Autism - Signs, Symptoms, Treatments, Resources, Support for Autism

Researchers don't know for sure why autistic children have problems with sleep, but they have several theories. The first has to do with social cues. People know when it's time to go to sleep at night, thanks to the normal cycles of light and dark and the body's circadian rhythms. But they also use social cues. For example, children may see their siblings getting ready for bed. Children with autism, who often have difficulty communicating, may misinterpret or fail to understand these cues. Another theory has to do with the hormone melatonin , which normally helps regulate sleep-wake cycles. To make melatonin, the body needs an amino acid called tryptophan, which research has found to be either higher or lower than normal in children with autism. Typically, melatonin levels rise in response to darkness (at night) and dip during the daylight hours. Studies have shown that some children with autism don't release melatonin at the correct times of day. Instead...

In far too many schools today, autistic children are punished or even expelled for behaving differently from other children. Inappropriate behaviors such as hitting or even harming themselves are punished and scolded and children are labeled as being ill-behaved without ever receiving the proper training and treatment necessary.  This does more than create a social stigma around autistic children; it also deprives them of the quality of education that they deserve.  ABA therapy is a proven autism treatment that is used in many schools and can help teach children the behavior skills they need to thrive when in a classroom or real world environment. ABA therapy utilizes a number of methods for teaching behavior management.  Discrete trial teaching, the most common part of ABA, uses prompts and repetition to teach these skills.  Intensive ABA therapy is proven successful in helping children with varying degrees of autism spectrum disorders to learn the ...