Home ABA program???Hey, We are going to hit the ground running w our ASD diag 22 mth old. Regional center are going to provide speech starting next week (2 per week)- but free ABA is 2 months awayI reckon with all the hoops we have to jump thru first (thanks Arnie and your CA budget cuts). I am seeing a private speech therapist (out of pocket also) and will exhaust everything I can squeeze out of my insurance.... BUT I want to start a home ABA program w a student (aka Catherine Maurice book) approach - so whilst the hours put in might not total the mind numbing 40 per week - we are at least hitting it most every day. Has anyone done this - please help if you have - I KNOW we have to be extremely careful on who we let in the door(into our sons mind) and we will interview/see how it goes , but where the hell do you even start. Do I call universities? LOST! You need a reputable, qualified BCBA to determine goals, train therapists, and document progress. Sometimes insurance will pay for their services, sometimes not. You will have to check with your insurance. Insurance will most likely NOT cover services performed by a student (i.e. the ones who put in the day to day work) as they are unlicensed. Network with other parents to find a good BCBA. Do you have a FEAT group near you? The closest one to us is 2 hours away, but I went to events, got lots of training from their workshops, and talked with lots of other parents. Check feat.org if you're not sure where the closest one is to you. Some FEATS maintain a classified ad system to help connect parents with potential therapists (i.e. students and others who do the day to day therapy). Our therapists and respite providers have been students from a nearby university. We've mostly gotten people through word of mouth. You could maybe put up flyers in the buildings where they hold classes for education majors. Also, you could advertise to psych majors, or people pursuing undergrad degrees that will put them on the path to becoming OTs, speech therapists, and the like. You can try to call professors that are in the depts mentioned above. I've never tried to cold call a professor, but I know some that have and have had good luck. If your nearby uni offers an ABA degree plan, that would be your best bet. After that, I would try the special ed dept, and then the others I mentioned above. Also, find out if there are any websites that maintain job listings for students of that university. As a community member, you may be able to post on such a website to advertise the therapist position. BTW, your services are light years ahead of what ours are. My son's been on a waiting list for services from the state for 6 years now, and I expect it will be another 4 years until they start. And they don't cover ABA unless your family is in acute crisis. Your family sounds very blessed to me. CinTexas gave some great advice. I just wanted to add a couple things. It is nearly impossible, in my opinion, to work on an ABA program without a good foundation in the basics of Behavior Analysis. My favorite book for this (which makes it really easy to learn) is called Principles of Everyday Behavior Analysis: http://www.positivelyautism.com/volume3_issue02/section2.htm l If local universities have a special education or behavior analysis department, that would be a good place to start. Good luck! Nicole BTW,CinTexas, I assume you are from texas. In california they have many regional centers. I screwed up ( i learned later) by picking Lanterman(LA center). ie, they are very good but their catchment area is HUGE (literally millions) - I should have sought out the more outlying area centers that dont have as much population. I mean Lanterman serves LA and the sf valley basically (the whole metro area of LA) so w Arnies budget cuts (388m - thankyou terminator Ahole) those caregivers are living on beans and rice. I feel sorry for your situation/rejection w reg help. On one hand we are glad we are getting the full works thrown at us - but on the down side it means he MUST REAAALY need help(they must only be accepting the worst ones) - which means a bigger and possibly unclimbable hole to claw out of - I dont know if that helps. I dont know anything anymore. There are many evils in this world - but when insurance etc deny help for Infant Autism I really think they have gone too far- they are shooting themselves in the foot in this global world- these are some of the brightest minds - and should be viewed as a gift ( sure - in a quirky box that needs to be unlocked). Someday I hope wzee, as a nation will recognize this! CinTexas, I cant begin to thank your in-depth response. You a goldmine - thankyou for taking the time. I know our me-time is measured in minutes - and I will follow this advice to a T. I bought the " Work in progress" book - its very good but HEAAAVY. Our wee boy was doing good but today he fell back into to the rut - look, he's only 22 months- and ive got the speech guru and the angel pediatrician on board but I havent got the ABA sorted yet. Our problem is that I cant even begin! I mean, ive learned the basic steps as to WHAT to do ( pre professional involvement) but I cant get him to sit still to even begin. I feel so bad that I might have to strap him into a high chair/stroller in our play room so he is not distracted so we can start. Almost all the books set you up w first goals - but fail to address the possibility that you cant get him to sit still for a second to begin them. They say he's operating at a 9 month level but he is 22 months old - my heart is leaking. We need help. Thankyou - you guys I'm not sure that at 22 months he should be sitting completely still. A normal 22 month old doesn't sit still. This is where you need a professional on board to help guide you. Have you looked into "natural environment training" or NET? ABA does not have to mean doing discrete trials at the table the entire time. For some kids or for some skills, those are necessary. But you also want to work on goals in a more naturalistic way. It sounds as if the real problem you're looking at is getting him to focus on the therapist/person working with him? Anyone working with him should always start with pairing. Pairing themselves with those things that he finds reinforcing. Once he knows that if he gives you any attention at all, you'll give him the stuff he likes, he'll begin to pay more and more attention to you. Then you can start working on those goals listed in those books. Here's an article that explains it much better than I can: http://www.christinaburkaba.com/NET.htm That site has a TON of great information, and it's one of the first sites I looked at when we started down the ABA road with our son. You can do trials anywhere - on the floor, outside on the playground, getting ready for the bath, wherever and whenever he needs to learn that skill. The more natural it is, the more likely he will hang on to it b/c the environment itself can become a cue. You wouldn't teach a child to bathe himself outside of the bathroom b/c it wouldn't make sense to them. And once they learn the steps involved, the presence of the soap, washcloths, towels, and tub help cue him into what he's supposed to be doing in there. In the same way, you need to teach the child to play with others in their own playroom or outside on their playset or at the park. You teach them to talk whenever and wherever you can so that they don't only talk to you at the table when it's time to do therapy. Don't get locked into thinking ABA therapy has to look one way. Think about how you can incorporate trials on getting his attention throughout your day. Remove what distractions you can from the environment and find ways to make sure all good things come through you so that you can get his attention. We put all of my son's toys into boxes that he couldn't open so that he would have to ask us for them. We put all of his favorite foods onto a shelf he couldn't reach. We made sure we had control of the good stuff, and that forced him to interact with us. We started with teaching him to sign for it using hand over hand prompting. He learned very quickly that he would get whatever he wanted as long as he focused on us and did the sign. It's hard at first, but once you get their attention, things move very quickly after that. And if you've paired yourself well, and he starts to look at you as the most fun thing, then you won't ever have to worry about strapping him down to get him to focus on what you want him to do. [QUOTE=CinTexas]A normal 22 month old doesn't sit still. I second that! I forgot to mention that there is an issue of my newsletter about setting up a home ABA program: http://www.positivelyautism.com/volume4issue1/ Nicole |
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I have a 21 month old and occassionally he'll sit for a minute or so to play with something, but that's it.