How To Work With Children With Autism During These Tough Financial Times

As the financial crisis tightens its noose around this country it occurred to me that of the 500,00+ people out of jobs, that 1 out of every 150 of them are a parent of a child with autism. With the loss of insurance and a steady income families who already were struggling to pay for their child's therapy , now have little or no way to pay for the help they so desperately need. As a father of a 6 year old on the spectrum, I am constantly reminded of the difficulties that families are facing and believe that parents can do something about it. The first thing a parent must understand is that they are the people their children trust the most and although our autistic children face many challenges, they are first and foremost children. This means that they can respond to us. The key is finding a way for them to respond. For some this is easy, for others much more difficult. Each and every step our children take should be celebrated no matter what it is. The keys to surviving these tough times is to become a parent therapist for your child and have other members of your family, community, church do the same. Throughout the past 4 years my wife and I have been proactive in helping our son by becoming a student of the different therapies that he has taken. Our first ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) therapist told us that she would not work with us unless we sat in on the session and followed up. As blunt and as difficult it was for my wife, it helped her understand what he was doing and she was able to continue the lessons learned throughout the day. The first thing to do is contact current therapists or past therapists and ask to meet them to discuss how you can help. If you are currently still in therapy you should ask to sit in and ask a lot of questions after the therapy to figure out how to best associate certain techniques. If you are not currently working with that therapist, meet them for coffee and discuss what your child was doing and ask for tips that you can do to help obtain certain skills. Have the therapist give you homework and then compare notes at the next session. Your therapist will be very excited to see your interest in what they are doing and will be more than happy to continue to help you. With consistent therapy, you will see results, maybe not right away, but constantly working with your child will have a positive impact on both of you. In up coming articles, we will discuss more in depth what types of techniques can be learned, how to take data and how to use this to impact your child and keep your costs low.

Christy is the mother of a 6 year old with autism and the founder of Maximum Potential Group. www.maximumpotentialkids.com