April is Autism Awareness Month so I have decided to go into the different therapies that my son receives and just explain the purpose of each.
All of the following are my own personal experiences and understanding of each type of therapy. None of this should be taken for what you will experience. This is for informational purposes only.
ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis)
I feel this one is the most important for kids with autism. It is an in-home therapy that works on behavior, areas of developmental delays and almost any issue that your child is dealing with that is not age appropriate.
Right now, my son receives 10 hours a week of therapy and during those sessions, they work on:
- Speech
- Fine Motor Skills (Cutting, coloring)
- Basic Social Skills (His name and age, turn taking)
- Self Care (Washing hands, brushing teeth)
Speech
This one is a given since our biggest issue with my son is a speech delay. He has broken sentences and about 50 to 75 words but most people have a hard time understanding him since he has a mild slur as well.
He goes to individual speech twice a week for half and hour each time. Plus, an hour once a week as preschool.
Since he started speech, I’ve notice an improvement in his receptive speech, expressive speech and articulation.
OT (Occupational Therapy)
This one is helpful for some of my sons more mild challenges of sensory issues.
They help him with eating – he is a VERY picky eater and does not like too much variety. When I say this, I’m meaning he I’ll only eat a few things.
- Chicken nuggets
- Apple sauce pouches (only in the pouches)
- Bananas, strawberries, apples
- Muffins
- Eggs
- Nutella Sandwich
- Chips
That is it. No other foods. So daily, this is all he will eat. He won’t try anything else.
So they help try to expose him to new foods and get him to at least taste the food. He goes to OT once a week for an hour.
Special Autism Preschool (IEP)
This may be my favorite therapy for Leo. He gets to go to a preschool, specific for kids with mild disabilities, for a little over two hours every day during the week.
I enjoy knowing Leo is getting social time with peers, he is out of the house and they work on things to prep him for kindergarten. Plus, they incorporate speech and OT into his learning to help reinforce what he is learning outside of the classroom.
I’ve notice a boost in Leo’s confidence and all other areas since he started preschool. Also, he loves school! He will get sad when I pick him up and is so excited when I drop him off. Knowing he loves school makes it easier to drop him off.
Well, that’s all the therapy Leo gets but I know there are a ton more out there for kids with different issues or more severity. Currently, Lexi is also taking part in all these therapies but for slightly different reasons, she does not have a diagnosis yet.
If you have any questions or would like to share a different therapy you, a family member or friend takes part in, feel free to share in the comments!
Thank you for reading!
Cloe 💋
Cloe Pottorff 