Let’s set the records straight once and for all, so pay attention. We will be exposing some of the most outrageous yet popular myths about autism.

 

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Fostering self-confidence, friendship, and fun are just some of the benefits kids with autism spectrum disorder can get from sports participation.

Kids with autism diagnosis (also called autistic kids) have cognitive, motor, as well as behavioral difficulties due to their developmental disabilities. For example, they have sensory issues, making them sensitive to bright lights, loud noises, or even eye contact. Aside from that, kids with ASD are prone to doing repetitive movements during physical activity and fail to respond even to their names because of intellectual disabilities. At times, autistic kids act aggressively towards other children, such as neurotypical kids. They have trouble communicating because they are not capable of effective social interactions.

Continue reading Sports Counseling Method For Kids With Autism

The causes of autism are still not fully understood, but experts generally agree that environmental factors play a role. While genetics influence the chances of developing autism, exposure to certain chemicals early in life may also contribute towards this developmental disorder.

Given that scientists need to do more research on what causes autism, the exact link between certain chemicals and autism is still unclear. However, reducing your child’s exposure to these chemicals is always recommended. These substances are generally toxic to the nervous system and other parts of the body. By taking some simple steps, you can drastically reduce the amounts of these toxins that you and your family receive.

Pesticides

Many food items, such as produce, may contain significant amounts of pesticides on their surfaces. The agriculture industry uses pesticides to avoid crop damage from insects and other animals, preventing product losses. Many of these chemicals are designed to linger so that doses don’t need to be applied as often. Unfortunately, this design also allows these chemicals to resist degradation from natural processes, allowing them to travel far and wide.

Unborn children and babies are susceptible to the neurotoxic effects of pesticides. Left unabated, exposure can lead to neurological defects and poor development. A study found that pregnant women living within 2 kilometers from a sprayed field were up to 16% more likely to have a child with autism.

Fortunately, you can reduce pesticide exposure by rinsing your vegetables thoroughly with clean water. Better yet, you can buy from organic vendors and other sources that do not use pesticides.

Heavy Metals

Mercury and lead are potent agents that can harm brain cells. The body mistakes them as essential minerals like calcium. Hence, they can go inside vital organs like the brain, where they proceed to wreak havoc. Effects include poor language development and impaired emotion regulation, which are hallmarks of autism.

Mercury tends to bioaccumulate in animals such as fish because their organs can’t remove them effectively. When we eat contaminated fish, mercury can slowly build up inside our bodies and reach dangerous levels.

Lead was once a common ingredient of paints, so old buildings tend to have large amounts of this metal. As the paint flakes off and disintegrates into dust, the particles can be inhaled or ingested by young children.

To avoid exposure, it’s a good idea to limit the consumption of high-risk fish such as shark or tuna. You should also have old paints replaced or move out of aging residences.

Plastic Additives

Chemicals such as bisphenol A and phthalates are used to modify the properties of plastics, making them more durable and easy to manufacture. However, these substances can block the function of naturally occurring hormones in the body. Their most common effects include abnormalities in reproductive development, but they may also be significant in the development of autism.

To reduce exposure, check the type of plastic that you use around your children. If they have recycling codes 3, 4, or 7, you should probably stay away from them. Better yet, use products that guarantee to be free of phthalates and bisphenol A. Reducing consumption of packaged and processed food is also a good idea.

By being wary of these environmental hazards, you may better prevent your child from developing autism. What’s sure is that your child will have a healthier life.

An autism family therapy expert helps manage ASD. Know more about it and its unique challenges here.

Autism Family Therapy – Overview

How does autism family therapy help?

Honestly, no secret recipe or special powers are required to raise a child with autism successfully. However, there is a specific way for the entire family (including extended members) to manage the symptoms of ASD, provide understanding for the child’s life, enhance partner communication, strengthen relationships, avoid depression, and accumulate appropriate social skills, techniques, and tools to navigate around the challenging world of ASD childcare. Let’s talk more about this specific autism family therapy.

