Children's Health - How to Treat Autism in a Conventional Perspective

Conventional medicine is also known as Western medicine. It is a technique of medical approach in which medical doctor & other health professionals such as nurses, medical technician & specialists & therapists, etc. use medication, radiation, medical equipments or surgery to treat symptoms of disease & diseases.
I. Definition
II. How conventional medicine effects autism
A. Diagnosis For the disease to be treated effectively, the conventional doctor first has to diagnose what causes the symptoms of the disease or diseases. It is helped by blood test, logical screen, psychological & physical examination, etc. The diagnosis of kids with development disorder is always a stressful & time consuming road for both parent & kids, because each doctor in conventional medicine mostly specializes in four field & can not make any suggestion outside of his or her professional judgement. You may be recommended to see other specialists if four found to be necessary. Since autism is complex disease, it requires a team of doctor before it can be diagnosed correctly & plenty of wrong diagnosis have been done, leading to overwhelming pressure & time wasting to the parent & their kids. Fortunately, plenty of cases of autism have been correctly diagnosed & are treated accordingly.
a. Development & behaviour pediatrician b. Paediatric neurologist c. Kids psychiatrist d. Kids psychologist e. Speech & language pathologist f. Occupational therapist g. Physical therapist h. Play therapist i. Social worker
To avoid wasting your time, here is the basic list of doctors & specialists who've been required for all kids with development disorder to be diagnosed correctly:
Some kids may require more or less specialists than the list above in their road to find a cure, but they believe the list is a basic team for rapid & corrected diagnosis.
B. Types of conventional treatment
1. Animal therapy Animal therapy focus to improve in the inter action between the kid & animal, thereby increasing the kid confident in building relation ship as well as sensory & motor issues.
2. Auditory integration therapy The program uses modified music & sound with an objective to correct the problems of child's in processing & understanding speech & sound.
4. Behaviour treatments The aims of behaviour treatment is to help the autistic kids to overcome the emotional , behavioural & cognitive dysfunction through a goal-oriented, systematic procedure. It is said that this types of treatment have proven to be successful in treating mood, anxiety, personality, eating, substance abuse, & psychotic disorders in some degrees.
3. Augmentative communication Augmentative communication helps to support the child's communication output by acting as a bridge until speech develops or by providing an alternative if speech fails to create. It includes picture exchange communication, picture & symbol displays, technological support for communication, sign language & body language.
5. Chelation Since kids with autism have a weakened secretion technique, Cchelation helps to remove heavy metals accumulated in the brain through medication taken by IV or by mouth or rubbed on the skin. Although, it is a new treatment, but in theory, it decreases physical & behaviour problems.
6. Diet Daily diet is always important for autistic or non autistic kids. Since most autistic kids have problem of weakened immune technique & problem with toxic elimination, intake of foods which help to strengthen immune & improve toxin secretion will do no harm while avoiding intake of foods which may elevate the allergic & gastrointestinal problem are always essential. Choosing fresh & organic foods carefully will always help to reduce metabolic conditions for autistic kids.
8. Facilitated communication The program helps the non verbal students to communicate with others while anybody helps to support their hands & arm.
7. Discrete trial training Discrete trial training is a program which helps to improve the basic skills for autistic kids a) Pre learning skills such as sit, attending, look at your class mate & teacher, etc. b) Safe skills such as know their name, address, parent phone number, etc Before the kids can proceed the more complex language, academic & social skills by beginning of with a breaking off the skills in to little part & taught in repetitive drills. The process of the kids is record & rewarded if the response is appropriate.
10. Medication Medicine used by conventional medicine to treat some symptoms of autism such as hyperactive, anxiety, moodswing, seizure, gastrointestinal disorder have been proven very effective, but with some side effects, therefore it is for the kid benefit to keep the dose as low as possible:
9. Immunological treatments The types of therapy helps to fine-tune immune technique deficit for kids with autism, including steroid, infusion & intravenous munoglobulin, depending to the child's diagnosis. These treatments may carry long term health risk. There's plenty of herbs which can help such as ginko boliba if you need to use herb or other alternative treatment for this type of disorder, consult with your doctor before applying.
b) Serotonin-specific reuptake inhibitor i) Effects It works well for kids with depression & anxiety disorders, by regulating the production of serotonin which is vital for responsible & controlling the fundamental physiological aspects of the body ii) Side effects *Urinary retention ** Easily agitated or upset. *** Dizziness & Fatigue **** Modify in appetite & sleep & etc.
