My child just received the diagnosis of Autism. Where do I begin?

Take a deep breath; we are here to help. Whether you think your child may be Autistic or your child just received the diagnosis of Autism, here is a quick resource to let you know what to do now and what therapies are available to help best support your child.

What Therapies Should I Look For?

Speech and Language Therapy
A speech language pathologist works to increase verbal and non verbal language skills, social skills, auditory processing, and learning. They will work with your family and developmental pediatrician and make sure the best individualized plan of care is implemented for your child.

​Visit our Speech Therapy page to learn more about speech and language therapy. 
Occupational Therapy
An occupational therapist will help your child with sensory integration, play skills, awareness of personal space, response to touch and other stimuli, emotional regulation, motor skills like balance and manipulation of objects, self help skills (such as tying shoe laces, buttoning a shirt and general adaptive skills) and self control skills. They will work with your family and developmental pediatrician and make sure the best individualized plan of care is implemented for your child.  

Visit our Occupational Therapy page to learn more about occupational therapy. 
​BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS
Behavioral interventions for Autism are based on operant principles of learning. In other words, behavioral approaches involve examining the causes of a specific behavior and the effects that follow that behavior. The behaviorist then makes adjustments in this cycle to increase desired behaviors and decrease inappropriate ones.

Behavioral interventions include some of the following services: Positive Behavioral Supports (PBS), Functional Communication Training (FCT), and most commonly, Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA). These can be effective programs when done properly, and should be done in addition to speech and occupational therapy. 

For more details about behavioral services insurers cover, check out this source from the Autism Alliance of Michigan: Insurance Facts.
Feeding therapy
Feeding therapy addresses children who may have challenges with feeding (eating or drinking) due to oral motor challenges, sensory aversions, or trauma. Children on the Autism Spectrum can appear with feeding challenges, limiting their food repertoire (picky eaters). Different types of feeding therapy are available, and can be performed by both speech and occupational therapists. 

Visit our Feeding Therapy page to learn more about feeding therapy.

What Programs Should I Use?

Therapists are trained in many programs and protocols to provide the best and most up-to-date services to their clients. Here are a few programs and protocols that we recommend using while working with Autistic children. Our speech language and occupational therapists are trained in many of these programs! Click below to read about these programs and find a video to learn more. 
PROMPT
We love this program! PROMPT is a program for children that are non-verbal, have a diagnosis of apraxia, dysarthria, pervasive developmental disorder (PDD NOS and Autism) or feeding disorders. PROMPT helps the mouth muscles with place and movements to help children produce sounds and words correctly.  A therapist using PROMPT teaches the child’s muscles to produce a phoneme correctly by using touch. This stimulation to specific areas of the mouth helps the child produce sounds, words, and sentences. A speech pathologist must be certified to provide this service and A2 Therapy Works holds this credential. 

Here is a video about PROMPT
Interactive metronome
​Interactive Metronome is a computer and headphone-based therapeutic tool provided by speech and occupational therapists.  It helps kids with attention, concentration, motor planning, low muscle tone, organizational skills and auditory processing. During the session, you child sits or stands at a computer while wearing a pair of headphones. A metronome beat is heard through the headphones and a visual guide is displayed on the monitor. Children are then prompted to match each beat with a hand or foot movement (including crossing midline). The program measures to the millisecond how closely the child matches the beat.  Over the course of this therapy, children develop the skills to focus and attend for longer periods of time, increase physical endurance and stamina, improve fine and gross motor skills, filter out internal and external distractions, and improve their ability to monitor cognitive and physical actions as they are occurring. Interactive metronome is used for many different diagnoses including PDD-NOS, Autism and ADHD.  Interactive Metronome can be done in therapy centers or can be set us as a home program.

Here is a video about Interactive Metronome
Handwriting without tears
​We love this program! Children on the Autism Spectrum often have limitations with their fine motor skills. Handwriting Without Tears is a great program to help children learn to write letters, words, and keyboarding.  Developed by Jan Olson, an occupational therapist, it teaches handwriting through multi-sensory tools, allowing kids to learn handwriting through all styles of learning. Handwriting Without Tears also addresses fine motor skills (pencil grip) and body awareness (mat man). Handwriting Without Tears provides materials for both classroom and home practice. This program is effective for all sorts of kids. 
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Here is a video about Mat Mat from Handwriting Without Tears
DIR Floortime
DIR stands for “development, individual differences and relationships.”  The DIR Floortime model is getting on the floor with a child and engaging them in play-based therapy. This technique helps children relate and communicate by forming circles of communication.  An example of this would be sitting on the floor rolling a ball back and forth, this would be an engaged moment between a parent and child or therapist and child.  Another example is a child is playing with a toy car pushing it back and forth. A therapist would maybe then put a triangle block in front of the car and the car would have to go up the “ramp."  That is adding to the child’s play skill and engaging in a circle of communication. 

The founders of this program are Dr. Greenspan and Dr. Weider.  The program works on self regulation and interest in the world; forming relationships, attachments and engagement; two-way purposeful communication; developing a complex sense of self; elaborating symbolic thinking; emotional thinking, and the expression of thematic play. Therapists can specialize in the DIR Floortime technique. We think this technique is fantastic! 

