A Basic Guide to Well-Known Autism Therapies

It's natural to want to try anything and everything to help your child as soon as possible, but it pays to ask these questions when evaluating autism therapies:

• What are the expected benefits of using this approach? What are the potential problems of using this approach?
• What is the evidence that this approach works? Does the information only come from people who say it helps their kids? Are there scientific studies that examine the approach? What do parents who considered this approach before rejecting it say?
• How will using this approach fit into all the other efforts our family is making to help our child? Will it create a conflict with another effort, or complement it? Will using our time and money paying for it mean sacrificing something else in our lives that might be a better choice?

What follows is a brief guide to some of the most well-known autism therapies, with links on the web about these treatments, and sites to visit to get more information about raising a child with an autism spectrum disorder.