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Let’s discuss more about the process and understand how it is beneficial for kids’ cognitive-communication disorders.

Speech therapy is accessible nowadays. It is considered effective and efficient for language delay and fluency disorders. It is administered by speech therapists and the treatment helps with language disorders and language disorders affecting kids as well as expressive disorders. So what else is there to know about language counseling?

What Is This Type Of Therapy

Speech therapy aims to help with autism spectrum disorder in children (most of them have expressive disorders and language difficulties). The treatment is essential so that we know they can live a normal and happy life, too. Almost everyone with ASD is advised to take the language counseling, as recommended by language pathologists. The reason for this is that many children with ASD have compromised or limited capacities and have communication challenges and language disorders. At the same time, it also confronts major non-verbal communication problems, specifically maintaining eye contact and playing with other people. In autism, receptive language is often seen to lag behind expressive language. For these reasons, clinical management, including oral exercises, or articulation therapy, and other language development techniques for this has many benefits for children with ASD.

Understanding Language Counseling

Speech therapy techniques, also known as language pathology, is a field that focuses on the assessment and treatment of language disorders, articulation disorders, and communication disorders. Language pathologists use a variety of techniques, such as language and articulation exercises, to help individuals with language disorders, fluency disorders, cognitive communication disorders, and more. They can work with individuals who have slow or slurred speech as a result of a brain injury or other conditions. Treatment plans may vary depending on the severity of the disorder and the individual’s needs.

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy can teach children to learn daily living skills and new skills through the use of positive reinforcement and verbal responses. ABA programs are typically run by behavior analysts who provide direct supervision and training to caregivers. Its effectiveness depends on how many hours a child receives treatment each week and how closely they follow the ABA program. ABA works for a range of conditions, including autism spectrum disorder.

“Traditionally, intervention for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has focused upon reducing interfering behavior and teaching language, academic and self-help skills.” –Marlene Driscoll, MA, LMFT

Speech Therapy Helps Autistic Children

It Develop The Ability To Express Needs (Child’s Oral Awareness)

A child with cognitive-communication disorders has a hard time expressing both their wants and needs (slow or slurred speech makes it more difficult). Sometimes, they do not learn spoken language bit by bit; instead, they do it in “chunks.” This is where speech therapy comes in. For example, they repeat these long chunks of sentences from their favorite TV shows and stories without fully understanding what they mean. Experts call this disorder echolalia. Echolalia can also be a sign of developmental disability in children or neurological disorders in adults. This can be addressed with language exercises and techniques taught by a licensed language therapist.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a therapeutic approach that focuses on understanding how such behaviors occur and can be changed without the need to resort to negative reinforcement. ABA techniques are often used to help individuals with intellectual functioning and developmental disabilities by teaching social skills and academic skills. Discrete Trial Training (DTT) is a common ABA technique that breaks down complex tasks into smaller steps to teach desired behaviors. A trained behavior analyst can become certified through the Behavior Analyst Certification Board and use ABA principles to reduce negative behaviors and promote positive outcomes.

With the help of speech therapy, they learn how to communicate verbally and non-verbally with other people and exchange ideas with their peers properly. They will also be given repetition exercises that would help strengthen oral muscles so they can correct some word sounds and fluency disorders. It is crucial in building relationships not only in the comforts of their home but also outside of it. Children need to mingle with other kids, too. They need to communicate, play, and interact with other people in order to grow (social communication). They are able to express their emotions in a healthy and proper way. This is one of the most important goals of language counseling.

Early Intervention By Language Pathologists  Improves Grammar

Speech therapy aims to aid children with ASD and language disorders as they have a difficult time applying correct grammar even if it’s taught both in school and at home. The most common grammar mistake they do is referring to themselves in the third person. For example, instead of saying, “I want to eat cereals,” they’ll say, “John wants cereals.” In this component, language pathologists SLPS target this skill and guide them into correcting these grammar mistakes. Some of them may also have swallowing disorders and cognitive communication challenges and language exercises can very well help with these.

