Behavioral Therapy For Autism: An Overview

Behavioral therapy for autism is becoming popular due to its reported high rate of success. Using this therapy, your child quickly learns that his previous inappropriate behavior will be ignored and not encouraged. He finds that only appropriate behavior is rewarded and will be motivated to do more of the same. The success rate of this type of therapy rises if you start your child as early as 3 years old on the sessions for behavioral modification.

You would likely find that your autistic child would often challenge your parenting skills by exhibiting extremes in behavior, such as temper tantrums, self injurious behavior, aggression and agitation. Essentially, if you have not realized it by now, he is dictating to you what he wants and his preferences. If you do not give in what he wants, you are made to suffer the consequences. Rather than giving in, you should in fact learn how to teach your child a more appropriate way in which to get what he wants.

This is where a consistent program of behavioral modification comes in. You will learn how to effectively cope with the behavior of your child and also guide him to more socially appropriate behaviors. An autistic child usually has no sense of social awareness and he needs to be taught the skills in a specific manner. Usually, a behavioral therapy program comprises of 4 sections: a structured daily routine; behavioral control; communication; and applied behavioral analysis.

Structured Daily Routine. You should design a structured daily routine as your autistic child can have an idea what to expect. It has been found that autistic children do not usually cope well with inconsistency or change. Therefore, sticking to a daily routine is important as much as possible.

Behavioral Control. The next thing that a parent must learn is how to control tantrums and other such behavioral issues. In doing so there are 3 factors to bear in mind:
1. Deal with those behaviors that are dangerous to the child or those around him first. You would need to stop these behaviors with firm words and actions. Try not to show your child any anger while doing this though.
2. You need to teach your autistic child how to sit down as it may not be easy for him to do so naturally. The best way in which to do this is to reward appropriate sitting behavior while either ignoring or giving a negative consequence for inappropriate sitting behavior.
3. Autistic children usually have bizarre, stereotypical, repetitive behaviors. The most obvious of these are finger flapping and rocking. These can be very distracting and you may need to use a firm “stop” command. At the same time, you should direct your child to another activity that will not allow him to continue the repetitive and annoying behaviors.

Communication. It is crucial that you talk to your child regularly. In your communication, be both simple and direct. You need to use short, clear sentences without going into explanations or using too many words. Shorten your instructions to manageable tasks. You want to avoid confusing him.

Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA). This is a form of behavioral therapy that is well recognized for its success rate of 47 percent. ABA involves breaking down tasks into individual components. Then, whenever a child successfully completes each step of the task he should be rewarded.

It is important to note that behavioral therapies will not help you cure your child of autism. It is just a form of therapy that is extremely useful in teaching your child cope better and to interact with others. It is a good option to consider as one of the early intervention techniques to help him.