ABA - Child Autism UK/UK YAP/Autism Partnership or Small Steps

[Elif100]

Hi,

My DD who is almost 4 is on the pathway to being Dx with ASD. We've been a hard journey this year coming to terms with this reality as we have been in denial for some time. We've reached the point now where we have a great preschool place organised for Sept entry who are organising some 1-1 ISEY funded hours. However we dont believe this will help her sufficiently in areas she is finding challenging. She was almost non-verbal last year and has now been using single words confidently, using short phrases and does generally imitate quite well. This is all amazing progress for us, however she still has many sensory challenges which affect her daily life and she is still wearing pull-up and have alot of echolalic speech. We've been looking at the option of doing a home ABA programme and I have been in contact with Child Autism UK/UK YAP/Autism Partnership and Small Steps. Thankfully they do offer the kind of home program we are looking for but nearly all suggest that my daughter should have minimal attendance at preschool. For various reasons, this isnt going to be possible, we will need her to attend for 5 mornings in september. Soo, my question is: has anyone worked with or would recommend any of the providers named above? and has anyone run part-time ABA programme with good results? Any advice would be appreciated. Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading x

Bump

Do some extra research on ABA. The autistic community usually without exception hate it and say it is very detrimental to their wellbeing.

@Pollypocket81

Do some extra research on ABA. The autistic community usually without exception hate it and say it is very detrimental to their wellbeing.

Please take your advice elsewhere. It’s called a spectrum for a reason, the ‘autistic community’ is as heterogeneous as any community. I have done thorough research thanks, plenty of parents of and autistic people themselves advocate ABA for helping them function better in society or perhaps ill just leave my daughter to struggle through life and not try to help her?

I am doing part time ABA for my 4 year old. I used abable for the tutor and open avenues for the consultant. The programme was prepared by the consultant and the tutor does 3 hours a week with my son and I make up the rest of the hours totalling to about 15 a week. Our issue is that my son is much better with family than he has been at different nursery settings but the ABA tutor even with only 3 hours a week has helped him make progress. The tutor will be going in to the nursery while he is there over the summer to help with his challenges alongside the nursery. Overall I am glad we have started it. From my personal experience it is not that much different than speech therapy and the only real difference to me is that with ABA data and progress is mapped and they are more specific to learning set tasks. I started helping my son on my own at the start of lockdown and I needed something to help move it to the next level hence the ABA. This has also helped get specific as to where my son needs more help.

I also did mountains of research and it’s just a form of learning in my opinion.

Whether you think ABA is abusive or not (I think it is) the fact is that it's been shown to be ineffective: therapistndc.org/aba-is-not-effective-so-says-the-latest-report-from-the-department-of-defense/

So even if you think it's not abusive, it's pointless to spend all this time and money on an ineffective therapy.

In that case all education is abusive…..

@azimuth299

Whether you think ABA is abusive or not (I think it is) the fact is that it's been shown to be ineffective: therapistndc.org/aba-is-not-effective-so-says-the-latest-report-from-the-department-of-defense/

So even if you think it's not abusive, it's pointless to spend all this time and money on an ineffective therapy.

As long as you feel you're doing all that YOU can to help YOUR child that's all that matters :)

And quoting one article that is heavily biased isn't very convincing! I'd rather go on the vast amount of case-studies that I have personally read about but thanks for the unwarranted advice.

@Stupidsadsack

I am doing part time ABA for my 4 year old. I used abable for the tutor and open avenues for the consultant. The programme was prepared by the consultant and the tutor does 3 hours a week with my son and I make up the rest of the hours totalling to about 15 a week. Our issue is that my son is much better with family than he has been at different nursery settings but the ABA tutor even with only 3 hours a week has helped him make progress. The tutor will be going in to the nursery while he is there over the summer to help with his challenges alongside the nursery. Overall I am glad we have started it. From my personal experience it is not that much different than speech therapy and the only real difference to me is that with ABA data and progress is mapped and they are more specific to learning set tasks. I started helping my son on my own at the start of lockdown and I needed something to help move it to the next level hence the ABA. This has also helped get specific as to where my son needs more help.

Hi, thanks for the insight. I'll look into those providers.

I think we will be doing a similar number of hours as I would like my DD to attend nursery five mornings a week. That's a good idea re: sending a tutor into the nursery setting, the one thing I worry about is my DD not actually learning much while she is there but more being 'managed' so having a guide to help her in a peer based setting will be great, I believe.
I agree it does seem very similar to the targets/ideas given to us by my dd SALT, in fact I hear more and more SALTs are incorporating ABA methodology into their therapy for children on the spectrum - we have to appeal to how they can learn after all so it makes sense.

Thanks for your reply and I hope your son continues to make progress :)

@Stupidsadsack

In that case all education is abusive…..

Exactly! Let's stop using 'ticks', stickers, merits, award ceremonies and positive praise! Its allll a waste of time of course!

