Hey, my daughter is almost four and was just diagnosed in February with Autism (PDD to be exact). I'm very new to ASD and I have lots of questions and concerns. I just want to do what is best for my baby girl!! Recently, it seems as though I don't know what is best for her anymore... Anyway, I would like to know more about ABA and setting it up as a home based program. I also need to know if there is any financial assistance available that I should know about!! I was told by one mom that the school system was legally liable to assist with that, however, the school system says something very different!! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks, Teresa
Thanks, Teresa
Posted by
on May. 25, 2007 at 3:16 AM
Add your quick reply below:
You must be a member to reply to this post.
Replies:
1-8 of 8 replies
by
on May. 28, 2007 at 5:44 PM
I'm just now in the process of setting up a home based aba program. Where the funding comes from varies from state to state and by childs age. Where I am and for my childs age (2)...the funding comes from a combination of the governments Department of Developmental Disabilities and from AZ Long Term Care. I've found the "case workers"...your IFSP or IEP co-ordinator....that are working for the state don't give you alot of info and they discourage you from seeking out those services. So, at least where I am, its up to the parents to figure out a way to push things through. Here in AZ...even kids with downs syndrome get turned away from ALTEC I've been told. So anyways...be prepared to fight for it. I've read that once your kid hits the school system...that yes, the schools are obligated to fund the therapies needed. Thats the good news. The bad is that they don't want to fund anything unless they have too. If your kid was in a program before they start school...the schools are more likely to fund it...and if not, then your back to the point I'm at...you'll have to fight for it. What I've encountered here is that state paid people not only discourage you from seeking aditional therapies...they'll also use scare tactics to convince you if they think it'll work. In my case, they told me horror stories of how aba would make my kid more autistic, make her behave like a trained dog etc etc.
Once you have the funding, or if you decide to do aba regardless of funding (thats what I've decided...trying for funding but doing it regardless) then you need to contact an aba consultant. You can contact DDD or your local autism support group to find out who in your areas state certified and who has good references for what your looking for. If you don't get funding...you can ask the consultant if you can do the initial assessment...thats the biggest part of the cost of getting a home aba program going. Then the consultant will draw up a program for your kid from that, teach you how to run the program, and give you guidance on hiring TA's. Make sure you read some on aba, and think through what you want from your program...then when you talk to a consultant, ask them questions to be sure they're going to mesh well with what you want for your kid. You can hire TA's from colleges or high schools for no pay often...they can get school credit for doing it...you can also recruit from your local church...lots of places to keep costs managable k....if you can get your program funded...thats awesome, but if you can't...it can still be done even if your not rolling in dough. You just have to be creative.
A great book to get you started (it goes really indepth and can even help you set up programs for your kids if you can't even get a consultant) is "Behavioral Intervention for Young Children with Autism: A manual for paretns and professionals". This book does a great job of explaining how aba works and why its good for autistic kids too. Getting a consultants best...then you'll have someone experienced in autism to turn to for advice when/if you need it....but you can do it yourself if thats the only option available to you.
I hope I gave you enough info to be helpful to you! Let us know if you have more questions or if I missed something you asked!
Good luck!
-Marti
Once you have the funding, or if you decide to do aba regardless of funding (thats what I've decided...trying for funding but doing it regardless) then you need to contact an aba consultant. You can contact DDD or your local autism support group to find out who in your areas state certified and who has good references for what your looking for. If you don't get funding...you can ask the consultant if you can do the initial assessment...thats the biggest part of the cost of getting a home aba program going. Then the consultant will draw up a program for your kid from that, teach you how to run the program, and give you guidance on hiring TA's. Make sure you read some on aba, and think through what you want from your program...then when you talk to a consultant, ask them questions to be sure they're going to mesh well with what you want for your kid. You can hire TA's from colleges or high schools for no pay often...they can get school credit for doing it...you can also recruit from your local church...lots of places to keep costs managable k....if you can get your program funded...thats awesome, but if you can't...it can still be done even if your not rolling in dough. You just have to be creative.
