31.3.15
Autism Help, both Traditional, and Cutting Edge
10 years ago
Take the case of Temple Grandin, the courageous autism survivor who has a movie based on her life coming out on HBO soon, with Claire Danes in it. According to the story, with a lifetime of sensitive care from her family, she has improved, learned how to be grow out of disturbing behavior like constantly shying away from people, being speech delayed, getting panicked at noise, and so on, to a state now where she is able to be a respected college professor, and an animal rights activist. The best way she was helped, she says in an interview with MSNBC, was to be placed in the company of animals on a ranch. She says that the frequent panic that autistic children feel about life in general, is best helped the company of quiet barnyard animals; creatures that have a visual thought process just like people with autism. Lots of autism help centers these days, use a device known as a squeeze chute, that came out of Temple Grandin's personal experience working with animals. Cows, when they are distressed with illness, are often placed in a hydraulic press that gently squeezes their bodies all over to calm them down. But these happen to be excellent autism help devices as well, as she has discovered.
Helping children with autism takes time. Really young kids, need autism help that extends to friendly and patient one-on-one interaction with a well-meaning adult. Television, according to Temple Grandin, is really harmful. Another piece of insight she has into autism help, is the importance of getting children to fall into step with social behavior standards. Parents usually feel so bad about what the child goes through, that they cut the child a lot of slack. She feels that children need to be kept tightly reined in, with discipline and kindness. There are lots of autistic children you see who go around throwing tantrums; she feels that this should be completely kept under check. It will only help them as they grow older; they will be better able to hold down a job, and never use their affliction as an excuse for failing.
But there is more advanced autism help planned these days. New studies by the University of Connecticut say, that one out of ten children with autism, can benefit from behavioral therapy, and actually gets the upper hand on their disorder. The study found 20 children, under the age of 18 who responded to treatment. The therapy involves using painstakingly designed educational and communal activities, for some children who are considered responsive to this method. It works on truly autistic children too, not just borderline ones. All the children who recovered always had devoted parents who spent endless hours interacting closely with them. The doctors are still trying out brain scans to see if something visibly changes in the way the brain forms at that young age.
Of course, research is in its early days now on the subject; just imagine what it promises, for the children themselves, and for their beleaguered parents.
