Expert: Catherine Ridenour - 12/9/2010

Question
hello, my daughter is 4yrs and 7 months she is an autistic, many teachers told me that she is different than others and i took her to a pediatrician and told me that she has autism but a mild one. We live in Ethiopia, in here there is no medical center that work on autism, now she is learning in a normal kg school. my first question is, is the mild autism curable? the second question is how can i learn her to trace dots because she cant write anything, how can i learn her to differentiate colors, how can i learn her to know about rewards doing this and getting a reward she couldn't understand me when i say like that.
Thank you in advance
Frehiwot

Answer
Hi Frehiwot,

Autism, mild or severe, is not "curable". It is a condition which amounts to having a brain that is wired differently. That does not mean that autistic people are not intelligent. Many are very smart, indeed. What is important is adapting teaching techniques to the way the child learns. This varies from child to child and some experimentation is often necessary.     

People with autism are not good at interpreting social cues like facial expressions and tone of voice. They usually have a very literal understanding of words. Many learn very well visually (use pictures) and "hands-on" (let her touch things).

Build learning colors into her play. Talk about things you are doing, such as while cooking. Let her help. "Let's put these red beans in our soup." "Show me a something red." Let her make small decisions such as, "Do you want to wear your red shirt or your blue shirt?" Encourage her to use words rather than point to the shirt.

I'm having a little trouble understanding your question about rewards. If you are asking me how to reward tracing letters, that can be difficult with a 4 year old (even one without autism) because they don't really think about delayed reward. Most four year-olds are not writing much so I don't think she's really behind in this skill. She may do better copying letters than tracing dots to form them. Show her the finished letter and let her draw over it then try one on her own.

Whatever she is learning, try to make it fun. Reinforce good effort with attention. Anything she finds pleasurable can be a reward.

Here is a link to a site offering teaching ideas for autistic children. You will find many links attached to it. http://www.suite101.com/content/strategies-to-help-autistic-children-in-class-a7...

I hope this is helpful.

Best wishes,
Catherine