Complementary Approaches
No one treatment can successfully treat autism in isolation. Instead, most therapists and caretakers use a combination of interventions and techniques to treat autism. A variety of "complementary approaches" have been developed for use with autism. Some are widely accepted while others are quite controversial.
Social Stories
Social stories, developed by Carol Gray, an autism consultant, is a very popular complementary approach to the treatment of autism. The social stories are used to help children with autism navigate through social situations by helping the child see things from another person's point of view. Stories are designed using a systematic structure that eases children through the perception process one step at a time. Each story serve as a model for appropriate behavior in various social situations. The stories help children recognize social cues that can tell them how another person perceives the situation.
Social stories are based on the theory of mind, a relatively new concept that has emerged during the middle 1990's. According to the theory of mind, people with autism not only lack empathy; they also do not understand that other people have different thoughts than they do. In other words, children with autism have no basis for seeing things from another person's point of view and are thus unable to interpret another person's feelings. Children with autism have difficulty understanding that other people think differently than they do. If they like trains, they believe that everyone else must like trains too.
According to the theory of mind, it's not so much the case that children with autism lack empathy. It's more that they believes that everyone shares their same thoughts and emotions. We define empathy as a person's ability to understand another person's feelings, and also to identify with other people's feelings or difficulties.children with autism's lack of empathy does not stem from their being uncaring people, but rather from their strong tendency to misunderstand and misinterpret social cues. Social stories are used to help higher-functioning children with autism become aware of other people's thoughts and emotions.
Son-Rise Program
The Son-Rise program was developed by Barry Neil Kaufman and Samahria Lyte Kaufman in 1983. The Kaufmans are teachers and writers who have an autistic son, Raun. Raun was diagnosed with severe autism and his condition was considered incurable. In reaction, the Kaufmans developed a child-centered program that works with children's interests to promote better functioning. Raun Kaufman is reported to have significantly benefited from the program his parents created, to the point where today he is leading a more or less normal adult life.
The Son-Rise program is home-based. A therapist begins the program and trains the parents to work with their child with autism. As the therapy progresses, the parents become the main therapists, while the professional therapist becomes more of a guide.
Imitation of children's self-stimulatory behaviors is a vital part of the Son-Rise program. Instead of prompting the child to stop rocking back-and-forth, the therapist, and then later the parents, rocks back-and-forth as well. Parents gain their child's attention by joining in with his behaviors, and then keeps that attention by remaining focused solely on their child's interests. The Son-Rise program focuses on using the child's interests to the extreme. A Son-Rise therapist or parent actually envelops him or herself into the child's world. He or she imitates the child's actions and vocalizations, even if the actions are stigmatizing and unusual. This is unique, because most therapies work to bring children out of their isolated world and into the shared world. The program focuses on working with the child's interests to motivate him to learn and the program encourages using the child's interests and behaviors as a vehicle for interaction. Like RDI (described below) and Floortime (described above) the Son-Rise program focuses on social interaction rather than behavior and learning.
More information on the Son-Rise program is available at http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/
Relationship Development Intervention
Relationship Development Intervention (RDI), developed by Dr. Steve Gutstein, is a complimentary approach that is growing in popularity. It is a relatively new program that focuses on fostering children with autism's social development.
Rather than being a component of another larger set of therapeutic interventions, RDI is an entire program in of itself, and it is the primary program that enrolled children participate in. Children who receive RDI services work with a professional RDI consultant who coordinates their care. RDI may be supplemented with other interventions, but the major focus of therapy for RDI enrolled children is relationship development.
RDI is a step-by-step therapy that eventually leads to the child's interacting with a number of different people. The program begins one-on-one and progresses through group sessions. Enrolled children learn to interpret nonverbal social cues, like gestures and facial expressions. They are taught social concepts like of sharing and encouraged to develop empathy and awareness of others.
More information on RDI is available at http://www.rdiconnect.com/
