Autism Therapy: What Reliable Therapies Are Out There for My Child?

When my boys were diagnosed with autism back in 1991 and 1993 there really were only a few therapies available. However, now in 2007 there are numerous therapies and treaments available for children and individuals who have been diagnosed with autism.
So one of the greatest challenges presented to parents today with a child who has been diagnosed with autism is discovering and choosing a good reliable treatment.

I will try to list some of the therapies and treatments that are available and you can use the internet to research it a little bit more.

It is best to remember that there is no perfect treatment and even though one treatment may help one child does not necessarily mean it will help another. You maybe successful at finding a treatment for your autistic right off the bat or you may have to try more than one treatment or you may even need to use a combination of treaments at one time.

As an example, auditory therapy worked very well for our oldest son but we did not see very many results with our second son. Both our boys have done well with a behavior modification program and medication. And early intervention is always extremely important.

Here is a list of therapies that you may be interested in researching:

BEHAVIORAL THERAPIES
Applied Behavior Analysis
Daily Life/Higashi
Fast ForWord
Gentle Teaching
Holding Therapy
Intensive Interaction Therapy
Jacob's Ladder
Linwood Method
Play Therapy
Sensory Integration Therapy
TEACCH
The Denver Model
The Miller Method
Tomatis Method
Videotaped Self-Modeling
BIO-MEDICAL THERAPIES
Auditory Integration Training
Chelation of Mercury
Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment
Neurofeedback
Secretin
The Irlen Method

DIETARY/NUTRITIONAL THERAPIES
Gluten-free, casein-free diet
Low salicylate diet
Lutein-free diet
The Feingold Diet
Specific Carbohydrate Diet
Thiamine supplementation
Probiotic diets
Gold salts
Nutritional supplements

HOME-BASED THERAPIES
Applied Behavior Analysis
Floortime
Earobics Literacy Launch
Jacob's Ladder
Music Therapy
Social Stories
Integration Training

RELATIONSHIP-BASED THERAPIES
HANDLE
Music Therapy
Relationship Development Intervention
Social Stories
The Son-Rise Program
Videotaped Self-Modeling

As you can see there are many many therapies available for Autistic individuals. So you need to study and evaluate each therapy, it maybe beneficial to talk with your physician and other professionals who maybe working with your child. Also use the internet by reading and researching the different websites, visit these websites and research the various therapies, then make an appointment with your doctor to get his or her advice. Also take time to visit or call the treatment facilities, and then decide which treatment or course of treatments that would be best for your child and your family.