like Bob (who appears to understand only violence), "these kids" aren't exhibiting bad behavior, they're struggling. My daughter often tried very hard to do homework assignments that took her an hour and a half, when the rest of the students could do it in 20 minutes. One thing that helped was getting the teachers to accept fewer problems (20 instead of 40 math problems, for example). This was still showing that she understood and could do the work; she just did less. In some cases, a teacher might allow my daughter to put together a video presentation for an assignment instead of writing a paper (a task that was much harder for her to do).

It's vital to get cooperation from the teachers. Once teachers understand the problem, they can help devise alternatives for your child; not letting him or her off the hook, but altering some aspects of the assignment to compensate for their difficulties.

Neuro-psych testing of your child clearly points to a neurological problem: Asperger's, for instance. My daughter's tests showed she mentally processes things slowly, but has a very high level of intellectual ability. Once teachers see this, they realize the child isn't simply being lazy or behaving badly or being stupid.

Asperger's kids can lack patience and typically have a lot of trouble controlling their emotions (it's neurological, Bob, scientifically provable). And assignments often seemed overwhelmingly complicated or long. So I made a game with my daughter: I set the oven timer for five minutes and told her to try to beat the clock by doing the first question before the buzzer went off. It often takes one step at a time, breaking the assignments down into manageable bites.

Also, I often read aloud the chapters of a history book, for instance. She had already read them, but absorbed almost nothing (reading comprehension was always a problem). It seemed that hearing the words out loud helped her to understand. What melissathoughtthis said is also an excellent way to approach the homework, whether the child has autism or not: try to relate it to one of the child's interests.

Eventually, with my persistence and the help and understanding of her teachers, my daughter took over her schoolwork entirely on her own by the middle of her junior year in high school. She graduated with A's and B's and is now attending a highly regarded tech university, majoring in physics. AND now she has lots of friends, probably in part because it's kind of a geek school -- with a lot of math, science and engineering students who have Asperger's.

Hang in there. Don't give up. Your efforts will pay off eventually.

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Bob- Do you drink? Do you have kids? Do they like you?

Pray you don't have a child or a grandchild with any form of autism, you'll regret what you said.

BEATING a child with a disability doesn't work. It's no different than beating one with cerebral palsy (except maybe that one would beat you back- and win).

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A vast majority of children with in the spectrum of autism respond positively to great hours of therapy. I would rather help a child to a normal life than to pay for war. It is only common sense.

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Once your child turns 18, they're in charge of their lives at college, and there's nothing you can do. My daughter has never told anyone -- professors or administrators -- at her college that she has Asperger's, though I tried to get her to say something so she'd get extra support. At this point, it's really up to them. They have to make it or break it on their own.

But when we were looking at colleges, I particularly wanted one that would be very hands-on with the freshmen for that first challenging year. Some colleges do little to intervene; others practically bend over backward to give the students every chance possible for success. (That's the way my daughter's college is; she's at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Fortunately, it was her first choice.)

The teachers and I worked hard to prepare my daughter to advocate for herself and be independent once she graduated from high school, because we knew that she'd be on her own after that.

You just have to have faith in your child.

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It's important to make sure your child gets some exercise every day. We used to go for walks in the neighborhood (or at the mall, when the weather was bad). Our route took about 10 minutes. It's not much time, but it's enough to let you both decompress, share some stories from your day, get some fresh air and a little workout. The walk makes it much easier to face the homework and household chores and relieves some pressure.

There's also a kind of massage-type therapy we learned from an occupational therapist (our insurance allowed a few visits) that's really easy to learn and helps relieve tension. And it only takes about five minutes.

An occupational therapist can teach other exercises that help improve balance and coordination.

And when those temper tantrums come, try to have patience and realize that your child can't control those overwhelming feelings. You both might have to just let them run their course.

It's very hard to raise a child with Asperger's. You have to have patience and understanding and keep up the behavioral therapy. Zoloft was a godsend for us, too; using just enough to ease her anxiety so she could function better.

She no longer needs it now that she's in college.

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we discovered very late that our child has lyme disease along with
the babesia, bartenella and strep bugs. it is taking a lot of years of healing; but she is progressing nicely. the strong indicators of autism (asperger ) are slowing going away.

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I have seen diet changes and Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) help children with Autism a lot. The book - Children with Starving Brains is EXTREMELY helpful.

The author is conducting ongoing reserach about LDN and has had amazing results with it. Her grandhild is Autistic.

Hope this helps some of you struggling with this tough condition. It does puzzle us!
Don't give up though. You and your child are worth the effort!

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ITs not just moms that try everything to help their kids with autism, we dads are their too. I raise my autistic son by myself because his mom walked out on him and has nothing to do with him. So beleive me, us dads try everything we can for our kids as well. Some of us do love our kids too ! Sorry, i just didn't like the way the article started, had to get that off my chest.

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