ABA

[claw3]

something i am very interested in finding out more about.

Where do i start?

Who do i approach?

What does it involve?

etc, etc, etc.

Thanks in advance.

It depends where you live to approach...nearer London PEACH, UKYAP is UK wide.

Read Catherine Maurice 'Who will hear my voice'

It is a method of teaching dc to learn through breaking down the task into tiny step by step approach. It also helps with retraining behaviours etc (behaviour therapy).

It requires 1:1 teaching with teaching over and over until dc can do it indep 100% in all environments home/school/wider community. It helps the dc to access MS school successfully. However it is NOT an alternative to OT, SALT, Physio etc and these need to put their 5p worth in so that the tutors and parents can teach fine motor or hopping or reading or whatever the SALT/OT/Physio sets...problem with my programme because ds gets ABA the other 'professionals' dont bother which has left ds with problems with gross motor/sensory probs etc....

DS is learning to read/write/do exercises/role play/ guess what is in the bag type of stuff when started 3 yrs ago could not talk/hold a pencil/sit for a minute, told there was no hope...sat a 3 hr exam other week!! Not bad for 5 yr old and 2 yrs ahead of peers academically because although always bright did not have the attention and had severe behaviours that stopped ds learning...ABA has trained ds to be able to have the right 'behaviours' to earn. He has 40hrs a week 50 weeks a year.

I cant recommend it enough!

HTH

hiya - we have done ABA/VB for past 10 months with our 3.4 ds.

words do not properly describe how well it has helped our family, how far our amazing ds has come in one year. i highly recommend it, and am yet to meet a family who does it, who does not.

everything said above sums it up perfectly. if you give more details, we can offer more specific advice.

i second starlight on Educate Towards Recovery by Robert Schramm. Duncan Fennemore from CEIEC and whoever Sean Rhodes works for offer the VB approach, PEACH and UKYAP the more traditional approach. I would recommend doing a bit of research on the internet and calling these various consultants, talking about your dc, how ABA would work for you etc.

Couldn't agree more with everything said above. We have previously run a home programme (under Sean Rhodes) and have fought hard to get dd1 into an ABA school.

As said before, none of it is rocket science, but it does give you a focus and a structure to deal with whatever the current issues are for you/your ds/your.family.

Dd1 has come on so much in the 2 years we have been doing ABA. I honestly couldn't list it all. We have worked on speech, food issues, general rule acceptance, water phobia (to the.point of not drinking) you name it really.

Current issues for her include animal phobia (currently have a long process of desensitisation outlined) and dressing and toiling skills, as well as general educational targets. Her IEPis about 30 pages long as it really does address each and every point of her education, whether social or academic.

Do have a search around for info, there have been some good threads on here on the past.

Thanks guys, sorry, disappeared to decorate.

I have already contacted UKYAP, sent an email 2 days ago asking for more info.

Will have a read of your link Star.

UKYAP are expensive, mostly because they insist (I think) on a full time programme, so 40 hours per week.

When we started our home programme we were not in a good place financially and we started doing a couple of hours a day, employing a student for £7 an hour. We had Sean visiting us every 8-10 weeks as was all we could afford.

The main thing to remember about it all is that you do not have to do full time programme. Any amount (if you think it would suit your ds) is better than none.

It does still end up pricey though.

Not scary at all Star, i need as much info as possible. Ive heard lots of good reports about ABA, but dont have a clue how about how it works.

It is usual that you pay for it yourself or is funding available?

Is it self taught or do you get a trainer or courses?

You have to self fund initially. There are some places that help, I think, like Cauldwell Trust etc, but still need to be running a programme first.

You can do it yourself, if you have time, and if your ds will permit (there is no way I could abbey with dd1 - her control issues re: me are too great)

Some places, like UKYAP run the whole thing for you, hence the cost. So they supply tutors, supervisors, the lot. Others, like Sean, you pay him to.comfort the day to train you/your tutors, and he oversees the direction of the programme. You find tutors.and employ them (can be hard to find) normally on a self employed basis.

The programme for your ds is highly individualized, based on a thorough assessment of his needs. We used the ABLLS guide when we started, you would be more likely to use VB-MAPP now I guess (newer guide) which tales you through step by tiny developmental step where your ds is and where he should be heading. Every area is or can be addressed, so you can target exactly what you need.

Sorry for typos. Still no internet since our move, so am on my phone, which auto corrects like crazy...

