Risperidone may help children with autism overcome sensitivity to loud noises.
This case study described the use of risperidone to treat a five and a half year old girl with autism who was frightened by loud sounds (hyperacusia). While many children with autism do not process sound the way other children do, only some children with autism cry and avoid loud sounds. Children with hyperacusia may also cover their ears when they hear loud sounds such as a vacuum cleaner, car, or washing machine. The doctor reports that this child’s hyperacusia improved when she took risperidone. This appears to be the only report that has described this effect of risperidone.
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Responding to generalized imitation/sounds that goes with words besides oink with pig, moo with a cow, etc.
Feb 12, 2010 by Anonymousexample teaching the language therapist to dote on words that have long and short vowel meanings of two or more syllables, practice this step over and over with an essay and read aloud using breaths and syllable enunciations and differ them with nasal noises and use pictures of animals with sounds and nature that makes sounds of wind, raindrops, person makes sounds of things, stuff use familiar auto car sounds, honking and go over breathing normal with opinion of english syllable usage and preference of ongoing speech used as casual communicatives. Thanks kathy. p.s. syllables are great and have that ambience and effect on toning things down when we see a crisis arriving at the door, don't we? okay my favorite is chry san thi mum wow a mouthful and I do have to take a breath after forcing that word around.
Responding to generalized imitation/sounds that goes with words besides oink with pig, moo with a cow, etc.
Feb 12, 2010 by Anonymousexample teaching the language therapist to dote on words that have long and short vowel meanings of two or more syllables, practice this step over and over with an essay and read aloud using breaths and syllable enunciations and differ them with nasal noises and use pictures of animals with sounds and nature that makes sounds of wind, raindrops, person makes sounds of things, stuff use familiar auto car sounds, honking and go over breathing normal with opinion of english syllable usage and preference of ongoing speech used as casual communicatives. Thanks kathy. p.s. syllables are great and have that ambience and effect on toning things down when we see a crisis arriving at the door, don't we? okay my favorite is chry san thi mum wow a mouthful and I do have to take a breath after forcing that word around.
Free Sound Therapy Home Programme
Jan 21, 2010 by AnonymousDr. Alfred Tomatis, a French otolaryngologist, is recognised as the modern day originator of sound or music therapy. In the early 1950's he developed an effective therapy method using altered music to treat conditions such as auditory processing disorder, dyslexia, attention deficit disorder and autism. Another French doctor, Dr. Guy Bérard, developed a similar method, Auditory Integration Training (AIT), which has found many followers in the USA. From personal experience I know that many clients report improvements in understanding, speech, balance, behaviour and emotional well-being after just two or three weeks of daily sound therapy.
Sensory Activation Solutions (SAS) is an organisation with Centres in the U.K. and Turkey that provides a unique service for children and adults that face learning or developmental difficulties. When the established educational, psychological or medical services fail to provide adequate support, the SAS methodology often can provide practical solutions that result in noticeable improvements in daily life.
You may be interested to check out their Free Sound Therapy Home Programme. Their Auditory Activation Method builds on the pioneering work of Dr. Tomatis and Dr. Bérard and has been specifically developed with the aim to improve sensory processing, interhemispheric integration and cognitive functioning. It has helped many children and adults with a wide range of difficulties, ranging from dyslexia and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder to sensory processing disorders and autism. It is not a cure or medical intervention, but a structured training programme that can help alleviate some of the debilitating effects that these conditions can have on speech and physical ability, daily behaviour, emotional well-being and educational or work performance.
There is no catch, it's absolutely free and most importantly often effective. Check it out at: http://www.sascentre.com/uk/uk_free.html.
Nutrition and Essential Fatty Acids May Help Verbal Apraxia and Autism
Dec 2, 2009 by AnonymousCan nutrition help verbal skills in children with autism? A study reported the August 2009 issue of Alternative Therapies says yes, for some children. Combined vitamin E and omega 3 therapy may help a type of verbal apraxia (a type of speech problem) that may be linked to food allergies and nutritional problems.
Children with verbal apraxia have trouble pronouncing words and may have severe speech problems. Many scientists have thought that verbal apraxia is a brain disorder. This study suggests that verbal apraxia may also be related to metabolism differences and nutritional problems.
Metabolism is the process of making energy from food. Metabolism is a complex system of enzymes, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates that work together to digest food and turn it into energy that the body can use. People likely have a wide range of metabolic differences. Some of those differences can be quite large for some individuals. In this study, they suggest that some children with autism may have metabolism differences that affect how they process foods, and how their brain works.
What did the study show? This study tested 187 children with verbal apraxia, and many of them also had autism. All of the children took 400-3,000 International Units of vitamin E daily. They also took 1-3 grams of polyunsaturated fats (including omega 3 fatty acids) per day.
Almost all of the families (97%) reported improvements in speech, imitation, coordination, eye contact, and other skills with vitamin E and omega-3 therapy. There were few side effects reported during the length of the study.
The authors also described blood test results for nutritional information about 26 of the children. They reported low carnitine levels, high anti-gluten antibodies (suggesting a gluten allergy), low vitamin D levels, and fat absorption problems in most of the children they tested. They described how nutrition and metabolism might be different in some children with autism.
What do these results mean for children with verbal apraxia and autism? The results are exciting because 97% of the children showed improvements, and there were few side effects. Sounds perfect, doesn’t it? But it’s not quite as perfect as it sounds.
There are some major limitations of this study. First of all, the researchers asked parents to give their subjective opinion of improvements. The parents knew they were in a study. Although they were given specific improvements to look for, there is a possibility of bias in favor of reporting a good result.
Secondly, they did not use placebo controls. All of the parents and children knew they were getting the supplements. There is the possibility of the “placebo effect” which is when people taking placebo (“sugar pills”) report feeling better or actually show improvements. Many think it is the power of the mind/body connection that somehow influences how they feel or even how their body physically responds. There is scientific evidence for brain connections to the immune and endocrine systems to support these observations. It is possible that, in this study, the children and/or parents were hopeful that the supplements would work, and that influenced the outcome. There was a placebo effect observed in a recent study of citalopram and autism in children.
Third, the supplements may be helpful for only a subset of children with verbal apraxia. The researchers chose children with verbal apraxia who also had metabolism differences….
What is the bottom line for omega-3 and vitamin E from this study? In spite of the shortcomings of this study, the results are very promising. Children with verbal apraxia may benefit from vitamin E and omega-3 supplements, which may get their metabolism on a better track. And researchers will continue to explore the nutrition/metabolism link with brain function. Good nutrition is likely to be important for many brain functions, not just verbal apraxia.