...on ABA

[Guest guest]

Hi and all -

If I can jump in here and offer a different view to the nay-sayers

from my VERY LIMITED knowledge, I think I might be of help...

First off, an ABA therapist should -as part of the preparation -

take into account a child's basic skills and deficits prior to

starting therapy. Among these would be motor skills and

speech/language capabilities. While there are definitive METHODS,

goals would vary from child to child. If you have a verbal autistic

child, you wouldn't work with them on the process of producing

speech, but more likely on the content and the appropriateness of

speech. If you have a non-verbal autistic child, you would likely

focus on the fundamentals of LANGUAGE and INTERACTION first, the

more complex, later. The pointing, gesturing, looking, etc., then

true signs, etc..

If the therapist DOES NOT take these into account OR if the child

has gone UNDIAGNOSED and has a motor planning disorder, then

continuing to work on producing language WITHOUT understanding the

breakdown of the process would obviously be detrimental. A GOOD

therapist would, I assume, recognize groping for words or attempts

without success as a need for a further eval by an SLP. I also

would hope that any non-verbal child in ABA would also be in ST. I

know finances often cannot cover everything, but this would be

optimal.

My younger son is NOT apraxic, but has a communication disorder. A

psych we saw suggested that I go a watch ABA therapy for some

additional ideas in working with my son. I asked her if he needed

it and she said " no " - that the behavioural techniques I was using

were pretty reflective of what ABA would do. She said that it might

assist me in breaking down the steps of more complicated tasks as he

got older and learning got more complex.

So, do I think ABA could be detrimental to some kids? Sure - if

a " bad " therapist is doing it, if the appropriate diagnoses have not

been made, if progress is not seen without understanding that

additional problems may be afoot, and if the parent doesn't have

their nose in everything to be sure that harm isn't being done.

On the same note, I also think that ST at the hands of an untrained

or " bad " SLP could also be detrimental. Our first therapist - who

should have been fired - refused to see what my apraxic son was

capable of (knew his letters, numbers, colors, etc.), let him get

away with murder within the office (things he never did at home -

throwing things, etc.), and - MOST IMPORTANTLY - dismissed my input

as a parent. Her bar for him was set so low - she " suggested " he

was severely autistic, MR and incapable of producing " normal "

speech. Imagine her surprise after 6 mos with another GREAT

therapist down the hall when he walked by and said hello to her. It

was a moment of pride for us both. In her hands, he would have been

allowed to fester with infantile communication skills and increasing

frustration. We entered ST (wrongly) with the idea that it might

not help him, but that it wouldn't hurt him. When I learned that I

was wrong - that it could hurt him - it was an epiphany. And one

that I've tried to make clear when I post here to parents wondering

about the quality of their therapist.

Could I see where ABA therapy could benefit an apraxic child?

sure. If it helped them to break out the sounds, rewarded them for

their attempts, REALLY rewarded them for their successes - sure. A

big problem for many parents of apraxic kids is that at some point,

they realize how damn hard it all is and they need special urging to

continue. The model used (that I saw, anyway) was not all that

dissimilar to what my good SLP did with my apraxic son - and not all

that different from what's done with my communication disorder son.

Bad therapy/ists can ALWAYS be detrimental. It does not make the

therapy itself to be bad.

I think makes some excellent, educationed points on this

matter which shouldn't be ignored or reviled.

See, I told you I just come out and say it!!

Marina