ABA Therapy

My children have not had ABA therapy, but I spent the first part of my college education as a psychology major in a school that emphasizes behavior analysis. I will tell you that this is an excellent idea for children who are autistic or have learning disabilities. ABA operates under the belief that the only thing that exists is what is apparent without an underlying disability. Because of this, when the child gets older I would take them to see a psychologist ever six months so that if there is a problem with depression related to the problem that is being treated it can also be handled, because depression is an underlying cause and the ABA counceler will not recognize it. But yes, ABA can help your child have a better, more full life. It is difficult because you MUST take the time to reward and punish behavior the same way every time, and you have to be patient and wait for the therapy to work. It is a long hard road, but in the end I believe you will be satisfied with the progress your child makes.

I hate to be a nay-sayer, but I feel that ABA is of limited use at best. ABA, as its name implies, looks at, and treats, behaviors. If you can sit in the chair for 5 minutes, I'll give you a cookie. That is all well and good for things like a school setting, but it doesn't help with the bigger picture. People with autism look for static systems - things that don't change or produce the same result every time. Thats why so many autistic people love machinery or electronics - "Every time I push*this* button*that* happens." It is that unchanging sameness that helps them feel stable. By teaching autistic people that there is a behavior or rule for every situation, it is in effect making them *more* autistic. It is reinforcing the autistic's need for sameness. It is usefull for extinguishing dangerous or unwanted behaviors, or helping to learn discrete skills, but it cannot help make a person better at adapting to change or unexpected circumstances. Life is dynamic - constantly changing, and requiring constant adjustment by all parties involved. I am the father of an autistic 6 year-old boy. For the last year or so, we have been working with a program called RDI - Relationship Development Intervention, pioneered by Dr. Steve Gutstein. RDI is family based, and can be done for as few as 45 minutes a day (as opposed to the 8*hours* a day that ABA recommends). It works on the principle that autism disrupts the normal process of learning social skills from your parents. Very simply, you start again, working with the autistic person, showing them how to share the joy of life with other people. Take a look at www.rdiconnect.com for more information. Feel free to message me if you need more info.

I live in Canada, Ontario to be exact, and the waiting list here for ABA is huge! My son has been on the list now for almost seventeen months since his diagnosis. It was the first phone call I made and he was number 98 on the list at that time. Last I checked (about a month ago) he was number 75 on the list. Our son will be four in June and we did not want to wait as he will most likely be six or seven before he's picked up. So he has been having the therapy privately here at home since September. We hired a private therapist and sacrificially pay her for six hours every week. Programming has to be done from time to time and that costs extra there was also a start up fee to get him started. We have had some help from different charities to help us keep him going. We have found it very beneficial! Tantrums have decreased dramatically to the point where they are almost non-exsistent. His communication and vocabulary has incresed hugely to the point where he is starting to speak in three and four word phrases. He listens when asked to do something, but still has his own free will and loves singing the "Clean-up" song and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". He can count to twenty and his transformation is just amazing. I'm not saying our troubles are over but he has certainly seen a huge improvement and we are very proud of him because he works and trys so hard to succeed! We will continue this therapy for several years at a sacrifice if we have to as he is gaining and learning so much! I pray for huge success with your daughter also! :)