Children with autism who have feeding problems may be helped by an interdisciplinary feeding program.
Feeding problems are a pattern of eating that is not normal and causes social or health problems for the patient. The purpose of this study was to see if a feeding program was able to help 46 children with autism who had feeding problems. The children (aged 3 to 12 years) in the study received intense behavior therapy and oral motor therapy. The authors found the program to be a success based upon one follow-up data point for each child. While the program was able to help the children, the authors note that these children had severe feeding issues and were part of a feeding disorders program.
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Responding to visual schedules
Dec 28, 2010 by AnonymousOne of the most important things to remember is that our words disappear, visuals (pictures) do not.. We all use visuals in one form or another, calendars, post it notes, grocery lists, etc. We all look to visuals for information for instance on the highway for a hospital, gas stations, places to eat and restrooms, divided highway ahead, merge to the right, speed limit 35 and Stop. Visual strategies though, are created with an intended focus of giving particular person information that they are not picking up naturally. If one mentions an abstract word to a group of people, they all may have a different vision of what that word means or looks like. A picture of the correct definition puts everyone on the same page with regards to comprehending the intended meaning of the word for that purpose. For instance your child may associate “eating” with their favorite cookie so when you say “we are going to eat” they are envisioning getting their favorite cookie, when in fact you are talking about giving them an egg for breakfast. There is confusion and probably a meltdown because they have a different view of what “eat” means. Visuals can help take away that confusion for them as well as their expectation of getting the cookie, especially if they are looking at a picture of a plate of eggs, then they are prepared as well for eggs for breakfast, or for what “we are going to eat.”
Visuals can be used to teach so much more than just schedules. I am the mother of a daughter with autism, who is now 16. I began using visual strategies with her when she was 3. They were affordable, I could do this myself and I did not need expensive equipment to find success. My daughter did have speech and occupational therapy and she did have a supportive team at school. I used visuals to teach routines, behaviors, social and academic rules, academics and the list goes on and on. I used them mainly to teach comprehension of our very abstract language and to also teach preparation for change. I created transition tools for moving from one environment to the next. She had bookmarks for the rules of the library, she had another bookmark with the class rules for doing seatwork as well as a foam cutout of a lunchbox with what to do when the lunchroom gets too noisy rule. I found the visuals were the bridge or the key to her understanding. They need to be used consistently, and you must have patience and you cannot give up. When my daughter looked confused, I would ask myself what it was about the situation she did not understand and then I created a visual to show her.
My daughter is now 16, a junior in high school, and is taking honors classes and two AP college level classes. She is fully included and was on the yearbook and school newspaper for two years. She has a great interest in sports and so her articles involved interviewing coaches and players for the articles. I believe the early intervention; with the use of visuals throughout the years is a major part of her success.
I co-authored a book with Linda Hodgdon, who is well known internationally in the use of visual strategies for individuals with autism. Linda has written two great books “Visual Strategies for Improving Communication” and “Solving Behavior Problems in Autism”. These were my constant companions and you may find them helpful as well. As a result of using all these visuals with my daughter over the years, I co-authored an e-book with Linda called “Practical Communication Tools for Autism-Visual Strategies for Lifelong Success”. It is about the journey with visuals and how they worked as well as pictures of many of them with my daughter. These can be found at www.usevisualstrategies.com
No matter what resource you use, the bottom line is to get started, be patient, consistent and to not give up trying. You don’t need to be trained in using a “system”, use your gut instinct. I tore apart magazines for pictures and used cereal box tops for cereal choices. This was before the age of the digital camera and film was expensive, but I did take a lot of pictures as well. I had to teach my daughter how to point and until she could. I read her facial expressions when I placed her hand on a picture. We did a lot of detective work and we worked through many obstacles until we got it right, but it was so worth it. Visuals have no side effects and are easy to use and affordable…best of luck
Responding to neurofeedback
Nov 12, 2010 by AnonymousWe have used neurofeedback (NFB) for our Asperger son. I don't know how well it works for autistic people. For Asperger syndrome, it can work very well, but it's a long process.
We started the therapy when my son was 9 years old, having extreme difficulties at school because he couldn't cope with anything. His anxiety was so high even the NFB doctor thought it was remarkable. The initial assessment showed that my son had high delta-theta waves (associated with ADD-like attention span), low sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) waves (associated with sensory issues,fidgeting, tics, agitation, and anxiety), and high high-beta waves (associated with intense anxiety). This profile is pretty much exactly what all Asperger kids look like.
We liked the NFB approach because unlike virtually all other ASD treatments we tried or looked at, this was the first one that looked inside our son's brain to see what was going on. The assessment wasn't based on theory, observation, or cookie-cutter practice, but on the actual output from the kid's head.
The NFB treatment involved playing computer games via electrodes stuck to the scalp and ears. It sounds more fun than it is, because the games are very slow. We had to bribe my son to do the therapy. We are very tech-savvy, so we trained at the centre so that we could do the sessions at home (we live hours away from the clinic).We did the sessions every day so that we could see the results faster. We kept a log sheet of observations, hours of therapy, and game points, and included any observations from his teachers.