A great book to get you started (it goes really indepth and can even help you set up programs for your kids if you can't even get a consultant) is "Behavioral Intervention for Young Children with Autism: A manual for paretns and professionals". This book does a great job of explaining how aba works and why its good for autistic kids too. Getting a consultants best...then you'll have someone experienced in autism to turn to for advice when/if you need it....but you can do it yourself if thats the only option available to you.
I hope I gave you enough info to be helpful to you! Let us know if you have more questions or if I missed something you asked!
Good luck!
-Marti
by
on May. 28, 2007 at 6:47 PM
Sorry...I'm doing everything on the run today! I just wanted to add that a lady called storkdok has a journal post about getting aba funded. Its under keyword autism and titled national something or other. Ok...I can do better then that...lol.
http://www.cafemom.com/journals/read.php?post_id=193424
Thats the link to her post. Its great info. I'm putting together a 'presentation' so to speak for my kids funding eval that includes the info Karen posted and also some government recommendations and cost anaylisis of schooling autistic kids. I can't tell you if it'll help...but I think it will, and it definately can't hurt.
If you want to do this as well...just holler and I'll dig out the links for the government report.
http://www.cafemom.com/journals/read.php?post_id=193424
Thats the link to her post. Its great info. I'm putting together a 'presentation' so to speak for my kids funding eval that includes the info Karen posted and also some government recommendations and cost anaylisis of schooling autistic kids. I can't tell you if it'll help...but I think it will, and it definately can't hurt.
If you want to do this as well...just holler and I'll dig out the links for the government report.
by
Group Owner
on May. 29, 2007 at 8:20 PM
look at you go marti! I have nothing else to add to that other than-good luck and she covered everything I was going to tell you and much more.
thank you marti!
dina
thank you marti!
dina
by
New Member
on Jun. 8, 2007 at 1:51 AM
Hey, Thanks so much for all of your input!! It was all very helpful and very thoughtful!! If there's anything else you can think of you can email me at tkboyd27@yahoo.com or you can call me at home at 606-478-5703!! Thanks again!! Teresa
by
on Jun. 27, 2007 at 10:25 PM
If you can't get funding and can't afford it...(we can't!)....there is an on-line course that you can take so you can do it on your own! I just started a few weeks ago and I am really impressed with the prof. who's directing it!
www.ABA4autism.com
Jen
www.ABA4autism.com
Jen
by
New Member
on Jun. 27, 2007 at 10:46 PM
Quoting hope4emma:Same here!! Just started taking the on-line course. I'm impressed also.
If you can't get funding and can't afford it...(we can't!)....there is an on-line course that you can take so you can do it on your own! I just started a few weeks ago and I am really impressed with the prof. who's directing it!
www.ABA4autism.com
Jen
Kat
by
New Member
on Jun. 28, 2007 at 3:05 AM
What is an ABA? What will this do? how do I go about this?
by
on Jun. 28, 2007 at 2:06 PM
ABA stands for Applied Behaviorial Anaylsis. Its also called the Lovaas method. How its done varies by age and each kids needs. But basically it starts with an assessment of the kids strengths and weaknesses.
They look at what motivates your child...like will your child do things just for praise? If not (big autism problem...lol) then what will motivate them? A toy? An activity? A treat?
Then they also look at behavior problems that keep kids from learning well. Are they able to sit and pay attention? Do they respond to their name? Do they make eye contact (to help keep them attending to what other people are saying and interacting)? Can they converse (answer when asked a question, or ask questions)?
Then they also look at the kids learning level. Can they sort shapes? Show they know their colors (being able to show what they know is another big issue with autistic kids)? Show they know letters? Take off their shoes? Etc, etc.
They also look at social desire....that ties in with motivation. And they assess where your kids at in that. Like does your child come to you to get their needs met? Does your child ask for a daiper change? Tell you when they're hungry? Tired?
Once they have all that data...they come up with programs that take your kids needs and motivations and put em together to help make sure your kid learns the things they need to learn in order to become as successful and independant adult as they can be.
