Problem with Floortime is that you are completely led by the child and have to wait for them to start behaving in a way that is typical of ASD and then join in to enable you to enter into the behaviour and open up the communication. We were told to do this when he was at home for 15-20 mins every waking hour.
In our sons case, he likes to throw things (normally small toys) up in the air repetitively but this only happens a few times a day at home and for a relatively short periods of time so the opportunity to open these "circles of communication" are limited. His speech therapist doesn't buy into this, saying you need to engage him directly in activties that you create in a fun way for him. So far we've really not made any progress with floortime but that's not to suggest its not worthwhile but may be more applicable to children that exhibit these behaviours very often.
I understand that one of the senses (touch, smell, hearing etc)of autistic people is normally out of balance which explains why they can suddently become scared & hysterical for apparently no reason. Whatever sense it is, it can be overwhelmed in certain environments such as crowded/noisy places or places that have certain odours. My son doesn't appear to suffer from that so I'm not sure if its autism or just a speech problem.
Would be interested to hear about schools in Doha for special needs kids. The only place I've heard of so far is Sunbeam Nursery. Are there any others you can recommend?
Just watched a very interesting (HBO) movie about someone with autism called "Temple Grandin". A true story about an autistic woman who had an amazing mind. Definitely worth a watch.
Steve1/Cabbage
Problem with Floortime is that you are completely led by the child and have to wait for them to start behaving in a way that is typical of ASD and then join in to enable you to enter into the behaviour and open up the communication. We were told to do this when he was at home for 15-20 mins every waking hour.
In our sons case, he likes to throw things (normally small toys) up in the air repetitively but this only happens a few times a day at home and for a relatively short periods of time so the opportunity to open these "circles of communication" are limited. His speech therapist doesn't buy into this, saying you need to engage him directly in activties that you create in a fun way for him. So far we've really not made any progress with floortime but that's not to suggest its not worthwhile but may be more applicable to children that exhibit these behaviours very often.
I understand that one of the senses (touch, smell, hearing etc)of autistic people is normally out of balance which explains why they can suddently become scared & hysterical for apparently no reason. Whatever sense it is, it can be overwhelmed in certain environments such as crowded/noisy places or places that have certain odours. My son doesn't appear to suffer from that so I'm not sure if its autism or just a speech problem.
Would be interested to hear about schools in Doha for special needs kids. The only place I've heard of so far is Sunbeam Nursery. Are there any others you can recommend?
Just watched a very interesting (HBO) movie about someone with autism called "Temple Grandin". A true story about an autistic woman who had an amazing mind. Definitely worth a watch.