The Right Treatment Can Help an Autistic Child

If your child is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, you may feel confused and insecure at first and realize that your life will change. Along with feelings of shock or sadness, you’ll also start wondering about treatment, and hope that your child can live a normal life. According to Lindsey Stone, who works for autism awareness, parents should be careful to choose the right treatments.

Tips for Parents

The sooner your child begins treatment, the greater chance the treatment will be a success. You shouldn’t wait to see if your child outgrows some of the symptoms. Early intervention is your best asset for reducing the symptoms of autism.

It’s important for you to learn about autism because the more you understand, the better equipped you’ll be to select from different treatments. You can also learn about the triggers that cause you child to exhibit disruptive behavior, so you can learn what will calm him or her.

You should avoid comparing your child with other children at any time. Your child has unique successes and failures and should feel supported by you at all times.

Be Wary of Unproven Treatments

It may be fascinating to hear stories from other parents or healthcare givers about how different children respond to treatments. You can find home remedies online that have worked wonders for someone. This may encourage you to try these treatments yourself. It is recommended to be very cautious about unproven treatments, even if someone else has experienced great success with it. You should be cautious if the treatments:

• Have very little scientific basis if any
• They benefit more than one condition
• They promise miraculous results
• The evidence that they are good is only anecdotal stories not scientific research
• No goals or targeted behaviors are identified
• Claim that since there are no side effects, there is no need for scientific research

A few of the most common unproven and possibly harmful treatments are:

• An IV injection of secretin. This is said to improve sleep patterns, language skills, eye contact and alertness. However, there have been several clinical trials of this treatment and no difference was found between children who have a placebo and those who had secretin.
• An IV injection of immune globulin. This treatment is given by people who think autism is caused by autoimmune abnormality.
• Chelation therapy is given to remove toxins from the child’s body especially mercury. It is based on the assumption that autism is cause by a high content of mercury in the blood. However, children with autism often eat unusual things which may be the cause of mercury in the blood, not the other way around. This treatment has killed several children in the U.S.
• Facilitated communication is a treatment that uses a keyboard to assist the child to communicate. It is not considered helpful at all and has been shown to be harmful in some cases.
• Auditory Integration Training is based on the theory that autism is caused by distorted sounds and hypersensitivity to noise. It allows the child to hear music through different devices.

You can help your child with the right kind of treatment and they will develop over time. In your desire for a quick-fix, don’t be distracted by unproven treatments.

Stay gorgeous everyone!