Four key take home treatment strategies.

There was a great deal of information in the area of behavior and emotional/social treatment plans for children with autism. From the information that I learned, the following 4 strategies will make a positive impact on children with ASD.

1. From the verbal behavior treatment plan, one of the first goals for early or very low communicators would be to determine the items or objects that are reinforcing for the child
(beginning with 4-5) and work on getting the child to request these items using words, word approximations, signs or symbols. The rational for this treatment is that motivation needs to be established for the child and if there is motivation present there is a significantly increased chance that the communication attempt will be made (Sundberg and Partington, 1998)).

2. The use of 1-1 intensive treatment sessions for short periods of time (5-10 minutes), similar to discrete trial training, is a helpful strategy to incorporate when a child is very self directed initially and has difficulty completing simple imitation skills and following very simple 1 word directions. I would plan on moving these skills to a more natural teaching routine as soon as success is noted with the child being able to follow a task that is directed by an adult and is not strictly self-directed. The rationale is that for a child that does not demonstrate any ability to imitate of follow simple directions, the skills need to be taught before further learning can take place.

3. A key strategy from the floortime model is to allow the child to take the lead and attach meaning to their actions. One way that this can be helpful is in the development of imitation skills. When children have difficulty in verbally imitating sounds, if you follow the child’s lead and imitate what they are doing, they will often repeat the action again and both a turn taking routine and imitation of each other is developed.

4. A strategy from the Relationship Development Intervention program for children with autism that I would incorporate is to develop storng episodic memories through the use of videotaping. I would use videotapes of special events such as picnics or family get together and play these for the child while describing the routine, structure and events surrounding the event. Additionally from the RDI model I would treat initially individually, and then move to dyad and small groups. The rational for that is that typical children learn to be competent with adults before desiring to be with peers.

To see a very short RDI treatment video on 'emotion sharing with mommy', click on the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp1LHVkocc4&feature=PlayList&p=95E4F2E6C25EEAD0&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=3