Am going through a very down period about DS2 atm and need some wise words. Bear with me - this is likely to be a long one...
As some of you know, we're doing an ABA/VB programme with DS2 at home (about 18 hours a week). Within the programme - ie when he's at the table in the playroom - he's making good progress. But the amount of stuff he learns in there that he then uses in the wider environment is tiny. We seem to have been stuck at the single word request level for ages - attempts to get him to use two words have largely failed so far. He just uses the minimum amount of speech to get what he wants and isn't in the slightest bit interested in doing more. He resists anything outside the playroom that smacks of 'testing' - even though he's perfectly happy to work for long periods at the table during programme time. And I've just started thinking - what is the point of him knowing 200 names of animals, foods, vehicles etc if he never uses them in real life? We do quite a bit of Natural Environment Training in our programme (but maybe not enough or we're doing it wrong?) Our supervisor at Growing Minds seems to think it's a bit early for spontaneous comments atm and we should concentrate on requests. But DS2 only likes a handful of things, he can ask for them all already and so we're stuck. It's exactly the point we got to in PECS last year. It's making me wonder whether I'm too stuck on speech and we should be focusing more on other things.
I suppose, if I'm really honest, I've been guilty of a secret hope that DS2 would be one of those children who would make really rapid progress with ABA - even 'recover' . And despite the fact that he's come on a long way in the last ten months the fact remains that he is still severely autistic. That doesn't change, iyswim. He can 'know' lots of stuff but he's still autistic. It doesn't help that the severity is hidden from most people because he's so compliant, cheerful and flexible. When I take him into m/s once a week he's better behaved than many of the children in Reception - but he can't do ANYTHING that they can do.
Bugger bugger bugger