With speech therapy children with autism are able to identify which words and phrases to use in order for others to understand what they want to communicate.

It can help improve a range of communication and language skills. Expressive disorders and receptive disorders can both be addressed through speech techniques, which may include exercises to strengthen the mouth and jaw, as well as language intervention activities.

Language interventions through speech therapy depend on a case-by-case basis. But it can also be helpful for individuals with fluency disorders, such as stuttering, as well as those with nervous system disorders that affect speaking and language development. It is important to work with a qualified pathologist, who may be a member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, to develop an individualized treatment plan.

Techniques Help Children Talk Confidently

Speech therapy also addresses one of the difficulties of having ASD which is the inability to comprehend both verbal and nonverbal communication that other people try to tell you. It also teaches them to recognize cues such as facial expressions and body language and translate these into understandable messages. As such, it also gives them the capability to initiate individual and group communication without having to wait for others to do so. The speech-language pathologist can also teach parent-implemented speech therapy so that parents will know how to help their kids at home.

“It is painful and difficult to identify, because so many neurotypical partners see these as problems existing within in themselves, rather than as their reactions to confusion, to feeling systematically ignored, or to feeling not heard for many years.” –Sarah Swenson, MA, LMHC

Speech Therapy Develops Their Articulation Skills

Aside from improving their comprehension, speech therapy also targets the improvement of the children’s articulation and communication skills. Articulation refers to the physical movement of the lips, palate, tongue, and jaw. All of these parts should be able to coordinate correctly to produce sounds learned in this treatment. Other healthcare professionals can also manage a specific underlying medical condition if there is any, like hearing loss and difficulty reading, among others.

Children, too become confident as they learn the proper words and gestures to use when communicating with other people.

Hence, speech therapy treats communication problems, including voice disorders, slurred speech, and cognitive communication issues. These problems can be caused by underlying medical conditions such as brain injury. Resonance disorders can also affect speaking, and speech-language pathologists can help individuals develop the skills needed for effective communication. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association is a valuable resource for those seeking more information about speech therapy.

Guides Children To Produce Sound Patterns

It Addresses Speaking Fluency

Speech therapy is beneficial to children with ASD experiencing various communication disorders like interjections, prolongations, and repetitions. Displaying this disorder tends to lower their self-confidence. With the help of speech therapy for ASD and language intervention activities, the patients learn strategies on how to increase their fluency and control their stutters which helps them stimulate language development and improve communication skills.

Applied Behavior Analysis can increase behaviors and decrease undesired behaviors. It focuses on setting a goal behavior and using evidence-based interventions to achieve those goals. ABA teaches individuals useful skills and changes behavior through long-term treatment. Practitioners of ABA typically hold a master’s degree and use data-driven methods to learn skills and modify behavior.

Effects On Language Disorders

“Often, kids, teens, and adults on the spectrum spend a lot of time trying to be “normal”, fighting sensory overload and overwhelm, fending off personal quirks, and trying so hard to “fit in”, socially and otherwise.” Karla Helbert, LPC, E-RYT, C-IAYT said. Just like other medical diagnoses, the effect of speech therapy depends on how early you detect and treat speech disorders, the higher the chances of addressing their speech-language problems and fluency disorders thoroughly. Usually, children utter their first words around their 18th month and form basic phrases and sentences in their 24th month. It means that ASD is detectable at the age of 3. Therefore, it is recommended to start speech therapy early for it to be more beneficial and useful for children with autism.

Therapy: FAQs

How Can I Do Speech Therapy At Home?

What are common language problems?

How Do I Know If My Child Needs Speech Therapy?

What causes delays in language?

How long should speech therapy last?

Does speech therapy actually work?

What type of people need speech therapy?

Why do some people need speech therapy?

What age is best for speech therapy?

How do you fix speech delay?

Is speech therapy stressful?

Can speech therapy change your voice?

How can I do speech therapy at home?

What age is too late for speech therapy?

Is 5 years old too late for speech therapy?

