A Life-Changing Therapy For Children With Autism At The Child Study Center 

I am 23 and autistic. I am semi-speaking & also often have to deal with selective mutism (the two are similar but caused by different stimuli) I often have moments where I don't want to make eye contact or talk to someone because it can be physically painful to me and often very intense emotionally. When I was a kid everyone just thought I was shy and said things like "don't worry, you'll grow out of it." But I've since come to learn that these behaviors cannot simply be changed or "corrected." Being semi-speaking is simply a part of who I am. And I shouldn't have to force myself to talk or make eye contact when I don't want to (or can't) simply because it is the "typical" way of communicating. I would also like to add that I have been working on these things for my whole life thinking that it would get easier and that eventually I would barely have any trouble talking to others. Spoiler alert: that's not how this works. My brain is quite literally wired to work in a different way that what is "typical." My brain is wired to become overwhelmed when I am forced to communicate verbally. We need to stop expecting autistic children to follow every command as if they are dogs. We are living human beings with our own strengths and challenges, our own joys and pains. LET US COMMUNICATE IN THE WAYS THAT FEEL BEST TO US. (edited for spelling corrections and clarity)

"If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck..." it's ABA. No amount of "rebranding" will change that. My opinions about the basis of ABA aside, I really do believe that autistic adults are inherently more capable of understanding the needs of an autistic child. There are many skills that can and should be taught to autistic children, but these are things we generally want to learn anyway. We just don't learn the way most people do; after all, our brains literally process everything differently. For example, I couldn't learn to tie my shoes by copying my parents by sight, so my dad taught me at 5 years old by putting his hands over mine and physically doing the motions with my hands (i.e. teaching me kinesthetically). To this day, I still tie my shoes the same way, and if I try to do it any other way, it doesn't work. I'm 22 now. As far as the issue goes with the children not engaging with people, I'll say what those children don't have the experience to fully understand and express at that age: we don't engage because nothing they're doing is engaging to us. We gain nothing from simply talking to people and exchanging words for the sake of it. When we choose to seek out that interaction, it is usually because we want to talk about a concept of some kind. A good illustration of this would be the difference between talking about the weather on a given day and talking about how those weather patterns were formed. If I want to know the weather, I'll find a forecast, but if you want to talk about meteorology, I'll actually be engaged. We aren't "broken," and we aren't a list of "deficits." We're fully-fledged human beings; we just interpret the world differently. A lot of people would understand us a lot better if they would just put away the idea of "correct" communication long enough to have a simple conversation. To that end, I would give you this advice: you're just as strange to us as we are to you, so please remember that communication is a two-way street. I don't agree with the "autism is a superpower" idea, but the vast majority of us also don't see it as a curse. I don't want pity or sympathy from you; I just want you to truly understand me as I am. In this case, whether or not you like me after the fact is largely irrelevant. Sorry for the rant, it just upsets me greatly when I see kids going through what I was *almost* forced into

I mainly don’t like the eye contact part because I was forced to do that and it is painfully uncomfortable so I am not ok with forcing eye contact.

My daughter (Sarah) was diagnosed with severe autism at 16 months. She is five years old now, she is still not speaking sentences. She make sound's 24/7. I did seek help but everyone that was sent to our home could NOT helped my child. I had to educate them in order for them to even start communicating with her. lord know I am devoted and dedicated to my child and because of that she now saying hi and bye bye (recently ) and yes she now know how to communicate nonverbal not sign language< by 8 years old my Sarah will speak. When it comes help if you don't have MONEY the process will take longer.... p.s It's NOT easy but you as the Parent have to have a lot of patient and give your child a lot of tender loving care (They need it ). Parents you need to be devoted, dedicated and advocate when it comes to your child.

I am a music therapist and I assisted a 4-year-old child with ASD for a period of one year. It was amazing to be part of this process. The secret is to penetrate their world and slowly bring them closer to ours. This includes not being afraid to interact and use what the child brings to, then, improvise with her/him. Music was a very powerful instrument. I feel grateful for this work.

