A big thanks to everyone who has replied to my post (and those who read it as well). I guess what I wanted to say was that we would have to invest all our savings to be able to afford even 2 hours of ABA for our son so I really want to be sure that this is the best thing to do for him. He is attending regular 3 year old kinder (preschool) and EI was started on his kinder teacher's advice. Till that point, I was sure that he was just a little slow and immature in certain areas but as he is my firstborn, I really did not have children to compare him to. It was at his kinder that I was able to observe how far behind he really is. I would say he is almost 3.8, with the body and physical strength of a 5 year old and developmental age of 2!. We are also paying for his speech therapy (private).
I would really love to hear from others who perhaps have HFA children and are doing ABA. Thanks again for your responses.
First of all WELCOME,You will find alot of great resources here,this site will help you be alot more informed.
My son dx'd PDD , AS at 3 , had 20 hours a week of ABA the first year,and 10 hours a week since. he is 5.10 and will be entering Kindergarten in Sept.
We had Government funding for his ABA , or we would not have had so much.
Good luck ,God Bless,Linda
Hi Mary,
I know what you mean about not knowing where to start - it's unbelievable that there is not a medical professional to provide guidance upon receiving an ASD DX. The only useful thing the Dr. that DX'd my son did was she said "don't forget to validate your parking pass"
Anyway; your son sounds similar to mine. J was DX'd about 2 months ago and started
Best Wishes to you - this board is an excellent resource for all types of ASD information and everyone enjoys helping each other.
Yeah, I know how that feels. Our pediatrician never raised any concerns and it wasn't until I took it upon myself to bring the kids in for evaluation at 3yo that their defecits were finally acknowledged. Unfortuneately, I was still in denial about autism (not fully understanding the disorder), and we didn't get the autism dx until they were four.
ABA has been demonstrated over and over again to help with the sorts of behaviors that you are describing. Of course, many other educational therapies work, too - they don't neccessarily have the trial's data to back that up - but I have no doubt that they do. But, if you can swin it, ABA is an established technique for teaching our kids and it can do wonders, as Shelley will attest ;)
The volume of therapy, of course, will have an impact, but it is likely that 2 hours/day would be quite sufficient for a truly HFA child (many HFA kids on this board receive in that 10-20 hour range and are doing well with it), and even if not, would most assuredly be better than nothing - and if you keep your pre-school services, then more the better. Some will advise against an eclectic mix of therapies, but I'd say that keeping the kid's actively engaged in productive activities is what's important, not so much the specific teaching methods - and with ABA - you'll have a very detailed curriculum and progress tracking data so you can always adjust on the fly, keep allof the teachers, peripheral therapists, etc apprised of the current goals and have everyone pulling in the same direction.
In the interest of full disclosure, my girls haven't recieved any formal ABA and their services have been mainaly preschool and language therapy, so I'm not exactly an authority here!
We have a few Aussies in the forum, and I'm sure that they welcome you - as will I - welcome!
Hi everyone,
My son 3.8 years has recently been diagnosed with mild HFA. Apart from being angry that I suspected something was wrong since he was around 18 months and nobody guided me to push for a specialist doctor referrel (I understand that a diagnosis can be made as early as 2 years), I am feeling quite overwhelmed. I am doing a lot of research since then but still don't know where to start.
I am in Australia, he goes to 3 year old kinder twice a week and attends Early Intervention once a week for social skills and language. (We enroled him a few months back, before we got diagnosed). He recently started getting speech therapy as well (every fornight). All of this is not doing much for him. I need advice on what sort of therapies I should look into for him. I feel we already have lost precious time so I do not want to waste anymore. Do you think he should get ABA?
My son has a huge vocabulary and with therapy he is starting to combine words, he is also picking up useful sentences to communicate his needs so that's wonderful. What is not so great is that he is not able to sit down for an activity for long, outside he is constantly running from one thing to another (impossible at restaurants, doctors, social gatherings etc). His tantrums are increasing both in frequency and intensity (especially since we had a baby two months back). He doesn't have any obcessive behaviours at home, he does need tons of help in acquiring social skills for eg not hoard all the toys outside the home for starters and be able to to just 'share' and even play alongside nicely. Do you think ABA would be useful therapy in acheiving that? As it is so expensive, can I get say 2 hours a day and not recommended 5? I just want him to get some serious help with social behaviours.
I am feeling so lost. As we haven't received the formal diagnosis yet, I do not know who to turn to and we have a 3 month wait to see the psychologist and then she will probably advise on management. I would really appreciate any advice I can get.
