Different types of therapy for children

Here are some of the most common examples:

• Behavioral Therapy - A therapist helps to encourage positive behaviors and discourage unwanted ones. Desired behaviors are broken down into small tasks to build skills. 

• Developmental Therapy - A therapist uses relationship and the child's interests to build the areas of development that a child needs help with. These include things like relating and communicating or logical thinking.

• Speech and Language Therapy — A therapist (sometimes called an SLP, or Speech and Language Pathologist) helps with communication skills at all levels.  These include talking, understanding others, and also non-verbal ways to communicate.

• Physical Therapy (PT) — A therapist works with your child to improve muscle strength, coordination, and movement. 

• Occupational Therapy (OT) — A therapist uses movement to help your child to develop the motor, cognitive and emotional skills they need for the things they do. A child's "occupations" include play, self-care (like eating and dressing), social engagement, and eventually academic activities like writing. 

  • Sensory Integration - This is a part of OT where kids learn to experience and process sensory information (sounds, tastes, touch, etc.) in a way that doesn't upset them.

Any of these may be helpful to your child. It depends on their unique mix of challenges and strengths.

You may hear a lot about behavioral therapy in the autism community. We'll tell you more about that next.

Source: Autism Research Institute