I have a son with autism. Any successful treatment experiences to share with me?

Question

He's 3 and very bright. His main issues are being basically nonverbal and poor social interaction with strangers. I am avoiding 40 hour/week in home therapy...seems a bit odd to me that the "doctors" could do more than I...any suggestions/stories very welcome

Answer 1

Special schooling, they have preschools for autistic children in most communities now.  Support groups in your area are helpful because then you exchange information.  There are know real treatments other than schooling, councling and now meds that can help wih the irritability and anxiety and sleeping problems many autistic children have.  Risperdal is the only FDA approved medicine for use in Autistic children.  They do need to be in social situations so a good school that is trained to work with autistic children would help.  My stepaunt works at a local school that is for children with special needs and she works in the room with only autistic children of various ages and loves her job.  She also takes care of one of the kids outside of school hours.  She said that you can really tell the difference after a year or two of the special schooling.

Answer 2

my nephew has autism.  look for Jenny mccarthys book  Louder than words.  granted she has lots of money and was able to do things for her son that you may not be able too.  but there was alot of stuff in that book that helped wrap my mind around autism, and be able to understand it better.   special diets that help

special ways of teaching them how to play (some children with autism dont really know how to play with their toys, my nephew lined up his match box cars because he didnt know they could go vroom vroom.)

my nephew is now 9 and doing very well. if you have any other questions about it please feel free to ask.

Answer 3

Autism is tough and of course there is no treatment to cure autism they child/adult will have it for life, although it can be improved ..Thomas pictured left with his twin was three when he was diagnosed with severe autism, he is ten now still nonverbal and still in nappies, and he attends a good school his speech has improved also his behavior all he would do at one time was scream now he will do his best in trying to tell us what he wants and if we cannot understand he will use 'basic' sign's or type it out on the computer, The school has done so much for Thomas and he is joining in with lessons and sharing with other children something we thought we would never see ....i don't think your from the UK are you but here when Thomas was diagnosed we basically have to just get on with it ..we had no other help apart from his school he attends now, and hes doing great !

Thomas on Youtube below

Answer 4

Go here http://www.snowdrop.cc/info2.cfm?info_id...

and read this.  http://www.lulu.com/content/1225081

Answer 5

my nephew is now 9, and was diagnosed with autism when he was 2.5. his main things were he was non verbal, non imaginative play, he relied heavily on his routine and any deviation from this would send him into chaos and he could not handle even slightly loud noises.

he was knocked back for a special nursery which caters for children with speech and communication problems due to funding. (dont even get me started on that one!)

so he went to a mainstream nursery with nothing in place for autistic kids, the staff had no training in autism whatsoever. despite this, he done very well, learning words, learning to play with other children. the staff done their best for hm and done their own personal research on autism. so everyone benefited in a way.

he now goes to a mainstream school with a base within it specially for autistic kids. there are 6 other autistic children in the base, varying in age and severity of autism. they spend half of their day in the base, and the other half of their day with their peers in the mainstream class. then at the end of the day they are taken into a sensory room for a chill out period.

he is so smart its unbelievable. he remembers everything to do with numbers, dates etc. he is a great reader, great at counting and won the award in his school for the pupil who has made the most progress in the past year.

my advice would be, find out what is in your area and fight for him to get it. failing that sometimes we have to take 2nd best, but that can produce positive results too.

Answer 6

Jenny Mcarthy wrote a book about her son and what she has done and learned about autism. I have heard much about it, and believe it would be a great resource to start with. Maybe the local book store or library have it, or online.

Here is one link that may help, http://www.oprah.com/tows/slide/200709/2...