OT: ABB & behavior - smart kid

[Guest guest]

> His school is a 1:1 ABA program that we're privileged to live near

and that

> he was accepted into. But I don't think he gets much socialization

there,

> at least not with other kids. We've observed the teaching methods

and they

> are intense, teacher & student in a work cubicle. There is a little

> socialization but not alot.

>

> At home, we live in a small neighborhood with lots of kids. And two

new

> families just moved in with four kids between them.

Marty,

I've been off the list for a few days, so I'm just now catching up on

this issue. Your situation sounds a lot like mine. Right now, we

have Brett scheduled 37 hours each week for one-on-one ABA at home

with private tutors. He is also very bright, and even though he just

turned 3 in Feb, he knows a lot of " kindergarten " skills (cutting,

alphabet, counting, etc.) He interacts wonderfully with his adult

tutors, however, he is way behind in social skills with peers.

He was attending a private preschool with an aid 3 mornings a week

with NT kids, but school is out for the summer. So, we pulled

together the 3 kids from his preschool class who interact best with

Brett, plus a facilitator/ABA tutor, plus Brett's brother (who is 18

mos older), and now we have a structured playgroup for 2 hours on

Monday and Friday mornings. It's working out really well. Maybe you

could try something like this, too.

We are also blessed with a neighborhood with LOTS of kids, and a new

family who moved in Monday across the street has a boy 3 mos younger

than Brett. Once I got over the initial sadness reaction of " look

how much more advanced than Brett he is! " , I realized that he will be

a great assest. I plan to have him over for playdates as much as

possible. My only concern is that we have so much time in ABA that

Brett doesn't have a lot of time for unstructured play. As the

summer wears on, and therapists go on vacation, I'm sure that problem

will " solve " itself.

For next school year, we're again putting Brett in the typical

preschool (4 mornings a week), but we haven't determined yet if he'll

need a full-time aid. We are also considering the public special

needs preschool for the afternoons, but we're going to wait and see

who the new teacher is. Then, we'll work the ABA around that.

Anyway, I guess my advice to you is to consider a playgroup and/or

playdates to help with the social skills. You may want to back off a

little on the ABA (as we are planning in the fall) to give him a

break from the intensity. I am a huge fan of ABA, but my only

complaint is that it's so easy to teach the " academic " skills with

it, but much harder to teach the interpersonal skills that most

autistic kids really need help with.

Good luck, and let us know how you decide to handle his education!

(As you can tell, this is a major interest for me!)

Sue