What are your experiences with ABA vs DIR/Floortime?

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Hello!I have a 22 month old son who was recently diagnosed in the autism spectrum. He has been followed by early intervention since birth due to birth related complications due to asphyxiation during delivery. He has had some mild right sided motor weakness since birth, but PT and OT has helped it tremendously, his right side lags a little behind his left in motor development, but looking at him with an untrained eye, he probably looks like a normal toddler. He is followed every 6 months at our local children's hospital in Philadelphia, and he gets developmentally tested at each visit.

At his 18 month visit, the psychologist raised some concerns about red flags for autism based on the MCHAT and also by observing his play skills during the

visit. He has been getting OT/Developmental therapy/speech therapy now for almost one year due to developmental delays that started since he was one. Due to the red flags on his 18 month visit, all the therapists and I worked to increase his social/play skills and increase one to one interaction as well. When we came back for the ADOS when he turned 22 months, the psychologist still felt strongly about the autism diagnosis, but felt he was in the mild range. Given that he is already getting early intervention, I have been reading about adding other types of therapy (developmental vs behavior approach). 1. Do any parents here have any positive/negative experiences with the ABA approach (DTT or other variants such as Applied Verbal Behavior) vs doing the DIR/Floortime approach. 2. Did Early intervention cover for these extra services (or if your child was older than

3, the school district?) or did you end up having to find your own private therapists.3. If you covered you own private therapist, did insurance pay for a portion of the costs or did you have to pay everything out of pocket? I am feeling a bit anxious about the financial burden this may cause on our family.I'm not sure what early intervention here in PA is willing to cover besides what he is getting already, but I'm meeting with my case manager this week to discuss any changes to his current IFSP.Thanks for any input with your experiences with the above.LilianeFrom: Cyndi Harrell <cb71work@...>Subject: Re:

New to group 18 mo/ old possible aspergers/ASDAutism and Aspergers Treatment Date: Friday, March 18, 2011, 10:12 AM

Early intervention IS key!!! Bottom line, you will do whatever you have to for the wellbeing of your child! I am proud of you for not waiting. You did not mention any areas of delay or any suggestions your doctor gave you. We got help very early and our son tested pretty low on the Autism charts at age 2 1/2. At age 6 1/2 he tested on the high end. The lady who tested him said his improvement was absolutely amazing. It sounds like your child will one day make a great engineer and you can use his interests as teaching tools and as a reinforcer. I know you are in shock (we've been there) but know that this is not a death sentence. Your child is unique with great talents and gifts and it

only makes you appreciate every little thing more.

*Temple Grandin's mother, Eustacia Cutler, is quoted as describing Autism and those with it as "Different but not less"

~Cyndi

New to group 18 mo/ old possible aspergers/ASD

Hello. I am thankful to find this group and to see all of the support that is being offered here. My 18 month old was recently referred for Developmental & Behavioral Eval for possible ASD, primarily Aspergers. I am feeling quite overwhelmed and frigthened, which has inspired me to learn all I can about ASD and the various support channels. I am still in shock. My son is very responsive to his name, is interactive and smiles & laughs, strives to share his excitement and involve us in his play, and is saying a dozen or so words (though all nouns). We noticed early on he is very interested in lids, wheels, fans, knobs, locks, and switches, and although he will play with cars and other toys- he focuses on the wheels/doors/levers, etc that spin or open & shut on those. He likes books, stuffed animals, and other toys but his attention span for such is limited. I admit I am surprised at the Dr's concerns. I thought she might suggest

OCD or say many babi

es get fixated on those things, but my son has been an incredibly fussy and a hard-to-console baby since birth, and my Dr. was concerned about the fact that he was not easily distractible, accompanied by his fixation with certain objects. I certainly agree with a proactive & conservative approach, as early intervention is so highly recommended, but I am still looking for other possibilities. I would love to hear all of your stories about how you detected a potential "problem", what the formal evaluation process was like, and how early intervention may have benefitted your child.

Thank you for your time and consideration to my story. I am eager to learn more and do whatever I can to help my baby have the most rewarding and happy life as possible. He is the most precious thing in my life.

Amber