05 Apr Is your child with Autism receiving Early Intervention, but you’re not seeing any significant progress in their skills or behaviours? Have you been told to accept that progress will be slow for your child with Autism and to accept that they may not be able to attend mainstream school?

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterised by delayed speech and language skills, decreased social reciprocity and odd behaviours. It is called a “spectrum disorder” because it includes a wide range of symptoms and severity levels, and children with autism can exhibit a diverse set of strengths and challenges.

Here at My Favourite Physio, our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists see many children with ASD who present with tip toe walking and delayed gross motor skills as a result of decreased social awareness and speech and language skills. It is not uncommon that families are often distressed and exhausted because their child with ASD is on the go constantly with no awareness of danger.

One of the first questions we ask parents is ” What would you like to see your child achieve at 5 years old?” Often parents are taken aback by the question because they have never thought about future plans beyond getting through the day or the week. Yet future planning is key to Early Intervention Physiotherapy.

Here is a 3 step approach we use to help children with ASD achieve significant progress:
Step 1: Define specific goals that the family would like to see their child achieve at 5 years old, including the types of schools they should enrol in at 5.
Step 2: Correct tip toe walking with serial casting over 8 weeks and progress to harnessed treadmill walking to retrain walking patterns and start to engage pre-verbal language skills of eye contact and turn taking.
Step 3: Consistently working on behaviour management and communications skills while progressing activities for gross motor skills for balance and coordination.

To find out how we can help your child with ASD, ring My Favourite Physio on (02) 9790 4233 or DM us @myfavouritephysio today!

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