Autism is a common mental condition in the US. Experts like therapists and psychologists view the mental illness as something that significantly affects a person’s development. Its signs and symptoms are the avoidance of eye contact, delayed speech, difficulty understanding other people’s emotions, and unexpected reactions with sounds, sight, and smell. But one of the most unnoticed symptoms is an individual’s strange attachment to an object. It may not sound an issue for some, but there is a psychological explanation as to why it is becoming a determining factor.

An individual with an autism spectrum disorder experiences an object attachment. As explained by John Strang, Psy.D. “Young people with autism are very good at “getting stuck” and being less flexible.” However, no one seems to get bothered by it. Perhaps it is because people look at it is as something familiar for most individuals without even having a mental illness.  But the way autistic people feel about a particular possession is beyond sentimental perspective. Yes, it is not comparable to a life and death situation. But it is something that affects someone’s way of living. Like for example, if an autistic person tends to have a teddy bear, he will most likely keep it close to him all the time. It will become more of a comforting object. Honestly, you can expect it to be an individual’s possession that certainly lasts for more than a couple of years.

Autistic’s Object Attachment

An autistic’s object attachment is not at all harmful. However, it somehow depicts obsession. That is because the comfort that the individual feels whenever he is with the object gets channeled in it. The person feels an emotional connection that nobody can explain.

In some cases, it becomes helpful because it can change an individual’s mood in an instant. Like for example, if children are scared and lonely, they feel safe around their dolls and toys. However, the situation is not different when we talk about the loss of a valued possession. In some unfortunate cases, the loss of that particular item causes severe anxiety and depression to an individual because he feels lost without it. There are instances that he won’t eat, talk, and get out of bed without the proof of his possessions existence. It is as if the whole world only revolves around that particular item. With that, an autistic person finds it hard to recover from the emotional damage that nobody seems to understand.

What Autistic People Feel

Object attachment affects an autistic individual in different ways. “People with ASD can have problems controlling their aggression and says it is not uncommon for these clients, sometimes including adults, to pull her hair or scratch her arms.” Stephanie Smigiel, LPC said. There is a tendency the person gets to feel uncomfortable with his surroundings too. Sometimes he can’t seem to concentrate without his stuff by his side. There are even cases where an autistic feel upset and angry when someone is trying to use his precious belonging or want to look at it. Sometimes, there is a point where an autistic individual become violent, especially if their valued possession gets taken without permission. That is because the thought of it getting broken and damaged is scarier than the idea of losing it.

Honestly, the emotional dilemma is hard to put into words. And sometimes, even if it gets fixed by someone, an autistic person does not immediately feel okay. That is because he thinks that the fixed item will never be the same. The thought of it getting broken will never leave an autistic person’s head, and he will entirely think about it over and over. Another example of a scenario where people are so insensitive about an autistic’s emotional and mental state is when he is playing with Lego. Yes, those are toys that are meant to be broken down into pieces. However, an autistic finds himself feeling troubled about his valued possession getting destroyed. And even though it is fixable, the idea that it gets ruined will stick and mess with his mind.

Official Diagnosis

There is no concrete diagnosis of object attachment in autism spectrum disorder. “Autism is a result of neurological differences in the structure of the brain that distinguish it from what we call the neurotypical brain. It is not mental illness or a personality disorder.”  Sarah Swenson, MA, LMHC explains. However, a lot of individuals with the same mental condition share the same trait. Yes, there are criteria for determining the signs and symptoms of autism. But some of the unnoticed categorical attributes somehow falls in a mild end that goes up to severe cases. Unfortunately, this is where the confusion comes in.

Insight

There is no particular description as to where and where an autistic individual would flip when someone else is trying to get a hold of his possession. But one thing is for sure. It is hard for an autistic to try and keep things as controlled as possible. That is because the amount of psychological distress that it gives, even if it’s a little thing, can make an emotional and mental recovery impossible.

Initially, teenagers and children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder are identified as having problems in communication and behavioral aspects. When these two are showing, then it is time for you to dig deeper, and then maybe resort to therapy.

Continue reading Autism Spectrum Disorder Indicators