There is no way of proving what specific interventions worked and what difference any have made after the event and it would be impossible to pinpoint one out 'to be the specific one that made the significant difference!' Everyone is different.
This is why a tailor made personalised and
holistic approach is needed for each individual child or adult. I can only know what interventions and
therapies I used with my daighter and my reasons for trying them at the time and then
consider how later research findings relate to what I did and how my daughter
progressed.
One problem for researching
interventions in my opinion is that no one intervention is being used with a child at one particular time. Often a child is receiving a number of educational and therapeutic interventions to improve communication and behaviour.
I implemented many, many interventions with my daughter very early in my daughter's life, with support where I needed it, as I am lucky enough to have a GP who practices complimentary holistic medicine as
well as conventional medicines and I have a family member in the medical profession to support me too.
My daughter's development was severely impaired at age two and would tick all the boxes for 'classic autism,' - hand flapping, non-verbal, hyper and hypo-sensitive with all her senses. My hubby and I started with doing the Hanen program (The National Autistic Society (NAS) Early Bird program was later based on the Hanen). My daughter had Sensory Integration Therapy (SIT), Speech and language therapy and Makaton was her first way of communicating with us, Music therapy, Portage, specialist nursery, support at our local pre-school, horse riding, vitamin therapy and other supplements and enzymes, Eurythmy therapy and others; went to a specialist autism unit after mainstream couldn't cope with her at age 7 and she never attended mainstream full time; attended a specialist secondary school unit where they used PECS, TEACCH and other SEN support and other interventions as she grew older and became appropriate. I am currently using NLP with her to help her manage her emotional states and her current challenges related to autism....so you see how intervention evolves with the individual, depending on what they need as they progress.
Back in the 1990s there was no support or suggestion as to what to do but I am fairly positive that if I had not intervened as early as I did, my daughter would not have attended mainstream college and passed 2 A levels, been in Team GB trampoline disability squad or a dancer of Free Style disco and Street dance.
Additionally, much research states the evidence for the effectiveness of early intervention due to the plasticity and early development of the brain at this time and the research I did for my MA Autism had to be from scientific peer reviewed journals to be considered credible. I researched my ideas/theories based on my work with my daughter, my understanding of autism from many autistic adults.
The first autistic adult I heard speak about her experiences of being autistic in the 1990s, was Donna Williams and having read her book Nobody Nowhere, I remember thinking, if Donna can stand on that stage in this hotel with dazzling chandeliers and be able enough to describe what it is like to have autism, having had no help from her mother, there is hope for my daughter!...I am still in touch with Donna after all these years as she was my hope for my daughter at the very beginning. I have since met Temple Grandin and spoken to her about her mother and childhood and seen her film which resonates so much with me. Temple's mothers ignored advice to institutionalise her daughter and taught her with flash cards to speak and read and from my conversation with Temple, her mothers principles on behaviour and 'discipline' were very similar to mine and this is shown in the film. Her mother faced the same challenges back then as I and other parents did in the 1990s and sadly as parents still are facing now with the education system and many peoples' understanding of autism!
ALL children develop naturally to different levels of functioning and ability and autism is described in the literature as a neuro-developmental disorder but as with ALL children it is how we nurture them, play, stimulate and encourage them that makes the difference. If you leave a seed in a dry soil it will not grow and flourish to its full potential! You need to water, feed and nurture it and it is the same with human beings too...ΓΌ
My daughter's development was severely impaired at age two and would tick all the boxes for 'classic autism,' - hand flapping, non-verbal, hyper and hypo-sensitive with all her senses. My hubby and I started with doing the Hanen program (The National Autistic Society (NAS) Early Bird program was later based on the Hanen). My daughter had Sensory Integration Therapy (SIT), Speech and language therapy and Makaton was her first way of communicating with us, Music therapy, Portage, specialist nursery, support at our local pre-school, horse riding, vitamin therapy and other supplements and enzymes, Eurythmy therapy and others; went to a specialist autism unit after mainstream couldn't cope with her at age 7 and she never attended mainstream full time; attended a specialist secondary school unit where they used PECS, TEACCH and other SEN support and other interventions as she grew older and became appropriate. I am currently using NLP with her to help her manage her emotional states and her current challenges related to autism....so you see how intervention evolves with the individual, depending on what they need as they progress.
Back in the 1990s there was no support or suggestion as to what to do but I am fairly positive that if I had not intervened as early as I did, my daughter would not have attended mainstream college and passed 2 A levels, been in Team GB trampoline disability squad or a dancer of Free Style disco and Street dance.
Additionally, much research states the evidence for the effectiveness of early intervention due to the plasticity and early development of the brain at this time and the research I did for my MA Autism had to be from scientific peer reviewed journals to be considered credible. I researched my ideas/theories based on my work with my daughter, my understanding of autism from many autistic adults.
The first autistic adult I heard speak about her experiences of being autistic in the 1990s, was Donna Williams and having read her book Nobody Nowhere, I remember thinking, if Donna can stand on that stage in this hotel with dazzling chandeliers and be able enough to describe what it is like to have autism, having had no help from her mother, there is hope for my daughter!...I am still in touch with Donna after all these years as she was my hope for my daughter at the very beginning. I have since met Temple Grandin and spoken to her about her mother and childhood and seen her film which resonates so much with me. Temple's mothers ignored advice to institutionalise her daughter and taught her with flash cards to speak and read and from my conversation with Temple, her mothers principles on behaviour and 'discipline' were very similar to mine and this is shown in the film. Her mother faced the same challenges back then as I and other parents did in the 1990s and sadly as parents still are facing now with the education system and many peoples' understanding of autism!
ALL children develop naturally to different levels of functioning and ability and autism is described in the literature as a neuro-developmental disorder but as with ALL children it is how we nurture them, play, stimulate and encourage them that makes the difference. If you leave a seed in a dry soil it will not grow and flourish to its full potential! You need to water, feed and nurture it and it is the same with human beings too...ΓΌ
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