Curing Autism

Okay, to my subject heading. I was following the very interesting link about the adult aspies and curing autism. I wanted to throw in my two cents and ask other for their's. This is my belief, autism (anywhere on the spectrum) is an integral part of the person. I don't believe that autism can be cured BUT an autistic person can learn to cope with autism (and the rest of us as well). Being autistic does not mean one's fate is inevitably decided with the diagnosis. The earlier a child is diagnosised and helped, the better. I also very strongly believe that autistic children need constant (and persistant) teaching and help. It has been a royal pain in the ass but I have been a determined constant in my son's life. I have helped him learn to deal with anxieties, taunting, mudane skills as answering the phone properly, greeting people, and on and on. He also has sensory integration and ADHD. For the SI we have been doing listening therapy. I may be way off base here, but I feel that SI is not intertwined with autism and can be "cured." A person may always be sensitive (I was the SI queen as a child) but never in such a way as to inhibit functional behavior. ADHD, on the otherhand is like autism. I think that it is an integral part of the person. I think the big key here is learning. If an autistic child is capable of learning then they are capable of doing. I don't think autistic children learn in the same way as NT children. If a parent, teacher, therapist can find how to reach them then I think the child can learn coping skills, deal with their behavior and how to properly respond to the behavior of others. There is no cure in this, because I think that the autistic child will always have natural inclinations that don't jibe with the rest of us. They just learn what is acceptable, or not, and hopefully drive themselves to do what is proper. Like I said, it has been one royal pain in the you know what but my son has made some marvelous strides and could probably be described as "cured" by some. But I know him and I have a good idea of how he thinks and feels most of the time. Many times its a battle to behave properly but he struggles and he manages. He'll always be an aspie, an aspie that somehow manages to put up with the rest of us for most of the time :)

What do you think about autism? Can it be cured?

JMHO

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