Autism: Guide for Parents

Once you have learned that your child has a Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), your next step to find an Early Intervention Programme that individually suited to the needs of your child. During the first three years of life, your child's brain rapidly goes through a process called pruning.

When your child is born, he or she has a brain that has many neurological synaptic connections. In fact, these connections are so many that they are simply not efficient or strong enough to create stable neural pathways. The process of 'pruning' (synaptic pruning) includes the pruning away of some of the neurological synaptic connections so that those remaining can develop into strong and useful neurological pathways through which information can be processed. The baby or toddler works on the integration of sensory information, and the brain works hard to create stable pathways for this information to pass through and be processed.

Early Intervention Programmes try to use this window of opportunity to shape the brain as it develops. Providing the brain with information in a systematic, intense manner increases its chances of functioning better. Most Early Intervention Programmes for autistic children include both Intense Positive Behavioral sProgramming and discrete trial training, which help with learning.

A child with autism or a PDD may be having difficulties learning basic skills, such as toileting, dressing, eating, etc. In addition to Early Intervention Programmes for autism, optimal learning opportunities should be continued using Programming Techniques should be used all throughout the child's development.

Therapies for autism are designed with the intention of

1. Decreasing learning, behavioral, and functional deficits.
2. Increasing the child's independence.
3. Improving the child's ability to function in his or her environment.
4. Supporting the family and lessening the discomfort. This in turn should increase the child's and the family's overall quality of life.

There is no single intervention that can be generalized. Most interventions include combinations of treatments, and they are highly individualized for the specific needs of the child and his or her family.

The following therapies are most commonly used because they are based on substantial research that supports their efficacy:

* Applied behavior analysis (ABA)
* Developmental models
* Structured teaching
* Speech and language therapy
* Social skills therapy
* Occupational therapy

Most regional centres in the US and Canada provide funding for these interventions. If you have a child with autism, Asperger's, or a PDD and you live in the US or Canada, you should call the nearest regional center and ask for an "intake and assessment" to see if your child is eligible to receive the services.

Also, call your school district immediately, as the school must provide intervention as well. Once the child becomes old enough to go to school, the school is obligated to provide him or her with a special educational program, in addition to any early intervention that the regional center might provide. The Regional Centre's Assessment team includes:

1. A speech therapist
2. An occupational therapist
3. A behavior analyst
4. A psychologist
5. A psychiatrist

They will come to determine appropriate intervention in each respective area. The psychologist will actually examine the child to see whether he or she has autism, Asperger's, or a PDD. The psychologist will examine the child to asses the possibility of mental retardation if appropriate. The speech therapist might recommend a program for speech therapy, and the occupational therapist will recommend a program for occupational therapy if the child's development is not adequate.

The psychiatrist might suggest a treatment based on and refer the child to a psychiatrist in the community. The Behavior Analyst will see if a behavioural intervention would be helpful; he or she will also recommend some providers of Early Intervention Programme who can develop educational and behavioral programmes for the child and his or her family.

The most common ABA (Applied Behavioural Analysis) interventions are the discrete trial training and the trainer-to-trainer (Pyramid model) behavioral intervention.

The best way to understand what discrete trial training and behavioral intervention are is to actually observe them. Your Regional Centre will contact a service provider who will show you how these program are put together. Usually they are home-based programmes. A specialist will assess your child and develop what is usually a 20-hour home-based program. The specialist will also conduct a structural and functional assessment to see what kinds of changes in the household routine and environment can be made, and what positive behaviors the child can be taught.

The specialist might also write a behavioral plan for the family and school to follow. Parents usually attend a parenting class on the principles of positive programming as part of the overall programme. Then there is the discrete trial training, which helps the child learn and acquire skills. Discrete trials mean that there is a definite beginning and ending for each learning trial. They are very short, and they include schedules of positive reinforcement, which encourages the child to continue to learn.

The Early n specialist will determine the kind and extent of the program that should be provided during the 20-hour home-based training. He or she will also advise on what can be done by the parents. Those specialists work closely with the parents to develop unique and individual plans. They design their plans in such a way that the outcomes can be accurately measured and reviewed to assess the effectiveness of interventions.

If there is no progress, then the approaches and techniques used should be modified. If there is progress, then the specialist will determine if and when it is time to change the intervention to assist further development of the child. Thus, the program itself changes according to the needs of the family and the child. These early interventions usually last for about two years. They also require a lot of dedication on the part of the parents. If the child also receives occupational and speech therapy, there could be up to 40 hours of active treatment that the parents must participate in each week.

Once the child is ready to go into the school system of therapy, the school conducts an assessment to develop an individualized learning plan tailored to the needs of the child. At this time, it is common that the behavioral intervention may continue for a while, and then the intervention may be dispensed with as the family usually becomes able to utilize the acquired techniques. Once the child is around six years of age, the family can have access to most of the interventions through the school system of therapy.

