Originally Posted by DeeDee
Originally Posted by Mk13
He is a classic example of kids who need the Floortime approach. Joining them in what they enjoy not pushing them into other activities.

What you just described is about half of the Floortime approach. The other half is really about gradually expanding their boundaries after you've got them engaged. If you just respect their limits, the limits stay narrow. But if you join the child where they are and then stretch their limits, you get growth.

Autism tends to narrow a person's interests and capabilities; IMO the best parenting and/or therapy really does challenge the excessively narrow limits and encourage the child to understand that there's a wider set of possibilities that are safe and okay. That flexibility makes a better life.

DeeDee

Oh, I agree. And I do stretch his limits but in a way that's more comfortable for him. Not by repeated pushing over the limits, which our experience from the past 11 months clearly shows doesn't work for him. Whatever approach is used, it should improve things ... not make everything worse. What good is any therapy when DS and everyone around him ends up being miserable? Two months ago we had a boy that we could take anywhere, he'd enjoy being outside and around other kids (not play with them but still enjoyed their company) and now just getting him into the car is a fight, he'll punch any kid near him, he'll scream and shut down when something bothers him rather than just calmly walk away like he used to. So it's not that we wouldn't expand his limits. We certainly do but in a way that works well for him.