Autistic Therapy: Why Professional Help is so Valuable

Many people wonder whether they need to pursue autistic therapy for their child. My husband and I weren’t too excited about it. After all, we are natural teachers. It just flows out of us unintentionally. My husband has animation, charisma, quick mental whit, sharp reasoning to engage the most distracted and the strongest skeptic. My strong points are coming up with unique strategies to overcome learning obstacles, and patience. Our best points have been sorely tested since our son, Jackson regressed into his own world of autism. We worked hard pulling out entire circus acts hoping to get his attention, to entice him back into our world. After lots of trial and error and hundreds of games of peekaboo, down-set-hut tickle tackles, and at least 25 made up songs, we finally showed him our world was a fun place to hang out in once and a while. He occasionally acknowledged us, preferred us to a perfect stranger, and tolerated us most of the time.

We were relieved to occasionally catch his eye or be allowed to snuggle him close for a minute or two, and thrilled to hear a small laugh escape his usually somber lips. But we were at a complete loss as to how to TEACH him anything. Direct, engaging attempts to learn new skills were ignored or ademately opposed. We felt our directives slip into wistful, doubtful wishes, “Come here, Jack” knowing full well he would not respond. We tried new environments, new approaches, and new toys, but he prefered to sit by the window holding two spatulas and hum to himself. We felt like we were trying 100 different things before we found 1 that worked, stumbling around in the dark, not quite sure what we were looking for.

We knew we needed help: professional autistic therapy. Someone who could help us narrow those 100 trial and errors down to 5 or 10. And we found that after moving to Oregon. We didn’t even know at the time the incredible, life-changing, golden nugget we’d found: an autism specific classroom employing a unique blend of the most successful behavior therapy approaches and completely individualized education plan caried out by skilled, caring professionals with a student/teacher ratio of 1:1. Incredible!

Every moment of our son’s three hour class is infused with skill building from the moment he says good bye to us until he’s greeting us at the gate. Even free play time is focused on teaching play skills and peer interaction skills. Snack time is all about gaining attention, making choices, and making requests appropriately using spoken language, PECS, sign language, or automated voice machines. Outside time focuses on large motor skills that each child needs to work on, peer interaction, appropriate play, and making requests. Each skill is carefully broken down, a unique strategy is selected, and a personalized motivator chosen to help each student successfully meet his or her individual goals. Intervention therapies are carefully woven into every transition, group activity, and individual one-to-one skills time. The extreme intentionality of these professionals has skyrocketed our son’s skills across the board.

As our son bounds out the door to head to school, I laugh and say our he is off to work! But he loves it. And we have learned so much from this classroom and excellent teachers who are so available to help us learn training strategies for use at home and to problem solve when he gets stuck on a certain skill or behavior.

We’ve had autism specialists come to our home for home visists to help us gain new ideas for rearranging to make the home environment more conducive for motivating language and inducing sleep. These specialists have modeled various therapy approaches, observed us, and given crucial feedback and strategies to help us make our interactions with our son more meaningful and positive.

Our son doesn’t have many physical challenges like some children with ASD do, but he has still benefitted from autism therapy, including sensory therapy as well as speech and occupational therapy he’s receiving during class time. His OT has shared several helpful exercises we can do with our son at home using simple objects like an exercise ball and a blanket that have helped improve his balance and develop lacking sensory perceptions.

All of these professionals bring with them years of experience and a keen eye to see what specific strategies will be most beneficial to our son. And they refer to us as the experts on our son to help them find those strategies the fit his needs and particular motivating interests. They have equipped us with strategies that work, and have accelerated our son’s progress beyond what we could have hoped for or expected. Words are errupting, and he is responding like never before. We are so thankful for the incredible team of professionals who have invested so much into us as well as our son, and we encourage you to seek professional help as well. Finding doctors, teachers, OTs, PTs, and Speech Pathologists who have experience working with children who have Autism can be a challenge, but worth it if at all possible. Even finding professionals who are open to educating themselves about autism, and attending training yourself will be invaluable. With appropriate support and training, you might even be able to teach your child at home. But we can bet you will find much greater success more quickly if you connect with someone who has experience and training. It makes a world of difference.