Here's a video about DIR Floortime
Hanen Approach
Hanen Approach “It  Takes Two to Talk”  is a program used by parents and therapists to help engage children on the Autism Spectrum to learn and communicate. This program is child-centered and incorporates techniques similar to DIR Floortime. You’ll learn the “OWL” strategies which stands for  “Observe, Wait, Listen” to help you follow your child’s lead and allows your child to learn through things that interest them. Waiting is the hardest part because parents (and therapists!) sometimes want to jump in and help their child. Try to count to 10 in your head while you are waiting for a response from your child. By observing, waiting, and listening, you are able to jump into their world. You will also learn about the “3 A’s”: “Allow, Adapt and Add” which teaches parents to “allow” your child to take the lead on what they are playing. “Adapt” and “add” means that once you have jumped into their play sequence you can change it a bit and add to it therefore increasing their play and communication repertoire.

Here's a video about the Hanen Approach
Fast Forword
Some language impaired kids have trouble processing language.  It often may sound fast or garbled to them or they may have trouble discriminating between sounds.  Fast ForWord is a computer based training and Fast ForWord says that it improves auditory integration, attention to task, working memory, phonemic awareness, reading skills and listening comprehension.   With any program, it’s a good idea to look at independent research.  It should be noted that the Journal of Speech Language and Hearing published a research article which concluded that Fast ForWord was not more effective at improving general language skills than regular speech and language services.  It showed that all  kids made gains no matter what the intervention—speech and language services or Fast Forward.  Always important to look at research!

Here is a video about Fast ForWord
Beckman Oral motor program
Oral motor skills are functions that control secretions, swallowing, sucking, feeding and speech.  The Beckman Oral Motor program helps kids that have trouble in speech development, articulation, hypsensitive mouths which lead to being a picky eater or messy eater.  This program also helps with drooling, bruxism (tooth grinding) and gagging.   A speech pathologist or occupational therapist must be certified in this technique.  A therapist will use her hands on a child’s face to help manipulate the muscles in the mouth and face.  Research on oral motor therapy efficacy is mixed but I’m a believer that you see what works for your child and that a plan of care should encompass a variety of therapies and modalities.

Here is a video about the Beckman Oral Motor program
Alert program
​I love this program for self-regulation. We can all use this sometimes! The Alert Program was initially developed for children ages 8-12 with learning and attention difficulties but it has now been adapted for kids starting before preschool.  It’s a great program that introduces the “sensory diet”. We use this program for kids with Autism whom are both verbal or non verbal.  The engine analogy is a great way for kids to learn about self-regulation by noticing if their “engine” is going into high, low or just right gears.   If kids are non verbal, we use pictures and the Alert Program has some products you can use at home as well.
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Here is a video about the Alert Program
Picture ExchanGe communication (PECS)
Whether your child is non-verbal or could benefit from visual cues, PECS is a great addition. PECS stands for Picture Exchange Communication System, and is one example of an augmentative or alternative communication intervention. This program uses your child's interests to develop non-verbal exchanges using pictures. A child using PECS may hand or point to a picture of an item they want, and receives that item in exchange. It’s a great way to reduce frustration for a non-verbal child. You’ll often times see PECS being used at schools. You can purchase or search online to find pictures to make a communication board. Boardmaker is available online to help make a board. Your therapist can also assist in making a communication board. 
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Here is a video about PECS 
PLAY Project
The PLAY Project was developed right in our own backyard! Dr. Solomon, a developmental pediatrician in Ann Arbor, Michigan developed this program based on the teachings of Stanley Greenspan and the DIR Floortime Model. The PLAY Project is an acronym for “Play Language Autistic Youngsters” and helps to increase parent and child interactions, increase social interactions of a child with autism, improve social-emotional development and behavioral compliance with children on the autism spectrum.

Here is a video about the PLAY Project
Augmentative or Alternative communication (AAC)
Augmentative or Alternative Communication is there to help if a child is non-verbal or on her way to becoming verbal.  PECS (as mentioned above) is a way to help reduce frustration by communicating via picture exchange or pointing at pictures.  The next step up with this is a computer or ipad based program. Our favorite is "Touch Chat."  It is pretty user friendly in terms of set up but your speech or occupational therapy can  help you with it. You can buy it through itunes. It's not cheap but it's a great program ($149.99-$299 depending on the program).  You can also purchase Touch Chat "lite" via itunes for $9.99.  

Here is a video about Touch Chat
SOS Approach to Feeding
The SOS (Sequential Oral Sensory) Approach to Feeding program is a feeding protocol we love! Developed by Dr. Kay Toomey, this approach works to address problem feeding behaviors by encouraging exploration and learning about foods through play. Therapists must be trained to provide this program, and A2 Therapy Works has therapists with this credential!

Here is a video about the SOS Approach to Feeding
​For more information, check out our resources for download page for recommendations for ASD centers, ABA companies, and Michigan ASD resources. ​
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