Raising an Autistic Child: Step by Step

Parents who are informed that their child has or may have an autism spectrum disorder are undoubtedly deeply concerned about what comes next and how to live moving forward. After all, everyone wishes their children well-being, happiness, and health, and discovering such a problem can shake up familiar life routines.

The Key Question: How to Best Help an Autistic Child?

The main question is how to best assist an autistic child. However, answering it can be complicated due to conflicting therapeutic recommendations or concerns that it might all be futile since the disorder remains incurable. But in reality, a lot can be done to make the situation more manageable by organizing life according to new rules.

Establishing a Routine

First and foremost, it’s important to recognize that special children are very attached to a strict daily schedule. The role of the parent is to establish fixed times for meals, school departures and arrivals, and bedtime. It’s crucial to rarely break this routine, and if a change is necessary, the child should be warned in advance.

Creating a Safe Home Environment

It is essential to ensure the child feels completely safe at home—create a secluded space that will serve as their refuge where they can relax. Additionally, labeling household items with picture tags can be helpful, especially if the child has difficulties with perception.

Consistency and Strategy

Consistency is equally important: parents should act as the therapist’s assistants and apply the same approaches at home. This strategy aligns with the child’s own desire for orderliness in all aspects of life. It may also be helpful for the child to undergo therapy at different clinics, so they get used to changes in the environment and can apply learned skills to various situations.

Developing an Individual Treatment Plan

A crucial aspect is the creation of an individualized treatment plan, as the variety of methods can make it difficult to determine which one (or combination) works best for the child. When developing such a therapy plan, it’s important to remember that no treatment is universally effective. Each autistic child has unique characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses. Therefore, treatment must be tailored to the specific needs of the patient. To determine these needs, consider the following questions:

• What are the child’s strengths and weaknesses?
• What habits cause the most trouble?
• What important abilities is the child lacking?
• How does the child learn best: by seeing, hearing, or doing?
• What activities does the child enjoy, and how can they be used in therapy to improve learning?

Steps to Implement the Ideal Treatment Plan

To implement the ideal treatment plan, parents should:

• Put the child’s interests first.
• Develop a stable and predictable daily routine.
• Achieve progress step by step.
• Regularly encourage proper behavior.
• Show interest in activities the child enjoys and participate in their life.

Seeking Support and Guidance

Parents shouldn’t try to do everything on their own—this is unnecessary, especially since help is available from various sources, including:

• Support groups for autistic children and their families: These provide a great opportunity to connect with other parents facing similar challenges, share information, exchange experiences, and receive emotional support.
• Individual, marital, or family counseling: If parents experience stress, anxiety, or despair, they should consider therapy, if only to share their feelings. Counseling can also help address problems arising from raising an autistic child, particularly in relationships with other family members.

No One-Size-Fits-All Solution

There is no universal solution to normalizing life when a child is diagnosed with autism. However, despite the variety of therapies available, there is one method that has shown great promise in addressing the disorder. Cell therapy has emerged as a new approach in the fight against autism, as it helps address the root cause—brain function abnormalities. Stem cell transplantation can replace faulty cells, which leads to rapid symptom relief or a significant reduction in their severity.

This modern, effective, and safe method is used by leading clinics worldwide, including the Mardaleishvili Medical Center, equipped with state-of-the-art technology. Their highly qualified specialists have accumulated extensive and successful experience in treating autism, which is worth considering, especially if other therapies haven’t yielded desired results. It’s important to note that the center’s services are more affordable than in other countries, and assistance can be provided starting from the travel planning stage.

Fill out an application for cell therapy – this could be the opportunity for life to return to normal!