DEALING WITH AUTISM (ASD)

When a child is diagnosed with ASD they aren’t the only ones impacted. Autism impacts the entire family. While the desire is to support your child in every way possible, day-to-day challenges and consequent frustrations often hinder these good intentions. Guilt, shame, anger or despair are quite often the result. Every family member in this situation needs to be supported.

As a counsellor, I encourage families to work with me as a team to effectively live with autism. Early intervention, consistent management strategies and compassionate support during counselling and at home will be instrumental in supporting your child’s development process. To enhance communication, visual cues like calendars, timetables, diaries etc using drawings and photographs will be introduced. These proven strategies make daily tasks and activities predictable – reducing anxiety and facilitating independence.

Collaboratively, we will identify goals and develop a tailored plan of action to help your  family function effectively as a unit and enhance your child’s social skills for a more successful assimilation at home, school and in the community.

Schedule your complimentary consultation.

“People with autism are visual learners. One of the most important strengths in autism is the visual learning style. People with autism are described as being 90% visual learners and 10% auditory (Hodgdon.1998). Visual strategies are widely recommended to enhance communication, support behaviour, facilitate learning and develop independence skills.” Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect).