Dtt-NET Rebuilding a Positive Attitude

[Guest guest]

Jennie,

In 6 years of ABA programming we have hit the wall several times. The

most recent time was just a few months ago. Regaining a positive attitude on

the part of the kid and therapists became my most important goal. The first

thing I did was suspend all drills. I made a list of everything Colin

enjoyed doing. I included everything that could be done at home. There were

about 50 items including making and eating snacks, gross motor play, video

watching, computer games and sensory play with shaving creme and so on.

Since Colin can read, I just printed them on cards. The therapist would

preselect 5-10 cards and lay them out and ask Colin which do you want to do

first. He'd chose one and she'd write down after #1. She'd repeat this

process for a total " schedule " of 3-5 activities. Then they would do them

and cross out each one as it was done. Open-ended activities were

arbitrarily ended by a timer which Colin sets and turns off. He also choses

how long to do the activities by choosing the number of minutes from a choice

of 5, 10, or 15.

For Colin, this gave him a lot of choices and control. When, after about

two weeks, we gradually added homework and language drills and chores, he was

okay with it as long as he was allowed to do some negotiating. (He is also

learning to negotiate which is a valuable skill. We do let him win often

enough to reinforce him.)