The majority of autistic children benefit from the being placed on a gluten free and casein free (GFCF) diet.  A child on this diet avoids foods that contain gluten and casein, including wheat and milk products.  

Supplements can provide building blocks for proper neurological development and protect the brain from further damage. Autism Coach provides an array of supplements that have been shown in studies to benefit autistic children and have been carefully selected to exclude harmful additives. 

We now offer Autism Early Intervention Kits that provide information and/or supplements to help parents of young children who have been recently diagnosed within the autism spectrum quickly implement an intervention program.  These supplements and protocols have benefited a significant percentage of children within the autism spectrum.  For more information on nutritional intervention,  see Autism Coach Supplements, Autism Coach Diet, Keeping It Natural, and Biology of Autism.  

Some children are visual learners and others are auditory learners - begin teaching your child through their strongest learning pathway - eventually, you may be able to use the child's strongest learning pathway to connect to and strengthen the other pathways. 

Applied  Behavioral Analysis (ABA) is a rehabilitative therapy that creates structure and meaning by building upon the child's strengths and abilities.  An ABA therapist typically first assesses how the child is functioning developmentally in a variety of areas and then creates a program where the child is worked with on a one-on-one basis to successfully complete a series of specific, measurable tasks.  These tasks are designed to move the child to the next step in the developmental hierarchy.  When these goals are achieved the therapist sets new more challenging goals.  The ultimate objective is to increase the development level of the tasks until the child is challenged at an age-appropriate level.  

Network with other parents to find a talented therapist to assess your child, create a program, and to train you and others to carry out the program. The highest levels of success with ABA are achieved when a child receives at least 30 hours a week of one-on-one therapy.  ABA- type therapies have been statistically shown to improve the prognosis of virtually all autistic children (my son had a year of modified ABA therapy when he was first diagnosed).  Be sure to network with parents to find the therapists getting the best results.  Optimally, you want a motivated, innovative, kind and intuitive therapist who will identify your child's strengths and deficits creatively adapt their approach to fit the needs of your child. 

Integrative therapies such as auditory integration, sensory integration, and visual integration may all be of help in strengthening sensory pathways.  

Activities that strengthen the child's ability to multi-task (do more than more thing at a time) can also help to connect the different systems of brain to work together.   An example of multi-tasking is to have the child count to twenty while doing jumping jacks on a trampoline.  Identify your child's greatest area of sensory difficulty and choose an integrative therapy that addresses it.  

However, always be sure to network with other parents to find the therapists who get the best results.   Finding a good therapist who gets results is more important than the type of therapy used.

You want mental stimulation to trigger neurological growth on an on-going basis.  Every child needs some down time, but this should not be excessive (as in several unstructured hours in a row on a regular basis).  

High quality computer software comes in handy, when you cant' be working with your child but you want to provide mental stimulation.  Autistic children tend to love the computer.  These games were a life-saver for me and wonderful for my son.  If your child plays therapeutic games that strengthen his or her areas of deficit, you multiply the benefit.  See Autism Coach Software.  

When possible, help your child meet his or her sensory needs in ways that provide positive meaning and purpose.

When my son started excessively wiggling his fingers, I decided to give him piano lessons so that finger movement would have purpose and he is now a talented pianist!  When he began to flap his hands, I had him do push-ups so that he would get the sensory feedback to his wrists through an exercise that provides coordination for his entire body.  We also played a pushing game where he tried to push me to the wall by pushing my hands against this hands - this also provided sensory input in a more positive, social fashion.  

One of the best investments in equipment I ever made was a small device called a Billy Board that is a wooden circle that spins around on a rectangular base and may be adjustably tilted at varying angles (the steeper, the more difficult).  The child (or adult) has to stand on it and tries spin around without falling off.  My son and neuro-typical daughter both love the Billy Board and still use it on a regular basis.  This piece of equipment actually helped my son's balance (vestibular) system to quickly mature and got him to the point where he was soon able to ride a two-wheeler bike, scooter, and in-line skates (there was a time when I wondered if he would ever be able to participate in these kinds of activities).  (The Billy Board has been redesigned in plastic and is available as the Dizzy Disc from Autism Coach.  For more, please click here.)

Other great maturers of  the vestibular system are spinning rides at fairs, amusement parks and playgrounds - I highly recommend getting kids who like to spin to spinning rides whenever possible - this meets their needs in fun, social setting.

Research indicates people learn best with humor and that chronic stress reduces the brain's ability to learn and grow - permanently stunting areas of the brain over time.  Positive incentives to participate in therapies may include food treats, activities, and toys.  

An example of using humor to teach is doing or saying something the child knows does not make sense in a funny (not mean) way, asking them if this makes sense,  and getting the child to tell or show you the correct thing to do.  This a fun and effective technique for engaging the child and strengthening connections.

The roots of autism may partially lie in physical coordination - infants with uncoordinated or unusual crawling patterns are more likely to become autistic.  Sensory integrative therapies that help the child meet the developmental physical milestones that they may have missed - including even teaching an older child to crawl properly and to independently control the different areas of their body to fade persisting infantile reflexes may help the child to move ahead cognitively as well.