In addition to these traditional treatments, the family can utilize the medical system when appropriate if the child's behavior is too difficult to control through the traditional interventions. Psychoactive drugs or anticonvulsants — with the most common drug classes being the antidepressants, stimulants, and antipsychotics — are prescribed for many children with autism or a PDD.

Parents should proceed with caution when considering such intervention. Sometimes, however, there is a real need for additional help, and the only way to know if this kind of intervention will help is to give the medication an adequate trial period.

If you are considering using a medication to calm your child down or to alleviate a mood disorder that often coexists with a PDD, make sure to see a doctor who has expertise in autism and PDD. Wisely shop around for your doctor.

However, the future can still be beautiful. Adjusting to this change may be difficult at first. It is not something that you have been planning for. However, if you reach out to support groups and are willing to go with the changes, you will find that you can enjoy your family life with your child.

If you have an autistic young adult or a child who is stepping into adulthood, please read Part 3 of this series.

Dr. Maryam Bachmeier has 11 years in the mental health field, and is currently a staff psychologist at the Napa State Hospital.

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The Door of Repentance Is Wide Open

It is never too late for a true Muslim to repent to Allah, and to shed tears for the wrong doing he has committed, keeping in mind that if one manages to escape the punishment of mortals, he will not for sure escape the punishment of Allah in the Hereafter. So, it is better to start a new leaf and let bygones be bygones. As long as you are sincere in your repentance, Allah Almighty will accept your Repentance and forgive you your sins.

If you committed evil but have repented sincerely, and changed your life around for better, then Allah has certainly promised to grant you mercy and forgiveness. It is one of the basic principles of belief in Islam that Allah is All-Relenting, All-Forgiving and All-Merciful.

Here are a few verses which clearly convey this crucial concept:

[Do they not know that it is Allah Who accepts the repentance of His servants and receives (approves) their charity, and that Allah is the Relenting, the Compassionate?] (At-Tawbah 9: 104)

[Say: ‘O My servants who wronged against their souls, do not despair of Allah’s mercy! For Allah forgives all sins; for He is indeed Forgiving, Compassionate.] (Az-Zumar 39: 53)

So do not put off repentance; take the necessary steps immediately, for no one can tell when the death will overtake us. The door of repentance is open so long as we are not in the throes of death, for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Allah accepts the repentance of His servant so long as death has not reached his collar bone.” But since we have no way of knowing when death will overtake us, we must never be complacent or slack in hastening to taking steps towards repentance.

While speaking of repentance, we must rush to add, that it cannot be considered as valid unless one takes the following steps:

* One must feel deep remorse for the sins one has committed.
* One must refrain from it totally while also abstaining from all those leads or circumstances that led him to such a sin in the first place.
* He must be firmly resolved never to sin again, and immediately becoming occupied in whatever good deeds that he can in order to wipe out his past sins.
* All of the above involve sins involving the rights of Allah; if, however, your sins involve the rights of human beings, then you must also do whatever it takes to return or compensate or redress the grievances of the person you have wronged. Paying him his dues or compensating him in whatever ways possible becomes an essential condition of valid repentance.

Repentance, as stated above once accomplished, will undoubtedly wipe out one’s sins, and guarantee him a clean record. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “One who has repented of a sin (sincerely) is like one who has never sinned at all.”

In conclusion, after sinning, one should not feel despair. Rather one should forward sincere repentance to Allah and rest assured that Allah Almighty will forgive his sin, as long as his repentance meets the abovementioned conditions of sincerity. Moreover, you must learn how to forget, for the more you look back to your old days of sinful habit, the wider the door is open for Satan to draw you back. Scholars used to resemble this case to that of gazelle being chased by hound. Despite that gazelle is naturally faster in speed, but its frequent looking back weakens its morale and makes it an easy prey for hounds.

* Excerpted, with slight modifications, from: www.muslims.ca

Sheikh Ahmad Kutty is a Senior Lecturer and an Islamic Scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

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S. Sudan Leader Calls for Secession

IslamOnline.net & News Agencies

KHARTOUM – In a major rift with the Khartoum government, South Sudan President Salva Kiir has publicly called for the largely Christian region to secede from the country.

"When you reach your ballot boxes the choice is yours,” Kiir told a congregation in a cathedral in the capital Juba, reported the BBC News Online on Sunday, November 1.

“You want to vote for unity so that you become a second class in your own country, that is your choice,” said Kiir, who is also Sudan’s First Vice-President.

"If you want to vote for independence so that you are a free person in your independent state, that will be your own choice and we will respect the choice of the people."

Southern Sudanese will vote in a referendum in 2011 on whether to secede from the Muslim north.

The referendum is part of the 2005 north-south peace deal, which ended a two-decade civil war between the north and south.

