Positive stories with level 1 ASD stories?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have positive stories for kids that did 30- 60 hours per week of ABA including parents pitching in for additional 1:1. Not 10 hours though.

Op Thanks for sharing. Including for mild autism? We were told b/w 10-20 for his deficits.

But now worried we should do more?

Or were these numbers for level 3 maybe?

We were planning to put him in a mainstream school with additional support.

DP. I read in the book “parents guide to hfa” that 20+ hours a week is the research validated amount. But at the end of the day I’d imagine the bulk of successful asd level 1 adults did no ABA at all.

My DS had same diagnosis and something that was useful is teaching him how to recognize different emotions (started with flash cards basically).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have positive stories for kids that did 30- 60 hours per week of ABA including parents pitching in for additional 1:1. Not 10 hours though.

Op Thanks for sharing. Including for mild autism? We were told b/w 10-20 for his deficits.

But now worried we should do more?

Or were these numbers for level 3 maybe?

We were planning to put him in a mainstream school with additional support.

Levels varied, I’ve worked with many many children of all levels ages 14 months-18 years old. I still stand by the more the better in EI, regardless of level of the learner. Find a good BCBA or BCaBA with good BCBA oversight that can provide some parent training along with home based ABA. Sit in on all home sessions until the provider tells you youre inhibiting progress (don’t be offended this usually happens at some point), then record all sessions. Utilize everything they tell you, take data as asked, run programs on your own, make or buy any teaching materials they ask for. You can spend lots of time to save money or lots of money to save time as far as materials and additional RBT/1:1 hours go.

Do your due diligence and find a good provider- ask about educational background, experience, years certified, etc. Like every professional you want to choose someone that works for you and your family. Choosing a good provider is most important part. www.BACB.com

For a child under 5 I’d look for someone specializing in verbal behavior- though that shouldn’t be their only qualification by any means. You can buy a copy of the ABLLS-R book and check trackingsheets.net. You’ll probably want to request an ABLLS-R or VB-MAPP, as well as ask for EVT and PPVT be completed up front. If they can’t provide at least an ABLLS-R or VB-MAPP as part of the intake process I’d keep looking for a different provider.

I’d also get hearing/eyes tested, rule out medical causes, look into speech, OT, nutritionist, etc. and create a “team” of people that overlap a few minutes each week in the home. Take your home providers to doctors appointments once in awhile. Hold monthly or Bi-monthly team meetings-This creates a constant collaborative environment and ensures you’re all doing what is in the best interest of your family and child.

This is all “best practice” advice, obviously your child’s needs might vary, but my “best case” professional experiences have done all these things starting at 14 months-3 years. It’s a ton of work, money, and logistics for a parent and everyone involved really, but I truly feel the pay off of its worth it IME. You’ll probably have many people that disagree with me, so please do your own research and always do what works best for your child and family,

[Anonymous]

Yes my nephew has don’t great and is now in 2nd grad3 at public school, no accommodations, very good at math and video games, and sometimes blows up at a sibling. They have to pick their battles on what to discipline, it mainly if he touches or throws something at others. It hasn’t happened at school, to my knowledge. we have watched him and we know if we need to go over something we quiet the room, look him in the eye, make him apologize and have a consequence (no ipad time).
He had animal care therapy too which helped. Lots of socialization via the parents and community

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child was diagnosed at age 5. No language or intellectual disability. We didn't do ABA based on my reading of how autistic people experience it. He did mostly parallel play, long after others his age had moved on, but that didn't make him unhappy. Had friends at the end of ES and now, in high school, but MS was HARD. The best thing we've done is nurture his special interests and made sure that he had a place to shine, outside of school. No academic problems until late ES, when his talent for facts and concrete understanding was no longer helpful. School is hard, but he'll graduate from high school and most likely go to college.

Does that count as a success?

Not OP but thank you for sharing this. We have done the same and ours is just starting HS after very rough MS and things are looking up. You give me hope because yes, that counts as success in my book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My level 1 DS is now 17. He’s improved in some areas but still struggles in others. School is going very well and he will likely attend college, but his main deficits are social rather than academic. Get your child involved in as many activities as possible while he’s young and prioritize socializing with peers. Help him find his Tribe.

This!! If I could do it all over again we would have picked activities very early on that translated well to clubs or other activities in high school where he could socialize and make friends (an instrument he could play in the band, running so he could join track or cross country, etc.) Hindsight is always 20/20 but this would have made things much easier now.

[Anonymous]

My kid is 7. He never did ABA because it is not a good fit for him. Even ABA manager said out loud that there was no kid could match his social level at age 3 at their facility. I think I could cancel his private speech therapies anytime now because his speech is almost awesome. He talks a lot, communicate well, and he has friends at school. He is academically gifted that many things are too easy to him. I think his strength is logical thinking, math, learning fast ( if he is interested). He can talk to anyone and be dropped off at anywhere like camps/classes/parties/play dates.