After 30 hours of treatment, he suddenly figured out how to control his high-beta waves. Where he used to get scores of 10, he could now get scores of 200, then 400, then 1000. He had no idea how he was controlling the levels, but he was doing it. Within a few days, we noticed that his anxiety was GONE. I mean GONE. Suddenly nothing bothered him anymore. He wasn't afraid of the dark, or of barking dogs, or of rain, or of traffic. He stopped fretting about death and getting older and started simply living.
We continued the therapy for another 30 hours and got his SMRs up. That's when he started eating a bunch of new foods and playing outside. He'd even ask to try out something new. However, the SMR's are the hardest wave to fix, because they're deep in the brain, and he didn't maintain the high SMR's for long.
The one we had the least success with was the delta-theta, which ironically is usually the easiest to treat. Oh well. So he's still a space cadet!
We wrapped up the therapy at 100 hours, very pleased with the results.
My son is now 14 and doing well. We've noticed in the ensuing years since doing his NFB that it's worthwhile to do tune-ups three to four times a year. Video games, sedentary activities, and long car drives all seem to push his brainwaves back into the old patterns. We can tell when this occurs because suddenly he can't cope with anything, he's screaming a lot, and the teachers are phoning us to ask what's going on. All we need to do is a week of NFB, a half-hour per day, and the problems disappear. We've now trained our son to do his own sessions, so it's very easy for us.
If you want to learn more about NFB, you need to do some reading first. The best book on the subject is one that's probably in your public library: A Symphony in the Brain. It explains how the brain works. There is a chapter on NFB near the end. Besides that, there are many books available discussing the applications for NFB treatment. It works so well for anxiety disorders, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (which are all disorders in which the brainwaves get into bad patterns and get stuck there) that its popularity is growing. NFB is expensive. There are some people trying to develop simpler, more user-friendly technology, but the practitioners are used to the old systems. We have to wait for a younger generation of NFB doctors to move into the field to take it in new directions.
Parents of Autistic Child create book...Look Who is Coming
Apr 27, 2010 by ddickraderA month or so ago, I noticed my 3-year old mild to moderately diagnosed autistic grandson picking up books (albeit upside down) and pretending to read - I suspect he was mirroring what he understood in his special school pre-school class. One problem with Aidan and books is that after a few seconds, he's finished with the mock reading, and may tear them up during play.
I bought some muslin, cut it into approximately 5" x 7" pieces, folded the edges over, stitched them down (to prevent fraying), then added a button hole in the top left corner of each. I gathered family pictures, and using Publisher, reversed them horizontally, added names (Aidan, Mom, Dad, Grady, Nana, etc.) also reversed, put four pictures w/names on a page, and printed to iron-on t-shirt transfers. After cutting them apart, I ironed one picture w/name on each muslin page, and attached all via a piece of tulle ribbon (strong), knotted tightly. I had originally thought of a metal key ring, but nixed that because it'd be too hard to thread and secondly, because it could accidentally hurt someone if hurled.
I had enough pages to add "action pictures" of Aidan getting a haircut, riding a horse, jumping, eating, and the very last page was one with him going "night-night".
Aidan has a limited and reluctant vocabulary, but as he flipped through the pages with me while I said each name, he repeated most of them. He can also throw, bend, and generally play with the book and it won't break and is washable.
And I've just ordered Look Who Is Coming for Aidan, and may order more for other grandchildren w/out autism. I applaud the authors.
Parents of Autistic Child create book...Look Who is Coming
Apr 27, 2010 by ddickraderA month or so ago, I noticed my 3-year old mild to moderately diagnosed autistic grandson picking up books (albeit upside down) and pretending to read - I suspect he was mirroring what he understood in his special school pre-school class. One problem with Aidan and books is that after a few seconds, he's finished with the mock reading, and may tear them up during play.
I bought some muslin, cut it into approximately 5" x 7" pieces, folded the edges over, stitched them down (to prevent fraying), then added a button hole in the top left corner of each. I gathered family pictures, and using Publisher, reversed them horizontally, added names (Aidan, Mom, Dad, Grady, Nana, etc.) also reversed, put four pictures w/names on a page, and printed to iron-on t-shirt transfers. After cutting them apart, I ironed one picture w/name on each muslin page, and attached all via a piece of tulle ribbon (strong), knotted tightly. I had originally thought of a metal key ring, but nixed that because it'd be too hard to thread and secondly, because it could accidentally hurt someone if hurled.
I had enough pages to add "action pictures" of Aidan getting a haircut, riding a horse, jumping, eating, and the very last page was one with him going "night-night".
Aidan has a limited and reluctant vocabulary, but as he flipped through the pages with me while I said each name, he repeated most of them. He can also throw, bend, and generally play with the book and it won't break and is washable.
And I've just ordered Look Who Is Coming for Aidan, and may order more for other grandchildren w/out autism. I applaud the authors.