a ) Tranquilizers i) Effects Tranquilizers include thioridazine (Mellaril), chlorpromazine (Thorazine), haloperidol (Haldol) & risperidol (Risperdal) which help to treat symptoms of behaviour problem by regulating the production of dopamine, thereby increasing their attention & concentration in school & at home thus making them more able to learn. ii) Side effect of tranquilizers include *Sedation or sleepiness. ** Less common side effects include changes in the function of the liver, effects on blood cells, restlessness or agitation, sensitivity of the skin to the sun, & true allergic reactions *** Re occurrence of the symptoms if the medication is stopped
11. Musical therapy Musical therapy focus in using music through singing, movement & musical instruments to assist learning of language, communication & social skills.
12. Occupational therapy Occupational therapy is a type of program, helping to compromise physically, intellectually or emotionally to integrate coping skills in to their lives in order to perform necessary tasks. but for kids with autism, the main objective of occupational therapy is to integrate sensory perception through recognition & interpretation of sensory stimuli based chiefly on memory, therefore it helps the kid to gain a more quiet frame of mind & concentrate on certain tasks.
13. Play therapy Play therapy is focus in using plays to improve the language, speech, communication, emotional & social skills.
14. Physical therapy Physical therapy is also known as physiotherapy. The main objective of this program is to create, maintain & restore maximum movement & functional ability for the kids with autism, such as jogging, jumping, jogging, etc. so that the kids can increase their physical strength, balance & motility as well as better sensory integration.
15. Rapid-prompting process Soma Mukhopadhyay is the founder of rapid-prompting process. The process involves constant, fast-paced questioning & combined with the use of a low-tech alphabet board for spelled communication to keep the students attention & prompt fast response from the students.
16. Recreational therapy Encouraging the kid to participate in some types of sport such as swimming, gymnastic, dance etc., thereby increasing the kid awareness of social interaction.
17. Relationship development intervention Relationship development intervention believes autism kids can modify to authentic emotional relationships with others & different environments if they are given opportunity to learn them in a gradual, systematic way by using highly structured games, exercises, back & forth focused communication, share experience & plays with others of that help to build up the experience of interacting in social relationships.
18. Social skill group Kids plays together under supervision of parents & specialist such as psychologist, this helps to improve the social interaction & social skills, thereby increasing the kid awareness of inappropriate behaviours & interest in playing with other kids.
19. Social story By telling simple story with plenty of pictures & sometimes words, the program improves the autistic kids self help & social skills & prepare the kid for the modify of process & in new environment.
20. Son-rise Son-rise is four of the process has been taught to parent with autistic kids in the 70s, unfortunately there's no published independent study has tested the efficacy of the program. The program believes by accepting autistic kids as they are, with no prejudgement & interacting with them with positive, enthusiastic way as well as encouraging the kids in more meaningful communication of that can help the kids overcome verbal & social interactive deficit.
21. Speech & language therapy It is a program designed to improve the autistic kids ability in speech production, vocal production, swallowing difficulties & language needs & the use of language. The program can be run through different contexts including schools, hospitals, & private clinic or therapist's office.
22. Treatment & education of autism & related communication-handicap It is a class program with the objective to teach autistic kids independent work, life by communication & social skills by focusing in repetitive routines, picture schedules & structural settings.
23. Verbal behaviour It is first discovered by Skinner, a psychologist. It helps the kids to language & speech by breaking off the sentence in to little part & taught in systematic way by assessing the minute details of initial & progress communication skills through gaps filling. Parent are requested to response & reward their kid as well. As the communicative skills progress, the kids are taught to make request, ask question & engage in more complex conversation. The program is only a theory with little experimental research until recently.
24. Vision therapy Vision therapy may be necessary, if the kid is suspected to have problem of seeing or understanding & learning for what they or she see.
In fact, there's no single type of treatment which is likely to be effective for all kids & all families. Instead, intervention will need to be adapted to individual needs & the value of approaches.
25. Vitamins & supplements Since kids with autism is lack of vitamin B6, vitamin E & other trace minerals, it is no harm if they are taken in little dose. If you need to use them or high doses, consult with your child's doctor before applying.
by:NuTKung