0:44 Also, *being* the the child with autism is equally difficult. Everything you do seems to be beyond your control without therapy. I’m missed out on so many positive experiences in my life because my autism was torturing me... It took my friends, it dumbed me down socially, and it stole my happiness. I hope I’m not too old to get something effective, I’m only 16. I have such a hard time talking to people and being understood, I even confuse myself! I want to have friends and maybe have a relationship one day, but I get so nervous and overwhelmed around other kids and people. Autism is like being in fog; it’s confusing and annoying, and you just feel so disoriented and limited. Being treated would take so many of the limitations away, and I feel like I could finally be myself. I just hope *someplace* approves of my insurance... 😞

I’m not a therapist but when the therapist talked about helping her make eye contact.. idk. it feels like she’s just teaching her to mask. idk. i think therapy for autism should be about learning how to accommodate yourself and things like that, not learning how to live a neurotypical life. i could be wrong tho

The parental engagement absolutely have a significant role in the therapy because still lots of children have fear of being with unfamiliar person.

We don’t like being stereotyped as having poor language skills. Most neurotypicals I’ve met are much worse at language than me. My experience over 52 years is that neurotypicals only hear what they want to, or what is familiar. Because of issues with prosody, saying the exactly appropriate words to communicate often backfire because neurotypicals insist on never saying what they mean and my tone of voice is not what they expect, so they just change what I say into what they assume I am saying, and never listen to the words. This is a communication deficit that goes unrecognized due to it being “normal”. This could often be the reason for going nonverbal, when no one listens, why talk? I got in trouble as a toddler for trying to get adults to talk to me like an adult.

Daddy tears in your eyes made me cry

This's borderline to me. Some kids are different naturally and it's perfectly "normal" (within normal human variation.) So treating those kids as if they're severely disabled is a little weird and seems potentially harmful. But we also live in a world where not having social skills is detrimental, so there's that as well. It would probably be better for everyone if society was more accepting of differences instead of expecting conformity!

beautiful child. a father's love for his children is immeasurable.

I admire how they dont show her full face to protect her

This video is all kinds of triggering for me, and I’m not autistic. I will be working with autistic kids soon and it blows my mind the lack of understanding a lot of people have. ‘My kid isn’t that different, they just needed different tools.’ Like really?? EVERYONE NEEDS DIFFERENT TOOLS. Even regular people with no diagnosed labels. We are called individuals because we are EXACTLY THAT. You can’t force people to fit into society. You need to welcome into environments that make them want to engage, interact and coexist. Really unfortunate they make these transitions in life seem ‘incredibly difficult.’ It’s almost dehumanizing in my eyes. This video wasn’t done well…

I’d like to hear the voices of those who are traumatized from ABA therapy.

My heartfelt admiration goes out to everyone taking care of kids and adults who have disabilities for their devotion support and love, that’s all I can say ❤️🙏

I was shocked with how my daughter knew all her ABC and number shapes etc at age 3 but had challenges with being with other kids or fully constructing sentences until we where told she has autism

I do not understand why don't they make the same video with children on the moderate to severe side of the spectrum. I am a special needs parent and this looks like a commercial to me as if they are selling the technic.

As a student of clinical psychology, during my rotations I have seen many parents getting devastated at the news that their child is suffering from a developmental disorder but all we can do is to manage and make the lives of these little angels more beautiful and much better

I don't even know where too start but seeing their family being happy together and interacting together gives me hope becuz as of a couple of days ago I really believe my son is autistic l, and i just want my son too be able too enjoy life have friends be able too have conversations with family members and be able too hang out with me and with family and friends. He has not been diagnosed/evaluated yet and with all this coronavirus deal everything seems too be moving so slow. I just want too be able too get him the therapy and help he needs asap.

I'm autistic and I got into therapy half a year ago and it has really helped me and made me happy

We went to the NYU child study center with my nonverbal 4 year old autistic son expecting great things. They turned us away saying we deal with mostly older kids and verbal and minimally verbal with increasing their sociability. I expect Yale is the same seeing this video. Blowing bubbles is great but how about helping the severe autistic who don’t care to blow bubbles? Unfortunately these programs look all great and charge crazy fees but ultimately with difficult cases they rather not put their time/money/energy into it. A hard pill to swallow for parents like myself. The grief that not many people want to help your child because of their severity is indescribable.

I'm glad there's always methods and ways being discovered to help children in autism. People like to say autism isn't a disability but it very much is, adult with "untreated" autism have a really hard time getting along in life. And if there are ways to improve the symptoms then I'm all for it

i am so moved with this video. many thanks it means a lot and to keep on the good work

This father crys ❤❤❤❤

If a child can eat and dont harm himself or others im good. I dont need to be like others i just need to live andbe happy in whatever that is i like. feels like people not a days dont want to be different and be dependent of others

Thanks

I seriously wish they have more videos and information on autism, it would help a lot especially for parents with autistic children😢

Has anyone thought to engage people capable of deep interests and understanding with things that could develop interest in useful fields? Autistic people need to see the options early in life. This is how it worked when we lived communally and children could see people doing interesting things from an early age. Now we just put kids in bubbles and wonder why the extraordinary ones fail.

