Reply to Loaded question: MERLD and autism

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Reply to "Loaded question: MERLD and autism "

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]ABA principles are applicable to children who are having issues with behavior as well as

"...used around the world to help all kinds of people overcome all kinds of social and behavioral problems such as quitting smoking, addressing personality disorders, relationship counseling, obsessive compulsive disorders, and many other common issues. Behavioral principles only began being used for children with autism in the late 1960’s and 1970’s. Studies are available that support the use of ABA programming with children affected by any number of different disabilities including Downs Syndrome, CP, Emotional Disorders, General Developmental Delay, etc."
http://www.prioritiesaba.com/resources-links/myths-and-misconceptions-about-aba

Or read about how a SLP uses ABA.
http://www.speakforyourself.org/uncategorized/accept-behavior-towards-non-autistic-child/

The same goes for things like the Kazdin Method (developed with kids with ODD) or Social Thinking Curriculum was developed with kids who fall under, "Diagnostic Label
Attention Issues (ADD/ADHD), Anxiety, Asperger's Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Language or Learning Disability, Nonverbal Learning Disability, Social Communication Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury, No Diagnosis, Other..."

I guess people who are using definitions that were made nearly 20 years ago, may not understand what type of therapies are used today.[/quote]

Children with language issues often struggle with behavior, it's true. But that's because of their LANGUAGE issues. So if you get them into a good speech therapy setting, many of those issues go away.

The problem of pushing ABA is its massive expense which typically is not covered unless you have an autism diagnosis. It's also a huge time sink, and you're treating the symptom instead of the real issue.

We are one of the families who saw the Camaratas. They were able to give us many tips that solved most of our at-home behavior issues. At school, they recommended bringing in a board-certified behaviorist to do a support plan, and that worked right away. But that's different than ABA, which is discrete trial training. [/quote]

Again, I'm not pushing ABA or any other behavioral intervention.  I don't understand why there is such defensiveness on this board.  My child diagnosed with MERLD didn't need behavioral supports or behavioral interventions in preschool, his teachers were aware of his diagnosis, and it didn't keep coming up over and over.  Mainly b/c his behavior was appropriate despite his delays.

The OP didn't mention trouble at home and assume that the OP's kid is already doing ST.  Maybe there is and she didn't mention it.  And really ABA [b]or[/b] behavioral therapy requires a lot of time, and it depends on what your insurance coverage is if you feel you need to pursue that route.  Kids don't need to be on the spectrum to do ABA; likewise kids with autism can do behavioral therapy.  The approaches are very similar.

[b]My point (again) is that if the teachers are continuing to bring up autism, there probably is a reason, and it's probably behavior related[/b].  They either don't want him at the school, or they don't understand how to deal with him.  Either way, it's an obtuse way of going about it.  If I were the OP, I would ask for clarification from the teachers and/or have an observation/FBA done to help this kid in his current school.  And maybe give some thought as to whether it is the right school fit.  Regardless of the cause (whether it's language, communication disorder, ADHD to name only a few), behavioral interventions can help.
[/quote]

I'm the PP and I agree it's likely the behavior they are seeing that makes them think autism. This is what we ran into. And we could clearly see that the school district personnel had a tunnel vision of "this is how autistic children act" vs. "this is how a child in distress acts.'

What was frustrating is we kept asking for a Functional Behavior Assessment, and they kept stalling and facilitating between "everything's going ok with inclusion" to "your child needs to be in a center based autism program!" All without ever doing the FBA.

Finally we switched schools in 2nd grade, they did the FBA -- and the plan worked the first day. All of a sudden, inclusion was working great! And then they really started to see the impact of his language issues on his education and his social skills. We finally started moving forward from there.

[/quote]

Our story is similar but in DS's case, he needed more than a FBA.  DS had a full neuropsych eval in 2nd grade which found undiagnosed ADHD, combined type, in addition to the Asperger's diagnosis that he got in preK:

Getting treated for ADHD + FBA/BIP + additional supports/services in his IEP including support for his learning disability in written expression = happy kid who does great at school and has friends.  DS also took up chess and is one of the top kids for his age in the USA.

OP needs to speak to the teachers and go back to the developmental pediatrician for further evaluations.  Whatever is happening at school is not working.[/quote]

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