The guy came out, mainly observed the boys, took notes, talked to me, showed me some ABLS and other samples he has from his other clients, and some things to expect and how things work. He is obviously very good at what he does. I picked that up right away. I expressed concerns about sitting at a table doing drills so we won't be doing that they will sit on the floor, about pushing which is what the school did that we have spent the summer undoing, and he went through how he works. its a no fail system, so he will take their hands and do the task, not ask them to do the task until they get it right, which is perfect because if Nikolas can't do it perfect the first time he won't do it at all. THey took to him very very well, I was even impressed with how easily they accepted him on the first day and Nikolas was showing him his animals and was actually talking to him (huge shocker him talking to a complete stranger) and they even sat with him and let him read a book to them. THey obviously liked him a lot. They were very excited to have company and were a little over excited. He was actually pretty impressed with them too and how much they can already do and how far they already are, so I was thrilled with that, means I've been doing the right thing. He says 5 hours a week each, but I need to talk to him about that cause I am thinking he is probably thinking insurance will only cover 2500 a month for both children and I am pretty sure that is each. I will have to verify that though. I realize he only has so many hours open and 5 hours a week each might be just fine, but I would love to see 10 hours a week each. course he would be here a lot. Maybe he can teach me to do some of this. But I think this is going to be a very positive thing. THe first and foremost thing we will work on is communication and teaching how to actually converse without just labeling things.
Sounds great. Is this a VB program? It sounds like you are describing the errorless teaching method. We use the ABLLS as well. That's great that the boys took to him and you were comfortable with him. Good luck and keep us posted. Are consultant required us to be trained in the methods and I run programs sometime to keep the progress going. I also practice his programs that he has already mastered by generalizing the skills in other settings. I would push for the additional hours if you can.That's it, the errorless teaching method, that's what he called it. I think it is both ABA and VBA, I saw ABA and VBA on his credentials when I looked him up so I know he does both. But communication is definitely their weakest point, with improved communication has come improved behaviors and less stimming so that seems to be the key to it all so that will be the biggest focus. He saw that when he was here. He didn't say anything about me getting training, he did say that I would have to carry some things on when he wasn't here which seems to have always been the norm with therapies.Cool. That sounds like our program. The biggest improvement we have seen is language. At age 3.0 he had 20 words, at 3.5, hundreds of words, sentences and becoming much more functional. He just seems to "get it" now. He understands instructions and he is able to express himself. It really is great to see so much progress in a short period of time. I think it is important to be as involved as you can be, which leads to greater progress. I'm excited to see how it goes for your guys.Oh wow that sounds great, that is exactly what they need. I hope the same thing happens here.Check out Kajoli's post on intro to verbal behavior. There are some great resources on that site.It sounds wonderful Linda and if your boys are already warming up to him that is half the battle!
They are going to do great!!
Get yourself a treasure box and start filling it with goodies like stickers, snacks, little toys..this will come in handy when you are taking over when he leaves so that they will work for you and dh too:)
Errorless teaching is the way to go...we did this and Sarah had much fewer tantrums because of it..she still had some bad days but they know exactly how to handle it so dont dispair if they meltdown here and there...it is expected especially with skills they feel are hard to do. Usually a big spurt in skills follows so it kinda gives you something to look forward too:)
You are in good hands:)
Keep us posted!