If money were (within reason) no object, what intervention would you do?

[veryoldmother]

A great friends child of 2.3 has recently been diagnosed with ASD. He is nonverbal. They are lucky enough to have access to a decent amount of money. What would you do? She is overwhelmed by not only the diagnosis but the lack of clear advice............

Many thanks for responding starlight. the added complexity is that he is a twin and the twin is also non-verbal (although not though to be ASD).........as I undertand it, there would be no harm in the twin following the programme too?

I really am very grateful for the input. Apart from Catherine Maurice's book, what else is good to read? And how hard is it to train/how long might it take? I suspect some family members (very close wider family very keen to help) might offer to do this IF it wasnt going to be detrimental to the overall provision.

What about SALT? Is that seperate?

And Which specific Hanen books?

This report graded all the interventions last year. For young children ABA or similar models (PRT, Early Denver) came out as approaches with most evidence. That is a great age to be able to start - we got a diagnosis at 2.3 but wasted 7 months waiting for the public sector professionals to do something. 18 months on he has only had a few hours of generalised help from State. We started ABA at 2.10 and have only been able to afford 20 hours a week aba which we have done most of and it has helped enormously. You can usually tell if be a good reaction to ABA in first 3 months so I would say to start it and evaluate after 3 months. Go for a recommended provider who has no tie ins. My DS started using language again (he had a regression) within a week of starting aba. With a young child I would recommend a provider nearby who can see you regularly. Children change so quickly you want to be able to access supervision very regularly. Also early on they can really whip through the programmes once they "get" it.

She won't get advice to do aba from any State professional - they won't want to fund it even encouraging you to do it privately is seen as risking you asking for it to be State funded in future. Speak to providers, go and meet other families / sit in on sessions. Apart from anything else it will help with parenting and make her feel she is doing something - she will know what to do each week and have a plan and that can really help. Sitting around doing nothing waiting for intervention to start was the most stressful time for me, I lost all my confidence in how to be a parent. Once we started aba I felt useful again. I still had to come to terms with diagnosis but I had some tools to work with and didn't feel completely lost.

Ron Leaf etc - Autism Partnership "Work in Progress" is a good textbook of an ABA curriculum. I love it it feels like a solid plan to help my child rather than the wishy washy autism rhetoric other professionals try and fob us off with.

Hanen books I would recommend are 'More than words'(which we followed when DS was non verbal via a SALT run course) and 'It takes two to talk'.

They are very pricey though, they go or about £75 on ebay, a little cheaper on Amazon if you can find them.

Anyone any idea of who to go to now with a view to setting up a programme in West London? And How does nursery or preschool fit in?

I have read the catherine maurice book ABA manual.
I used it for about 4 months.
Having done that I would strongly recommend against trying to start a programme at home without a team. The worst 4 months of my life. And probably DS2s and certainly DS1s and Dhs....
If she has cash she could get a team together.

Personally I would get a decent DAN practitioner and do full bio medical.
But then I know DS2 has bio connection with his ASD including food and gut issues

We use AP and have fornightly supervision and mainly use family / volunteers. You can claim DLA and direct payments to help with costs. With twins can ask for respite to spend time separately with each twin have friend in same situation gets 10 hours per week as hard to do activities both twins at same time. Then use those direct payments for aba tutors. Supervisor has been the key for us they train you at start then come back regularly this is essential to keep you on track and keep pace with child. If you can afford tutors that's a bonus but you can run a good programme with family. The programmes aren't difficult to learn and are demostrated etc.
I would not put faith in State provision for under fives unless you have a specialist nursery you can get into it's just a playworker once a week at best. The system is based on schools we were actually told we would get no provision until ds was over 3 and nursery age. With good aba we have not needed Salt which is just as well as they only come termly!

Starlight. completely understand. Put the question another way. Is there a range of people she should be getting in touch with to talk/interview? Is Duncan fennemore one of them?

FWIW, the reason I am asking all this is that she is genuiely struggling to cope with the whole thing and I am keen that she doesnt just bry her head in the sand (as it were)

Sorry took so long to type that thread moved on. Our aba supervisor goes into mainstream nursery and gives training or can get tutor accompany child to nursery. Unlikely would be allowed to do aba in special nursery.

Plan is for aba to reduce and mainstream time to increase until fully integrated but this is gradual. Children with asd may not learn in group setting until older.

Are some aba nurseries in London
look at treehouse website for list

DF I have heard good things on here. we use AP but not their London branch. Peach also have coverage. Meet as many as you can and sit in with other families. Alot will depend on child and also what parent is comfortable with we do more structured aba as DS is very passive and withdrawn but more inquisitive children might suit different approach.

Star agree about SS we were offered 2 hours but other areas differ . Is really good argument with twins though SS did recognise it was impossible to take twin 1 anywhere when twin 2 could not tolerate it. As with anything worth asking for the assessment!

Worth finding a support group eg NAS . Also group in Tower Hamlets where do Floortime approaches think website is Mindbuilders. They run seminars etc.

Sure some Londoners will be along soon to help more

AP tutor costs are high but you can run cheaper prog using their supervisor and indep tutors / volunteers we did several months for £400 a month supervision only. And used DLA to fund part of that. They will recommend a FT prog but will agree to do what you can afford. Peach would only support 40 hours which was why we did not go with them. Smaller prog likely be fine 2 year old. It has to be manageable for the whole family.

No idea why other twin is non verbal I guess possible he is ASD too although no other signs apparently.

Is SALT on top of all this ie with a seperate specialist?

Sorry had name changed (no real reason just am more identifiable under this name). too late now I guess..........