The minimum recommended time in one-on-one therapy recommended for autistic kids is 25 hours per week....the best is to give them 30-40 hours a week. So parents take classes to learn how to apply everything thats in their kids program and in general ABA practices. Then they hire either trained people to help give the kids those hours...or they hire people they train themselves. Trying to give our kids that many hours of intense one-on-one therapy and still be mommy is really really hard. So hiring people to help give some of those hours is really a godsend for our kids and for us.
A good ABA program uses several methods for teaching. Again, based on your kids abilities, needs. If your kid has trouble getting a concept, then they start with Discret Trial Training (sorry if my spelling sucks...lol) which is just a way to take what the kid needs to learn and simplifing it. Say your kid needs to learn the difference between big and little. I'm going to give you an example from my own kid. We used puzzles with momma/baby shapes side by side. First we taught her how to do puzzles by guiding her hand and simple one word instructions. Like 'turn' to teach her how to problem solve just doing a puzzle. Then we went to saying 'big' when she did a momma piece, and little when she did a baby piece. Just commenting with one word while she played and had fun. We sit at a table so we're directly across from each other too by the way for this part. And since she has trouble staying on a task, and communicating....we keep up the commentary on her play until she tries to get up and go....then we ask her to sign all done. Once we got her to sign all done without upset, then we went to asking her to sign all done and help clean up the puzzle. Once we got so she will sign all done and help clean up happily...then we move to also asking her to do one more puzzle piece before we clean up. So that ability to attend and stay are being worked on at the same time. Ok...so back to big, little...lol. So every now and then we'd ask her to hand us the 'big' horse or 'littlle' cow....then if she was in an interactive mood...we'd guide her hand to the piece we wanted and praise her. Then once she got so that when we ask for the 'big' horse, she'd reach out for it automatically consistantly...we go to asking her to always give us the right response. Then we add in new big/little things. Like big/little spoons etc and ask her to hand us big/little spoon. Once she can give us the right response with all kindsa different objects...then we move away from the discret trial training and teach her to use in in real life. This part is called incedental teaching. Basically, its looking for opportunities in normal activities where you can have them show that knowledge. So like at dinner...when she asks for more bread....we can offer her two pieces, big and little, and ask her to pick one. Once shes willing to actually point to the piece she wants, big or little....then we ask her to identify it as big or little. She doesn't have signs yet for big/little....but in the process of asking her to id if she wants the big or little piece...she'll end up learning the signs for it as well because once she points to which she wants...we start back with the commenting..big/little. Once she has that down...then we would be trying to teach her to spontaneously tell us which she wants if she hasn't reached that point yet with it. And we look for opportunities throughout the day to teach her that concept. Whatever shes willing to pay attention to and that giving us the right response is worth it to her to make the effort to respond. In time, she'll respond to more and more for less and less reward. Baby steps.
And my kiddies calling me. Hopefully that gives you a good general idea of how aba works. Its very flexible to your kids needs, and makes it easy for parents to know what things to work on and breaking it all down to make it so our kids can learn it with less frustration. Less frustration makes learning a happier thing too so they can develope a positive attitude about learning. That one-on-one attention is vital to our kids. Theres alot of ways to give em that...but good ABA includes all of the other therapies according to your kids need for each thing they have to learn.
Sorry so long winded! Hope it helps!
Marti/co-admin
They look at what motivates your child...like will your child do things just for praise? If not (big autism problem...lol) then what will motivate them? A toy? An activity? A treat?
Then they also look at behavior problems that keep kids from learning well. Are they able to sit and pay attention? Do they respond to their name? Do they make eye contact (to help keep them attending to what other people are saying and interacting)? Can they converse (answer when asked a question, or ask questions)?
Then they also look at the kids learning level. Can they sort shapes? Show they know their colors (being able to show what they know is another big issue with autistic kids)? Show they know letters? Take off their shoes? Etc, etc.
They also look at social desire....that ties in with motivation. And they assess where your kids at in that. Like does your child come to you to get their needs met? Does your child ask for a daiper change? Tell you when they're hungry? Tired?
