Floortime or ABA?

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-26-2005
Floortime or ABA?
4
Tue, 10-04-2005 - 10:05pm
Hi,
I was wondering how many of you use Greenspan's floortime approach? I've been using it with Jake for over a year now and to be honest I don't know if it is working. All it seems to do is reinforce scripting. Have you found this to be true with your child. I was told by his therapist that he's not severe enough to try ABA but she is very much against using ABA. His biggest problem seems to be the pragmatics of language and he will ask and repeat the same things over and over again. I just don't know if I'm using the right therapy for him. Any Ideas?
Teresa
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: baboig
Wed, 10-05-2005 - 5:42am

we have used floortime for 18+ months now. how do you think ABA will differ? i think it's feasible to use both therapies together. do you think adding more structure to his sessions will help with his speech? greenspan feels that this is possible and very useful in certain situations. my impression of ABA is that is teaches rote skills, but doesn't necessarily teach reasoning behind it. i know i will get some feedback from the behavioralists out there--but seriously, if you strictly teach a child to say " i love you mommy", i'm sure he can do that--but does it mean anything if he isn't given the skills to rationalize what it means?

i think your therapist should be a little more open minded and try to find a way to help you. adding structure to floortime is doable. heck, you could ABA with speech and continue floortime with the other disciplines. is everything else in the program working well? what are your goals for him overall? where is he developmentally?

valerie

~Valerie
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-19-2005
In reply to: baboig
Wed, 10-05-2005 - 10:10am

Hi there,

I think Valerie made a lot of good points. We have been using floortime too (on our own, I never have had a professional help us) for about a year. At first Eric did do a lot of scripting, or he would imitate the "pretend" things that I did. At first I was glad about this, it started him imitating, which he needed to learn. But as his echolalia decreased overall, his pretend play began to expand. I also did a lot of switching things up on him.

Maybe it is best to use an example. He used to take his Thomas trains and act out things from the Thomas videos so he could repeat the scripts. I would go along with him doing this too. One day I took a Buzz Lightyear toy and had him ride on the Thomas train. Then Eric did that for awhile. I just kept switching things up on him, a little at a time, and he eventually had a "breakthrough" where he could come up with pretend stories on his own. But it took a long time, maybe 8 mos. to get to this point and it was tied to his speech development.

Also, we have used ABA and floortime both. We had a ABA therapist come to the house for awhile when Eric was young (18-24 mos.) She mostly reinforced what our OT did. After awhile, we all agreed we did not need this support. For my son, ABA works best for adaptive problems, like eating, potty training, things like that. He is pretty high functioning too.

There is a good floortime group on yahoo that often has good ideas. Also, I really like the parent guide on Greenspan's website. It is easier to understand for me than his books, even though I use his book as a guide.

Katherine

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-27-2003
In reply to: baboig
Wed, 10-05-2005 - 10:22pm

Hi Teresa,

I use (Verbal Behavior)VB/ABA with a combination of natural enviroment teaching. The program that I use is very language based and we currently use the ABLLS to track progress and skill development.I truly beleive in mixing and matching methodologies to develop skills . Utilizing every resource available to enhance the ability that is waiting to be developed in my children.I am also incorpating RDI into my children's therapies.We also do NET and go out into the community once a week to work on life skills such as eating,walking or bike riding to the libary. I have them involved in a social recrecational program twice a month. I am currently working with the local ddso to establish programs that typical children get to attend so that my boys have the same opportunity to their childhood and get to enjoy activities where I don't normally get to take them.

I guess what I am saying is that I think exploring all options through services that are avalible to your son Jake.You are the best judge of your child and what works best for them. The new method of teaching ABA shows that randomization and the incorporation of natural enviorment teaching,using speech in all forms and understanding the function of language using a well rounded program works. My children have made good progress each of them in different areas they are very different from each other. I also use some "floortime"(as Natural enviroment teaching) but that is mostly used in my home for teaching play skills but I modify the NET with vb and rdi for social skills. I hope this helps you . If you feel that what you are using is not working you can try somthing else. Best of luck to you.

Jackie~

 


Jackie~  Jacob , Dylan-James, &

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-09-2003
In reply to: baboig
Thu, 10-06-2005 - 9:45pm

As you've probably realized, each kid is different and benefits from a different therapeutic approach.

~ Chelsea