Re: Re: ABA & SI

[Guest guest]

Just an addendum here _ the MeList site addy is

http://www.addr.com/~me-list This list is devoted to the original

Lovaas type ABA but alot of Verbal behavior info is popping up. If I may

suggest a couple of interesting books you can get from interlibrary loan

as they are now over 2 yrs old~ Carol Kranowitz' " The Out of Sync Chld "

seems to me to be the most complete and up to date info on SI.

The ABA book " A Work in Progress " by Ron Leaf and McEachin isbn #

0-9665266-0-0 is more geared toward older kids. If you do a search on

McKeachin you can locate some articles he has written about how ABA

works for older kids, something that used to be quite controversial. I

found here in Florida that the Sundberg Partington verbal behavior folks

were much more enthusiastic about working with older children than were

the traditional ABAers. In Autism and ABA parents refer to their FOUR

year olds as older kids. Sheesh

I've been thinking alot about this as I too have been feeling " guilty "

that I didn't start this sooner and also P.O.d at NACD for telling me

for 9 yrs that ABA didn't work. I hung out for a while on the " Recovered

Kids " list (Autism) and tho the moms mentioned many many interventions

that had helped, almost every single one had done some form of ABA with

their now " indistinguishable " child. We all have been at a distinct

disadvantage due to the lack of proper diagnoses for our children at an

early age before the groundbreaking work of Glenn and Joan and Dr.

Capone.

(sounds like a musical trio haha)

We certainly can't easily aim for " recovery " when our kids aren't dxed

till 5 or 10 or 15. Some kids recovering from autism are being

identified at 18 months now! Their moms are not burnt to a crisp and it

is getting easier and easier to prove to the educational establishment

that ABA works when begun at a very early age. Many still have time

energy and resources left to fight legal battles, IEP battles and do

alot more work themselves. I am not one of them. I am not for one moment

kidding myself that with what little I can do I will see " recovery " BUT

I firmly believe I am seeing more bang for my buck if you will with this

approach than with any other we have tried......though we do have alot

already in place ie GFCF diet, allergy tx, lull in surgical procedures

and illness. And most important, just seemed to reach some window

at age 10 where she seemed to be wanting to talk or more readily echoing

some things I was saying and I just wanted to jump on that window as it

may be our last chance - who knows. Anyway....just some Muhsings about

the topic. Sorry to be a blabbermouth. Love y'all, Sherry

[Guest guest]

Sherry:

What type of search should I do for these articles?

If you do a search on

McKeachin you can locate some articles he has written about how ABA

works for older kids, something that used to be quite controversial.

[Guest guest]

,

I was just wondering why you are on a waiting list to see the OT. Is it on

's IEP and if it is you should be receiving services immediately.

You can always file a compliance complaint if that is the case. How old is

Steph again?

Marisa

Mom to Miles, Brook Ds/asd, Genevieve 3yrs

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/11/01 1:48:16 PM Eastern Standard Time,

burnett@... writes:

<< Hi Donna

Thanks for your encouragement & for clarifying that OT's need special

training courses to practice SI. Since we're on such a long waiting list to

see an OT, I wondered if there was anything you could recommend for us to

start now at home. >>

,

This would be hard to say, since I'm surely not a professional. When a

qualified SI therapist does an eval, they determine what the child's deficits

are and what type of individual program would work. Some kids are

hypo-sensitive, some hyper, and some a little of both. Maddie falls into

the both category. Because Maddie was always terrified to be in a room of

people and would go directly to corners or hiding spots, Jeanetta started

working on full body stuff. She'd make giant mountains out of her equipment

(big barrel, large mats, gigantic body pillows) for Maddie to climb and crash

on to the other side (like a big sliding board,,,,but very safe). We did

TONS of swinging since Maddie craved it like crazy (during her first eval, it

was determined that she had no nystagmus----she could swing for hours and

never get dizzy). We did deep pressure stuff, brushing, airplane rides (to

build upper torso strength) and LOADS and LOADS of floortime, which Jeanetta

is amazing at. It would probably be safe enough for you to start a brushing

program. The Southpaw catelog has brushes you could buy (although I bought

mine through Jeanetta--much easier because then I could just buy one of each

instead of packages of 10, the way the catelogs sell them). The number for

a catelog is 1-800-228-1698 or www.southpawenterprises.com. I would start

with the Oval Poly brush (powder blue one) because it's the softest and a

good way to introduce brushing. You have to hold the brush so the brushes

go against the skin and brush using deep deep pressure (wish I could

demonstrate). You have to be even....IOW, don't miss one arm when you've

done the other. Maddie hated this at first, til I made a fun game of it,

then she'd see the brushes and put her hand out. I use that brush, the

tactile scrub one, and the hand & palm one (which we do with very fast motion

on the hands). Also, on page 42 are IEP progress forms that were designed

by Jeanetta. They may help you get the appropriate services you need.

I had made a whole sensory room for Maddie when she was at the height of

her SI problems. We have the platform rotary swing in our basement, along

with the net swing which I purchased with funds from FDSS (family driven

social services). One year, Santa bought the Whale, pictured on pg. 40.

A so fun toy, but having 4 other maniac kids, it broke easy. These things

are very expensive, but you can improvise. For instance, I made the giant

body pillows (they are very big). A local fabric store donated foam ends to

me for stuffing and I purchased soft material on sale. I even made the

Barrel you'll see on page 64. A friend gave me a huge barrel from a

construction site (don't know what they're called, but they're the identical

size to the ones they sell). I covered it in carpet scraps and used roofing

tubing for the ends. We got lots of use out of that.

Anyway, Val, I think you should try to really push the OT eval. We paid out

of pocket and it was extremely expensive ( $750 for the 4 hour eval and

eventually, our weekly bills were $100 a visit). I probably could have

fought to get funding through the early intervention program or MA, but I was

fighting other battles at the time...we have to pick and choose and determine

what we have the energy for sometimes) However, we don't regret for one

second all the money we poured into this. Jeanetta was a life-saver to us

for a long time. She was the one who made the first breakthrough with

Maddie. She would encourage me to bring dh and the kids in to watch

sessions and she would teach them how to get through to Maddie. We video

taped sessions all the time, that I would bring to her school. We even gave

one to Melmark (even though they're very qualified) because we wanted them to

see the magic.

Sorry this was so long!! And keep us posted on how you make out.

Donna