I am having such a hard time with ABA. I feel like it's the only thing that's really shown much proof of really helping kids with autism. I feel like it could really benefit Parker. The thing is everyone is trying to say it's too hard, too much work, etc. Also I'm worried he won't like it or it will traumatize him. But, I'm also worried that if I don't try it, I'll always wonder what if. I want him to go to school, learn to read, talk more, etc. Right now he is so stubborn that he will not cooperate with his in home teacher much at all. He has in home special ed for 1 hour a week, speech for a half hour a week and in home head start for an hour a week. He is not showing much progress with this and barely makes it past the first 15 minutes with most of these people besides the speech teacher. He hasn't been accepted to the regional center yet but I need to be thinking about what services I want for him. He is very sensitive and I'm overprotective, so I'm so worried about Aba. But, like I said, I think I'd always regret it and say what if, if I didn't at least try it. I'd like to hear from some people who's children have done it. How did it start out? How did your kids like it at first? Do you have to do 40 hours a week? Has it made a big difference? Did your kids grow to like it? Sorry about the super long thread but it's been on my mind for a while. Thank you.
Kaden is starting ABA next week. The first thing we are going to work on is compliance. He is very strong willed and if doesn't want to do something he simply tantrums, throws things, screams, etc. The hard thing is that he CAN do so many things, but we have to get past the behaviors to really find out what he is capable of.
He is going to start with 1.5 hours a day and work up from there. I figure any amount is better than none. He goes to a preschool program and also get ST, OT and play therapy so he has a pretty full day.
I look at it that if Kaden hates it or doesn't do well with it, we can always stop ABA and try something different. But like you, I want to look back and say I tried everything I could instead of wondering "what if".
I started my son on an ABA program at 4.5. It was a Godsend. AlthoughMy son enjoys ABA. He receives 26 hours total services, which includes 2-3 hours of preschool class/day. The number 40 is thrown around a lot but I don't know how you could ever schedule it. That's 8-5 with an hour for lunch, add down time, transportation etc and you would be looking at 10-12 hour days.
Good ABA teachers know how to make things fun. On Mondays, my son has a teacher at our house in the morning, then goes to preschool, then takes the bus home at 3:00, after all that he has one more 1:1 at our house from 4-5. He is usually tired and not happy about more "play" but after a few minutes he is laughing and having fun with his teacher.
As for the proof, as stated, the study is basically meaningless and really didn't show much improvement anyway. IMO no study could really be done w/o abusing the child (i.e. ONLY doing ABA and NOTHING else). My son just completed a study on ABA and his evaluation after 18 months of ABA showed about 18-24 months of progress. His average skills at 3 years old were eval's at 1-1.5 years. His latest eval showed him at a 3-4 year old level (he's almost 5). That was enough proof for me
The girls never recieved ABA, but that won't keep me from commenting ;)
If you can get ABA, I'd advise you to ask for it. The professionals will address your concerns about the number of hours, etc. Most ABA programs no longer use aversives, but do use reinforcers - something your child rely likes - to motivate them to comply. I've seen kids receiving modern behavioral therapies and they appear to be enjoying themselves.
ABA is the only educational therapy that has studies that seem to back up it's affectiveness for treating kids with autism. This is not to say that other therapies are NOT effective - in my opinion, any intense, 1:1 interaction with an autistic child will have a positive affect on that child's ability to engage socially with others - but so far, ABA is the only therapy that has been studied.
I should point out, that the studies are considered flawed by many, but ABA is generally considered an effective therapy.
Now, there is a question of diminishing returns. ABA is a great way to teach ANY skill, but it's really well suited for teaching very basic compliance and language skills. Once a child has basic skills of attention, compliance, and langauge reach some baseline level, other ways of teaching the child will become more resource and cost effective. For example, ABA might be the most effective therapy BY FAR for getting a non-verbal pre-schooler to learn basic language skills, other therapies can be used to teach more advanced skills to kids who already have functional language and who's behavior is under control. The point is, you could use ABA to teach reading to a typically developing six year old, but that would be overkill, because it's unneccesary, although it would be effective.
With Parker's non-compliance issues, I think he would be a great candidate for ABA. How's his language?
Thank you! He has language, but a lot of it is repeating things. He does ask for what he wants or needs mostly, but doesn't make conversation. He can answer simple questions like, "Do you want juice or water?" He won't answer most questions though, and I don't know if he doesn't understand them, have the speech to answer, or is just being stubborn. He is a big "No!" guy. He says no to many many things. So I guess I'm saying, he has language, but it's limited mostly to his wants, needs and likes. He is constantly repeating vehicle names, that is his favorite thing to do.
We hired a consultant to work with us starting last sept when my ds was 19 months old, mainly to work on sleep and feeding issues. She is amazing, the program is amazing, the way they can break everything, I mean EVERYTHING down into small, digestable pieces makes it so that you are never overwhelmed or feel like you are in over your head (or his).
You start out at a rate where you are comfortable and gradually work up, go at a pace that you both are comfortable with and you can work on viturally every skill imaginable. I know people with HFA teenagers and they still are able to use ABA therapists and principles to cultivate higher social skills, better attention, help with school difficulties, just about everything...and they work very ver hard to make sure that everything learned is generalized across enviornments, situations and people.