Hi Elif100 - thank you and best of luck to you and your DD. When I look back over this past year my son has learnt so much and the ABA has highlighted the areas where he struggles more. They are working on challenging behaviour, social interaction, sitting still and communication. The other tasks they have covered are things like verbs, social questions, imitation, following instructions and imaginative play. I am glad I have done it and will be continuing. I hope everything works out well for you 💐

It's not biased, did you read it? It's reporting the findings of the Annual Report on Autism Care Demonstration from the Department of Defence. The actual report is here:

health.mil/Reference-Center/Congressional-Testimonies/2020/06/25/Annual-Report-on-Autism-Care-Demonstration-Program

Fair enough if you have a different opinion but it's silly to dismiss evidence as biased just because you don't agree with it.

Good luck with whatever you decide though.

Good luck with the ABA. Best thing I ever did, especially learning about it myself (As couldn't afford much expert input). Have so many skills that have been invaluable and essentially DS is now 14, far exceeded his trajectory and shares many of the ABA strategies he has learned during this time with his best friend who is autistic and needs help that my son has the skills to teach which enables them both to be independent and share experiences together.

Do some extra research on ABA. The autistic community usually without exception hate it and say it is very detrimental to their wellbeing.

This above as per previous poster.
Private SALT from as early as possible and a private OT sensory assessment with a sensory diet is a kinder regime, with greater long term, proven success.

Hello Jemimapuddleduk - detrimental how exactly? What makes SLT so different? Where is the proof that SLT etc has better long term proven success? I am using both ABA and SLT and they both have exactly the same goals and use the exact same way of working. If anything the ABA has taught my son so much overall and I’m using the SLT for sentence building. Both the ABA team and SLT for my son work together. My opinion is that it matters more on the person who is delivering the ABA/SLT/OT as to getting a good outcome. Some people need a different approach to learning and not shoved into school like sheep going through the education system - now that is detrimental!

Hi @Elif100 DD is coming up to 3 and we do part time ABA. Seeing lots of progress and I’m really happy with it. We do strategies at home so it’s just become part of life now.
I have always wanted to be cautious as I know it’s controversial, but my dd honestly enjoys her sessions and she’s always really pleased with herself after
Good luck with everything.

Just to follow up on this - has anyone here used Small Steps? I appreciate other providers were mentioned as well but I myself am looking into Small Steps and get the impression that they may be more flexible/adaptable and you can opt for less intensive programmes with fewer hours that are also more parent-led.

I have only really found useful information (so far) on one other provider, UKYAP, and I get the impression the programmes they offer are more intensive in comparison. (Not criticising, I'm just not sure it's appropriate for our situation).

Hello Scratchybaby - I haven’t heard of Small Steps unfortunately but I used open avenues and the programme implemented was flexible. For us we did an hour a day ourselves and then had a tutor for 3 hours a week. I hope this info helps your decision. Best of luck to you and your little one.

Thanks @Stupidsadsack - sheesh what a name haha ;-)

They are Midlands-based too, which is perfect! I like the look of this. I am more interested in some hand-holding to learn better ways of engaging my DS and supporting him with his language development and some social skills, as opposed to embarking on an intensive teaching programme. This looks like it could be the ticket.

Thanks!

Actually, you joke about it rudely but there are many books and research on removing all the ticks, stickers, positive praise that are used at school- they are not good systems for any kids, just doing something for a sticker? That’s not a great system

. The OP seems to be sneering at any alternative thoughts/ advice given - that is a shame.
SALT and ABA are not run the same way, ABA is based on grooming and pairing a child with an adult so that then they will become compliant to do whatever the adult wishes. I wouldn’t wish to be teaching my autistic daughters to be compliant like that. I wouldn’t wish to use ABA as it’s like dog training. And why the hell should an autistic child be taught to pretend to be neurotypical? How sad not to just let people be who they are.....

Hello debbiewest0 - you are entitled to your opinion but this is not grooming. Stickers and praise etc are used throughout the education system. Does that mean adults don’t get certificates when they pass their exams? Are you going to scrap trophies and medals at winning sporting events? I can’t speak for everyone but ABA has helped give my child a voice and if implemented by the right person can work well. OP is not sneering etc this is just a parent trying to help their child. The negative views on ABA are outdated and it is similar to SLT!

Hi Scratchybaby - stupidsadsack is how I feel most days!!!

You're entitled to your opinion on ABA but to compare ABA to Salt is totally outrageous and highlights your lack of understanding.

Hello spikeyfish - have you tried ABA? Please be specific as to how you think ABA and SLT are so different? Btw why does my opinion lack understanding? I am doing both SLT and ABA and they are similar. If you are giving your opinions on ABA when you haven’t tried it then you are the ones who lack understanding.

Best of luck to those who are going to try the ABA.