Parents of children with ASD, Is ABA the answer?

[Slinkysista]

Hi everyone

Doing some research work for university on the pros and cons of ABA in the treatment of ASD.

Was wondering what the general mood was towards ABA amongst parents of children with ASD on this site. Amongst the parents I know personally and from what I have read there seems to be two very distinct camps those who can't praise it highly enough and those who think it is overrated and have ethical concerns about implementing an ABA program ( as in ABA is trying to change their child and is totally unaccepting of what some parents feel are their child's little personality quirks as the Son Rise program, for example, would).

Where do you stand?

Sounds like a great day Silver!

thanks, everyone.

lenin and justa - glad you have had some good days too.

I am, in a foolish moment (borne of a mixture of being over-hyped haivng eaten far too much haribo, and over-confidant after today's success), contemplating taking the pair of them swimming on my own tomorrow.

they would both love it (for some reason, neither of their wet-aversion extends to swimming currently ), and they are both much improved after daily practice whilst on holiday.

maybe I will wake up thinking straighter though - watch this space!

That's such a lovely thing Silver, to hear that you are at peace.
I can't begin to imagine as you say what 4 years of hell has been like for your family.That kind of thing breaks a lot of people.

I'd like one of you parents to write an article on the emotional toll of fighting for your rights. Most professionals have absolutely no idea what this is like (I didn't until I did it myself and kissed goodbye to any semblance of a normal life for a very long period of time.)

I think many genuinely beleive people just 'kick off' to be difficult and to get some nasty pleasure out of hassling people who work with their kids, i really do.

I know I bang on about it but fresh air and exercise-lots of it-is one of them most beneficial things for kids like the ones we discuss here. Exercise good for us all of course. I'm a bit of an exercise freak. it has helped me through some of the most stressful times of my life.

justaboutWILLfinishherthesis

promise not to laugh at my amateurism but I found growing our own veg to be the "breakthrough therapy" in treating DS's excessive perfectionism last year. No matter how attentive you are over a few months if you grow a good variety (at least a dozen items - it's variety NOT quantity of produce you want) so stuff grows brilliantly and some is a disaster for first timers and the whole process is so dependent on nature that my son gradually accepted some items weren't as good as we'd hoped. Others, like the lone cucumber plant were a roaring success.

I chose simple items to grow that give fairly quick results. Runner beans, strawberries, peas, salad & herbs are good starting crops.

It was totally unconnected with anything happening at school but has helped a lot with getting him to understand somethings aren't perfect at the first attempt and that it's worth trying again sometimes, or even just accepting not everything in life is perfect.

It helped better than anything in getting him to understand not everything happens instantly too.

'Planting therapy', - I've seen worse charged for!

We're growing our own vegetables as well, rather slowly and badly but hopefully getting there and it's been good for both the lads. Ds1 can understand about the whole growing process and Ds2 loves helping to water them and might understand about the growing, but we can't tell.
I also take them out for walks which helps as usually the nature reserve we go to is very quiet and peaceful. Ds2 loves looking at the little river and Ds1 has started collecting various items.

That's where reinforcers come in handy.
'After we've been out we'll do X'
Rather like the large G&T I am nowcradling after gruelling session in gym.

I've found with Ds1 using the right words to achieve the same thing helps as well. So I'll say "we're going to go on a QUIET walk" which works better than "come on, we're heading out now".

Yes, and also a difference between saying
'You can't watch tv unless ewe go for a walk right now'
and

'We'll go for a walk and when we come back ,we'll sit down and watch tv together.'

ABA is emphatically not about threats or holding people to ransom.It's about brokering deals which keep both parties happy.

Total Communication Approach

• I think it means DS has to have all speech supported with pictures and teachers who speak in the same phrases 'DS eat' 'DS sit' - but its nothing like dog training or low expectations, certainly not.

no! ditched the swimming in favour of trampolining in the garden - sounds like the easy option, but the girls had to wait around for an hour while I actually assembled the (mini) trampoline. which they did - totally good naturedly, and for the most part without fiddling with all the bits and pieces too... was quite a revelation.

we are off swimming on Monday, as will have reinforcement in the shape of dh (I hate swimming at the best of times!)

Hi this is all new to me but as my ds has major speech delay and is going to be seeing a paediatrician soon, it's been suggested that in near future ds may have to attend the hanen approach. Can anyone tell me the difference between hanen and ABA please? What does the therapy involve?

hi, I've been following this thread with interest, as someone who works in the public sector, it's given me a lot to think about, thanks everyone for sharing your stories, I'm really quite horrified by some of the situations you've described.

You've given me some inspiration to look into ABA now, if you have any other recommendations for books please post them. (The one on amazon looks good, but I don't have a Kindle and the hard copies are too expensive)

Tasmanian - it is great to have someone from the public sector reading this thread, and maybe thinking again about ABA.

Can I be cheeky and direct you towards the two personal articles I wrote about how ABA transformed my autistic boy's behaviour and language?

There are two - one about the fight to get ABA , one about how much better than traditional SALT it was for my boy's learning to talk. Thanks!

mumsnet.com/blogs/sickofsocalledexperts/

Thanks sickofsocalledexperts, your blogs are very interesting. I am definitely thinking again about ABA, what you've written is very clearly explained and makes a lot of sense. I'm too tired to write much tonight, but just wanted to thank you.

Tasmania - you can download the Amazon kindle programme for PC for free on their site and then buy the kindle book and read it on that.

sleepy, actually the Hanen approach isn't too different from ABA in some ways. When the SALTs realised I was coming on the course they made an effort to put out some literature about how it was 'like' ABA but better and kinder - oh how I laughed.

The Hanen approach starts with the child's motivations and uses that to encourage them to communicate. The main difference is that it is less of a committment for the parent, isn't particularly ambitious for the child, costs the Local Authority and Health Service hardly anything and there is no measurement of progress or adjustment of strategies depending on outcomes.

That said, I would still recommend it to parents starting out as a good introduction to helping their child to communicate. There is lots of pretty good everyday practise. Even when you are doing an ABA programme, there is still parenting to be done, and Hanen fits in well wit that.