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I'm a NT Italian parent.
My son Stefano is 3 years old and has been diagnosed with PDD-NOS 3 months ago.
I'm trying to learn about available therapies and to understand whic therapies would fit for him.
I would like to know what Aspies and Auties think about that.
Stefano has no physical problems as digestive ones.
He has 2 stims: he likes to rock himself and to observe his hands. I've read about what you think about it because I don't want to hurt him and I want to respect him as an individual.
I'm not stopping his stims.
I started a speech therapy and it's working. He's learning some words and he now can ask some things he wants.
I think that for this reason he's less stimmed (I apologise for my english).
I'm going to start with ABA. I decided not to give him supplements because his level of attention is good and he is not sick.
His problems are mainly related to communication. What do you think? Should I consider anything else?

To WrongPlanet!! !

Hello, claudia - and welcome to the WP community.

Hello, claudia, and welcome to WP. I hope you find some answers considering your son. I unfortunately don't know about the therapies available in Italy (I'm assuming you live there).

If you can manage to do ABA well on him, then that should do the trick. I don't know much about your son's particular condition, but I was diagnosed at 2 years old with low functioning autism and my mother was told I would never speak/read/write/communicate. She (and people she hired) did ABA with me for about 9 hours every day for 6 years or so and now I function almost perfectly normally. Depending on how quickly Stefano is picking up his vocabulary you may not need to do it that long every day with him, but the more he gets earlier on, the better he'll learn.

I wish you the best of luck with helping your son.

A very special Welkome to WrongPlanet, with a K.

The WP Kink

I don't know too.
I realized that there are some false rumors about therapies and I'm scared about this.

thank you mightyzebra
so ABA was helpful to you....
You had 9 hours a day... It's hard for a parent but I'll try to do this.
When doctors told me it seemed like a death sentence to me. I didn't know that this is not a rare problem (1/150) and that you can live whith it and manage it.
In Italy I couldn't find an adult or a teen with AS or Autism because they don't do an outing. I only can share my experience with other parents but they don't tell to their sons and daughters that they are different.
I did your AS test and I found I'm NT but I have an AS social trait, so I partially can understand you. I like computers as some of you do and it became my job, so I feel this as an advantage. I always knew that I'm not like others at all...
I don't want to make Stefano normal but I'll try to make him enjoy his life.

Only a question: did you bother doing ABA?

Welcome!

Hi Claudia, in answer to your question: Did you bother doing ABA? Do you mean that I actually learnt from the therapy or did I do it on someone else? If the former, then yes, I learnt a vast deal from it. I'd probably be well on my way to a mental institute if I didn't learn anything from it. If the latter, I have not luckily done ABA on anyone else, I think I'd personally find that very difficult...
The only reason I needed therapy for nine hours a day for so long is because I was very very low functioning, which is qutie unusual. If your son is labelled as being particularly low-functioning and has zero or little communication skills, then I'd say 9 hours a day is the best option, if possible. It must be very difficult to think about what to do in this situation, I hope whatever you choose to do will help you and your son.

I started ABA with my son and it lasts 40 hours a week, the psychologist recommended to do more than 30 hours a week. You was very clear and honest, thank you. That's not difficult for me and my son has a good time doing ABA. I was scared that it could be wrong because doctors didn't reccomend this therapy.