Autism Therapy Gets Results

The State (May 5, 2011)- Chase Batten took turns rolling the dice with his therapist. The 10-year-old read instructions and connected the intricate pieces of the board game Mouse Trap. He beeped like heavy equipment backing up when he had to turn the entire board around.

Anyone meeting Chase for the first time could notice the autistic traits – the tendency to look away from other people, the focus on doing something one way several times even if it’s not working, the jerky motor skills. What wasn’t evident was how far he has come.

“Just a few years ago, Chase was self-injurious,” said Sandi Batten, his mother. “We couldn’t take him anywhere. Now there’s nothing we can’t do with Chase.”

Much of the credit for improvement in Chase, and hundreds of other children in the state, goes to a state-funded program providing intense therapy for children with autism. The Pervasive Developmental Disorder Program, administered by the S.C. Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, is making a real difference.

Nearly 50 percent of families in the program see “remarkable” improvement, and an additional 37 percent see “moderate” improvement. More importantly, they see a brighter future for their children.

Those numbers come from the S.C. Autism Society’s nonscientific survey of parents of children in the program.

“It’s night and day,” said Margie Moore-Williamson of the difference in her 9-year-old son, Wesley, since he entered the program three years ago. “His grandparents live nine months a year in Florida. When they come home and see the difference, his grandfather tears up every year.”

The work has laid a foundation for Wesley, turning a typically asocial autistic into a young man who walks up to people and introduces himself, Moore-Williamson said.

To read more about Autism Therapy, click on the above title.