Shame to be doing this when there are much kinder and better "interventions" available. This is just sad.

Polyvagal theory ! Makes complete sense . The onus is on the adult to change not the child !!

I hate how everyone is like. “Parenting a child with a disability is so hard” it’s a lot harder for the kid… 😃🔫

One day Victoria will be Noble Laureate!!! You write it down daddy!! write it down!!

1:10 wrong, it varies on a person-by-person basis

Im sri lankan. Dear parents . I wormly invite to sri lanka. Have excellent center for autism babies. I garrent 100% you can get surprise good change from your child . So please come and release your pressure.

I wish I would’ve gotten my autism diagnosis when I was younger. That way I could’ve gotten resources and therapy like this

Really? The number ONE thing on your list is making her stare at other people's eyeballs? Wow... Classic ABA focusing on really unimportant things because neurotypicals can't Stand not being the standard of all that is "good" and "expected".

My son was diagnosed autistic last week, i haven't yet accepted the news but with time i will,am working on how to start helping him.from Kenya

This is like looking at the Future.

To be honest with you, I do have autism but I'm on the high level of functioning and that's a good thing because I have a higher chance of getting a job and being independent on my own but I do have some issues with behavior and stop emotions that I need to learn how to control them. This girl sure is showing signs of improvement and with the support of her parents I'm sure that she'll be able to do stuff on her own and be independent. I also want to know what causes autism to develop during pregnancy and how does your brain function differently than others without autism.

More videos please about PRT 🌹😊

I got diagnosed with autism and I’m scared to tell people about it

Your herbs has work wonders in my family. Thanks for the help Dr Oyalo for saving my son from autism spectrum with your herbs. Your herbs is the best

Great kid and very nice parents!

I have autism do you know what kind of autism I have

I'm in Canada you think we got it so good ? My son is 17 still non-verbal and we've only been given very little in services. Yay world-class social health care. I couldn't even buy better care if I wanted to. The province next door to me had a plastic surgeon leave the province to find better services for his autistic child in America.

Wow that is really great your daughter is doing well . My son was just diagnosed with Autism he is 24 months

Autistic children are special and have a high level of intelligence, and with proper training and rehabilitation, this child will be creative

The video was truly wonderful, and I believe it is a valuable resource that can help increase awareness and understanding of autism. By watching it, people can gain insights that enable them to positively impact and support those affected by autism.

My Son was diagnosed with spina bifida, now 7 years old with a condition of 10 kg weight, sometimes admitted to the hospital 1 month 4x for the treatment process.

How much effective are medicine in Autism?? Like some supplements etc??

This is great but we dont live near a Yale Child Study Center, Our town is 9000 people in WA state & I see NO help for families with kids on spectrum.

Reading all the various comments makes me realise almost all persons with autism would benefit for having support from an advocate in the areas where they have difficulties. And due to the nature of the disorder.

Going through the same can I pls have a contact

I got diagnosed with Autism in 2019

There’s nothing groundbreaking about this treatment. It’s basic applied behavior analysis

I'm Autistic too and Aspergers

I wish to start a Autism Study Centre

I have a learning disability partially sighted and autism

Help getting eye contact? Its the worst thing you can learn as an autistic person, some of our brains gets overstimulated when making eye contact harming our brains.... it is exactly not what you should do

🕊🌿🌳🍃🍀🌴🌱🏡 Using words, with clear directive, a wall clock, visual wall bourds with words and numbers, daily walks, keep going out to the park, daily human contact with parents, neighbours, community, are all vital, for autistic children and adults. Autism children need clear, calm, routines, with no yelling, support them in the intetest that does engage them, and a lot of patience when their "social battery hits 0%". Love them, just as they are. Sitting quietly with them, while they are chilling watching a movie/tennis/cricket/news/sit coms, and just being present; without speaking, is a very valid bonding activity, with your autistic sibling, friend, child, parent, step parent, or Grandparent. Your autistic relatives will never drive over to your "place/house/apartment", ... you will be expected to travel all over the state, to pay visits to your high functioning autistic family members. Their routine will never bend, to come to visit you, as adults. Self care is crucial at this time, as working 40 to 60 hours a week, makes it impossible to keep visiting these poor, struggling souls. Love in our Lord Jesus Christ, Princess Holly 🕊🌿🌴🌱🍀🌵🌳🍃🌲🐛

Amei ❤ fiquei encantada com toda essa dedicação ❤

"I brought in one of our first... Hey everyone! It's Ryan Reynolds from Mint Mobile." Shut up, Mint Mobile!

