When do you know to stop VBA/ABA

[sleepyhorse]

Hi there

my ds is 5 yrs old. He has a severe language disorder and some social communication issues and sensory seeking behaviour. We have been doing VBA for over a year now and ds has made amazing progress. A year ago he had less than 5 words and now his vocab range is huge and talking in long sentences. We have a tutor that comes to our house 4 times a week so anyone reading this who has does the same will know its not cheap. The fact that we are in debt is a small sacrifice to make when I think about how far he has come in a year and this has really got him talking and given him the best start to life which is fantastic.

My concern is that he is starting to sound quite robotic. In his sessions he will learn language through picture cards of different categories and their features and functions. So for example when we are out and about and he see's a dog he will say "it's a dog, he has 4 legs and 2 eyes and he says woof woof etc etc" so just wondering if its time to knock it on the head and teach him myself from natural learning environment? I guess I'm just worried though that if I stop his sessions he might fall behind at school ( she really has taught him well and he can now count to 200 and has learnt his phonics so starting to read) - how do you know when it's time to stop VBA/ABA??

I suppose it depends on how school is going - will he have an LSA at mainstream, preferably ABA-trained? School is probably where he is going to hear a lot more natural language. Sounds like he is doing great though, even if still in the repeating rather than chatting stage. I would be phasing home ABA and school into each other gradually

Yes he does have a LSA and also he has a SEN of speech and language and has a place on the SALT ARP at a local mainstream, lucky to have one in our town. He can make small chat to express, request and negate also. But it just sounds quite robotic, he also speaks with an American accent!! Not sure what thats all about?? I'm sure he won't always sound like this but I don't particularly want to be doing VBA anymore unless we really have to

If he can cope at school behaviourally he might be ready to fly solo. My high functioning autistic stepdaughter went to mainstream primary till 11 with LSA, then flew totally solo at 11 at secondary.

Yes the accent is odd, but better any speech than none I guess. He has certainly come on in leaps and bounds since we spoke just under a year ago! Some kids really take off with ABA, and the rote-learned intonations will fade, just as they do when a small toddler learns to speak and is, at first, a bit stilted. Good luck!

Wow you've got a good memory Sickofsocalledexperts LOL. Thanks for the advice

Does anyone else's child (who is English) speak in American accent?

TBH I think the answer might be never. The nature of ABA should change with the child's needs, and it could be enough to simply include it in your parenting, though I would suggest, as sickof that it is handed over to a competent school plus ABA trained TA. Easier said than done.

ABA is a science and remuneration and reward for behaviour is a part of our culture and forms a high percentage of our motivation. If I am thirsty, I find going into the kitchen, getting a glass and filling it with tap water and then drinking it, rewarding. I go to work for the pay. I try an choose a job that is more motivating than not because it makes it easier to be successful at. If it isn't very interesting work, I try and build rewards or breaks into my day to make it bearable. Unless, and until a child is able to be rewarded by the same things a typically developing child is, in a classroom (i.e. pleasing the teacher, avoiding being told off, sharing nicely, thinking about the lesson, waiting in a queue for a turn on the bike) then they will need support until they can be. The nature of this support should be to show them the value of these behaviours.

What you are trying to stop I guess, is the intrusion into your home, the expense and the time commitment.

These can all stop without doing away with ABA.

Thanks Starlight - I try and incorporate as much as possible into our daily lives but I guess it's more VBA that his tutor does with him as his primary need is speech and language and communication, he doesn't really have any behaviour issues so it's all very language based. He is going into year one now do I will see how he gets on and then decide

My child had a strange mish mash accent,part US, part RP and part local. He sounds very similar to your child at age five, including the language leap between four and five. I found access and intonation have gradually improved over the years,the sort of reading work they do towards end of infants works on reading out with feeling and is helpful. Also my child got very into comic type books, which also helped intonation as he liked practising the oof,thud etc type comments. Hug by jez alborough and the pigeon books by more willems are also.view good for practising intonation and expression in conversation without being obviously work so fun for a child to.read

We did hanen, with small amount of private salt size can't comment on the vb etc side of things