Health Care Needs

Health Care Needs

Autistic children often spend so much time with
therapists and specialists that their routine
healthcare needs don’t get met.

Nevertheless, your child should have a
paediatrician or family doctor for regular
checkups and for times your child is ill.

The biggest problem with autistic children
and illness is that they often can’t tell
you they’re in pain or are having some kind
of discomfort.

Children, for example, with an ear ache may
bang their heads against the wall or dig into
their ear without specifically saying what
is wrong.

Whenever your child changes abruptly, you need
to think about the presence of pain as a
factor and use your child’s doctor as a means
to tell you whether or not your child has
tonsillitis, an ear infection or other
common source of pain in children.

Your child will also need regular doctor
visits that include immunizations.

Immunizations are traumatic for all
children but they need to be done to prevent
some of the common childhood illnesses.

Because research has proven no link between
immunizations and the development of autism,
autistic children should receive the same
number of immunizations as other children.

It’s best to use the same doctor for as long
as possible in your child’s childhood years.

There may be some familiarity your child
develops in going to the same clinic and
seeing the same doctor.

You may also be giving your child’s doctor
a chance to understand your child’s autism
and learn how to communicate with your child.

The more your doctor sees your child, the
better able is the doctor to determine when
your child isn’t acting right.

Well child visits will also measure your
child’s height and weight and will keep
track of things like hearing and vision,
if they can be determined, depending on
the severity of your child’s autism.

It is also a time for you to ask questions
of the doctor about normal child
development and developmental issues
with autistic children.

A paediatrician most likely has seen
other autistic children and may be able
to give you one on one advice that you
can use to help your child meet
developmental goals.

The Parenting Autism Resource Guide: A Complete Resource Guide For Parents Who Have Children Diagnosed With Autism.