Questions To Ask Before Beginning Treatment
Guidelines used by the Autism Society of America include the following
questions parents can ask about potential treatments:
- Will the treatment result in harm to my child?
- How will failure of the treatment affect my child and family?
- Has the treatment been validated scientifically?
- Are there assessment procedures specified?
- How will the treatment be integrated into my child's current
program? Do not become so infatuated with a given treatment that functional
curriculum, vocational life, and social skills are ignored.
The National Institute of Mental Health suggests a list of questions
parents can ask when planning for their child:
- How successful has the program been for other children?
- How many children have gone on to placement in a regular school and how have they performed?
- Do staff members have training and experience in working with children and adolescents with autism?
- How are activities planned and organized?
- Are there predictable daily schedules and routines?
- How much individual attention will my child receive?
- How is progress measured? Will my child's behavior be closely observed and recorded?
- Will my child be given tasks and rewards that are personally motivating?
- Is the environment designed to minimize distractions?
- Will the program prepare me to continue the therapy at home?
- What is the cost, time commitment, and location of the program?
Borrowed from Strock, M. (2004). Autism Spectrum Disorders
(Pervasive Developmental Disorders). NIH Publication No. NIH-04-5511, National Institute
of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, Bethesda, MD, 40 pp. Accessed on March 19, 2006 http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/autism.cfm