Pamela, where are the soul and the heart? They are children, play, smile.

i wish these so called specialists would realize from actual autistic people that we cannot take in the information someone is telling us when we look them in the eyes. it will be a harder processing struggle. making us "look" normal on the outside actually just makes us very tired. its not helpful.

Dislikes here are filtered out this is very telling. The very beginning makes it clear that it is about the parents not the child.

Discussing a rare case for getting popular.

Good job

shame on you. Have you heard of neurodivergent-affirming practices? Have you ever listened to autistic voices? apparently not. (autistic, parent of 2 autistic children, PhD, SLP.

Wow she really can talk

This made me smile

Xانا ام طفل يوحد غير ناطق المرجو المساعدة في ايجاد طبيب جيد

inspiring

Autism recovery coaches can do wonders for a child, Christopher Soppet at Autism Recovery Coach is a wonderful coach for this!

Awesome

Nice video

Granpa gramma are the best help. If no cure no cure.

Im autistic

Pivotal Response? Other than the Functional Assessment & Parent Training, B.F. Skinner called it Contingency Response Training when he invented Behaviorism in the 1950’s.

Hello, my son is autistic and 3 years old. am looking some tips or suggestions for my son to avoid looking at his hands. example when he waves his hand he always look for his hands and he will wave infront of his eyes close to his face. please suggest me what kind of techniques or activities will solve this issue.

I have the same condition as Victoria

It's interesting because I used to be very aggressive and I was very behind in school. Would I be where I am today without treatment? I don't know. Doctors were saying that I would never be able to go to a public high school at the rate I was going because I was so bad in the classroom, but now I'm fine. I got ABA, speech therapy, and other stuff. I'm just like everyone else now. Swear to god, I have no idea how that happened. It is the strangest thing ever.

@Susan McComas ❤😊

how do you get a toddler with asd to talk?

I have a son autism l am very worry about him lwant my son understand everything and don't crying every time my other son life is disturbing

Great. Now show me your success with kids who have severe autism with little to no verbal skills and lots of sensory issues. In shit like this, they always feature the highest-functioning kids and then somehow expect the same results for everyone. Not to mention all the controversy about ABA.

Why does she needs to engage with others?

And what kind of therapy was that?...

Is there anyway I can sign my daughter up for this? She’s 4 loves bubbles. She says 1,2,3 and oh no a lot but nothing else we can understand just her own language, she covers her ears, she does a lot of steming, I’m a mess I just had another baby and I feel like I know we can get her more help I just don’t know where to go 😢🤦‍♀️ we’ve gone to Yale children’s for my other son but for a physical disability he was born with that is not he same but I am not to far .. I just pray to find a program that would take us

It's only ever children with autism. I hate that. Like it's just assumed either we got what we needed as kids the first time or popped out of existence somewhere. I'm a 35 year old man who was destroyed instead of helped by special education. Nobody's studying how to help someone like me. Few even acknowledge we exist at all.

I actually hate being autistic it iratates me so much it makes me do weird things 😭😭😭

What if it's selective mutism and not Autism?

I have some adult friends that like bubbles.

I want to watch videos on how to therapy a kid with an autism, my cousin is a boy, 4 yrs old and has autism, my auntie and my uncle has not that much for money to get a therapist that's why I wanted to learn how in the age of 11 I wanted to therapy my own cousin inside our house.

Where shall i can buy that toys . Please teacher?

❤❤❤

advertising paying some one to spend time with those who may not have people who can for what ever reason spend the time with those of us early in ages is better than nothing if one can both afford financing and the differences between the hired help and that of what otherwise is inherited family’s values, beliefs and culture. Is I fear just advertising…. Taking up the space which those who impart valuable freely shared and compassionate ideas for parents to use in daily living.

My son is 3 years and 8 months and still hasn't said a word. He makes popping sounds with his lips and flaps his hands and often pats his chest. I'm really worried about how he will be when he's older and I'm really struggling with helping him at home and becoming frustrated that he's not talking yet. I also blame myself for the way he is that's maybe I have done something wrong that's made him this way 😢

Where could I get this service

Your herbs has work wonders in my family. Thanks for the help Dr Oyalo for saving my son from autism spectrum with your herbs. Your herbs is the best. #droyalo