Autism Spectrum Disorders - Myths & Facts
Myth: Children with autism cannot be helped.
Fact: In our experience of 25+ years working with autistic behaviour in young children and infants, children that underwent our program and follow-on treatment have learned to speak, to be toilet trained, control states of anxiety and panic without resorting to stereotypical behaviours, to go to mainstream nurseries and schools and develop within the range of normality.
Myth: Children with autism don’t have a mind of their own because they don’t speak.
Fact: Children with autism have a personality and a way of reacting that is personal and unique like any other child. They do not, however, have motivation to relate or an understanding of themselves that enables them to cope with external and social realities. That is why the basis of our philosophy stresses the importance of observing the likes and dislikes of the child so that we can help them find meaning in their symptoms.
Myth: Autism is caused by the behaviour or personality of their parents.
Fact: There are more than 100 causes for autism. It is believed that it is multi-factorial and the parents are the first to sense or realize that something is wrong with their child. The fact that they are often not believed undermines their capacity to parent. In our Infant Family program we work not only with the infant but with the parents and siblings individually. A significant outcome of the program is for the family to learn new ways to work with the unique needs of this child.
Myth: Children with autism cannot empathize of feel for other people.
Fact: Individual treatments of children with autism show that they are more likely to be overwhelmed by how much they perceive of other people’s emotions. That is why in the “Autistic Child Program” we try to help them disentangle their emotional perceptions and understand them so that they can learn to process them differently.
Myth: The child is seriously, developmentally delayed and cannot be helped.
Fact: We have worked with children that developmentally delayed in all areas and manifested autistic behaviours and in the course of the three week program they learned to move, to make sounds, to say words, to crawl, to walk. There is no child that cannot be helped. However, the earlier the intervention, the more successful the outcome.