Starting Points: Treatment Options

There are many, many ways to approach treatment for a child with autism. Here's just a short list of the more common options, addressing various social, language, sensory, and behavioral issues.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

Treatment & Education of Autistic and Related Communication of Handicapped Children (TEACCH)

Picture Exchange Communication Systems (PECS)

Pivotal Response Treatment

Floor Time

Social Stories

Sensory Integration

Facilitated Communication

Complementary Approaches

Thanks to Autism Society of America for the above synopsis. Go to their website for more.

Practical tip: We've hired a coordinator to help us identify and work with trained specialists who have expertise in the approach we've chosen for our son. We meet with her - as a family - tonight to walk through some in-home ways to deal with and help our son. More on that later.

If you don't have a good "quarterback" to help with the effort, consider finding one. It is well worth the time and money to have someone else's eyes and experience guiding through the maze of treatment options.