Family therapy such as stress management, problem solving training, and supportive counseling may help parents manage the stress associated with autism and Asperger’s syndrome.
The aim of this study was to describe the stress of parents caring for children with Asperger’s syndrome and compare it to the stress of parents caring for children with autism. The study had 238 autism families and 38 Asperger’s syndrome families in Japan. The study found that while both groups of parents were stressed, more parents of children with Asperger’s syndrome (67%) were highly stressed than were parents of children with autism (57%). The study found that the parent’s stress was not related to the child’s IQ. The increased stress in parents of children with Asperger’s syndrome was believed to be due to a longer process and therefore delay in diagnosis as well as fewer support options.
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Children with autism and horses
Jan 17, 2012 by AnonymousPREFACE:
My experience working with children diagnosed with Autism has been a little like knocking on the door to their place of business.
Option #1
Sometimes, no one answers the door and even if the hours of operation are posted, they are not always observed.
Option #2
If the door is answered, you rare sometimes invited in, but once inside you realize it is a waiting room where messages are exchanged. There is no direct contact. This can cause delays, miscommunication and confusion. Patience and timing are critical.
Option #3
With enough effort and understanding you are sometimes (and hopefully) invited into the main office and speak to the boss directly. In this setting, skills understanding and effort are still required but are less demanding and more productive.
This is the most rewarding and productive of the three options.
The equine program developed at the Westwind Rodeo Academy has facilitated the opportunity to enter the office and speak to the boss directly. (Remember - they are not YOUR boss, but the boss of the company you need to do business with.)
I personally believe it has been a key ingredient in several instances, in moving forward and grasping the potential for the Education system to assist and direct students diagnosed with Autism in their academic efforts and opportunities.
FOLLOWING : Is a cursory description of a multi-faceted program that will hopefully provide a glimpse into these concepts.
CAUTION: The thoughts information and data provided here are solely my responsibility and have not been endorsed, accredited, approved or even spell-checked by the Westwind School Division, the Westwind Rodeo Academy or any other authority.
Harlan (Lanny) Smith B.S.W., Family School Liaison Counselor
e-mail lannysmith56@gmail.com
The Program
More than just a riding program, the Westwind Rodeo Academy in Cardston Alberta provides a unique program centered on relationships that is based on a triad as part of a larger group of nine. Each child that attends the program is matched with a specific horse and equine specialist EQ (horse handler) that is chosen for their skills and experience working with children with special needs as well as their command of horse knowledge and competence.
The group of 9 is formed with 3 groups of 3 to allow for broader experience, interactive activities and comparative experiences and an ambience in the session. The selection of which 3 students will attend together is carefully considered and may include children with a variety of challenges not limited to Autism. The sessions are repeated for 6 consecutive weeks and may be repeated up to 4 times a year, space allows and need requires, although each section is provided as a stand alone intervention.
One of the most inspiring experiences is when children fully embrace the horse and the relationship when they take the opportunity to lay down on the horses back without saddle (sometimes with a bareback pad or blanket, but not always), and spend quiet time, just embracing the horse while the child is at rest. This can include conversation with the EQ as originated by the child and is largely a listening activity for the EQ, or just a silent time. This activity is sometimes suggested by the child and sometimes by the EQ and may occur at anytime during the session. It is can be used to de-escalate the child or address stress or emotional discomfort. It is also used as a modest celebration or reinforcement in the relationship.
Actual riding occurs during these sessions but is not the object or the goal. Many sessions pass without the child being on horseback as the situation dictates. Each session is focused on the child's orientation to the world around them as far as they can express through words, body language, choices or actions, their needs and concerns as well as interests and inclinations. Although safety is an over riding principal, convenience to the horse or EQ is secondary to the child's expressed or perceived preference.
We have witnessed EQ's trotting beside the horse as ridden by the child who has expressed a desire to have the horse move at faster than a walk.
(Again, safety is paramount which necessitates one or more EQs running beside the horse. In this case, the child's skills and aptitude to remain safely on the horse is previously determined. We also consider the horses history and attitude and performance on that particular day as part of the decision making process.)
This can be physically demanding and inconvenient for the EQ but a major contributor to the child's experience and benefit. The results the child experiences, the more effort required by the EQ to facilitate without imposing or tainting the child's experience.
The other component of this system is the support of a Mental Health Practitioner and supervision by the Facility Director. This completes the formal team. Decisions about activities, concepts and specific goals are managed by the Facility Director and Bahavior Specialist and the EQ's in consultation.
We have also encouraged with some success, the attendance to at least one of the sessions in each section by a significant family member as well as the students classroom teacher and possible other support personnel. These individuals are given direction about the concepts of non-interference and non-projecting on the child's experience while acknowledging the elements the child is embracing. They meet the horse, the EQ and observe the activities. We often take pictures or video and encourage this experience to be talked about at home and in the classroom.
