Getting Acquainted with ABA

Today we had a "meet and greet" with Kelly Gardner, the President of Behavioral Consulting of Tampa Bay, a center for ABA therapy. Kelly was great. She spent a lot of time talking with me and Charlie about what we can expect, what the therapy typically entails, assessments, and ABA in a "natural" environment. She took us on a tour of the center. Charlie liked the play area and did not really want to leave to go back to her office. But he quickly seemed to develop a little crush on Kelly and was good as gold while we sat in her office and talked for almost an hour. He kept going up to her and hugging her. She gave him big squeezes and commented that his eye contact is quite good. She said he is already ahead in the social area than most of the kids that initially come to therapy because he is quite social and very responsive to commands and people's moods. She thinks this will make him more receptive to therapies.

The center does have a "task" room (this is my term, I am not sure what they call it) where the kids sit down at a desk with the therapist. I observed 4 kids in therapy. They were all working on different things. Some on shapes, some colors. At least 2 of the kids were non-verbal and signed with their therapists. Some of the other kids we saw today were laughing and talking, paying attention nicely. Just further evidence that autism and the related disorders truly are spectrum disorders. Kelly told me the kids spend 15 minutes of the hour at the desk going over tasks, the other 45 minutes are spent in the play area to make therapy and communication with the therapist more natural. I did tell her I was concerned that ABA might be too "rigid." She said that 10 years ago, it was very rigid, but many ABA programs now use a different approach (I think it was called the Verbal Behavior approach) that is much less rote and more natural, which is why they spend most of their time in "play" type therapy than sitting at a desk doing tasks.

Charlie is scheduled for an initial ABA assessment in late May. She will spend a couple of hours with him observing and assessing his behavior, skills and communication. Then a program will be tailored to meet Charlie's specific needs. ABA does require quite a time commitment on behalf of the kids. Charlie will likely go 3x a week for 3 hours. There is an observation room where parents can watch the therapy over a television. My goal will be to watch at least once a week if possible so I can see for myself how he is doing and if there is any progress, also to implement some techniques at home.

We've been a little leary about ABA. We've heard some really good and some not so good. However, I will say the positive reviews have far outweighed the negative. Even the book I am reading now, Children With Starving Brains (an absolutely fascinating book) speaks positively about ABA. Every kid is different so some respond better than others. Since most of the people who have seen Charlie so far agree that his attention span is the area that needs the most work, ABA seems to be a good fit for now. All we can do is give it a try and go from there.

On a funny note, we started Charlie on his Super Nu Thera 3 days ago. Super Nu Thera is a multivitamin. We are only giving him 1/4 tsp (actually probably a little less than that) as the directions say to start slow and eventually give the full dose of 1 tsp. This stuff is almost impossible to disguise though. Charlie tastes it in just about everything. We have been experimenting with all kinds off things to "cover" the taste. . . peanut butter seems to work so far. This morning I sprinkled his GF french toast with the Super Nu Thera powder, then drowned it in organic maple syrup. You could tell Charlie knew something was up, but he eventually did eat it. This should only get more fun as we add more supplements to his diet in the future.

Charlie's preschool teacher said he had a great day today. She told Adam that he is listening better and following directions. It's hard to believe that this will be his last month of pre-school! We will really miss his wonderful teacher!