My youngest did have early intervention services starting at age 2. However, none of it was intensive, and it did not include ABA. Wisconsin has a waiver system for intensive ABA services. My son's name did not come up on the waiver wait list until just before he turned 6 years old. With early intervention, he was slowly making gains. Since he started VB/ABA around his 6th birthday, things have exploded. He is acquiring language and skills at a pace I've never seen before with him. It's very exciting!
Based on what I'm experiencing with my child, I would have to disagree with the assertion that 90% of development happens before age 6. I do agree that early intervention is EXTREMELY important, but children can still learn and acquire skills once they are older.
Oh dear I surely hope not...never heard that?
I say our love and determination have no age limits on their progress no matter what anyone states or writes in a book, or online in this area...I wouldnt believe it. I think most of us will help our kids progress till our last breath!
There is some measure of truth to that statement, but I don't think it needs to throw up into a panic. The basic evolution of the development of a typical brain is fairly well known. However, our kids don't have typical brains, they have autistic brains, and there is still a lot unknown about the autistic brain, as we all know all too well.
Here is a an article that I think explains brain development very simply and you don't need to be a doctor to understand it.
http://www.pfizer.com/brain/etour3.html
And here are some nice highlights on what current research shows about the brain.
http://ecs.org/html/IssueSection.asp?issueid=17&s=Quick+ Facts
Here is a nice collection of resources:
http://www.nccic.org/poptopics/brain.html
Researchers seem to be in agreement that there are certain periods of greatest brain "plasticity" or "elasticity" in which it is easiest for a child/person to acquire new skills (the big one being before age 6 and a 2nd period during early adolescence). That doesn't mean it is impossible to acquire new skills outside of these windows, it's just harder. For example, prior to age 6 kids brains are focused on language acquisition. This is why it is easiest to learn a new language prior to age 6. It is much harder to raise a bilingual child if the child doesn't start speaking the 2nd language prior to age 6. That doesn't mean you CAN'T learn after 6, it is just harder to learn. Because ASD kids appear to be wired a bit differently, it is unclear whether ANY of this applies, or applies consistently, to our kids.
Now, I'm not the ABA expert but I expect others will chime in here. I had read that the biggest benefit of starting ABA very early is in order to take advantage of the period of brain elasticity and use that therapy in influence how connections are made in the child's brain. This is not my area of expertise, so those who know more please chime in.
OK, I'm rambling now, but I don't think that enough valid (valid being long term outcome studies) have been done in order to develop accurate predictors of success for our kids. Interventions today are more intensive then today's generation of autistic adults ever received that it's hard to compare. Someone needs to look at our kids, right now, and follow them through to adulthood, and then maybe we'll have the data to help the next generation of worried parents.
HOOEY.
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WHATEVER.
I actually find that in my own and sisters case
My rapid development happened before the age of 6 and then after the age of 29 - my sister's began after the age of 17 - she was always considered the not interested in academics one but she blew everyone's socks away once she went to college
My son is doing his best growing and learning now. He hit platoes between 2-4 and he had spouts of crying all day. That never happens anymore. He is happy and learning, and I feel like it is just the beginning.I worried myself sick over that, especially the language development window closes at age 4. It took so long to find real and good speech therapy they were 4 by the time they got it. And they have only been getting it for 3 months. But I must say the changes in speech just this summer since school let out has been phenonomal, and the only therapy is 1 hour a week. So it is happening on its on with me. So I don't really believe that anymore. I think its more the this is the study on typical brains and our kids don't have typical brains senario. I did read one professional who said something very similiar to that. Who's to know if the speech part keeps developing past age 4 to try to catch up. Wouldn't surprise me. These boys have done amazing things since they were born to catch up to their peers, like gaining weight and height at 3x the rate of their peers. It was normal for them to grow over an inch in one month until they were caught up. Like their bodies knew they were behind. So who's to say.HOOEY.
That was written before much of the stuff about how the brain continues to change well into adulthood! But it is like it was carved in stone and people just keep repeating it!
I have read that 90% of development happens before the age of 6, which is why early intervention is so critical. For those of you with ASD kids over the age of 6-- what do you think about this statement? Did you see progress slow down considerably after the age of 6? or should this statement be taken to mean that the therapy that should occur before the age of 6 is the biggest predictor of a positive outcome for our kids?
I think the brain is probably the most sponge like before age six, but even