What kind of therapy actually helped you? What was useless?

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We are just starting to wade through all of this stuff as my son is 3.5 years old
I am starting to grow skeptical of so-called experts and realizing that I help my son a whole lot more than I thought I did and I think I am capable of doing a lot more as we go along. Part of it is because I know him so well and also I'm a fairly intelligent person who has done loads of reading about autism and different types of therapy- I see him with therapists and I'm constantly telling them stuff that they should be able to see or understand. I even think one of his speech therapists set him back a bit and I had to correct the damage she did.
Yeah, maybe I'm that annoying mom.

I also worry about over-scheduling him and pathologizing things that really don't need to be pathologized to the extent of seeing a specialist (he's becoming really aware of all of this stuff at this point). A lot of the OT stuff he does we do all the time ANYWAY just going to the playground, swimming, gymnastics, playing with stuff and doing crafts at home. He does that stuff with my help and can feel like a "normal" kid having fun with his family rather than strangers in a clinical setting (we can't get a home visitor).
Not to mention the money that we sink into all of this that might go to other things that would benefit him and our family more.

I'm curious to hear what therapies YOU think really helped you. How did they help you get to where you are today?
What was totally useless or even detrimental to you? What non-therapy activities might have or did help you more than therapy actually did?
You can be specific or general- I would really like to hear any perspective you might have on this.

Yes, I'd be worried too. A 3.5 year old with ASD would have trouble generalizing from the clinic setting. You might learn something watching you can use, but I'm not sure how much he does. Think you have to watch and decide for yourself the value of the interventions.

I found OT to help with sensory integration and speech therapy to help understand the world and increase my child's ability to communicate and even advocate for herself really made a huge difference. But these therapies were at home and school, the natural environment being made safer and more manageable. And the specifics of what was harmful: people arguing with me, the mom, putting me down scared my child because it made the world seem more dangerous, so providers making you feel at ease is important; and people ignoring my child's point of view did not help her better understand others' perspectives that she needed to in order to cope with the world, that interfered and made her more rigid, and acknowledgement of her view helped her be more flexible and do more. Like almost anyone, thrives on empathy, support and understanding.

The most useful therapy I've gotten is the Snoelezen room. It's a darkened room filled with sensory toys, and I have complete control over how I'm exposed to each toy. It's extremely calming and makes me a lot less prone to overload for awhile afterwards. It's also the only way I've found to stop a meltdown building other than just having the meltdown. (I can often feel a meltdown coming on hours in advance, but I can't stop it.)

The video game here http://gamelab.mit.edu/games/a-slower-speed-of-light/ has a similar effect on me, but less pronounced. Something about the visual distortion and the music in that game I find extremely calming.

On the other hand, telling me to act like an adult and ignoring me when I'm having a meltdown did not work at all. That's what they did in my work training program. I can't calm myself back down once I'm having a meltdown - I need someone to help me. And I will never trust those people again.

That is very mean. The behavioural technique they were trying to use on you is called extinction. I think it only works when the behaviour is caused or intensified by a lack of attention, like a kid crying before bed so that his mom could come and tell him a story etc. Most of the time, autistic meltdowns are not due to any sort of attention deprivation. It's appalling when people misuse behavioural techniques like that.

To the OP, I'm just wondering why you're looking for therapy so fervently to begin with. If your son is learning and playing very well (albeit in his own way) and you seem to be giving him a good environment to thrive in, why does he need someone else to intrude and "intervene"?

Last edited by MathGirl on 10 Feb 2014, 10:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

Before I was actually diagnosed my mom enrolled me in tennis lessons (which taught balance and coordination, not just tennis). I'm still fairly clumsy/uncoordinated but at least it was a start. My mom also trained me at home to make as good eye contact as a NT kid (I had terrible eye contact when I was young, now I'm fine). The one therapy in a clinical setting I would actually recommend (if your kid needs it) is speech therapy, because I've noticed it drastically helps a lot of kids.

+ Things that focus on sensory integration
+ Speech therapy that involved recording my voice
+ Speech therapy that included SPECIFICALLY TELLING ME where to put my tongue in my mouth and guiding me through how to make the sounds
+Things where I get to say when to stop


- Speech therapy that told me to repeat them
- "How do you feel?"
-Things that I'm expected to push myself past what I can take (they do something productive, but the amount of damage in the process of making the progress is rarely worth it)
- Any time I'm expected to act some way because its the way my diagnosis acts


Swings are good. Certain OT protocols that specifically went through OT were great, but I don't know which might make sense or might not and if they might want him to be older (WIlbarger brushing, Therapeutic Listening, for example). Getting a Sensory Diet for at home is NECESSARY for someone with sensory issues no matter how mild, and having a professional help you set that up would be valuable, but then you're the one who's doing that after the set up. I needed speech therapy, and it was very important for it to not be "repeat after me" type, which a lot seem to do. I needed more feedback of HOW to make the sounds. I still don't make some sounds proper, and can't combine certain sounds one after another so can't say every word. But ST that explains HOW was really valuable.

Play that is very sensory, slow, and in a friendly environment, but encourages certain types of interacting with others (not interacting like an NT, but interacting in a way that can live with NTs; the difference matters and is important), and building up logic skills is good. Using special interests is always a good thing. I still want to find a Snoelezen room, because it sounds great.

Swimming is definitely great too.