The only signs one could tell he is on spectrum is sometimes he is inflexible, cannot understand subtle social cues, emotional and not attentive to other people emotion/environment. He is also behind on skills of taking care of himself and team sportsmanship, but he is making progress. I would love to nurture his strengths/interests ( chess, all kinds of broad game/card game, math and video games), but I am not sure if those are the things that I want to concentrate working on at age 7.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is 7. He never did ABA because it is not a good fit for him. Even ABA manager said out loud that there was no kid could match his social level at age 3 at their facility. I think I could cancel his private speech therapies anytime now because his speech is almost awesome. He talks a lot, communicate well, and he has friends at school. He is academically gifted that many things are too easy to him. I think his strength is logical thinking, math, learning fast ( if he is interested). He can talk to anyone and be dropped off at anywhere like camps/classes/parties/play dates.

The only signs one could tell he is on spectrum is sometimes he is inflexible, cannot understand subtle social cues, emotional and not attentive to other people emotion/environment. He is also behind on skills of taking care of himself and team sportsmanship, but he is making progress. I would love to nurture his strengths/interests ( chess, all kinds of broad game/card game, math and video games), but I am not sure if those are the things that I want to concentrate working on at age 7.

I’d encourage you not to worry so much about age when introducing new things. Obviously you can’t teach everything at once but try new things regardless of age, don’t assume they’re too young until you give it a good try. Often times children with autism / other neurodiversities take longer to learn new skills- especially complex skills, skills requiring fluency, or safety skills- than NT peers.

I’ve often heard from parents things like why do I need to work on street crossing at 18 months or math fluency starting at age 4 or 5, but by the time they “get it” it usually evens out to when their NT peers are “getting it” too. Just something to consider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is 7. He never did ABA because it is not a good fit for him. Even ABA manager said out loud that there was no kid could match his social level at age 3 at their facility. I think I could cancel his private speech therapies anytime now because his speech is almost awesome. He talks a lot, communicate well, and he has friends at school. He is academically gifted that many things are too easy to him. I think his strength is logical thinking, math, learning fast ( if he is interested). He can talk to anyone and be dropped off at anywhere like camps/classes/parties/play dates.

The only signs one could tell he is on spectrum is sometimes he is inflexible, cannot understand subtle social cues, emotional and not attentive to other people emotion/environment. He is also behind on skills of taking care of himself and team sportsmanship, but he is making progress. I would love to nurture his strengths/interests ( chess, all kinds of broad game/card game, math and video games), but I am not sure if those are the things that I want to concentrate working on at age 7.

Don't think of it as, is chess or board games good activities for 7 year olds. Rather, is 7 a good age to nurture my child's strengths and help him find his passions? And the answer to that is always yes. So get him into a chess club or regular board game night or math problem solving group (not Kumon or anything focusing on acceleration, but something where he can explore math concepts in a fun and social setting). He will do best at all the challenges you mention if he's practicing somewhere he is focused on strengths and with other kids who love the same things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is 7. He never did ABA because it is not a good fit for him. Even ABA manager said out loud that there was no kid could match his social level at age 3 at their facility. I think I could cancel his private speech therapies anytime now because his speech is almost awesome. He talks a lot, communicate well, and he has friends at school. He is academically gifted that many things are too easy to him. I think his strength is logical thinking, math, learning fast ( if he is interested). He can talk to anyone and be dropped off at anywhere like camps/classes/parties/play dates.

The only signs one could tell he is on spectrum is sometimes he is inflexible, cannot understand subtle social cues, emotional and not attentive to other people emotion/environment. He is also behind on skills of taking care of himself and team sportsmanship, but he is making progress. I would love to nurture his strengths/interests ( chess, all kinds of broad game/card game, math and video games), but I am not sure if those are the things that I want to concentrate working on at age 7.

Don't think of it as, is chess or board games good activities for 7 year olds. Rather, is 7 a good age to nurture my child's strengths and help him find his passions? And the answer to that is always yes. So get him into a chess club or regular board game night or math problem solving group (not Kumon or anything focusing on acceleration, but something where he can explore math concepts in a fun and social setting). He will do best at all the challenges you mention if he's practicing somewhere he is focused on strengths and with other kids who love the same things.

Pp here. He was into these chess, math and board games since age 4/5. I still can't find kids of his current age sharing similar interests and passions. It has been us parents playing with him once in a while, and he sometimes plays on chess.com online. He is quite good for his age at those things because he loves it. I have seen him watching video clips for chess strategies, complicated math problems like 4th/5th grade, detective role play games etc online, and I just let him explore on his own.

I have thought of maybe letting him join online math competition, but I am not sure if I want to do that. He hates to lose even though he loves challenges and competitions. His afterschool chess club happen to crush with his other schedules, so he cannot sign up. Good thing that he loves playground and plays silly games/tells silly jokes/play video games, and these are some of the most common things 7 year old kid loves to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes my nephew has don’t great and is now in 2nd grad3 at public school, no accommodations, very good at math and video games, and sometimes blows up at a sibling. They have to pick their battles on what to discipline, it mainly if he touches or throws something at others. It hasn’t happened at school, to my knowledge. we have watched him and we know if we need to go over something we quiet the room, look him in the eye, make him apologize and have a consequence (no ipad time).
He had animal care therapy too which helped. Lots of socialization via the parents and community

NP. What is animal care therapy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have positive stories for kids that did 30- 60 hours per week of ABA including parents pitching in for additional 1:1. Not 10 hours though.

