Blog 16: 2 Hour Meeting -- Answer #2

EQ

• How can a parent best support a child with autism?

Second Answer

• To best support the autistic child, they must decide what is the best treatment or combination of treatments for the child.

Details/Support

• For example, a child that can't articulate words properly and seems withdrawn from kids his age will benefit most from socialization and speech therapy.
• It is well known that when dealing with an autistic child, there is no one thing to cure it; so combinations of treatments are used very often. Similar to this is diagnosing; you take into account, the psychiatrist's experience, parent's observations, and DSM criteria to make a real diagnosis.
• Early intervention is proven to work. Researchers studied this very thing. They examined how children that underwent early intervention therapies compared to those that did not. The children that did were farther along and more close to the developmental level of their peers.

Justification

• My mentor seems very backed in my idea that there is usually an area of development that needs more work than another. In that sense, it's easier to pinpoint which treatment is needed most .However, utilizing most, if not all, treatments for the child will only benefit them in getting back on track of regular development.

Next

• I plan to continue studying my answer 2 by using my IC 2 to give me an in depth look at the therapies.