On World Autism Awareness Day, expert suggestions on parenting a child with ASD

Bringing up a child with autism spectrum disorder is stressful and challenging. On this World Autism Awareness Day, Surabhi Verma, consultant for children with autism and Founder Director of Sparsh For Children, pens an exclusive article for TheHealthSite to help parents of autistic kids reach out for the right therapies and ensure proper home care.

Editorial Team | Updated: April 2, 2019 10:00 am

Give your children emotional support if they lose faith in their ability to learn, or get frustrated.

Ashima, a 10 year old girl was diagnosed with mild autism spectrum disorder (ASD) when she was a toddler of two and half years. She started early intervention therapies soon after her diagnosis. After an year of therapies, she became independent enough to attend a mainstream school. Although very bright and academically strong, Ashima faced many behavioural difficulties in school such as following the teachers’ instruction and expressing and defining her thoughts coherently. Moreover, she liked to follow her own lead, such as walking about in the classroom and lacked consistent friendship at school.

Now, after intensive therapies over a period of 7 years, Ashima, like any other kid her age, is able to go to school every morning. However, sometimes she is cranky and at others, extremely excited, so much so that she is unable to sit in the school bus. Ashima is currently studying currently in class 5 in an inclusive setup. She has the ability to complete her work in the classroom faster than other children, and has a very good memory. However, she still sometimes struggles in making friends and following class rules.

After a regular day at school, Ashima spends two hours at our organisation Sparsh For Children, which addresses the challenging needs of kids living with Autism Spectrum Disorder, dyslexia, attention difficulties etc. Here, she learns academic skills relevant to her curriculum at school. Apart from the academic inputs, she also takes part in playgroups and study groups where she feels comfortable because of the structured environment. The interventions designed for Ashima at Sparsh, are targeted towards helping her build meaningful friendships, manage stress well and improve academic skills. All these enable her to cope better with academic and social life.

Ashima’s evenings are spent in a variety of activities like playing or cycling at the park, shopping at the mall with her mom, watching cartoons on TV, or chasing gold coins in Temple Run on her dad’s tablet. She has developed a keen interest in baking and has already started following recipes. The other culinary skill that this 10-year-old is picking up is making mocktails in her free time.

It is possible for many children with autism spectrum disorder, to move forward just like Ashima and go to a regular school and perform well if the steps are taken early. However, a barrage of conflicting information and too many suggestions along with the fear factor attached to the word autism confuse parents. On this World Autism Awareness Day, I will try to make it easier for parents to help their children better.

THERAPIES TO LOOK OUT FOR

After diagnosis, the next step is starting the right course of action by initiating the required therapies. Keep in mind that not all children require all the therapies and not all therapies start at the same time. Thus it is important to find someone who can understand when and which therapy to begin with. Here are a few commonly recommended therapies.

Occupational Therapy (OT)

Many children with autism have sensory dysfunction. Their eyes, nose, ears, skin (touch), tongue, vestibular system (which controls balance) and proprioceptive system (regulates our sense of space) are unable to function in unity and thus cause the dysfunction. To help child focus, integrate the senses, and improve instruction following skills, sensory integration therapy, a type of OT is provided. After a detailed assessment, the therapist is able to make the programme which generally includes various forms of exercises.

Language Therapy

Language Therapy – The brain of a child with autism has difficulty in understanding and expressing language. This leads to them unable to form meaningful words and difficulty in understanding words and instructions. Thus starting with language therapy in which child learns to attach meaning to the words is very crucial.

Special Education Therapy

This therapy targets to develop your child’s self-help skills along with his academic and pre-academic capabilities. Communicating for toileting, eating independently, taking bath, getting dressed and communicating the need to go to out, etc. are all parts of self-help skills which are extremely important for a child to survive in the society. Apart from helping you child with these functionalities, a special educator also enables him to acquire academic-related skills like developing concepts of colours, action words, and categorisation. These are later followed by alphabet and numbers.

Behaviour Therapy

One needs to understand that many children with autism spectrum disorder have behaviour issues. This is primarily due to their inability to understand social structures and lack of flexibility in understanding the social environment. So, behaviour modification does not happen in isolation. Behaviour therapy helps your child to manage anxiety and stress through positive reinforcement, token economy and various other strategies.

Social Skill Therapy

One of the most important areas of deficit in autistic kids is social skill. The individual or group sessions included in this therapy, can help your child learn unspoken social rules which help them to connect with peers and other people around them.

Speech Therapy

Speech impairment can be due to two reasons: Firstly, it could be due to weak muscles of the mouth, throat or tongue; secondly, due your child’s inability to process the information and understand language. A speech therapist will work with the child in these areas along with other interventions.

WHAT YOU CAN DO AT HOME

Loving attention and an environment to maximise their potential are the best gifts parents can give their autistic children. However, it’s important to note that there is no cure for autism spectrum. But, you, as a parent, can take small steps at home which will definitely have big impacts. Here are certain dos and don’ts to give you an idea about what all you can do and what you shouldn’t. Avoid making the environment stressful for the child by scolding or punishing.

Help the child to find friends with whom they can connect and play with.
Enrol the child in a creative or sports group to channelise his or her energy.
Use practical methods for teaching at home. For example, you can teach mathematics skills by using certain measurements when cooking, or during a shopping session.
Spend time reading and writing together.
Give your child emotional support if he or she starts to lose faith in his or her ability to learn, or gets frustrated.
Check their homework and give them loving reassurance and support.
Understand and respect the fact that your child is different.
Do not hide or ignore the difficulties that your child is facing.

At the end of it all, there are two things that I would like to remind you: Firstly, don’t undermine the necessity of professional help while caring for your child. Treatment and guidance from an expert cannot be substituted by parental care. Secondly, it is necessary to take care of yourself while looking after your autistic kid. It’s not an act of selfishness. Parenting a child with special needs is extremely stressful. So you, as a ‘special’ parent, need and deserve self care all the more. Happy parenting!

Published: April 2, 2019 9:29 am | Updated:April 2, 2019 10:00 am

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