Home-based ABA in Montgomery County

[Anonymous]

Can you recommend a home-based ABA group in the area? It's been suggested that we pursue something like this even though ds doesn't have ASD, but does have delays and sensory issues.

Thanks for any advice.

[Anonymous]

We were also suggested to do ABA by a dev ped even though DC does not have ASD. For us it was a total waste of money. I'm not trying to turn you off ABA but point out that certain professionals like certain types of therapy and always recommend them. In my gut I knew it wasn't right. By any chance have you just finished a dev ped workup?

Anyway two sources for your are Little Leaves and CSAAC, the latter of which MoCo will pay for if they decide you need ABA.

[Anonymous]

OP here: Yes, we did just get worked up by a dev ped who recommended this. Can you please tell me more about your experience and why it wasn't a good fit for your DC? Our DC has sensory issues and delayed speech and gross motor, though his social skills and other cognitive skills are great so far. How many hours per week did you guys do ABA? What have you switched to instead? We're overwhelmed by all of this and trying to figure out what would be the most helpful for DC.

[Anonymous]

15:33 here. OP, what is your child's age? Ours was two ish when we did ABA so your MMV when it comes to my advice. By any chance are you also the poster of the Shapiro thread? I also responded there. Anyhoo, my take on ABA for non-autistic kids is that scientists/physicians like to recommend it because the therapists take data off based on their interaction with a kid. They count how many times they can get a kid to respond a desired way or to say a desired thing. ABA people can then create lots of graphs and charts and percentages and they can also publish scientific papers which "prove" that ABA is successful. This kind of proof is very appealing to science-types. Other kinds of therapists don't typically spend their time recording this kind of data, good ones just take notes, record progress in a narrative and make lesson plans. One thing that particularly bothered me with ABA is that it can be practiced by people with just a BA and a certificate whereas pretty much any typical OT/PT/ST in private or county practice has at least a master's degree. It also tends not to be reimbursed by insurance. That being said, there are providers whose staff are more educated than the place we went. Because our kid didn't have any social or behavioral issues it was assumed that we didn't need a higher level therapist. We were only doing four hours a week because we were already getting county services and also because I refused to put all my eggs in one basket in terms of types of treatment. I assume you have already connected with Infants and Toddlers and are getting services from them. For us the biggest leaps forward happened because of an excellent county PT who helped my kid learn to walk and an excellent private ST who diagnosed the cause of my kid's difficulty learning to speak (and knew how to treat it).

[Anonymous]

OP again: Yes, I posted the other thread too. I was pretty surprised by this particular recommendation. I am a scientist myself, so I see the appeal of having the data, but as a parent all I care about is the right balance of intervention needed (not too little or too much) to help LO along. We started with Infants and Toddlers for PT when LO was only 4 months old, but we saw absolutely no progress with the therapist. We switched to a fantastic private PT at 6 months of age and she has been a life saver for LO. We are already in the process of getting private SPT and OT going. Until we got the ABA rec, we thought that this, plus maybe a private therapist or MCIT or both to work with LO at daycare would be enough.

[Anonymous]

15:33 here again. I am also 15:47 in the Shapiro thread. I guess the takeaway is that Shapiro writes pretty devastating reports and that he likes to recommend ABA. My advice is not to do too much at one time. We were attacking on all fronts for a time with tons of therapy and it was just making all of us cranky and exhausted. Also, just give your kid a chance to grow up. There is so much they can't know now--one reason I regret doing the dev ped workup was that DC was just so young there wasn't a lot they could say other than specify the ways he was behind, but we already knew that from the outset. If you are still in the market for an ST I highly recommend Anne Reynolds who specializes in kids under 3. She is amazing.
http://www.its-dts.com/aboutdts.html

[Anonymous]

OP again: Thanks, I agree that it can feel like too much and we would like to give private ST and OT a chance to help LO just like the PT really has so far. We have seen Anne Reynolds for a feeding evaluation and we're in the process of getting started with her on speech. She seems great.

[Anonymous]

OP, I know a few parents of kids with autism who are devotees of Greenspan and ABA. But a also know a mom with a child with sensory issues, not autistic who did ABA therapy with an slp trained in the method, and she had a really negative experience.

It sounds as though your LO is still quite young. It sounds like the pt is going well and that your getting on track with speech. That's a lot for LO and parents. Personally, this non-scientific just my gut, I'd say hold off on ABA.

The other suggestion that I would make is to seek out clinical trials thru NIH. I know a few people whose kids had very specialized needs and the got a lot out of this. Best of luck with everything. You're on the right track.