Mental health articles

therapeutic interventions for autism spectrum There is no cure for autism. Many treatment approaches and therapies have
been reported in the past often without strong evidence of benefit.
Current treatment usually consists of multi-disciplinary structured
treatment programmes that incorporate special education, behavioural
management, social and communication skills training and medication
when indicated. Interventionmust involve collaboration between the individual,
family/carers and the professionals involved.
Psychosocial interventions
As with other conditions, the challenging behaviours in autism can be
maintained or increased by the amount of attention or reinforcement they
receive. It is important to understand that challenging behaviours that
seem very similar from person to person, or even with the same person at
different times, can actually have very different causes. For example,destructive and aggressive behaviours can happen for a variety of reasons
such as:

The person’s frustration at not being able to communicate

Anxiety or fear

It being the only way they can control others around them or
their environment

A disruption in their rituals and routines
For an intervention to be successful it is therefore very important to try to
work out:

Why the behaviour occurs

What the behaviour achieves for all people concerned

What could be done to replace it
Many behaviour management techniques have been developed to reduce
these difficult behaviours, and to help increase a person’s social and communication
skills.
Visual props using simple pictures and line drawings, signing systems
and also photographs are often used to help people with autism communicate.
Each person must be carefully assessed to determine which system
will suit him or her best.
The approaches used to treat social difficulties vary according to the
needs of each person with autism, in particular their level of intellectual
disabilities, age and the nature of their social difficulty. Areas covered may
include understanding about friends and strangers, interacting with peers,
understanding rules and when they may be broken, and understanding
emotions.
Detailed information about these general approaches is given in
Chapter 4 on therapeutic interventions and Chapter 5 on challenging
behaviour.
Biological interventions
There is no medication for autism itself. Different medicines act on the
symptoms of autism (e.g. anxiety) and not on the main difficulties of social,communication and imagination functions. The use of medication should
only occur as part of a comprehensive management plan that includes
approaches to improving specific needs such as communication, behaviour
management, education, social skills training, structuring of daily routine,
and carer support.

Tags: autism