Thanks
Mary NT Mum to Dan 3.8 HFA
Hi Fred,
You make a lot of sense. It is certainly worth getting an assessment for my child to see if he really needs ABA or not. I guess I am just desperate to get him started, get him some help if you know what I mean. Somebody told me ABA works wells for some children and not so well for others, and that if a child is a visual learner (which my son is, he is actually hyperlexic and can read about a few hundred words, count upto 100 and read numbers at random etc, has fantastic memory too) there are other programs like TEEACH or Greenspan therapy etc. Now I am even more confused than before. Does anyone know a good starting place where there is perhaps a summary of the most popular tried and tested therapies? I would love something like that.
We desperately need help for my son so that he is able to sit down and wait, sit and finish a task, and to not run wild once outside the house (unless going for a walk to the shops, or at the park). He begins to acquire 'some' social skills like not hoard all the toys and not have the biggest tantrums because he does not understand that he has to share and hence almost always physically removed from the situation. I will take anything (well almost) that will help with that. Language, social skills, understanding of abstract concepts, and all sorts of other learning can come in slowly, I do not mind but I need HEELLLLPPPPP with him being unable to sit and pay attention to a task. (Unless I am reading to him for which he can easily sit upto an hour, or play in the water for hours, or in the sandpit, or at the park etc etc). Hope I am making some sense.
Mary
Btw I forgot to add that your twins are gorgeous. How old are they now and when were they diagnosed? What is their dianosis if you dont mind my asking..
Welcome to the forum. We have a few other members from Australia that might be able to give you some tips on local regulations and resources.
My son was diagnosed at age 7, so I know how you feel about having wasted time. My son has never had ABA, so I don't really have an answer on that. However, since tantrums are an increasing and troublesome problem for you, I have a few helpful online resources. I and other parents have gotten good results with these techniques, and I hope they help you too.
http://www.jambav.com/modules/specialneeds/specialneeds.php? id=8 - Temper Tantrum Report (for documenting and analyzing meltdowns)
http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv -ppiep&msg=2462.1& an article called "Thoughtful Response to Agitation, Escalation and Meltdowns in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders."
http://www.isec2005.org.uk/isec/abstracts/papers_m/myles_b.s html - "The Cycle of Tantrums, Rage, and Meltdowns in Children and Youth with Asperger Syndrome, High-Functioning Autism, and Related Disabilities" which is an article by Professor Brenda Smith Myles, with a list of 7 strategies you can use in the rumbling stage (ie agitation and escalation towards a meltdown/rage).
http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=16187&am p;am p;KW=inside+scoop - " 'Meltdowns': The inside scoop (or rant)" which is a popular topic on our forum started by Stickboy26.
It is also very helpful to identify your child's sensory issues. This checklist is a good start:
http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/sensory-processin g-disorder-checklist.html
Finally, since your online name includes the word "train", I'm assuming your child likes trains. Here's a topic from our forum that might interest you, with lots of links to online train games and activities:
http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11839&am p;KW=trains
Good luck with everything!
trains - if you're going to be spending your life savings - well, that's honestly something to consider. The higher functioning the kid, the more 'intuitive', for lack of a better word, the therapy becomes. If a kid has decent language, decent compliance, good imitation skills, etc. - then truthfully, something like ABA discrete trials might not be neccessary. I would probably seek an unbiased second opinion before pouring my life's savings into this. ABA can work miracles, but some kids don't need miracles, and you are already getting some good help, it sounds like. I'm not discouraging you at all - if he needs it, it's probably the best therapy money can buy, but he might actually not need it.
Can you get an unbiased second opinion?
I actually had the local Lovaas autism program over here (NC, USA), run out of a private college, come out and evaluate the girls, and they were kind enough to basically tell me that, at the girl's age and functional level, we'd be getting diminished return on our investment. I wanted ABA so bad -she practically had to talk me out of it. They actually suggested a typical placement as their best placement. She was really nice - she had a program with a good repuation, and the last thing she wanted was disgruntled parents who felt ripped off and sl*gged her program.
Just another perspective, and without knowing your child's profile of strengths and defecits, I cannot give you any specific advise regarding this, so I just encourage you to get a couple of objective opinions before you give up your life's savings. You don't want to end up resenting the program and stuff.
Edited to add: after reading KathyK's post, now I'm pining away for that program again... Geesh, would it be nice to have the girls be just a wee bit more tractable with their impulsive behavior!
NorwayMom,
Can't thank you enough for taking the time out to read it all and post all those links... what a wonderful thing to do, thankyou, thankyou. :) I got a lot of information out of them and I am especially grateful for the sensory issues link as we have not even begin to explore that area.
Warm regards,
Mary
Thankyou for the link fujbeck, best of luck to you too, I know we need it heaps. Cheers!
Mary
James (JJdad), Its good to know that we can acheive that through ABA, its definitely worth giving ABA a shot for that reason alone if for nothing else. Cheers,
Mary
Trains,
ABA got my son table ready (able to sit and work on tasks for 15+ minutes at a time) very quickly - like in the first day of therapy. I don't think anyone will dispute that ABA is the best technique for getting kids table ready.
Hi Trains,