ABA wobbles

[phlebas]

(I've name changed for this - I've been clogging up the forum with ABA threads for the past month)

We had our consultant visit & spend the day with ds & us. We'll see him again in the next couple of weeks & he'll send us a report & plan.

DS has major avoidance issues. We're working on gross motor imitation, he imitates well (picking up signs rapidly) but not to command, so it's an exercise in compliance. The vague plan is that we move from gross motor imitation to oro-motor to vocal imitation (ds' biggest deficit is language).

We're pretty much doing it ourselves atm, ds is vaguely more cooperative & we've had a couple of unprompted successes - but nothing consistent. It is supposed to be errorless so I'm doing instruction ... pause ... physical prompt ... reinforce (I'm trying to do it differentially so the less strongly I have to prompt the greater the reward).

Has anyone got an heartening stories of non-complaint children being won over ... how long did it take?

Thing is ds doesn't stim, he doesn't have obsessions etc & his independent play skills are age appropriate - left to his own devices all day he'll follow me/dh/dd1 around bring toys (or drag me to the toys) & make us sit & play with him. He'll be almost silent though & that really inhibits his social play which is very delayed now.

I know we need to keep our heads down & keep going ... I'm being impatient I want to get past this bit & onto him learning something.

Maley SR said similar. We're trying a more subtle approach today, with two adults (one to prompt one to instruct) & lots of play interspersed into the session (I'm anticipating problems getting him back after a play break). Still only recommended to do 2 hours a day though, so will be having a long trip to the park first to reduce the physical resistance. Are you doing a VB programme or more Lovass-ey?

Electra it helps to know others have BTDT & survived!

blardy hell we're exhausted - ds is in bed (never normally asleep before 8pm).

Can't say that we had much more success today - lots of new reinforcers, imitation tasks interspersed with play; we had cries of no & mummy first time I've heard either. ds did his weird bath thing again where he runs through the actions spontaneously & tries to prompt me to do them. Apparently he's uniquely stubborn ... another email to consultant tonight.

He has massive language issues & social play delay, he sometimes tip-toes & flaps when excited, only sensory issues I'm aware of is lack of attention to sound. But he scores pretty high on the CARS, NHS SALT & portage strongly suspect ASD.

The ABA guy thinks there's an element of ODD type disorder - he says he is one of the most resistant children he's come across. He has experience of children with SLI as well as behavioural issues & ASD (one of the reasons we chose him).

The first session with the consultant ds complied for a few minutes since then it has been a nightmare. We had one fabulous session where we did 6 or 7 actions - half he imitated immediately & half with minimal prompting - ds actually looked like he was enjoying it. Now we are back to full on tantrums & rigidity it is a physical battle to get him to sit, accept the prompt, even accept the reinforcer. When I tell him to go and play between sections it is like a switch flicks - immediately happy, he goes off to get a toy/book etc. He does the actions outside of the sessions & tries to prompt me to copy him We've done about 10 hours all together.

He can imitate when it suits him - e.g. he imitates from the TV, people sneezing (which he thinks is very funny), actions in play e.g. posting a ball through a hoop, & signs but I have never been able to teach him pat-a-cake or any other action songs. He has no echoic response which is a massive issue.

We're supposed to be doing VB but the consultant thinks trying to start a programme without sorting out the compliance is a waste of time. He advised us against DIR - I know that I need something more structured than that.

I am at a loss - I didn't expect it to be like this; I'd expected some tantrumming, but this is so weird - we've got good reinforcers - he asks for them throughout the session. I'm really not sure that I'm doing it right.

it's the physical prompting that worries me - at the moment he's is strongly rejecting the prompts ... it is a huge battle & it feels wrong (there's no element of him going along with it because he wants the reinforcer he does not want to do the action & I hav eno make him). It's scary tbh

pip thanks for telling me that - when you read aba & compliance etc no-one says how bad it can be. This would be a battle of wills with a 'normal' toddler, add in the ASD & it's a nightmare. I suppose I'm just looking for reassurance that this isn't so unusual that it means it'll never work or I'm damaging him.

atm we're working to the floor, table is too dangerous. It's taking two adults - one to give the instruction & one to sit behind & prompt ... god knows what I'll do when dh is back at work.

I'll look for that book.