Early Intervention for Asperger's Syndrome

Early Interventions for Asperger's Syndrome

The last statistic I heard was that 1 in 150 children born will be diagnosed with Autism. I always thought my son was a little different but I never expected him to be tagged with the Autism label. He was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a neurobiological disorder where a child, usually a boy, has normal language and intelligence development but exhibits autistic-like behaviours and has marked deficiencies in communication and social skills.

Some of the early signs are putting their toys, ususally cars, in a straight line. They don't like change or deviation. They become very pre-occupied with one subject and don't often make eye contact. They may flap their hands or bang their heads.

The earlier you see the signs and receive the diagnosis the better. It is imperative that you begin the therapies that your child requires in order to have him or her mainstream in the public school system.

I still disagree with my son's diagnosis but I believe that all the interventions we have put in place are what he needs. The diagnosis also protects him in the school setting. If he didn't have the diagnosis and the Individual Education Plan (I.E.P.) that goes with it, he would probably be struggling and definitely would not be receiving the help he needed. I am not in denial about his issues and as a parent being in denial can be the worst thing you do for your child.

Children don't care that one of their peers may be going to Occupational Therapy or receiving social work at school but they do care if your child is not acting appropriately. A child with an autism spectrum disorder has social differences. You need to first and foremost socialize your child. You need to schedule and maintain play-dates. Even if the play-dates are stressful on you because of behaviour problems or they don't go well, continue them anyways. They will get better.

Try to keep the play dates to just one other child and start them off in short time increments. Begin by setting a one hour play-date and try to have a quieter setting. Don't start at a McDonald's play land. Autistic children often have sensory issues and can't handle too many children and too much noise. Find children who are easy going. They will be the better play mates. If your child starts to melt down, end the play-date early. Your child has had enough and needs to disengage. Don't ever be embarrassed. Every child melts down and you will start to see what triggers the meltdowns and re-direct your child before it happens.

A parent of an autistic child, is with their child 24/7. It is necessary that you are there and that your child can depend on you. You are their safety net. Believe me, they will start to become more independent but in their own time. You can't push them.

Try to seek help with an adult social worker as well. My son receives social work through school which is free. We also met with a counselor recommended by the Neuropsychologist who did his testing but it ended up to be too expensive and I wasn't seeing any improvement. We had been told she worked with groups and that is what we had wanted for him but when I met with her she wasn't currently handling small groups. A small group session with a counselor would be great if you can find it.

Occupational or physical therapy is another wonderful early intervention. My son has many occupational therapy needs. We started him on occupational therapy the summer before 1st grade and I wish we had started earlier. He goes for motor planning, coordination, upper-body strengthening and core strengthening as well as fine motor skills. Most children with Asperger's Syndrome have all of these issues. Over the course of the last 2 years he has improved tremendously. We were even able to remove the adaptive P.E. teacher off of his I.E.P. because he is doing so well.

Work with your child at home too. Throw a ball and add something else in such as jumping on a trampoline while catching back and forth. This helps with visual motor planning. Work on handwriting, another issue that goes with the fine motor skill problems.

Most insurance plans cover Occupational Therapy for 30 sessions. In Illinois they are mandated by an autism law passed in December 2008 to pay if they didn't cover it already. Some other states are following suit. We had been going to one facility for over a year when we had to switch. The O.T. we were using was not in-network with our new insurance company, therefore, we had to switch. It was just too expensive otherwise. He is actually happier at the new place. Everything happens for a reason.

One thing that I am very happy we did was take our son to Pfeiffer Institute. They treat people with chemical inbalances and they put them on a vitamin therapy that meets their needs. Our son had his blood, hair and urine analyzed. The results came back that he had low hystimine, low zinc and elevated copper in his system. Pfeiffer compounds the vitamins based on the results. I never told the school that we did this and his first grade teacher came to me about 3 weeks after I had him on the vitamins and said, "It seems as if a light bulb went off in his head socially." I truly believe Pfeiffer has helped him.

I had tried multivitamins before going to Pfeiffer Institute but he became hyper. I later found out that many multivitamins will raise copper levels or contain caffeine or sugar. If you want to try this before spending the money on a place like Pfeiffer, just be careful to read the ingredients and immediately take your child off if you see any changes.

We have also tried many therapies that didn't work for us such as listening therapy. For us, it was a waste of money and I saw no results. We did try changing his diet but that was a losing battle that caused more grief than results.

Keep trying different things until you find what works best. My son is doing very well academically, he is in Cub Scouts (a wonderful organization), he has a few friends and is a very happy child. I have seen other children whose parents didn't put interventions in place and they are not nearly where my son is at today. Intervention is the key.