Sunday, April 11, 2010

4 Effective Ways To Help An Autistic Family Member

1. If you are living with an autistic family member, it won't take you long to discover that it can be a difficult medical condition as such a person can have special needs, which are challenging and demanding, but they also have the right equal to yours to lead a fulfilled life. In order to do this for your loved one, you can learn about ways to help the affected person bridge the gap between needs and fulfillment so they can enhance the quality of their life. Begin with educating yourself on the causes of the disorder: it is not because of anything the person did and the fault of the people around the person. Do not be judgmental in any way as it is frustrating for autistic people to deal with family members who are intolerant of their limitations, which are real and surmountable.

2. Work closely with the autistic family member to understand his or her feelings; teach them and train them in positive values and habits in a patient manner even as they get distracted as such persons tend to lose their mental grasp on concepts easily and frequently for no fault of theirs or yours. First ensure you have caught their attention then proceed to speak and explain new learning concepts; repetition is a good way to determine how much the autistic person has followed your teaching.

3. Going over the same thing a few times helps autistic persons grasp new concepts better as does providing a sense of routiness, especially if the affected person is a young child. Small children diagnosed with autism find it easier to adapt to new learning and surroundings when they are familiarized with a daily routine as this gives them a sense of comfort knowing they are about to re-learn something at a specific time or date.

4. Helping an autistic family member come to terms with his or her condition, especially when it is a young child, is most important to get them on the way to happy and healthy lifestyle: get as much information on the subject as possible frommedical health experts, books and reading material besides websites for tools regarding dealing with autism and the true nature of the disorder so you can understand the affected person's needs better.

Combining these tips and incorporating them in your daily contact with autistic family members as well as others in the community will help you connect better with such persons and help them lead normal, healthy lives. Therefore, it is important to have an open attitude towards learning about autism in order to build better relationships with affected people.

No comments:

Post a Comment