Op Thanks for sharing. Including for mild autism? We were told b/w 10-20 for his deficits.

But now worried we should do more?

Or were these numbers for level 3 maybe?

We were planning to put him in a mainstream school with additional support.

Levels varied, I’ve worked with many many children of all levels ages 14 months-18 years old. I still stand by the more the better in EI, regardless of level of the learner. Find a good BCBA or BCaBA with good BCBA oversight that can provide some parent training along with home based ABA. Sit in on all home sessions until the provider tells you youre inhibiting progress (don’t be offended this usually happens at some point), then record all sessions. Utilize everything they tell you, take data as asked, run programs on your own, make or buy any teaching materials they ask for. You can spend lots of time to save money or lots of money to save time as far as materials and additional RBT/1:1 hours go.

Do your due diligence and find a good provider- ask about educational background, experience, years certified, etc. Like every professional you want to choose someone that works for you and your family. Choosing a good provider is most important part. www.BACB.com

For a child under 5 I’d look for someone specializing in verbal behavior- though that shouldn’t be their only qualification by any means. You can buy a copy of the ABLLS-R book and check trackingsheets.net. You’ll probably want to request an ABLLS-R or VB-MAPP, as well as ask for EVT and PPVT be completed up front. If they can’t provide at least an ABLLS-R or VB-MAPP as part of the intake process I’d keep looking for a different provider.

I’d also get hearing/eyes tested, rule out medical causes, look into speech, OT, nutritionist, etc. and create a “team” of people that overlap a few minutes each week in the home. Take your home providers to doctors appointments once in awhile. Hold monthly or Bi-monthly team meetings-This creates a constant collaborative environment and ensures you’re all doing what is in the best interest of your family and child.

This is all “best practice” advice, obviously your child’s needs might vary, but my “best case” professional experiences have done all these things starting at 14 months-3 years. It’s a ton of work, money, and logistics for a parent and everyone involved really, but I truly feel the pay off of its worth it IME. You’ll probably have many people that disagree with me, so please do your own research and always do what works best for your child and family,

OP what do you mean by specializing in verbal behavior?
Our child is actually very advanced in language. The doctor said advanced even for a 3 year old.

[Anonymous]

My daughter is 5. We haven’t done ABA because I’m concerned about how adult autistics experienced it as abusive and traumatizing. We’ve done OT and tried play therapy. We haven’t stuck with the play therapy, though, because my daughter wasn’t really engaging. She loves OT and it seems to help. She’s in a gen Ed classroom for kindergarten with pull outs and is doing fantastic! Preschool was hard for her. Lots of meltdowns and social struggles. But kindergarten is going really well so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is 5. We haven’t done ABA because I’m concerned about how adult autistics experienced it as abusive and traumatizing. We’ve done OT and tried play therapy. We haven’t stuck with the play therapy, though, because my daughter wasn’t really engaging. She loves OT and it seems to help. She’s in a gen Ed classroom for kindergarten with pull outs and is doing fantastic! Preschool was hard for her. Lots of meltdowns and social struggles. But kindergarten is going really well so far.

Us, too. We added in speech therapy about 9 months ago, and I wish we had started earlier. My son has minimal articulation goals, but the social pragmatically are helpful.

[Anonymous]

NP. Middle school is challenging because it's when social dynamics get really complicated and many kids who could pass for NT in the past start looking more out of place. The same time this is happening NT kids often get meaner because they are insecure, going through puberty and if they haven't cared before they might start thinking about popularity and the opposite sex. IME the most unkind kids are the ones who have their own social challenges and are also thought of as "weird" or "odd" by their peers.

By the time HS comes around many kids have matured and are kinder.

[Anonymous]

My son is 8 now, he was diagnosed the moment he turned 2. If I recall, he scored 1 point over the line to qualify as ASD. So he is very borderline. At the time, his doctors all couldn't wait until he turned 2 to formally diagnose him, his symptoms were obvious. They faded when he left the toddler years. However, the other day I looked up symptoms of Aspergers (I know it doesn't exist as a term but I was looking for mild autism for older kids), he fit almost every item.

He has many friends, he has no difficulty making friends. I think he doesn't pick up social cues, he doesn't know/care about birthdays or school drama, so he considers everyone a friend so they all like him. He gets very focused on things that matter only to him at strange times now. He has meltdowns easily if his routine changes, even if I get him early from school to do something fun.

I got him involved in sports early. And scouts. And an instrument and encouraged his love of board games, math. Do it early while kids can say and do dumb things and it's ok, and I did it all with the goal of meeting other kids and teaching him to make friends based on interests. He reads a lot of books about kids his age (fiction) so I'm hoping it kind of teaches him how to interact with the world.

I worry a lot the older grades will be harder too. He has a hard time seeing things from other people's perspectives and it comes across as lack of empathy, but for now we are managing without support.