Once they have all that data...they come up with programs that take your kids needs and motivations and put em together to help make sure your kid learns the things they need to learn in order to become as successful and independant adult as they can be.
The minimum recommended time in one-on-one therapy recommended for autistic kids is 25 hours per week....the best is to give them 30-40 hours a week. So parents take classes to learn how to apply everything thats in their kids program and in general ABA practices. Then they hire either trained people to help give the kids those hours...or they hire people they train themselves. Trying to give our kids that many hours of intense one-on-one therapy and still be mommy is really really hard. So hiring people to help give some of those hours is really a godsend for our kids and for us.
A good ABA program uses several methods for teaching. Again, based on your kids abilities, needs. If your kid has trouble getting a concept, then they start with Discret Trial Training (sorry if my spelling sucks...lol) which is just a way to take what the kid needs to learn and simplifing it. Say your kid needs to learn the difference between big and little. I'm going to give you an example from my own kid. We used puzzles with momma/baby shapes side by side. First we taught her how to do puzzles by guiding her hand and simple one word instructions. Like 'turn' to teach her how to problem solve just doing a puzzle. Then we went to saying 'big' when she did a momma piece, and little when she did a baby piece. Just commenting with one word while she played and had fun. We sit at a table so we're directly across from each other too by the way for this part. And since she has trouble staying on a task, and communicating....we keep up the commentary on her play until she tries to get up and go....then we ask her to sign all done. Once we got her to sign all done without upset, then we went to asking her to sign all done and help clean up the puzzle. Once we got so she will sign all done and help clean up happily...then we move to also asking her to do one more puzzle piece before we clean up. So that ability to attend and stay are being worked on at the same time. Ok...so back to big, little...lol. So every now and then we'd ask her to hand us the 'big' horse or 'littlle' cow....then if she was in an interactive mood...we'd guide her hand to the piece we wanted and praise her. Then once she got so that when we ask for the 'big' horse, she'd reach out for it automatically consistantly...we go to asking her to always give us the right response. Then we add in new big/little things. Like big/little spoons etc and ask her to hand us big/little spoon. Once she can give us the right response with all kindsa different objects...then we move away from the discret trial training and teach her to use in in real life. This part is called incedental teaching. Basically, its looking for opportunities in normal activities where you can have them show that knowledge. So like at dinner...when she asks for more bread....we can offer her two pieces, big and little, and ask her to pick one. Once shes willing to actually point to the piece she wants, big or little....then we ask her to identify it as big or little. She doesn't have signs yet for big/little....but in the process of asking her to id if she wants the big or little piece...she'll end up learning the signs for it as well because once she points to which she wants...we start back with the commenting..big/little. Once she has that down...then we would be trying to teach her to spontaneously tell us which she wants if she hasn't reached that point yet with it. And we look for opportunities throughout the day to teach her that concept. Whatever shes willing to pay attention to and that giving us the right response is worth it to her to make the effort to respond. In time, she'll respond to more and more for less and less reward. Baby steps.
And my kiddies calling me. Hopefully that gives you a good general idea of how aba works. Its very flexible to your kids needs, and makes it easy for parents to know what things to work on and breaking it all down to make it so our kids can learn it with less frustration. Less frustration makes learning a happier thing too so they can develope a positive attitude about learning. That one-on-one attention is vital to our kids. Theres alot of ways to give em that...but good ABA includes all of the other therapies according to your kids need for each thing they have to learn.
Sorry so long winded! Hope it helps!
Marti/co-admin
1-8 of 8 replies
Add your quick reply below:
You must be a member to reply to this post.
Check out some of the top posts today in Groups:
-
Love & Marriage
When's the last time you... (3) -
Healthy Moms
Want to look better in the buff? Ditch the sweet stuff -- with help from CafeMom! -
Moms with Adult Kids
Just For Fun: Lets Go Back To When They Were Young.... -
The CafeMom Newcomers Club
Helping the Homeless... *Update!* -
The CafeMom Newcomers Club
and your job sucks???
Advertisement
NEEDING HELP PLEASE!!!
- KenziesMom905
on May. 25, 2007 at 3:16 AM