How is autism actually treated? You hear people saying the diagnosis changed their kids life or it’s important to be diagnosed early, but how?
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The typical, helpful treatments are things like occupational therapy and speech therapy that empower kids to develop the skills they need but don’t pick up as intuitively as allistic kids. It might be the ability to pronounce certain words or support to learn how to use their body in ways that don’t cause injury. OT especially can support parents to understand their child’s sensory profile and offer alternative options to meet sensory needs that are more appropriate and healthy than whatever they naturally figure out, e.g. replacing self harming sensory behaviour with non harmful options that still meet the underlying need. An analogue for allistic treatments might be training on logical problem solving, which tends to come much more naturally to an autistic child.
As others have said, there’s a school of thought that treating autism is meant to eradicate its presentation. Unfortunately, it’s not possible (as far as we know) to actually alter whether or not someone is autistic – it’s a foundational difference in the way the body and brain perceive and process information, combined with other things, that creates the outward symptoms. For example, many autistic people are highly sensitive to certain sensory information like florescent lights, noise, the feel of clothing on their body, etc. You can force them to act like they’re OK but you can’t actually change the way they experience those senses. So ABA therapy and others like it are essentially an exercise in teaching children to hide their feelings and perform the role of not being autistic. This is largely seen as traumatic and harmful within the community, but is widespread and commonly suggested by medical professionals who aren’t connected with the autistic adult community.
The real value of diagnosis is understanding. Understanding that an autistic brain functions differently, with a guide on how to figure out what those differences are and how to account for and accommodate them. The more an autistic person’s needs are met, the more they will be able to cope with the demands of life and allistic society. If they know they need noise cancelling headphones to tolerate the noise of a shopping trip, they’re much less likely to have a public meltdown from sensory overload, as a small example.
There’s no “treatment” that will “cure” autism. But there are treatments that support healthy autistic development and maximise the ability to function long term.
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