Coping with a Child Who Has Autism

To many parents autism is a very difficult disorder to understand. Especially when it comes to your children. Autism is a disorder of the brain in which social behavior, communication skills, and thinking ability fail to develop normally. What happens is it affects the way sensory input is processed, which causes a person with autism to overreact to some sensations, and under-react to others. The impairment that is associated with autism can produce an assortment of unusual behavioral traits.

Your child will usually show some of these symptoms prior to the age of three, although many doctors say that it does vary from child to child. If your child does has autism you will need to understand that instead of playing and interacting with you, they will probably want to spend more time alone. Even to the point where they do not even want you to touch them. Some children use expressions that seem strangely out of place and that can only be understood by those familiar with their way of speaking. Many also have difficulty using gestures and may scream or throw a tantrum to signal a need.

There are numerous special teaching techniques that have prov-en very helpful to many children with autism. It is possible however for your child to be misdiagnosed since this disability is sometimes hard for doctors to recognize. Also in order to get to the needed education programs you will probably have to fill out a lot of paperwork, and visit a lot of doctors and social workers. Not only will this have a toll on you, but on your child as well. Attempting to teach them the basic life skills that they need in order to function at home or in the community, can be a very slow process.

It can also be difficult if you have other children who do not have autism. They may find it very difficult to understand and will not know how to deal with that child. In a book called “Children With Autism by Michael D. Powers, he stated: The single most important thing for a child with autism, is the their family stay together. There is also another book that you may find helpful when trying to adjust your family to an autistic child. Some of these books are; After The Tears, by Robin Simons, to find additional books that may help you can visit your local bookstore or library.

You may however discover something very amazing about your autistic child. Some children with autism show special abilities. For example they may have advanced musical ability. When dealing with other family members and friends. There are several things that you can try with them. First maintain contact, and use patience. When they are ready to talk about something listen. Include the entire family in different activities. This will give your children an opportunity to learn how to interact together. The bottom line is the best thing you can do for your autistic child is continue to show them plenty of love and affection.