A developmental delay is usually seen when a child does not gain the essential developmental skills like children of their age. These delays can be cognitive in nature, speech or language delay, and motor function delay. You may be able to notice the early signs and symptoms from their school age. Different types of therapies are accessible today to help your child overcome these delays. The treatment options include speech therapy, language therapy, occupational therapy, and behavioral therapy. There are other treatments available in education, home, the health community, or these settings.
Early Symptoms of Developmental Delay and Treatment Approach
The signs of developmental delay vary among children with ASD. In some cases, you can notice the delays from infancy, while others appear late as your child starts facing language and social difficulties. Some general notable signs are as follows:
- Learning and processing things slower than other children of the same age.
- Developing physical movement late, like rolling over, sitting up, crawling, and walking.
- A dominance of involuntary reflexes over voluntary activities.
- They cannot stand up even after being about one year old and unable to bear any weight on their legs.
- Facing challenges in communicating and socializing with others.
- Speech and language delays, finding it difficult to talk.
- Having trouble with logical thinking, problem-solving, and connecting actions with consequences.
- Cannot perform everyday tasks like brushing hair, taking a bath, or sleeping without interruption.
By looking at these symptoms, we can understand how difficult it is for young children with autism to process the social world around them.
Different developmental approaches have different focuses, with a broader range of achieving interconnected developmental abilities for autistic children. The most common developmental therapy for children with ASD is Speech and Language Therapy. By the period of 6 months, a baby can recognize certain sounds of a primary language, and after reaching the age of 12 to 15 months, they can produce two or three simple words. But children with ASD cannot develop speech and language at this rate.
The main goal of this therapy is to improve the child’s understanding and use of language and speech. They are taught to communicate verbally and non-verbally through signs, gestures, pictures, books, or electronic communication devices. Autism treatment in Dubai takes careful notice of different language delays and processes goals accordingly.
The two Approaches to Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapy focuses on teaching basic life skills like eating, bathing, dressing, and being able to relate and communicate with other people. It helps the children to live as independently as possible. Further, OT includes:
Physical Therapy: deals with improving physical skills from the gestures of fingers to body movements.
Sensory Integration Therapy helps with responses to sensory inputs that may often be overwhelming or restrictive for children with autism.
Therapists here use various social exchanges and natural settings to help children with these developmental delays, and Dubai autism center fees are also an affordable package for the concerned parents.