My mum! If you can call her 'therapy'. Just knowing that she's always there, not judging me for my behaviour, what I say or the way I think. She's always been encouraging me to move forward without being pushy and when I haven't been able to move she's been there to always keep me company, letting me take my time.

Reading about things on my own (I realize this might be hard when you're 3.5 years old but maybe it can be helpful in time, if he will be interested in it that is).

Having a therapist giving me 'tools' to work with; exercises on how to deal with everyday stress and such. For example she told me to start 'counting glasses' on people when I was out in public just to keep me from looking at my feet all the time and avoiding peoples' glances.



'Just talk' therapy's never really worked for me during the 7 years I've had it, like the 'How do you feel'-type which Tuttle mentioned. Perhaps if the therapist asks questions instead of waiting for me to carry the conversation.

And also what KingdomOfRats said; animals helps. Having a cat come live with me is one of the greatest decisions I've ever made.

Hope that helped a bit. (:

Last edited by VincentRabbit on 11 Feb 2014, 6:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

I've tried on three different occasions and after my last attempt I said "I know you mean well but you have NO IDEA what you are talking about or what I am going through". It might have helped a little but was otherwise a monumental waste of (my Health plan's) money. There are simply next to no resources for adults with ASDs and there is practically no way locally to get diagnosed without mortgaging your future.

I will say one thing while keeping this family friendly: I did mention my "adult" interest and rather than judging me or condemning it told me that I should find like minded people and enjoy it. That brought a HUGE weight off of my shoulders that I should embrace it rather than be embarrassed by it.

SALT [speech and language therapy,still ongoing], in early childhood had had agressive speech therapy and was left traumatised by it,the SALT have had from late teens has helped self become more verbal [brain switches between total non verbalism and echolalic speech] and develop more understanding.

horse riding therapy- its incredible,it has a huge effect on behavior,communication, senses,interaction etc but it needs to be done often to get more permenent effects.
am now doing this through a special olympics club.

pets as therapy- its a charity that brings pets to people to act as therapy, but in own case they had no cat volunteers within the north west of england so had resorted to visiting the chickens of mine at the farm and a local chicken sanctuary for disabled kids and adults.
animals are amazing therapy,they dont have any expectations beyond their needs, they dont judge and they are so calming and interactive.
had recognised the first cat of mine at five years old and interacted with her even though was unable to understand and interact with the human members of family.

music therapy.
had had this whilst a patient at greenways learning disability assessment and treatment hospital; its a UK intelectual disability hospital for people whose severe challenging behaviors have become extreme.
although had been unable to listen to music at the time due to having suffered from profound hyperacusis [extreme sound sensitivity] for some years,the one to one therapy sessions had had with the therapist have had a incredible effect on self.
had used equipment like tibetan singing bowls and tactile sound tools that sounded like gentle rain,the sessions were very calming but had also been unknowingly developing tolerance for sound and four months of weekly sessions had resulted in being able to listen to music again though only via head phones as the wavering pitch and accoustics of sound through speakers is still profoundly overloading.
the therapist is going to be coming here to do sessions to.

DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) worked really well for me. I was the only person in my group who was on the spectrum; everyone else had either BPD or some form of anxiety disorder, but it was still very helpful. There was a lot of focus on how to appropriately communicate with other people and also how to access and express your own feelings and needs. Plus the therapist I had would have things like Koosh balls and coloring books and encourage us to fidget with them if we needed to, to help us channel our energy. I did a lot better after I took that class, and if I could afford to I'd do it again. Unfortunately I was part of a sliding-scale class then that no longer exists, and most of the providers I can find who do it are pretty expensive.

Slightly off-topic, but I thought I'd share as it might help anyone suffering from PTSD, something which seems a little more common among ASD folk.

EMDR therapy really helped me when I was being plagued by frequent and disturbing flashbacks. I went from daily flashbacks to only having one or two in a month, and while this isn't a 100% cure the remaining flashbacks I get aren't as vividly detailed, and no longer reduce me to tears.

Oh, yeah of course. Any animal based therapy is probably great. Animals are amazing therapy. I still want to do hippotherapy, I just can't afford it. I might just splurge and spend a huge proportion of my money on it if i can find transportation to a place that does hippotherapy for adults. (I know of local places that do but because I don't drive I am dependent on others for transportation)

hippotherapy = horse based.

Things that helped me as a child:

*English as a second language class for language development
*Leave me alone special education plan for giftedness
*Art and music programs for social development
*Biking and rollerskating for physical activity
*The library
*Lack of autism therapies by autism therapists
*Lack of pathologizing of my behavior and cognition
*iParents teaching me to do things that I needed to do
*iParents making me do things that I didn't want to do
*iParents being kinda sorta like me

Things that help me as an adult:

*Caltech (I am going to be a lifer, because this is the only society that I can assimilate into)

wish i knew the different names of my therapies to help answer this.
was in special schools for developmentally disabled from 1st to 7th grade.
So that is where i got most of it. just a lot of interactive stuff.
They had lots of animals there.
And i have speech therapy.
My parents have always been very hands on and have studied autism a lot.
I think the most important thing to me is how much support i have been given.
And how my family has always treated me like a regular person while also seeing to my special needs.
It all has gotten to being able to attend a regular school (still have some special ed).

what about using the paratransit service?
http://www.mbta.com/riding_the_t/access ... sp?id=7108
http://www.mass.gov/portal/transportati ... vices.html

Benzo and quel tripping therapy (prescribed, of course).