If you have a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there are a lot of things you can do to help your child develop and work through the difficulties of living with autism.
Let’s discuss different interventions for people with autism spectrum disorder.
Interventions For Autism Spectrum Disorder
We will go through 5 different types of interventions that may help your child grow and develop.
Behavioral Interventions
When teaching behavioral interventions with a child that has autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the main focus should be teaching subculture behaviors and skills by using structured techniques. The most researched and best-supported type of behavior intervention is ABA or Applied Behavior Analysis. This type of intervention is a very hands-on approach with your child.
Other types of behavior interventions include:
• Discrete Trial Training (DTT),
• Douglas Developmental Disabilities Center,
• Incidental teaching,
• Lovaas Program,
• Pivotal response treatment,
• Positive Behavior Support,
• Princeton Child Development Institute Program.
All these different behaviors based interventions may help a child with autism spectrum disorder.
Developmental Interventions
The developmental interventions for a child with autism spectrum disorder are targeted to help children develop positive relationships with peers and adults. Even though these developmental interventions are not well researched, they have been known to help develop a positive relationship with peers and adults.
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The developmental interventions include:
• Developmental social-pragmatic
• DIR/ Floortime
• Relationship Development Interventions
• Responsive Teaching
Family-Based Intervention
Family-based intervention is focused on putting family first and supporting the family with interventions and strategies to help their child.
When it comes to research on family-based intervention, there is little to none. But we do know that having family involvement with a child with a disability is very important for the child’s development and growth.
An excellent program for family intervention for a child on the autism spectrum is the More Than Words Program.
Therapy Based Interventions
The therapy based intervention for autism spectrum disorder targets specific behaviors and/or academic needs that the individual child requires.
Some of these interventions could be speech therapy and occupational therapy. Many of these interventions are on top of other interventions given to the child.
Therapy-based interventions consist of:
• Functional Communication Training
• Sign Language
• Picture Exchange Communication System
Medical Interventions
You may hear of medicine that cures children with autism. As of now, there is no cure for autism. There is medication that can help a child with autism, but not all of their symptoms will go away.
Some of the behaviors that may be improved with medication include;
• Behavior associated with ADHD
• Symptoms of anxiety
• Obsessive-compulsive behaviors
• Sleep disorder
Some of the medications that may help with these types of behaviors include:
• Atypical antipsychotics
• Typical antipsychotics
• Stimulants
There are many interventions that can be done to help support your child with Autism Spectrum Disorder. These interventions can help your child grow academically and behaviorally. Without these interventions, children with ASD may have a more difficult time in some aspects of their life.
Do you utilize any of these interventions? Please let us know your feedback in the comment section!
