ABA/Tragic story about a two year old - Scooby

February 4, 2006

-- thank you so much for explaining a little about ABA so we can better

understand. I hope that you always feel free to jump in when we talk about ABA

or any other area that you have lots of experience in. There are some strong

opinions and hot topics on here but I hope that doesn't discourage professionals

and knowledgeable parents from jumping in on conversations. I have one question

-- how rigid are the guidelines for administering ABA? You mentioned that you

use modified ABA with some kids. I wonder how many other ABA therapists deliver

modified ABA based on a child's individual needs, just like a ST might modify

PROMPT a little to meet a child's speech needs. I am interested in your

feedback on this!

-- thanks for reminding us that each child is different.

autism-apraxia-sensory-auditory processing- they lines between the disorders are

often gray. Additionally there is so much overlap between all of these-

including apraxia and autism. If a parent has had their child diagnosed with

apraxia by a speech therapist. Maybe the child also has autism but the parents

just haven't sought out a professional that is qualified to diagnose or else

they ran into one that wasn't the best at diagnosing (that happened to us). It

is hard to judge from what parents write on this list what their child needs.

There are hundreds of misdiagnosed children. Autism is a diagnosis that is

based only on behavior symptoms (at this point) so there is alot of missed cases

and overdiagnosed cases. I think there are many parents on here whose kids have

multiple diagnoses. I think it is rare to find a child who is " just a late

talker " . They usually have a whole bag of other issues to go along with.

-- thanks for putting your best foot forward to address this topic and

help kids.

F.

hi ,

its chris rome, I am a trained ABA therapist with about 10 years experience.

I work mostly with children who have autism/PDD but most were apraxic as well.

and of course my son who right now is diagnosed with apraxia. Before I stayed

out of the conversation of ABA because its " seemed " like a touchy subject. Its

something you have to see, when it is done right. I would like to invite you to

sit on one of my sessions. You live in NYC right? if you have the time (do any

of us do?) LOL....

I am one of those modified therapists. once you have the fundamentals of ABA

and have some experience with it you can go wild with fun activities.

The way I explain ABA is that its a scientific way to record behavior. an

example is that trials are used to get a % of correct answers. how you get the

correct anwsers is up to you, you can use knee to knee or you can stand on your

head....LOL

its behavior intervention, it tells you to pay attention to the behavior of

the child and record it. its makes teachers accountable, they written proof

that this causes that.

if you would like me to answer any of those questions, please let me know.

and I really feel like you have to see it in action. My agency has a NYC

office, I could see if you sit with therapist in NYC if you would like.

Your a person who seeks answers and are passionate about children and I

admire

that. you do things that you don't have to do. thanks for being such a good

person

chris

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- Helps protect you from nasty viruses.

February 4, 2006

Hi my son Mic 5 yrs old ds/asd is in a ABA school. They are stern with him. They

do not expect me to use strict ABA at home because Autistic kids separate home

and school.Mic was dxed moderately autistic some of the other kids that are more

severe use a ridigid program. I spend alot of time at school and in the

beginning I thought ABA was baby bootcamp. After about 6 months I have seen

children who did not talk, eat, have eye contact, and constantly meltdown

confused little people change into smiling happy talking eating kids.Mic eats

solids at school never at home he survives on pediasure.Mic is compliant at

school not at home The more severe kids parents use ABA at home too. Mic is

happy and not usually agressive and I attribute that to him also being

downsyndrome.As a non believer mom and I was extremely against the ABA, I now

absolutely know it works.Just had to put in my 2 cents. Laurie

February 4, 2006

hi rachel,

Most therapist use modified ABA because every child is indiv. can I ask what

do you mean by strict guidelines? its strict in how you take data and sometimes

what the prompt levels of the child are. for example they have to be sitting or

standing, full prompt vs a partial prompt etc. but as far as the programs (work

load) skies the limit. we could really teacher using a trail based format.

let me just say one thing I am explaining it very very very simply. this is

how I speak to my parents of my little ones. it really helps not to use the ABA

lingo and explain what words mean to them without feeling like they feel stupid

for asking. I just offer the explations.

hope i answered you if not ask again? anymore questions please ask

chris

February 5, 2006

thanks laurie for that

chris

nolan <mick8_7@...> wrote:

Hi my son Mic 5 yrs old ds/asd is in a ABA school. They are stern with him.

They do not expect me to use strict ABA at home because Autistic kids separate

home and school.Mic was dxed moderately autistic some of the other kids that are

more severe use a ridigid program. I spend alot of time at school and in the