ABA Tutors

[PorphyrophillicPixie]

I thought that here would be the best place to put this, I apologise if not!

I love working with kids and though I'm not qualified, I'd love to persue this and gain qualifications as I work. When asking for career ideasapart from nannying (not readily available to somebody my age in my area) somebody mentioned ABA tutoring and linked me to Treehouse.

Treehouse is the only site I can find that has anything about it though! I'd like to know more about it, what the job is, how you get into it, what qualifications you can work on, whether it'd suit my degree (Childhood and Youth Studies starting in October) etc but I can't find out anything

So could you please spare a moment just to give me a description of the role, how I would get into it and what I can do in the meantime to work towards doing something like this? All I know is that it is a person who spends a few hours a week with a child with autism or similar special needs which I'm keen to look into as I have a lovely little relative who is special needs and her one-to-one at school has been amazing for her!

I think it would help with my degree but I'm uncertain whether to try going down this path or nannying, I know that later I'd like to use my degree to be a generic childhood and youth professional, touching areas involving special needs, 'underpriviliged' children and teens and signing/makaton (I don't want to specialise) if that helps any?

Thank you in advance!

Look at PEACH - they do short courses eg initial tutor training
Bangor University do ABA courses for those who want to get a formal (degree or post grad) qualification.
Most people who do ABA as a career have a psychology degree or post grad autism degree, but you can work as a tutor without any formal qualifications
Many families will employ students as tutors and train them up on the job
Most would be looking for a commitment for a reasonable period of time in return for training you up
You can post on ABA UK Yahoo group for tutor vacancies in your area
Parents also learn the programme and do therapy ourselves and most of us didn't have any prior knowledge of autism before our children came along so the right attitude and commitment is as important as any formal qualifications

You could almost certainly find a local family to work with during your current studies and i am sure you would find the skills useful whichever road you chose later on

Thank you for the advice I'm glad to hear that people take on students as it's something that I think would be good for me! I think that I'll start a makaton or signing course this September as well for a bit extra and I'll look into PEACH courses.

An old family friend apparently does something very similar and runs courses for people looking to work with children with special needs so I'll ask her if I can jump onto one of her courses and if she can give me some practical advice for my area too.

Just a quick question, do you think that my age would put people off? I'm 21.

No. As I say its common to have to recruit uni students. I think being confident and comfortable around children with SN is more important.
We tend to avoid anyone who is timid and has a look of fear in their eyes!
As social interaction is such an issue for our son we look for people who are not likely to be put off being blanked by him and can find ways to be fun and engaging even when they get little response.
ABA tends to focus more on spoken language than Makaton / signing; its one of the main differences between the special school approach and ABA in that it aims to use minimal prompts and supports, whereas most eclectic models use these in droves.
the ABA provider the family use may run their own courses similar to PEACH
Some people use PECS (picture exchange) and the Pyramid PECS courses can be useful
Do you do placements on your course? They may be able to offer a placement at a local special school?

No way. I'd love a committed 21yr old with a genuine interest in my child rather than filling in.

ABA can be well paid once you have experience, but training is very much on the job.

hth

My degree is an OU one, so any placements have to be organised by me! Which I love, but it can be difficult sometimes!

Are ABA tutors usually self employed as opposed to employed by agencies then?

Where else can I find ABA jobs?

Thank you for the advice

Yes ABA is usually done by self employed. Generally parents don't care whether you produce an invoice or not and pay cash however.

Where in the country do you live?

Clacton in Essex

I just read your posts and would be happy to give you more information and guidance. I am an autism consultant working out of the Tendring area. Do e-mail me on [email protected] if you still need help.