How To Help a Child With Autism

Handle any emergency with Howcast's First Aid app - http://howc.st/jkDRTe

Expand the description and view the text of the steps for this how-to video.

Check out Howcast for other do-it-yourself videos from Stabbey and more videos in the Children With Special Needs category.

You can contribute too! Create your own DIY guide at http://www.howcast.com/videos/new or produce your own Howcast spots with the Howcast Filmmakers Program at http://www.howcast.com/filmmakers/apply.

Early intervention is the key to improving the outlook for a child with autism, a neurological disorder that impairs communication and social skills. Here are several strategies you may want to consider.

To complete this How-To you will need:

A medical workup
A gluten-free, casein-free diet
Speech, occupational, and alternative therapies
School enrollment
A nutritionist or dietitian (optional) (optional) (optional)

Step 1: Take your child for a complete medical exam. Some behavioral problems associated with autism, like temper tantrums, can sometimes be reduced if physical problems common in children with autism, such as gastrointestinal issues and allergies, are alleviated.

Step 2: Put your child on a gluten-free, casein-free diet, which means no barley, rye, oats, wheat, or dairy. Many families of children with autism have had good results -- but only if the diet is followed to the letter, no exceptions.

Tip: To make sure your child is getting the proper nutrients despite these restrictions, consult a nutritionist or dietitian.

Step 3: Get your child started on speech therapy as soon as possible. If your child is nonverbal, try PECS, which stands for Picture Exchange Communication System. This technique, which uses picture cards, may encourage them to speak.

Step 4: Get your child sensory-integration therapy, which has been proven effective in helping children with autism become less sensitive to light, sound, and touch.

Step 5: Hire an occupational therapist to help them with skills they'll need for an independent life. Depending on the child, this can be anything from physical coordination to anger management.

Step 6: Use applied behavioral analysis, or ABA, the only intervention approved by the Surgeon General's Office. ABA is a one-on-one approach to teaching children how to react appropriately to everyday social situations with the help of rewards. Parents can either hire an ABA-trained therapist or learn the technique themselves.

Step 7: Try other therapies. Most children with autism benefit from a combination of treatments.

Tip: A popular exercise is "floortime," in which the parent or other caregivers get on the floor with the child and mimic how they play, to encourage them to let others join in the fun.

Step 8: Consider verbal behavior intervention, which is designed to develop language skills through motivation and reinforcement.

Step 9: Test the TEACCH approach, which customizes an education program to the child's strengths and weaknesses. Because children with autism tend to be visual learners, the program is structured around visual clues.

Tip: Some autism experts think the TEACCH system tries to incorporate too many interventions, and winds up diluting them.

Step 10: Consider becoming trained in Relationship Development Intervention, or RDI, which suggests everyday things parents can do at home to help their child adapt to changes and be more open to interacting with others.

Step 11: Enroll your child in school when they turn three. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires that states provide special education services to children with disabilities, beginning at this age.

Step 12: Stay up-to-date on autism research; new therapies are being tested and developed all the time.

Thanks for watching How To Help a Child With Autism! If you enjoyed this video subscribe to the Howcast YouTube channel! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=howcast

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• HealthBeauty
• autism
• Autistic
• child
• children
• help
• assist
• parenting
• parent
• disease

[kierannet]

my brother liam has autism (i say ppl pounce it wrong it is awesome) but hes 9 and he can edit his videos all the time he is really good and i support him im 11

please watch his videos on mtaheny01 (lol he stole my moms channel)

[puppehtron]

How to help a child with autism: be nice, kind, understanding, and not a condescending asshole. If only my former therapists knew...

[Superilovecartoons5]

You can't cure autism, you know that right. It is a genetic disorder passed on by other people. It's not like a disease. You are stereo-typing autism. I eat gluten and casein and i feel perfectly fine. And that makes you not like people with autism, and call it a bad thing, which it's not.

[Superilovecartoons5]

i have autism also. I am extremely shy, and don't really much being around other people.

[logotherapeytis]

Floortime is the best....

i am speechtherapist in Greece and i work with this...

[logotherapeytis]

nice video

[dinonemesis]

@bltsdsubbie *o/\o* high five

[bltsdsubbie]

@dinonemesis Amen! I'd give you a high five, but ya know...internet ._. *virtual imaginary five!*

[dinonemesis]

@bltsdsubbie totally agree with you, like why hate, when love makes the world a better place, i usually make weird faces around my friends, and walk with my legs bended to the sides just for fun, yeah i know it's weird, but i don't like to be the dull regular person

[bltsdsubbie]

@dinonemesis Yeah, I just like annoying people...one of my many guilty pleasures =) I kind of weird out my friends sometimes, but that's okay. They know I don't mean it in a bad way. Why do we judge others based on our own perceptions. Sometimes I see comments here on YouTube and I'm like "People! Why can't we stop hating and start loooving?". OK, enough with off-topic cheesyness. I get distracted LOL. But my behaviour is often not considered very "ladylike". XD

[dinonemesis]

@bltsdsubbie well that seems normal to me, i know people who do that kind of stuff just for the heck of it

[bltsdsubbie]

@dinonemesis In that case...I'm not normal. That's right, weird and proud! XD

Like seriously, one time we went on a school trip and I was so hyper I was annoying this one guy. He almost punched me in the face. THAT's how hyper I was lol