The accord established an interim period, with a coalition government between the Muslim north and mostly Christian south and the sharing of oil wealth.

Kiir’s remarks came as the Sudanese began on Sunday to register for their country’s first presidential, legislative and regional elections in 24 years.

"Voter registration has started across Sudan," the head of the elections commission, Al-Hadi Mohammed Ahmed, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Sudanese voters have a month to register for the April polls and the authorities have set up both fixed and mobile registration centres across the country.

The elections will be the first in Sudan since 1986, three years before President Omar al-Beshir came to power in a bloodless coup.

The elections were originally scheduled to be held in July this year under the 2005 peace deal, but were pushed back to April 2010.

Tension

The ruling Sudanese National Congress Party (NCP) regretted Kiir’s call for secession.

"My understanding is that these remarks contradict the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, according to which priority must be given to unity," NCP official Mandour al-Mahdi said in a statement cited by official SUNA news agency.

He said the southerners enjoy equal rights like other Sudanese citizens.

“They are occupying the highest seats in the country,” he said, citing Kiir’s post of the First Vice-President.

Southern Sudan's vice president Riek Machar said Kiir’s statements were not a change in southern policy.

"It is an expression of how south Sudanese people are getting frustrated," he told the Associated Press.

"People want to see the peace dividends, the country reconciling and development."

The secession call will add to the already troubled relationship between the NCP and Kiir’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).

Both sides promised to build up a campaign to make the unity of Sudan attractive to voters when they signed the 2005 peace deal.

But their relationship has strained amid SPLM accusations of the NCP of procrastinating to meet their obligations under the 2005 deal.

SPLM has boycotted parliament to pressure the ruling party to submit a schedule for a series of bills that would reform the powerful intelligence services, a key demand ahead of the election.

Northern and southern officials have agreed on how to stage the 2011 referendum but southern officials accuse Khartoum of arming ethnic militias in the south to destabilise the region ahead of the vote.

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American Muslims promote family values

WASHINGTON — A leading American Muslim organization has championed a nationwide campaign aimed at promoting family values among Muslim and non-Muslim communities alike, in an effort to preserve the already strained U.S. social fabric from being torn apart.

“The American society is facing so many social problems and the Muslim community is part of all this," Dr. Zahid Bukhari, President of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), told IslamOnline.net.

“This is an issue to raise awareness about Islamic values among Muslims and non-Muslims alike.”

ICNA Relief established a toll-free National Family Counseling Hotline to advise people and held family counseling meetings in thousands of homes.

“We also organized workshops and printed posters and flyers that tackle many aspects of family issues and controversial issues like polygamy for example.”

ICNA‘s “Save Family, Save Society” campaign also engaged scholars and faith leaders in 1000 mosques across the nation.

“We requested imams to give their prayer sermons on several family-related topics like raising children in a Western society and teen issues and divorce,” said Naeem Baig, vice president of ICNA.

The organizers circulated a brochure on “Family in Islam” and a video introducing Muslim family.

The several-week campaign began with the Muslim Family Day on September 26, a yearly event which has been sponsored by ICNA for the past 10 years.

“The day was organized in seven cities nationwide; Chicago, New Jersey, Atlanta, Maryland, Los Angeles, Dallas and Lexington,” said Baig, adding that nearly 57,000 people attended the day.

ICNA is one of the largest, non-profit, grassroots Muslim organizations in North America with many projects, programs, and activities designed to help in reforming society at large.

* Social Ills

Baig, the ICNA vice president, says Muslim families are struggling to live up to the Islamic way of life.

"People are coming under a lot of pressure, and they say that they need real guidance in many topics," he stressed.

"Young people are coming under a lot of pressures in their daily life."

This includes early marriage and early divorce as well as a gap between parents and their children.

But the organizers insist that their campaign was not intended to serve Muslims, estimated to number more than seven millions.

“The campaign wished to reach out to the community at large,” says Baig.

They communicated with faith leaders of other religious groups to convey the campaign message to their communities.

“We even made a publication with Catholic bishops on the issue of marriage. “

A special issue of “The Message” magazine, which specializes in family issues, was published on the theme of the campaign.

Bukhari, the ICNA leader, noted that social problems are fast spreading in America and its ramifications are clearly seen in society.

“Divorce rate is increasing, single parenting is increasing and children are being bred without their parents.”

A 2005 survey by the US Census Bureau raised the alarm over social illnesses revealing that married couples, whose numbers have been declining for decades, have finally slipped into a minority.

It predicted that temporary relationships between people were likely to dominate the American social landscape for the years to come, making family ties and values even weaker and the whole society less cohesive.

Bukhari believes the Islamic social system that preserves and honors the institution of family could be the remedy.

“Islamic values can be helpful.”
Source: IslamOnline

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