Autistic Intervention

Austistic Intervention

Speech Therapy

Assessments

Early Intervention

Autistic Intervention

Autistic Spectrum Disorder

The three types of Autistic Spectrum Disorder are as follows:

Autism
Aspergers
Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)

Autism is a complex neurological disorder and is considered a spectrum disorder. It is characterised by impairment in communication, social interaction and restricted and repetitive behaviour. Called the ‘triad’ of symptoms, it affects children in different ways. Children with Autism do not naturally and easily acquire social communication skills and will have some unusual behaviours. They see the world in a different way and this can lead to anxiety. It affects approximate 1 % of the population with boys being four times more likely to be affected than girls.

There are many theories as to what causes Autism and more recently there are some preliminary results coming out of a large scale study into the DNA of children with Autism and the general population. Processing and organising of information in the brain is different. Onset is prior to 3 years although not always diagnosed.

Children with Aspergers Disorder often do speak by two but may sound different and will have difficulty interacting with their peers, often displaying unusual behaviours like counting things all the time, or talking about specific topics like ‘electricity’ repetitively. Often intelligence is normal although learning difficulties can occur because of a disordered pattern of behaviour. Most children with Aspergers have poor motor coordination and fine motor control.

PDD-NOS is a diagnosis where there are weak social interaction and communication skills with atypical or stereotyped behaviours but the full symptoms related with ASD are not present.

Seeking Help

If your child is not babbling in their first year of life, does not respond easily to adults around them, pulls your hand rather than points to things and does not speak in two word phrases by 2 years you need to seek help, it may not be Autism but Autism needs to be ruled out.

Atypical Development

It is important to understand about the early signs of Autism because interventions should start early and awareness of early signs is needed first. Please note that some of these signs are also present in different conditions therefore differential diagnosis must be made carefully and taking your child to a specialist is essential.

Even as an infant there are signs of weak social interaction:

Respond less to their name
Smile less frequently and rarely look at the person
Generally less responsive to social action and games
Babbling may have been delayed or be limited in variety of sounds

Social Interaction signs in toddlers and in early childhood include:

Weak joint attention, child attends to their interest areas
Pulling the person’s arm rather than pointing
Difficulty with turn-taking and eye contact
Spends time alone, few friends
Poor turn taking in communication, so reciprocity and topic changing is poor
Facial and emotional recognition of others is weak
Difficulty in maintaining interaction if started

Communication is often impaired:

Communication is less functional
Difficulty with request language/sharing experiences
Use of hand pulling to get needs and wants in preference to speech
Communication attempts more around what the child wants
Lack of spontaneous initiation of communication – adult facilitates
Sometimes imitation is weak and has poor imaginative play
Lack of awareness of what facial expressions convey and understanding non-verbal communication
Impaired use/diminished facial expression and body language
Repeating words, saying nonsense words or saying phrases out of context
Language comprehension is weak
When older, difficulty understanding inferential speech, idioms, jokes

Unusual behaviours can include:

Atypical or repetitive movement; hand flapping, rocking, finger flicking
Compulsive behaviour; lining up toys, switching on lights
Restricted behaviour; focus on few things, lack of a range of interests, preoccupation
Rituals and Routines; need for sameness (same food, does things in same way or order)
Self Injury; hand biting, head banging

Superior talents seen with individuals on the Autistic Spectrum can include high levels of perception and attention and an astonishing memory for facts and information. A large number of children have disordered sensory perception. Often there are accompanying weak motor skills.

What we do at ATOC

Much focus is given to the negative behaviours seen in Autism as children appear ‘unwilling’ to learn. Students on the Autistic Spectrum can however be very focused, show high abilities in certain areas, and with effective early management, achieve their potential in different ways.

The student on the Austistic Spectrum may require Individualised Learning Objectives, often requires a social facilitation and need behavioural management. There is no one curriculum that fits all and individualised programmes based on unique needs and abilities of the child on the spectrun may be required in addition to the school curriculum. Effective therapies should be specific and use SMART objectives and outcomes.

At ATOC, specialized therapists and teachers work together as a multidisciplinary team to provide high-quality evaluation and effective needs-based programmes that recognise the child's abilities.

Links are made with the medical community as comprehensive evaluations are essential for individuals identified as possibly being on the Autistic Spectrum. Early identification and information on abilities and difference support early and effective care.

A child may require only either one of the following treatment or a combination of approaches

Behavioural Therapy

A systematic and intensive approach to behavioural reinforcement enables children with Autism to learn skills that are not easily acquired naturally. Reinforcement programmes that are carefully planneda focus on essential skills that need to be taught result in a higher success rate than traditional interactions.

Applied Behavioural Analysis is the analysis of behaviour and a systematic training method which increases the desired behaviours (skills) while reducing any undesirable behaviours.

Steps to Learning

We have a number of specialised curricula that allow the targeting of small increments of a given skill or behaviour so that success is achieved more easily.

Communication Tools

In addition to training language skills and combination of approaches- behavioural, 1:1 interactions and facilitation within a play or small group learning setting- we can use the child’s higher developed visual system to communicate with pictures. This formal picture communication exchange system (PECS) can be used to jump start language initially or as a means of communication where the child does not speak.

Specialist Education

Some Autistic children are behind their peers in some areas of learning. Special educators are familiar with not only the condition, but are aware of specialist resources and know how to apply different strategies to maximise success.

Speech and Language Therapy

Speech and Language Pathologists prioritize on the areas of language intervention and social communication.

The Speech Pathologist may work on a child's tone of voice, use of inflection, pace of speech and elimination of verbal stimulation (i.e. strange noises, repetitive phrases, reducing/eliminating echolalia). The emphasis is on functional communication. Sometimes language is present but not used for purposeful exchange with another person.

Occupational Therapy

The Occupational Therapist will develop sensory regulation and work on early cognitive skills, independent task performance, and social communication. She will look at developing large or fine motor skills and may work with the child in play to increase the range of purposeful play.

Social Skills Groups

Children benefit most from social skills development in the natural setting with facilitation at home, in public places and at school. However, some may intially require a supportive environment wherin a facilitator guides in instrumental training in order to role play and practise skills.

Planning and problem solving can be difficult for a child on the Autistic Spectrum and this is important for enhanced social skills. Specific verbal and non-verbal communication skills will need to be taught and unusual or anti-social behaviours eliminated.