Me with some ABA issues again...

[staryeyed]

So last time I had the problem with the senior supervisor but now I quite like her. But Im really concerned about the way things are going. Tutor came yesterday and today. Thought she was really good when I interviewed her but she isn't very enthusiastic well not like I was expecting. She didn't do a pairing activity or use anything other then praise as reinforcement. Now I'm feeling really about her. She has had 3 years experience and came very recommended by the supervisor. Nothing has been structured or clearly explained and I feel that we are getting a bit of a thrown together service because of the budget limitations. We had both an ABA session and one with the council project and despite all the complaining I did about the council service at least Ds had fun. He was miserable and unmotivated in his ABA session and I know he needs time to get used to the tutor but I dont think her techniques are up to much.

To be honest I feel like just telling them all to go and curling up with Ds under a blanket. All the services we have used have been substandard except the PECS course which was very good. Im so fed up of professionals telling me what they think the problem is and what he needs to fix it. They dont say "have you tried.." in a helpful way, they say "In my experience its this so you should do this" not taking into account that Ds is an individual not an ASD child and that one solution fits all.

Im really wrestling with my conscience because the money I had saved was intended as a deposit for a house which I had been saving for years. If a year of ABA doesn't get Ds very far that money could have been put to better use by security for our future. But If I dont try, how will I know? The way things are going I feel like calling it quits.

I will speak to both the supervisor and the tutor tomorrow and see if we can sort out some of these things and turn things around but I resent paying for a service that isn't up to scratch.

Just ranting really feel free to ignore. Hooooowever if you do have some advise for me...

I think I have decided to finish with this provider. I cant afford to get this wrong and everything is telling me this is. I cant wait and see because I wouldn't have enough to set up another programme afterwards. After talking to my Dp we have decided to wait until we have moved and find another provider. I dont really know what to say to to the supervisor and consultant I'm not really a confrontational person.

It's so hard isn't it? I'm not good at that sort of thing either. Where are you moving to Stary? It might be that someone on here can recommend someone good.

We'll be moving very near to where we are now North London(not sure where yet). Dp has got a new job that finally allows us to be able to afford the rent round here- have been living with my Mum.

yurt1, that is so interesting about first words being learned differently to later speech. DS got stuck at the one word / labelling stage for about 2 years (although he knew hundreds of words he could never put them together into sentences) and I think he simply didn't move on to that later mode of language acquisition. He now speaks in paragraphs and asks questions, but it is often in what I can only describe as bad pidgin English, much as if he were an adult slowly learning to converse in a foreign language.

After todays session I know I'm making the right decision. It was pretty dire. It just involves doing things that my Ds has already been able to do with no mention of progress. When I questioned it I was told it was maintenance which I don't get. So anyway I need to let them know and I'm so awkward at these things and I don't know how to do this legally\morally. Do I need to give notice? What should I say?

You don't need to give notice, though I guess it might be a good gesture to pay them to end of week or whatever you can cope with. I think you just have to say I'm sorry, the chemistry isn't right, please don't take it personally. Sometimes easier on phone? Don't feel bad, they are professionals and can take it. Good luck though, I'm rubbish at doing stuff like this.

Thanks Ancient-I will tell the tutor tomorrow and then phone the supervisor.

Good luck Staryeyed.

LGS - Can I ask how old your DS is now? DS2 (5) is also stuck on the one word stage - he seems to find it very difficult to put two words together, although he does have a few learnt two/three word phrases (change nappy, wash your hands, lie down). I was hoping that his language would suddenly click and that the fact he has single words was a good indicator of this.

Sorry for the hijack Stary!

/hijack

Sphil - DS also got stuck at the one word phase for ages. How we got out of it was by focussing on verbs, and gradually building up to short sentences. So started off with say "throw", then "throw ball", then "mummy throw ball".

We're trying to do it with 'please' because most of the words he's using are requests for things. But he always needs prompting to say please - if i just wait he'll say it, but there's always a long gap between the two words. I'll try the verbs idea though.

you might find PECs useful to help your DS produce longer phrases - that's what I was advised to do by private SALT, despite never having used PECs previously, but it seems to have worked well.

sphil, he's 4.3. He's moved on from 1 and 2 word phrases over the last 18 months, greatly aasisted by his "freak" ability to read. One big step forward was when we got him (at the instigation of a visiting SALT) to start saying "I want". That might work better than "please".

Yes PECS would probably help.I am a PECS and ABA fanatic and also a salt.

We tried PECS last year when DS was non verbal but with no success -like you we felt the tutor was not right for him as she lacked experience. I am terrible at using the 'phone so I took the easy way out and emailed the tutor to say our circumstances had changed etc etc which was almost true as we got a nursery place around the same time. DS can now make single word requests and can say some phrases like all gone and car gone and escalator broken. He has started asking for things by saying 'Crisps Thomas' instead of just Crisps

We tried I want but without much success. The trouble is, if I tried to prompt him to say 'want' he just said 'biscuit' or whatever. He is at sentence level in PECS but pointing to the 'I want' card didn't seem to work either.

Anyway back to me and my situation.. (just kidding)

I have let the tutor know that we wont be using them any longer. Was very awkward but I feel a big pressure off. I have also emailed the providers because I'm a chicken. Now we will wait a while before finding some new providers.
Thanks for your help everyone.

. glad you've got the sacking out of the way, one less thing for you to worry about. hope you find people very soon that you feel more comfortable with.

Stary - if you post a message on the Public Forum part of the Growing Minds website (www.autism-programs.com) I'm sure they'd give you a checklist of what to look for next time (although I'm sure you know this!) and any other advice you ask for. They're very generous with their support and you don't have to be doing a GM programme to access this area of the forum.