VB Classroom (or is it?)

[Guest guest]

Hi,

My family and I relocated to a state which has " Verbal Behavior Classrooms " .

I felt extremely lucky to find such a classroom since my 4 year old had been

involved in a very successful home based VB program prior to our move. We

have been fortunate enough to have had my son evaluated by some of the

countries leading experts in autism and received

consultation/reports/recommendations. He is primarily non-vocal and uses

upwards of 40 signs to augment his communication. My son's needs at this

point dictate a very intensive manding program (obviously we want him to be

vocal one day) and certainly assumed that a classroom which refers to

themselves as using a " VB model " would understand this need and implement

this without question. I assumed (again) that a large part of his day

would involve having EO's contrived and mands tallied using clickers ...

having those #'s recorded and graphed (You know how it goes). Our IEP

process was pleasant and I felt comfortable that I'd at last found a place

who shared the same ideas as I do in regards to emphasizing Skinner's

Analysis, the use of the ABLLS etc. However, after reading through a list of

very lofty goals for a non-vocal child (using 3 word phrases) ... no where

in the IEP they drafted did it mention tallying mands or increasing

vocalization. When I asked if they tallied mands I was told " We do for kids

who mand a lot ... otherwise no " (RED FLAG). Isn't the reason to tally is

to keep yourself in check that enough opportunities are being contrived and

to track that the numbers are increasing and becoming spontaneous? I was

told they take a sampling every now and then with counters but otherwise no

data is taken on this on a daily basis and it would be " too much work " for

them to do that and certainly " no way we could get that kind of data to you

on a daily basis " (when I asked for numbers to be sent home each day).

Basically I was told " We don't do that " (won't do that) There aren't

enough naturally occuring instances in life for my son to simply mand on his

own ... it still has to be contrived. (and it's a workout!!!) For me he

was manding 700-1000 times a day at his best and his vocals were coming

along. What to do now? Put him in such a class where the very heart of the

model seems to not be implemented? I'd love any input from anyone w/

suggestions on how to proceed. Sorry so long. Mom's at the end of the

rope!

ann