How to do behavioral intervention for children with autism and other developmental disorders

Family education is very important for children. Nowadays, the pressure is getting higher and higher, and the phenomenon of child autism is becoming more and more obvious. Child autism is a mental illness and psychological counseling is necessary. In order to give children a good childhood, what should be done about behavioral intervention for child autism and other developmental disorders?

1. Treatment

Although there is no specific treatment for autism, comprehensive treatment is helpful for most patients, and a few can even achieve significant improvement.

Behavioral therapy can be used to correct their bad behaviors, promote their social behaviors, increase their self-confidence, and stimulate their curiosity. Special education, adaptive behavior training, vocational training, environmental arrangements, and support in dealing with life events are all important helps to patients.

Associated psychiatric disorders and epilepsy can be treated with medication. Small doses of haloperidol (e.g. 2-10 mg per day) can make patients calmer and help improve the efficacy of behavioral therapy. Methylphenidate (Ritalin) can treat children with ADHD and can also make children who are less active more active. Propranolol (Inderal) or clonidine (Clonidine) are effective in reducing the impulsive and aggressive behavior of children. It has been reported that naltrexone [1.5 mg/(kg·d)] can improve mood, promote communication, and reduce stereotyped movements and self-injurious behaviors.

It is also very important to care about the emotions of the parents of the sick children and guide them to treat and educate their children correctly. The symptoms of these children improve very slowly, and the therapist must have sufficient patience.

1. Education and training

It is the main treatment method. The goal is to promote the patient's language development, improve social interaction skills, and master basic life skills and learning skills.

The scope of special education training includes training in children's concentration, cognitive ability, leisure ability, social ability, life adaptability, emotional control, verbal communication, perceptual function, physiological needs and behavioral problems. The training of social skills is of paramount importance, because only through social interaction can we promote the positive development of perception, movement, language, intelligence and personality, acquire knowledge and skills, stimulate and communicate emotions, cultivate a sense of friendship and compassion, and gradually understand some preliminary behavioral norms. In the training of social skills, the first thing to emphasize is the use of eye contact in children. The initial goal of social training should not involve language elements. It should only require them to be willing to be passively contacted by outsiders, and then gradually increase the degree of unfamiliarity of the characters and the initiative of the contact.

The general learning method for children is to understand and analyze first, and then be guided in the operation and application before they can have conceptual memory. However, the learning process for children with autism is exactly the opposite. They need to memorize the concepts first, and then operate and apply them before they can understand and analyze. Therefore, for the training of social language use, independent language must be taught first, and then language use training can be carried out in an appropriate social environment.

Autistic patients generally cannot adapt to life in ordinary kindergartens before school age, and therefore receive education and training at home, in special education schools, and in medical institutions. After school age, the patient's language and social skills will improve, and some patients can go to ordinary primary schools to receive education with children of the same age.

2. Psychotherapy

(1) Behavioral therapy: The main purpose is to strengthen good behaviors that have already been formed and to correct abnormal behaviors that interfere with education and training, affect social interaction, and endanger oneself, such as stereotyped behaviors, aggressive behaviors, self-harm or self-mutilation behaviors, etc.

(2) Cognitive therapy: The purpose is to help patients recognize their differences with their peers and their own problems, stimulate their own potential, and develop effective social skills. Suitable for patients with mild intellectual impairment.

(3) Family therapy: It can help the patient’s parents understand the patient’s problems and support and collaborate with the therapist.

Autism in children can affect the physical health of children, as well as their mental health. When they reach adolescence, it can even affect their physical health. The treatment of autism in children is a long process, so parents must be patient, communicate more with their children, and not ignore them.