Approaching Treatments in Autism

     Satisfaction takes years to achieve in autism.  It is not an easy fix.  It should not be a fix at all but a growth, an integration of two worlds, autism and neurotypicism.  Man is not man, just as Neanderthal is not Cromagnum.  Altered brains equal altered minds, altered behaviors.  Whether autism is seen as evolution one way or a defect the other is not important. What is important is recognizing the difference in structuring your approach and "treatment".  To approach autism from a neurotypical mind set automatically yields failure.  You need only read this blog or Behavior Policing's Effect on Autistic Children to know our minds take in information differently.  To see it differently is to come to altered and sometimes misguided conclusions.  I say sometimes, because sometimes too I believe our conclusions are very right.  Instead of teaching us to understand neurotypical thinking, you seek to make us neurotypical in our own thinking.  It is not a matter of symantics.  The first I find highly effective, very helpful to my functioning; the second, disparages me mind, body and soul. 
      You love your pets, but would not expect your cat to act like your dog.  As autists we have different natures, but we can still learn to live companionably.  My mother is my primary teacher.  It took her years to learn the difference. She is not alone in this sin.  That is the greatest danger of it.  If I could impart one valuable lesson to those starting the autism journey it would be this -  See the world through your child's eyes before judging behavior as bad or good. Teach lessons in understanding not punishment.  And love, truly love, your child just as they are.  It is counterintuitive perhaps, but it is the surest path to developing them to be all they can be.