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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I've been reading all these posts about the Cameratas, and people seem to have had such positive experiences, but I find it a little bit befuddling what exactly makes them different, and why knowing your kid is a late talker versus a PDD-NOS dx makes any therapeutic difference, when the PDD bucket (which I know has been removed from the DSM) is so broad anyway. I have a 10 yo with an (educational) autism diagnosis and some language/social communication delays, and I know a lot of kids with similar profiles (often dx'd in preschool as PDD-NOS). As I've watched the dc I know grow up, they all have become more typical in their language use and are most in mainstream settings with some supports. As a dev psych said to me years ago, "These kids do pretty well as they grow up, regardless of what therapies you do." Some have NVLD dxs now, some are ADHD, some are more Aspergers-like....it's just that the types of therapies they get aren't really all that different, and that while they have different profiles, the differences are not that astounding.[/quote]

Frankly, the schools and the SLPs we've used haven't been nearly as sophisticated in technique as the Camaratas in dealing with a child with a severe receptive language delay. I was taking my child to a speech therapist with a stellar background; she had been one of the leads at a hospital autism speech preschool. She was extremely nice. Her sessions with my son though, were not pretty. He spent the whole time fighting her. Little got done.  Luckily, they taped the sessions, and I sent one to Mary Camarata, who said that this was a very patient therapist -- but it was a waste of our time and money. Mary then gave me tips to pass on to the therapist -- again, a very experienced therapist. I wasn't sure she'd take Mary's advice, but she did. And the turnaround was immediate and dramatic. The therapist herself was extremely impressed (and I thought, you didn't know to try this? After more than a year of working with my child?)

Same thing with the schools. They would be trying, trying, trying their "autism" therapies with my MERLD child, and it was a disaster.  But whenever I could get them to actually follow the Camarata's suggestions, we got back on track. I remember one elementary teacher -- a really talented woman who actually read the reports from the Camaratas --  who said their instructions worked exactly like they said it would, and again turned things around when she was not having success.

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