To ABA or not to ABA
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To ABA or not to ABA
| Tue, 09-06-2005 - 11:10pm |
Off and on lurker here looking for advice from been there parents. I have an almost 3 year old diagnosed with PDD-NOS. She has mild autistic behaviors, has language but it is quirky, has significant difficulty with receptive communication, decreased nonverbal communication/understanding, etc... she also has low muscle tone, gross motor delays, multisensory processing difficulties, delays in self-care. We are considering putting together an ABA program, but the intensity of hours has me concerned. It seems that it is encouraged to hit at least 20 hours per week, in addition to therapies. I guess I am afraid of pushing her too much and having her withdraw/get too stressed. I have a hard time knowing if I should just pursue more therapy and "typical" activities or pursue the ABA??? Any advice, experience or input is much appreciated.

Hi,
We have an ABA program (about 25-30 hours) in place for our 4-year old DS. We've been doing it for about 9 months. I wish we'd started sooner.
I know the hours seem overwhelming. But ABA does have substantiated results among kids like yours and mine -- not that some of the other therapies might not be worth trying, but ABA has documented results. That brings me comfort. And I know it seems like SO many hours for a little kid. But I told myself that Jack NEEDS the hours. Frankly, this is what he needs to be doing at this point. He also "ramped" up -- it's not like we jumped right into all the hours. And he doesn't mind it at all -- sees the therapists coming in the door and heads right to his work spot.
BTW, my DS sounds like your DD, pretty much (he has PDD-NOS, he does have language, etc.) But his big thing is SENSORY.
Good luck to you and your DD,
Cathy
hi and welcome.
i think that quality is more important then quantity. however, 20 hours doesn't end up being too bad. i can't speak about ABA personally. we chose to do floortime instead. i think it's important to have something in place that includes occupational therapy, speech and special ed. you could also consider having ABA in the house for half the time and doing floortime for the balance on your own--that would give you a well rounded approach of behavioral and social therapy. i think each family seems to have a personality towards one or the other.
valerie
I think deciding whether or not ABA is the right direction to go depends on the child and their needs. My son (who will be 3 in a few months) had real social deficits. I did not want him to be trained how to act (that is a very simplified and not entirely accurate description of ABA) because that was the least of my worries. I was worried that he simply seemed to lack the desire to interact with people. It almost seemed like his lack of development in many areas including receptive and expressive speech was caused by the fact that he just was not internally motivated my interpersonal relationship or interactions.
I ended up choosing RDI (relationship development intervension), although Ian also does speech therapy, and EI classes that use some ABA techniques. Had RDI not been available, I also considered Floortime to be a good fit for what Ian needs.
I think the best thing you can do it talk to a few experts in a few different types of therapies including ABA and maybe Floortime, RDI and any other therapies that are available in your area. Discuss their methods, why they think it works, what long term outcomes they have seen, and what skills they focus on teaching your child. I suspect if you talk to people about their areas of expertise, one of the programs will just sort of make the most sense to you in terms of what your child needs. When I went to an open house at a children's therapy center to listen to a speech about RDI, everything fell into place for me. I knew in my heart that I had found the right therapy for Ian and the methodology just sort of made sense in that it addressed my largest concerns for Ian.
You do not just need to follow one methodology either. Look around and you will probably find what is best for you. It needs to work for everyone in the family and you really need to buy in to the therapy/ies that you do.
Good luck.
Pat
Happiness is a conscious choice, not an automatic response. --
I have two kiddos on the spectrum: 6½-y.o. DS (PDD-NOS, mood disorder) and 4-y.o. DD (AS, some sensory issues).
It is my opinion that many different approaches can help, depending on the child, and that the long hours of whatever therapy you choose can actually help. We started our now 8-year-old son on many types of therapies and interventions at age 3 and he has made tremendous progress. But he has been a very hard-working boy since age 3 and has done many, many hours of different therapies since then. It is my experience that the long hours of work haven't stressed him out, but instead have taught him to understand more of what is going on around him, given him tools and thereby lowered his stress considerably, making him much more accessible!
We haven't done ABA per se, although I am aware that the theories cover much ground, so he's had some. We have had him in therapeutic schools, Speech, OT, behavioural therapy, sports therapy, talk therapy, small groups play therapy, RDI and floortime, lots of swimming and Tae Kwondo... I do believe that the long hours of work have been part of the reason our son has done so well. His sensory overload has not kept him isolated from the rest of the world, as he has been taught how to be in it.
A child with PDD may have difficulty with normal activities, but I think it is good to try both. I think you will figure much of this out by trial and error as you go along. Each child is so different, there just isn't a formula for spectrum. We also have done lots of "normal" activities, at the same time, kept him and us real busy. All good and informative, we just change what doesn't seem to work as we go along.
Good luck to you, let us know how it goes.
yours,
Sara
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