The Difference Pets Make in Children with ASD

 

It has long been the opinion that pets have a dramatic effect on children with different disorders that affect the human brain. Even for people who have met accidents that have injured their brains have benefited from the pets. More so for children just starting to open up to the world, as with young children with Autism.

So here I am sharing another article I've read that inspires me and gives me hope. Global Edmonton reports in the article "Service dog changes autistic girl's life" how one dog's adoption has made a difference in the life of a girl stricken with Autism. Alison Ainsworth, the little girl's mother also write and shares her story with the rest of the world through the website www.ifmydogcouldtalk.net. You can also show your support by buying her book to read about Emily's inspiring story.

Story Time

A recent achievement of Matt has been in reading. It has improved a lot in the last 2 months since he joined a class of regular kids. Although previously he could read individual words, he now reads sentences! In the last couple of months, he's begun to read to us. He would get a book, either Spot Goes to School or Teachers Are For Reading Stories and sit down in front of us in his little chair. He would open the books so it faced us and read the lines. An audience is required, so we sit and let him read, correcting him gently when he reads a word wrong. His little sister got the hint and she now sits down excitedly in front of kuya when she sees him get a book from the shelf of kids' books.

I guess Matt wants to do it like the teachers do during story time at school. Just this morning, since I was busy in reading email, he sat down in front of his sister and read Spot Goes to School. She would repeat the lines right after kuya said them. My wife did try to let him read Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs & Ham, but he still couldn't follow it much. The rhythmical repeating word patterns seemed to confuse him. Eventually though we hope that as he expands his vocabulary he will be able to read more complex sentences.

He has terrific 'picture' memory in that he remembers words by the patterns of the letters, not the letters themselves. I remember when he was still very young that he was often able to recognize brand names because they often appear in TV ads. It was easy for him to recognize Sony, JVC, Samsung, LG, Canon or Nokia. We soon discovered that if we change the color and fonts on say the word "SAMSUNG" he couldn't recognize it right away. So I guess kids like him really do read in 'pictures'. Even words are pictures for them.

We are excited that he is learning to read and he is doing it in a social way. We can't help but see that having a little sister has made it easier for Matt to open up.

The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun

When it came to activities for our child, we used to turn to therapists and doctors for everything. Most of the activities that we had for Matthew were usually limited to what he also performed in therapy sessions and speech therapy. We've reached a point however that when activities are repeated too often, Matthew becomes less enthusiastic and less compliant. Tantrums aren't too far away if you force him to do activities that he feels he has already done well in the past.

Good thing my wife was able to spot a copy of The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun, Revised Edition: Activities for Kids with Sensory Processing Disorder at National Bookstore. And it was on sale at the time! Every September, National Bookstore has a half price sale for a lot of their stock. This is a yearly book event that I actually look forward to.

Anyway, back to the book. The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun is just full of activites that you can use to help you child get better with certain skills. Like one activity that we have Matthew do to make him cooperate with the next activities. We have him blow balls of cotton across the floor using a cut piece of straw. The blowing helps Matthew develop the muscles used for speech. He also has to move while he is on his hands and knees for this activity and that improves his tactile sense. Another activity we got from the books was marble trails. It's painting with marbles! Using marbles dipped in paint, Matthew can create a 'painting' by rolling around the marble in a pan lined with paper. He can use different colors, using a marble from each of the paints.

The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun has already helped us, and we haven't even gone through a fourth of the games in it. It will surely be useful still in the future. If you want to buy a copy, The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun is available in Amazon for just US$10. I am sure it will be a great resource for any parent, therapist and care provider of children with sensory disorders.

Autism Books

There are a lot of books out there about autism, providing information about the disorder. It can can be confusing at times when different books present different conclusions on what's best for your child. I can only share what limited insight I have. I've read a few books and those that I found useful I share in this post. One of the first ones I read was Understanding Autism Spectrum Disorders: Frequently Asked Questions by Diane Yapko. We got this book as a present. This book presents Autism Spectrum Disorders using plain language. It was easy to read and strives hard to make the subjects tackled less complicated and easier to understand.

Another book that was greatly insightful was A Parent's Guide to Special Education: Insider Advice on How to Navigate the System and Help Your Child Succeed by Linda Wilmshurst and Alan Brue. This one centered on education and how to take advantage of available resources to help your child cope. This book had me wishing there were similar initiatives in the Philippines to address special education. In an email to an officemate, I said mentioned that in our city there were a few public schools that had special education classes. Sadly, they are not well-funded and as a result are over-crowded. The teachers assigned to these classes are doing their best, but there is only so much one teacher can do when you have to handle 20 or so kids at any given time.

The third book that was sent to us by my sister-in-law. Healthcare for Children on the Autism Spectrum: A Guide to Medical, Nutritional, and Behavioral Issues (Topics in Autism) by Fred Volkmar and Lisa Wiesner tackles health issues. There's a lot of medical information in here about autism, from how to detect common symptoms to finding the right kind of medical treatment. I did find myself re-reading the articles in this book, as it was not as easily readable as Understanding Autism Spectrum Disorders: Frequently Asked Questions but I do refer to this when my child gets sick and it is just as valuable a resource as What to Expect the Toddler Years was to us.

One book that I am eager to buy and read is Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew. I plan on buying this book as soon as I get enough money saved up. This isn't available locally, so I have to get this online from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. So I need to save up, because shipping charges to this country are atrocious.



Technorati Tags: Autism, Autism Books, Books

The Harmonious Child

I bought this book when it went on sale at National Bookstore a few months back and for the life of me I haven't been able to read it through. It's called The Harmonious Child. The reason why I bought it was that Matthew has been fascinated with music. Early on in his childhood, he has had the ability to remember the rhythm of songs. He still has that today. It only bothers sometimes me because he want to listen to one particular song at times. Play anything else and he will start kicking and screaming.

Anyway, I wanted to read the book and explore how traditional training could help Matthew learn patience and discipline. At the same time, I hope that music training would help him improve his natural acuity for music. Have you read the The Harmonious Child? Tell us your thoughts through the comments :-)