Instructional control

[Guest guest]

Maybe you need a BCBA that is more experienced with autism or maybe you somehow

unconsciously reinforce her tantrums. How is it that the school has this

control and she is not making any real progress?

Before I quit my job I would call the local autism society to see if they could

recommend someone to help you gain that control at home; also, are you familiar

with all the books out there on developing ABA programs at home? I once had a

start up list but can't find it right now...maybe someone else on the list can

help you. Your use of the term " instructional control " makes me think that you

probably have some knowledge of ABA methodologies, and you are correct, this is

VERY important.

If I hadn't spent 3 years home-schooling my son I can't imagine what he would be

like now. It's tough being mom and teacher but if they're not making progress

and you can't find out what's wrong in school and make them clean up their act

(like actually making progress, holding their feet to the fire and holding them

accountable for compensatory education) then pull her out...but get control

FIRST. (As a footnote, schools' ABA programs are notoriously poor and if they

have instructional control then maybe you need to observe.)

It's hard to be both Mom and teacher and she will resist in the beginning but I

think you need some real help and some confidence in yourself. I didn't know

what to do with my son initially, but I concentrated on functional life skills

and also, he led me a little. For instance, we got a puzzle of the US and he

wanted to know how to pronounce the names of all the states. Then from there,

he wanted to know directions and where people we knew lived...it was amazing

that he had been in school that long and no one, not even I, knew that he was

interested in this so a lot of his reinforcement came from doing the things that

he WANTED to learn but no one at school thought he could.

Lastly, we only home schooled 3 hours/day and that was good enough. (More time

during the day was spent on generalization of the skills.) If you try 6-8,

unless you're using NET, you're going to burn her and yourself out before you

get out of the gate.

Caveat Emptor: The only regret that I have about home schooling is that I

didn't put a stronger social component in it. If you do this, you MUST hook up

with a local home schooling group. VERY IMPORTANT! MAYBE THE FIRST ORDER OF

BUSINESS AND ACADEMICS SECOND.

Good luck and you can call me if you like but I am sure there are others out

there (professionals) who can help you more.

R. (just parent)