An ABA program, if done properly and managed well can be a Godsend. We were VERY reluctant because of what everyone seemed to be saying about it, but the bottom line for us was when we realized that everyone that we knew that had used it, had children that were speaking. And many people that we knew that had not used it still had kids that were essentially non verbal and they had varying degrees of compliance and behavioral issues that were greatly diminshed with the ABA kids by comparison.
We wanted our child to speak. Period. So we bit the bullet and started working with him for 45 min a day 6 days a week when he was 22 months old. He TOOK OFF! It was amazing. All of the school ST's that were working with him (who have always been against ABA) started asking what we were doing. Then they were asking if they could meet our Consultant and sit in on some sessions. They are now incorporating the principles into their speech therapy with other children.
It is simply good teaching. How many of us would do anything without reinforcement? How many of us would still show up at our jobs every day if we didnt recieve a paycheck? This is how we all learn and how we are motivated, for life. Its amazingly gentle and understandable and individualized for the family and for your child. Even a tiny bit of this is better than nothing at all. And let your childs progress be the proof. Best of luck.
Nik
I agree with Fred regarding the diminishing returns. My son progressed soIf you have the resources for ABA then I say GO FOR IT!! Adam never had a full implemented program but during a summer a friend came and showed me techniques from the lovass program and I did discrete trials with him for a summer before he started pre-k. It really helped him in just those couple of months be able to have more functional language. He was mainly echolalic until then. After that summer he was half and half. This may be too personal but I see that he is 4..Why is he not in the public school system doing pre-K? Why is everything being done at home? Just curious.
You said in your post that he is very sensitive and you are overprotective and thats why you worry about ABA. I felt exactly this way about Adam going to preschool at 3 years old. But I had to bite my tongue and swallow because I had to do what was best for my child. Me being overprotective was NOT it. He needed to get out there and be around other kids and LEARN. God he screamed for over an hour that first day of school....his teacher told me he did...but each day got better and better and within a week he didn't even cry anymore and was excited about going. I still get that feeling anytime something new comes up for him to do like riding the bus..I felt the same way again...and I just had to push through it. See I wouldn't 'have put my other older children on a bus at 4 years old and not 5 if they were alone.....but I made myself do it with Adam because he NEEDED it more than they did. So in some ways I do treat Adam differently than my NT children. I certainly push him more.
Karrie
He just turned 4 in January. He's not in preschool because we only have one car at the moment and the preschools are too far away. He just got diagnosed with autism so I haven't gotten any other services for him until we get accepted into the regional center. He is enrolled in "In home Head Start" where are teacher come out once a week for about an hour. That's the best we can do for now. We should be hearing from the regional center soon and then will get our services in place. The bad part is, we just got a second car, but our first cars transmission just went out so we are back to square one again. Once it's fixed, next year he will have a full year of preschool before kindgergarten if that's an option for him.I would think that you could ask for busing to be provided. That's usually offered as part of the package, at least in my (limited) experience. Have they discussed transportation with you?
BTW - what is a regional center? Is that a place to go when there aren't resources in the local school system? Is your area very rural? Just curious - don't have to answer :)
ABA was the best thing I have ever done for my dd. WHen we started, we could not turn on the fan, the windshield wiper, radio, tv, no outings, she was a picky eater, she screamed all the time, no visitors could come (even the grandparents) without her screaming for hours, she was so rigid in many ways....Now not only can we do all those things, but we are able to function like a normal family and go to movies, restaurants etc. She has also learn so many other skills that will help her to be more independent. Also, she's so sweet and good natured now.
We started ABA with my son Aidan in September, he was 30 months. I too was very apprehensive as I had received a lot of misinformation about ABA. Aidan has ABA 20 hours a week in addition to other services. You DO NOT have to do a 40 hour/week program to see results. We are seeing dramatic results with a 20 hour porgram. My guess would be that any amount of ABA would be worthwhile - though it should be consistent and in order to run a decent amount of programs you should try and get some decent hours but 40 is actually not only uneccessary but probably inappropriate in many cases.
ABA implemented the right way with kind and respectful therapists is not at all tramautic. Aidan runs to the door to greet his therapists - he really enjoys seeing them. ABA does not have to be endless drills at a table. We incorporate lots of creativity and play into Aidan's programs - it just breaks everything down so that he is able to learn more efficiently and the record keeping really allows you to objectively access when something needs to be approached differently. Also, there are sooo many programs that anything your son needs to learn can be learned.
Since september -
Aidan went from a 20 word vocabulary where he only really utilized an average of 10 different words a day to a vocabulary of about 200+ words and is putting together words and using some phrases like give me, I want etc. He knows his action words, some opposites, some adjectives and some prepositions. He can request anything he needs. He also can now answer basic questions and can follow simple one and some 2 step instructions. He couldn't do any of this in september.
In September Aidan could identify by pointing on himself about 3 body parts but you couldn't depend on him to do it. Now he knows about 15 body parts expressively and receptively and knows there functions (we smell with our _____ etc.)
