New territory

Gluten-free, casein-free diets are becoming an important intervention to try with children with autism. We at The Helping House just want to offer support to those parents who are undertaking this change, and provide information when needed.

We will be hosting a Parent Discussion/Support Group on Monday, October 27th from 5:30 to 7:30 at The Helping House. This will be primarily for parents who want more information on how to do the GF/CF diet, and for parents who have already done it to share their knowledge of products and strategies. Childcare will be provided.

For more information and to RSVP, please call 936/371-1536.

Listen up!

We recently started a new therapy at The Helping House, under the capable direction of our private speech therapist. It is called The Listening Program.

The kids spend time each day working on fine motor tasks, like puzzles, or sensory tasks, like play-doh, and listed to a prescribed set of tracks on a cd. They seem to enjoy the music very much, and do not protest the headphones at all. At the very least during their listening therapy time, they are relaxed and happy, but this program seems to offer so much more than that!

This therapy is used to improve auditory processing, which is commonly a deficit in children with autism. There are reports of increased receptive and expressive language, attention, and tolerance of sensory input. I am excited to see how my students change as we use this program - I'll keep you posted!