Dr. Jakir Hossain Laskar, PhD
The challenges presented by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are apparent, but these disorders also have strengths that can be enhanced. Therapy is critical in the life of a person suffering from ADHD or autism, for it provides assistance to enhance communication, behavior, attention, and social skills.
In this blog, we look at what works for these conditions and the therapy that would be useful for such individuals and their families.
- Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
What Is it?
ABA is a well defined and structured form of therapy that advocates evidence in the form of focused skills being taught and de-emphasis of problematic behavior. It focuses more on positive reinforcement for the behavior to be encouraged.
Why It Works for Autism:
A lot of parents believe that it helps them a great deal as it:
Aids in acquiring appropriate social and communication skills.
Promotes self sufficiency by imparting important daily or life skills.
Helps manage problematic behaviors through specific educational strategies.
Limitations:
There are those who believe that ABA may be overly systematic or too much for some kids to comprehend. Current trends prefer child-centered therapy in sessions and autonomy in all aspects of the practice.
- Occupational Therapy (OT)
What Is it?
OT is the therapy that would help someone learn how to address everyday tasks like getting dressed or performing specific hand skills while minimizing sensory issues.
Why it Works for Autism and ADHD:
As regards autism: Helps deal with sensory challenges and is aimed at improvement of certain skills such as coordination.
For ADHD: Improvement in organizational and time management skills, including fine motor skills.
Enables self control in high stress situations.
- Speech and Language Therapy
What Is It?
This therapy helps the person to be able to communicate by speech, body language, sign language, or a communication device, with other people more effectively.
Why It Works for Autism and ADHD:
For autism: Improves skills in taking part in conversations and interpreting non-verbal communication.
For ADHD: Ensures clarity when speaking and is able to comprehend what is being communicated in social contexts.
Facilitates ability to ask questions and voice out her needs.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
What Is It?
CBT is based on the concept of identifying and changing negative ideas about oneself that influence behavior.
Why It Works for Autism and ADHD:
For ADHD: Helps in intervening in impulse control, tension management and establishing emotional control techniques.
For autism: Provides the autistic person a sense of security that is often lacking.
Promotes self-efficacy.
- Social Skills Training
What Is It?
This therapy aids in the development of friends, understanding how social situations work and other social illustrations.
Why It Works for Autism and ADHD:
For autism: Enhances self-esteem making it easy to relate interacting with people in a group and to care for them.
For ADHD: Decreases aggressive impulsive behavior during social interactions and builds cooperation.
- Sensory Integration Therapy
What Is It?
A specific kind of OT intervention which emphasizes adapting – how individuals are able to respond to sensory input.
Why It Works for Autism and ADHD:
Helps in the management of hyper or hypo sensitivity to sounds, textures, etc. and other sensory input.
Eliminates or reduces sensory flooding, hence focus and emotional control is enhanced.
- Parent Training and Education Programs
What Is It?
These programs educate and counsel parents on how to promote their children development and how to cope with difficult behaviors.
Why It Works for Autism and ADHD:
Gives parents ideas on how to practice their children positive behaviors.
Enable parents in providing organized and encouraging environment at home.
Strengthens parent and child bonding.
- Executive Function Coaching
What Is It?
This therapy aims to shape various skills that include planning, organization, time management, etc., and also focuses on setting up goals.
Why It Works for ADHD:
Allows people to carry out chores and schedules and not procrastinate.
Improves performance in school and at the work place.
- Play Therapy
What Is It?
A psychotherapy technique that is child-directed, and in its core aims to assist children in emotional expression and learning problem-solving development.
Why It Works for Autism and ADHD:
For autism: ‘Pretend play’ social skills are developed and imaginative skills are enhanced.
For ADHD: Attention is focused and assists emotional control.
- Medications: the Missing Piece to an Everything Approach to Treatment
Though not a stand-alone treatment, as here is is here, making use of medicines can assist in ameliorating the symptoms associated with the following conditions.
ADHD: Homeopathy medications decrease impulsivity and increase concentration along all other symptoms.
On the other hand, autism: Homeopathy medications are available that lessen anxiety or irritability which may accompany autism along all other symptoms.
How it Works:
As a supplemental measure to therapy, medications can be employed to ensure that a patient is able to participate effectively in the therapy and make progress.
Integrating Therapies for the Greatest Effect
Since every individual is different, one approach may work for one person and not be effective for another. That being said, in most cases it is practical to combine different approaches. For example,
Combining ABA with speech therapy to solve the issues with behavior and communication.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy also known as CBT can be reinforced with executive function coaching in managing people who have ADHD.
The Importance of Starting Early
All of the available literature emphasizes the positive effects of intervening early in people diagnosed with autism or ADHD. For example, effective starting therapy in preschool years is associated with improved communication, social interaction and adaptive skills.
The goal of this research was to explore the disconnect between research evidence and the policy and practice responses to the autism and ADHD debates. It is as if advocates for change have drawn upon the core faculties of consideration with practicality coming second in a very haphazard foundation. Everything turns into a chaotic transformation, where patients lose all meaning of existence in a virtual reality without weaknesses and problems which is in theory anyway as beneficial as it is divisive.