Aidan can answer social questions now like, how are you? what's your name? how old are you, what's your sisters name, what's your mom's name, what's your dad's name, where do you live. Was unable to answer any questions in september.
Aidan learned all his colors, shapes, animals and alphabet. He is learning to share, take turns and wait for longer periods. His pretend play skills are really beginning to expand. We also have worked on drawing, pasting, cutting, music and movement all kinds of things to prepare him for school.
I could go on all day. We have a huge, heavy thick book full of stuff Aidan has learned. But it's not just that he learned it. He uses it all day in real life. It has made him more aware of what's going on and given him a way to interact with others. He is much less frustrated and much more tuned in. And there was never any trauma involved. Just a different way of approaching how to teach him.
As with any other teachers, there are ABA therapists that will be a good match and some that will not. There are lots of different approaches. Find one you feel comfortable with. If something feels wrong question it. There is no one way to do ABA and we have found that flexibility in fitting the program to the child and not the child to the program has been key. We couldn't be happier. If you can get it I would really encourage you to go for it.
Thank you all. I've gotten some really good insight and feedback from all of you. I think I'm definitely ready to try it with Parker. I will be asking about it as soon as we get a social worker. Thanks!
Sarah was non verbal, no eye contact, or awareness of anyone in family, seemed death and completely aloof~we closed doors to keep her with us because she had a hard time staying in same room with people. She was into watching teletubbies for hours, tantrums in public places and night terrors that lasted for hours.. she also toe walked and ate about 5 foods. We did full time in home ABA program 30 hours a week along with 2 hours of speech and gymboree 3 semesters, 2 years of kinderkids program and GFCF diet, antiyeast, fish oil, DMG, super nu thera, enzymes ect... she is now mainstreamed in kindergarten and no longer considered autistic. I believe ABA saved her life and gave her the skills to learn like her peers...she is the smartest kid in her class by years but social is still a issue so we have her in a ABA playgroup 3x a week for 3 hours total and piano. I know many kids improved without ABA but this is what worked for her as we were able to see her progress and follow the programs one by one getting mastered. She needed intense therapy practically all waking hours..it was a long hard journey but worth every cent. She is a completely different child..she still has quiet days but she has typical talky whiney soo normal days too. I can't imagine where she would be without ABA~she had no motivation to learn to talk or be with us and had to be taught a million tiny steps just to be able to be like other kids~she worked very hard..can't say she loved all of it..especially new programs were very hard for her, as well as any changes but we got through it with many reinforements and made it has fun as can be. She learned so many programs I lost count trying to keep up. It had to be 1:1 for her to learn...without it she was lost completely. I can send her last data sheet before she started kindergarten to give an idea of what a ABA program sheet looks like..it is real simplified because I didn't want it overwhelming to the point it would get watered down with too many pages to work on and skills not focused on enough for her to actually master it. Just pm me your email address so I can send it~ I have no problem pasteing it here but it will not post what I pasted
Blessings,
Shelley
This is what the Regional center is http://www.redwoodcoastrc.org/ I actually don't know what it is exactly but you have to get into it to get most of your services.We use Makaton (a form of sign language), plus speaking, plus pictures to help explain things to Ds1. He knows quite a few signs now, will try to do some himself or make my hands do them.
Just adding my 2 cents. The underlying premise of ABA is what sets it apart from some other programs. It believes the child can learn, taking data lets you know what works and what doesn't. You don't give up on the child. The child gets to know you won't give up. The child actually starts to enjoy success and the act of conquering challenges. When the child gets the message that failure, and giving up are unacceptable options it is awesome. ABA has done wonders for my son. We are still behind his peers in language and social skills. But I know he has a strong foundation and attitude that he can build a lot on, thanks to ABA.
Having said all that, we have incorporated some traditional therapy, Speech, OT and some basic principles of RDI. What I have found is that the person doing therapy with your son is very important, be it ABA or other therapy. Make sure whoever works with your child has high expectations of the child and would challenge the child. Do not be afraid to terminate relationships with ineffective therapists. Goodluck.
Concernedpa.
I think what make an ABA program really beneficial are:
-A good supervisor (who provides the plan of treatment and fine tunes it based on your child progress)
-The therapists. Even with a good plan, a bad therapist will not be able to bring positive changes to the kid.
We have started an 8 hours/week of ABA with our son since mid Jan and even in this short period we see the results.
I think finding the right ABA therapist is important. We took my son to a local autism center run by a university. It has a long waiting list and we went into it with high hopes. I can't tell you how disappointed we were. The therapy consisted of them asking Drew to talk in exchange for food or toys. They also waited until he had a toy he liked then took it away. He spent most of the time screaming on the floor. ( an hour for watching a tantrum). Anyway, to make a long story short-he started preschool a couple of months later. They do a little ABA and more floortime based play therapy. He started talking immediately and has been progressing really well since. We stopped the ABA therapy and our therapist went back to research. (probably better since she wasn't that good )
I hope you have better luck. I know ABA works wonders for some ASD kids. I probably have a bad attitude about it due to our experience with it.
Laurie