Question for parents with autistic children?

Question

My 3-year-old daughter has autism, and right now she is in DD Pre-K for 12 hours a week. She loves school, but I feel like I should be doing more for her (like speech therapy, occupational therapy, etc.).

So my question is...what kinds of activities are your autistic children involved in? Thanks so much!

Answer 1

When my daughter was that age, she attended early-intervention pre-K for about 9 hours a week, and had occupational and speech therapy for 1-2 hours per week.  Other than that, we just played with her.  She loved Barney & Friends and learned a lot from watching that.  Plus, because she is such a visual learner, I would sit with her and draw pictures of letters, numbers, etc., and things they represented (A is for apple, draw the A, draw the apple, etc.).  I tried to give her opportunities where she could excel, like with colors - she knew them very well and liked them, too, so I would draw rainbows and she would tell me what color to use, when.  Or sometimes, for a special treat, we'd mix water with food coloring and then pour the colored water into other jars to make new colors (i.e., red and blue make purple, and so on).

I wish I could say that now (she is 15) my daughter no longer exhibits any signs of autism but that's not true.  She still struggles with language, still attends speech therapy for an hour a week, still has the occasional meltdown, etc.  However, I have happy memories of spending that time with her when she was little, and feel fortunate that she is as affectionate with me as she is.  I think in the long run, she has taught me more (about things like empathy, patience, and courage) than I ever taught her....

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

My daughter has autism and loves math. She likes nothing better than to sit on her own with a book of sudoku puzzles. She doesn't do socialising as she prefers to be on her own. I used to try to get her to mix with other kids but it made her so unhappy. As your daughter grows, like any other child her likes and dislikes will change. I have found the best way to treat my daughter and get involved is to take an interest in what ever she is obsessed with at the time. At the moment her main obssesion other than math is dolphins. Earlier this year we had a day at Discovery Cove in Orlando and she said it was the best day of her life! Do what you think is best for your daughter but don't force her to do things she doesn't want to and that will make her unhappy. Good luck.

Answer 3

When my daughter was three, she was in DD preschool for 12 hours a week, and then had speech and OT privately for an hour each every week.  In hindsight, I would have pushed the school to provide more therapy outside of the preschool hours (which many many people in our area are doing now, preschool hours for social training, and then speech and OT during the rest of the school day) Small group speech is generally very unhelpful for kids with autism, unless it is two kids, one each with an adult to prompt proper interaction, and in our experience classroom OT did very little to help her day-to-day.

Many people push for forty hours of ABA/floortime a week for autistic kids, but that stressed our daughter out and we did about fifteen hours a week, maybe a few extra hours on the weekend if she was open to it. That's outside of classroom, of course.

My daughter was very severe, but is mostly moderate. She regresses still, and is functionally nonverbal, but is better with selfhelp skills and selfmutilation.

Answer 4

well i'm assuming the child study team is involved, different states have different names for them, they're appointed by the Board of Education and they do the I.E.P's. My daughter is in pre-k disabled also and she's 3yrs and has autism, so her I.E.P has listed the therapies all of us agreed she needs during school, speech, occupational, and physical therapy. She's in school from 8:45 to 2:45 every day so there are more school hours for my child to incorperate more therapies. I have some questions for you though. Did your daughter get an I.E.P? if so why wasn't speech and o.t included in it? Did you know you basically run the show when it comes to the I.E.P, they test her of course to see exactly what she needs, but if you have a diagnosis of autism or pdd, aspergers, whatever, she is entitled to i would guess every therapy under the sun that kids like ours need to become on the road as "typical" children.  If you have it financially there are other therapies that are beneficial for our kids, unfortunately some insurances won't flip the bill for but i found out about these therapies and they are for kids with autism especially; water therapy, sand therapy, horse-back riding, I'M NOT EVEN KIDDING! ABA is the most crucial, its supposed to be incorporated in the pre-k program through the teacher but extra ABA in my opinion will NEVER hurt. Is she in school every day? why only 12 hours a week? I'm guessing its the state you live in? So far my daughter has improved greatly and i credit the structure of the pre-k program. But if you can't change the amount the hours she's in school remember this, structure means everything! if you're not too busy working, keep her busy consistancy counts. the best of luck to your daughter and you.

Answer 5

I work in the public schools and most students with autism have speech services either push in in the classroom to support language development or pull out services 1-2 times a week. Many also have OT for either sensory issues, fine motor or gross motor issues. Sometimes they also have APE (adaptive PE). There should also be something in place to address social skill development since this tends to be a major need area. This could be facilitated in the classroom  or could be a pull out group with typical developing children and may be lead by a psychologist or behaviorist. Remember need areas and goals direct service not diagnosis. So if you feel your child needs something else you must identify a need are and a goal that should point to the service.

Answer 6

She should be getting those things in the school district. Do you have an IEP for her? Your are in the US right? My daughter is 4 and she had at home therapy until 3, and then she entered into a special school (she has the most severe form of autism, Rett Syndrome). For autistic kids they have ABA schools too. There is one next to my daughters. But this is all something that is provided free in the U.S.