Of course this is a snapshot of the experience in condensed form and there are many details and intricacies that cannot be explained or properly presented in this format. Overall, the development of this process has been most rewarding and inspiring and worth the investment of time, money and effort. It requires many elements working in concert to achieve this model. We are fortunate that these things have come together thus far.
Questions or comments leading to discussion and education are appreciated.
Updated Information from iBiomed Creators for Tracking Autism Therapies
Jan 4, 2011 by scottieKnowing the financial burden attached to being a caregiver for an Autistic child, we were compelled to build a free web version for users who do not have a smartphone. In our journey with our children we realized that we needed healthcare providers, educators and mentors on board when it comes to improving the quality of care a person receives. The website is ready but is in the testing phase. Here is a link to pictures of what it will look like: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=188241727857292&set=a.188241557857309.51353.146190262062439. We encourage people to go to http://bit.ly/eoHQUR to be notified when iBiomed Health Organizer & Network is released to the general public. Please add us as a resource on Healing Thresholds. Thanks again.
iBiomed is a mobile application which was recently featured in the Post and Courier newspaper, in Charleston, SC. and the Wall Street Journal. It was built by Florence Iwegbue & Kwame Iwegbue who is also a Physician in Charleston, SC. They personally built this software in order to ease the back breaking burden on their family, after their son was diagnosed with Autism and started having unexplained seizures: "We developed the software specifically to manage our son's Autism care, but we now realize that it goes way beyond the world of Autism." They hope to spread the word about this software because they know all to well, the pressures & stress that caregivers and families of children with special needs have to endure.
iBiomed is a free native iPhone/iPad application designed to manage the health and well being of children with Special Needs or individuals with complex, chronic medical illnesses. The App is now available for a free download from the App store. They have left it free because we believe this tool would be of great benefit to many people living with complex medical conditions requiring multiple healthcare providers, medications, tests & rehabilitative therapies. "We cannot articulate why we are so driven by this effort but we believe the medical community has long awaited it. We also believe that as a family it is a calling for us because of the special skills we possess and the circumstance we have found ourselves in. Our son has taken us on an unforgettable journey." Below is a link to watch a demo of iBiomed and a link to our site and Facebook group for pictures of the App in action. They realize that not everyone has an Apple device so we will be making it available for free use online by the end of this month. People can register here to be notified upon it's release: http://bit.ly/eoHQUR.
Click Here: http://bit.ly/iin5H9 for info on how iBiomed can help Health care Providers, Therapists, Nutritionists, Chiropractors, Acupuncturists, Educational Institutions, Vendors and other Holistic Practitioners.
The iBiomed Software allows you to create an Interactive Social Network Bio. If you are a vendor, Holistic practitioner, Healthcare provider, Therapist, Blogger, or mentor, this feature allows an easy one-click access to you, your product and your service.
iBiomed's Features Include:
1. Treatment Log Book:
Keep detailed records on the go and soon online with a mobile logbook for Prescriptions, Supplements, Therapies, Diets, Allergies, and Tests.
2. Add Multiple Time Stamped Notes to each of the above treatment items.
Your Notes are easily search-able.
3. Manage the Treatment of as many people as you'd like; Just as with a portable electronic medical record.
3a. Add as many Supplements, Medications, Tests, Diets and Therapies & Alternative/Holistic Treatments as you’d like.
4. Treatment Journal:
Keep a Journal or Daily diary for each person whose treatment you'll be managing with iBiomed. The Journal entries are time stamped and easily search-able. e.g. foods, behavior logs or side effects and reactions.
5. Treatment History:
Review your treatment history of tests, supplements, diets, therapy notes, behaviors and journals. You can also edit past log entries, including test results. If the test results are numerical, you can easily differentiate between normal and abnormal values.
6. Treatment Reminder:
Treatment alerts to help you remember to administer supplements, medications tests and even Therapy sessions and medical appointments.
7. Share Treatment Information:
Share details of your treatment plan with family, health professionals, therapists or nutritionist by email. iBiomed can automatically generate an email summary of your treatment plan and treatment history by date range.
8. Supply Tracker for Rx & Supplements: Lets you know when you should reorder a prescription or Supplement.
9. Health Forum with "Smart Topic Filter" and Push notification to your mobile device: Now all your forum questions & answers can be accessed on your phone. It is also a so a great platform for parents and healthcare providers to interact.
10. Customizable Graph to track just about anything a person wants to watch closely; from symptoms to behaviors, appetite, sleep, or anything you want to track.
11. Available for online use at biomedprofile.com in January 2010. iBiomed Online Health Organizer will have all the same features of the App and much more. Go to: http://biomedprofile.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=61 to Sign up to receive an email notification when the site is ready for online use.
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.
Responding to art therapy
Jul 22, 2010 by AnonymousArt therapy is an established mental health profession that uses the process of making art to improve the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of individuals. Art therapists believe that the creative process of artistic self-expression helps individuals to resolve problems, develop interpersonal skills, manage behavior, reduce stress, and increase self-esteem.