ABA question - long

January 4, 2005

I have been working with an ABA consultant for my 3 year old son for

over 2.5 months. She did an evaluation of my son in early October

and since then we have only been doing behavior modification (working

on reducing/eliminating temper tantrums & negative behavior, getting

more consistent answers to questions and requests). I am getting a

bit frustrated b/c we haven't yet started and trials or learning.

For a very intensive process, this has not yet been intensive at all.

Let me preface by saying that my son's behavior isn't that bad -

he is a pretty good kid, is verbal (age appropriate language w/little

pragmatic language), is usually pretty nice to his little brother,

etc. Yes, the temper tantrums are way down, but they were by mid-

November.

How long is typical before starting trials? Why would she be waiting

so long - she has said all this will make trials easier when we

start, but everyone I talked to who is doing/has done this process

has started trials/learning just about immediately. Have any of you

taken so long to work on behavior before starting trials? I do not

know people who have worked with this particular consultant before,

but I do know people who have worked iwth her business partner and

were very pleased. I was reassured that their methodologies and

programs are very similar.

I would like to discuss this with my consultant the next time we see

her, but wanted to collect as much information as possible before

that discussion.

Please feel free to email me individually or post to this board.

Thank you,

January 4, 2005

It seems to me that you should confront her with this. I

believe that many BCBAs are not curriculum specialists. They

learned a few behavioral " tricks " , some reduction techiques

to eliminate problem behavior but have no idea on how to

build a comprehensive program that children with autism in

general and your child in particular need. I suggest

confronting and if the person does not move to the building

of skills quickly find a new consultant.

Joe

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