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How Do We Find A Therapist Who “GETS IT?”
How do we find a therapist who “GETS IT?”
When a parent of a child on the spectrum goes looking for a therapist, it can feel like an uphill battle with no hope in sight. That’s because being the parent of a child on the autism spectrum is really hard! Nobody “gets it!”!
There are far too few experienced diagnosticians and therapists, especially to work with high functioning kids.
In This Article:
Finding The Right Help
Don’t Mask The Symptoms
Help The Whole Family
Finding The Right Help
There are so many issues to address, and it is impossible to untangle them from the inside out and know what to do first.
On top of that … we are pulled in so many different directions. We spend time going to this appointment and that trying to get services to aid our child’s development.
Finding the right help is such a relief!….IF you can find it.
Unfortunately, parents are often disappointed when we put our trust into a professional therapist who says they can treat the issues related to ASD. That is because the therapist only treats the symptoms, and does not provide real relief to the source of the issues – the autism.
And too many that can address basic ASD symptoms don’t know how to treat the underlying autism or help the family.
“We need some way to know the difference between a therapist who can treat the autism, and one who believes that simply treating the immediate difficulties is enough.”
Don’t Mask The Symptoms
Don’t mask the symptoms, solve the problem. (Click here to read What Does It Mean When You Say “High Functioning Autism”?)
That is a little like taking an aspirin to relieve the headache caused by a brain tumor! (and no, I do not mean to imply that autism is like or in any way associated with a brain tumor).
The aspirin might provide a little relief temporarily, but without addressing the tumor that is the underlying cause of the headache, it is only a short-term solution – a band-aid.
As parents, once we’ve been frustrated by an experience like that a couple of times (and most of us have), we begin to feel more helpless and hopeless than ever.
We need some way to know the difference between a therapist who can treat the autism, and one who believes that simply treating the immediate difficulties is enough.
Therapies like play therapy, floor time, or even ABA have value and feel comforting, but they are not sufficient to move the child and the family toward true long-term functional success or independence for the child.
Help The Whole Family
Autism doesn’t affect only the child. It affects the entire family. And when this isn’t addressed, too often help is at best fleeting. (Click here to read more about the The Impact of Autism on the Family.)
Qualified therapists who have a deep understanding of how autism influences thinking, functioning, and world view can create the long-term outcomes that families want and need. As the demand for help increases, parents need a way to discern between those 2 types of therapists and easily recognize those that can help.
Look for a therapist who specializes in treating autism without ABA, someone who provides cognitive behavioral therapy to address the impact of the autism on your child. This is especially true for high functioning individuals who often can fly under the radar and appear neurotypical. ADD, ADHD, OCD or ODD, anxiety are all common misdiagnosis or predecessor diagnosis to autism.
Certification by the National Autism Academy provides 2-fold benefits. It deepens your understanding of the dynamics of autism by connecting you with one of the Nation’s leading clinical experts in treating ASD, and provides you with the vehicle to advertise that skill to families.
Therapists certified by the National Autism Academy receive quick and easy ways to gain experience through easy online education from clinical experts, as well as the backing of the National Autism Academy’s certification benefits to communicate to families that you “get it.”
Thank you for taking time to understand more, but knowing isn’t enough! Let us help you take the next simple step toward implementing your knowledge for your relief or the relief of others.
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