How Adventure Therapy Can Help Your Kid With Autism

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How
Adventure Therapy Can Help Your
Kid With Autism
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Introduction

• Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a condition
  that involves difficulties in verbal and
  nonverbal communication as well as challenges in
  processing sensory inputs. Such challenges could
  render it almost impossible for children with
  autism to participate in activities that the
  ordinary child would perform with ease. Children
  with such a diagnosis experience social and
  emotional challenges as well as sensory
  processing issues which ultimately affect their
  communication, behaviours, and interaction with
  their environment, thus resulting in social
  isolation and frustration.

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• While traditional autism counselling techniques
  are proven to be beneficial, adventure therapy
  offers a unique, engaging approach that can
  provide significant benefits. It involves using
  outdoor activities to support your child with
  autism in overcoming various challenges in life.
  Lets find out how!

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Challenges Faced by Children with Autism
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Children with ASD often experience

• Social Difficulties Challenges in interpretation
  of social intentions, initiation and maintenance
  of eye contact, and reciprocal exchange of
  conversation.
• Emotional Challenges The inability to regulate
  emotions which may cause melts downs or
  withdrawal.
• Poor Sensory Discrimination Individuals might
  have trouble distinguishing between different
  textures or identifying where a touch is coming
  from.

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• Sensory Seeking Sensitivity to light and sound
  that causes distress or the constant need to
  receive stimuli due to under-sensitivity to
  sensory stimuli.
• Poor Motor Coordination Challenges in activities
  such as writing, tying shoelaces, or using
  utensils.
• Difficulty with Transitions Changes in routine
  or new environments can be particularly
  challenging, as they struggle to adapt to
  unfamiliar sensory experiences.

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Solutions

• Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all
  treatment for Autism. Every child with ASD is
  different and so are their needs. So, it is up to
  the support worker for autism to decide how to
  help your autistic child. The goal of treatment
  is to maximise your child's ability to function
  by reducing autism spectrum disorder symptoms and
  supporting development and learning. However, the
  key is to seek early intervention, so your child
  learns critical social, communication,
  functional, and behavioural skills. Some common
  interventions for autism include-

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• Behaviour and communication therapies Many
  programs address the range of social, language,
  and behavioural difficulties associated with
  autism spectrum disorder. This may include
  therapies like Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA),
  Discrete trial training (DTT), Early intensive
  behavioural intervention (EIBI), Verbal behaviour
  intervention (VBI), etc.
• Family therapies Parents and other family
  members can learn how to play and interact with
  their children in ways that promote social
  interaction skills, manage problem behaviours,
  and teach daily living skills and communication.
• Occupational therapy This kind of treatment
  helps your child learn life skills like feeding
  and dressing themselves, bathing, and
  understanding how to relate to other people. The
  skills they learn are meant to help them live as
  independently as they can.

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Managing Autism Through Adventure Therapy

• While trying to manage these issues, autism
  support workers often rely on the traditional
  therapeutic approaches which can often be
  stressful or repetitive for the kids. Adventure
  therapy, on the other hand, presents the kids
  with a novel approach to healing through physical
  exercise and outdoor activities. Adventure
  therapy allows your child to not only engage in
  hands-on experiences, but reflect on them, which
  develops skills, values, self-knowledge, and a
  strong sense of community.

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Benefits of Adventure Therapy

• Teamwork Communication Many outdoor activities
  have to be done in groups meaning that the child
  has to communicate with others, taking turns and
  carrying out tasks together. This can foster
  their social skills and their competence in
  dealing with their peers.

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• Calmer More Focused Exposure to nature and
  physical activity has a positive impact on the
  level of calmness and grounding for children with
  ASD. The outdoor environment helps to lower the
  anxiety levels for children and this in turn has
  a soothing effect on the children that is
  essential for the children to concentrate during
  therapeutic activities.
• Better Sensory Management Adventure therapy
  involves exposing children to different stimuli
  so that they can have contact with their
  surroundings. This helps them to be desensitised
  to different stimuli and enhances their ability
  to manage and tolerate sensory inputs.
• Stronger More Confident Activities such as
  hiking and climbing are exercises that can make
  people physically stronger and have more stamina.
  Children learn to gain confidence through
  rewards, which helps them master new challenges
  in both therapy and everyday activities.

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Activities Involved in Adventure Therapy

• Adventure therapy is an extremely versatile
  therapy that can involve a wide array of
  activities that can be tailored according to the
  capabilities and age of the child. Some common
  activities include
• Hiking/Camping Hiking and camping with children
  of appropriate age are beneficial for developing
  childrens relationship to nature, learning
  survival skills, and fostering childrens
  independence.
• Team Challenges Some of the specific
  team-building exercises involved in adventure
  therapy include rope courses, scavenger hunts,
  and team problem-solving.
• Nature Art Introducing children to art projects
  that include nature such as leaves, stones, and
  sticks stimulates their imagination and helps
  them develop their senses.

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Finding the Right Program

• When looking for an adventure therapy program for
  your child, consider the following factors
• Qualified therapists- Have qualified personnel
  run the program and they have worked in an
  environment handling children with autism. The
  NDIS support workers in Australia are one of the
  most reliable personnel to reach out to.
• Focus on Safety- Precaution needs to be taken
  against injury in adventure therapy. Seek
  programs that focus more on risk management and
  which have elaborate safety standards.
• Location and Accessibility- Select a program that
  is in a geographically favourable place for you.
  It must provide an environment suitable to the
  ability of the child so your child can keep up
  with the program.
• Age fit and cost- Check that the activities are
  suitable for the targeted young audience and that
  the program does not exceed your financial
  capabilities.

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Conclusion

• Adventure therapy is a relatively new domain yet
  holds great potential for children with autism.
  It is a unique approach to helping children with
  autism because it unexpectedly encourages them to
  learn socialisation and manage sensory stimuli.
  With the right support, adventure therapy can
  help your child become stronger, more confident,
  and better equipped to handle the challenges of
  autism.