Protocol for therapeutic intervention – National Association for Children and Adults with Autism from Romania (ANCAAR)
„Autism is a word that tries to describe millions of different stories.”
Stuart Duncan
Millions of stories start with many questions and mixed feelings. There are many sleepless nights until the big diagnosis. And when the moment finally comes, chaos takes hold. „Chaos and void”, says a mother about that moment. After the storm, the search begins. Information is sought, heroes in white coats, miracles. The mirage of therapy appears. Starting in search of the best therapists, dreams are bought. There may even be a therapeutic tourism. However, by action, the results appear. Hope is coming back with them.
When everything seems quiet and your baby says „mother” or acts typical, the curtain falls again. A new chaos. A new scene, another battle appears on the horizon.
The question is always asked, it receives painful answers: „Why?” Because the life of the individual is a labyrinth through which you have to pass through, or we can talk about a jinxed guy who did not fight enough.
Other searches, other heroes and insomnia come back.
The person with autism has multiple changes with puberty and adolescence; changes involving physiological, emotional and behavioral disorders. They affect both the person and his / her family. What until yesterday was a pattern of life, today is no longer.
A 10% of ANCAAR beneficiaries in nearly 30 years of existence have avoided puberty fallout. More than 300 beneficiaries crossed the ANCAAR threshold and benefited, at some point, from specialized services.
Things are akin to the typical person, transformations of preadolescence or adolescence impress the individual. All come as an avalanche that the person with autism does not decipher, even if he was prepared to do it. TSA has not disappeared, it brings specific elements continuously into the foreground. The drift is the child I thought was recovered.
All these changes confuses the teenager, the caretaker and the environment, and can change the way thought / desired by the guards. Hormonal, metabolic, neurological, gastrointestinal, and psycho-emotional disorders and many more make their presence felt daily. Neglect is the biggest enemy, both on the part of the family and society. Other questions arise: How do I translate? What resolution exists? What resources can be found?
„There is not bad weather, but only bad clothes”
Maria Montessori
The greatest danger is the abandonment of the cause. So to action! We re-activate the multidisciplinary team and do not forget the importance of the family. We come back to the therapy lesson and remember that intervention only works if the person is in a satisfactory state of health. Prioritize. We seek to detect all the problems that appear and identify solutions. Clarity in thinking is a strong point. We call upon to the necessary treatments and necessary therapies and we resume behavioral therapy for all those elements that have come back now or later on. It’s all about not giving up. Because solutions always exist. We will meet an adult who will have to rethink the therapeutic intervention system taking into account the premises of the new individual.
Bridges over years!
We encourage the identification of experienced specialists in treatment / therapy / counseling of adults with autism and facilitate their communication with specialists in the person’s history with TSA. We bring the counselor to personal counseling and development. Moreover, we encourage him to involve the members of his family and communicate with other inmates.
ANCAAR provides group support modules and personal development modules for all caretakers. We prepare professionals in the field and provide all the data we have available so the therapeutic act can be at high standards, reported to the reality of the passage of time.
ANCAAR has run up to 25 Recovery Teacher courses so far and all have benefited from the information gained from experience.
ANCAAR offers, through partnership with two universities, internships in autism. All students and master students come into contact with all categories of beneficiaries (especially adolescents and adults). We mediate and ensure the dissemination of results for all organizations that want to replicate the thought and experimented models in ANCAAR.
Step by step, the life of the Autistic Spectrum Disorder person changes, from the first therapy sessions, to a functional future. Therapies used are reported to the person of the moment, without ignoring their history. We evaluate and monitor, in order to establish the past trails that can be continued (vocational levels, skills). We think interventions started from what exists and from what can be built in the concrete case of the individual and not forget the individual motivation. Chronological age does not expect us! It is important to have a functional adult in the future.
The resources are individual. Both for the recipient and for each therapist. There are no standard recipes. But all can include: Behavioral Therapy, Occupational Therapy, I Am Special, Pivotal Response Treatment, etc. The intervention should be a combination of holistic and allopathic, all these personalized. We remember the importance and impact of physical movement, physiotherapy and motor recovery at any age. We do not forget the game and the group of partners, socialization.
Templates do not work! The therapeutic intervention now has other objectives, namely to raise awareness of difficulties, to find solutions and to implement them in order for the person to become able to self-manage his life. The therapist’s creativity is put to the test. The role of the family is a determinant and social integration starts from here. Society is the next partner. We all have to put our shoulder to use the benefits of autism.
Considering that the personal model is the best standard, ANCAAR has prepared and participated in the process of professionalization of the first group of adults with TSA.
We find that this approach has a great advantage both for the autistic person and especially for the therapist: the opportunity for personal development. Solutions can be found using their own resources and they really work. Experienced devoted specialists are needed and determined to persevere. We only see the evolution of the person, even if it is not the family-designed childhood.
The maturity of the individual will come with a balance obtained through joint efforts of the individual-therapist-family/environment. This balance is not always the one seen years ago, but it can become a quality way of life. And in this case, the labels are superfluous!
Do not forget! The child today is the adult of tomorrow!
Georgeta Crişu, Educational Counselor, ANCAAR President
Andreea Ognean, ANCAAR Clinical Psychologist
REFERENCES
- „INDEPENDENCE! I’M PREPARING … The Guide to the Therapeutic Approach in the Person with ASD „- Part I, Authors Georgeta Crişu and Andreea Ognean, ISBN 978-973-0-24196-9, Bucharest, 2017
- „INDEPENDENCE! I’M PREPARING … The Guide to the Therapeutic Approach in the Person with ASD „- Part II, Authors Georgeta Crişu and Andreea Ognean, ISBN 978-973-0-27053-2, Bucharest, 2018
- „The Man Behind Autism” – Authors Georgeta Crişu and Andreea Ognean, ISBN 978-973-0-25716-8, Bucharest, 2017
- ” Crişu Therapeutic Intervention System in Autism „, Authors Georgeta Crişu and Andreea Ognean, ISBN 978-973-0-29440-8, Bucharest 2019.