You are doing very well Silver typing that on your phone, i couldnt!

So the most cost effective way, would be to either teach yourself or have someone teach you the technique?

Would this work, if for example i was the only person using the technique?

It obviously works better if everyone is consistent. So, for eg, the first thing we had to do with dd1 was to model correct language for her, as she is such a good verbal imitators. So instead of saying "would you like sandwiches for lunch?" (which meant that that was what dd1 would say when she was asking for.sandwiches) we instead would say "i want sandwiches for lunch" so that dd1 would learn the correct phrase. Obviously if others had been using the first phrase too, dd1 would have ended up using both. Like most of parenting, being consistent pays off faster, as your ds would only have the correct model for whatever behaviour being shown to him.

Definitely the most cost effective way would be to do it yourself. You can read the texts and learn yourself, or have a consultant overseeing, which adds costs but I dislike the security of having an expert on board. It is a lot to do totally by yourself, but doable feeds must. Good texts.are the key, and not being phased by the language used. Just like entering the SN world, there is a whole new.set of phrases and key words to.learn.

Star, what you describe in your 1st post is much like how i am as a parent in general.

However i cant quite work out how to apply or adjust if you like, my parenting to manage other behaviours ie improving eating, dressing, phobias, toileting skills, social skills etc, etc.

Can ABA improve these things?

When i read the example conversation between therapist and pupil on a ABA site. It seemed easy enough to apply that to a conversation with ds, but if i told ds what to reply to a question, he would ramble and do his own thing. Can ABA help to keep a child on track during an interaction?

Sorry, not Star

You would keep your ds on track by rewarding him for the correct response. You build it up slowly.over time. So you might start with something he already does correctly, to implement the reward, which can be fave food, game, tv,a tickle, whatever motivates him. Then, much like you probably approached eg petty training with all your boys, you set up the situation, get going, and at the first hint of the correct response you reward. Then you do it again. And again and again. Mixing it up with other tasks to keep the whole thing fresh. Some familiar tasks to keep compliance going, and not give room for self confidence to crash. And that's it in a .nutshell.

We toilet trained dd1 (nb she is only dry - still poos in a nappy) by using her fave dvd. We withdrew it for a few days until she wad desperate to watch it, then sat her on the pop for a few seconds r, then she got a minute of dvd. Back on the lol, more she. Until she got the connection between the two. Then played the usual waiting game to catch a wee, got her to the look, more dvd. Once she had the idea, she could o ly watch the dvd after weeing in the loo. Classic reward.basedpatterning.

Grr that would be LOO in the final para, not pop or lol or any other bloody word. Must find out how to turn off autocorrect on bloody phone

Roughly how much will a baseline assessment cost?

Roughly how much to fund for 6 months, just a rough estimate?

We use Autism Partnership - they have a website with lots info about ABA on it. If I remember rightly your DS is older, verbal and in mainstream?? ABA still useful. Outcomes are better for younger children (under 5) but strategies useful at any stage. Only approach I know which can teach social skills properly to HFA. ABA helps with setting expectations eg DS (3) now sit and earn tokens for free play - he can now sit for 15 mins. 8 months ago he would not sit when asked at all. It is a behavioural approach so aims to change the child and address the deficits rather than accommodate the disability. So tends to steer away from unnecessary prompts and environmental changes and teach the child to adapt to the world as it is. Have seen video of AP working with group of HFA teens and doing a social group where they addressed issues such as conversation, when its cool to talk about your interests and when its not etc. Assumes our kids will not just pick this stuff up someone needs to teach them the social rules.

We do alot of therapy hours ourselves with ABA supervisor. We also coach the nursery staff in similar methods. We intend for DS to go to school with ABA support (tribunal willing). You may find as your DS fewer academic issues that a smaller programme would be ok. Its easy to learn if you have a good supervisor. For us that has been the crucial element. Some providers run social skills groups your DS could access.

Silver, toileting and ds, his difficulty seems to be he has limited sensation and doesnt realise he needs to go until 'it pops out', he then rushes off to the toilet trying to 'hold it in', this always results in varying amounts of poo in his trousers and around his bottom.

At home he will tell me and ask for help, in school he will not tell or ask for help and stays like it all day.

For example school should be offering a reward for asking for help, a smiley face on the board for example (ds loves smiley faces on the board).

At home i do a 5 minute token for getting dressed ie for each item of clothing ds puts on, i give him a token. He can redeem his tokens when he gets home from school for extra time with me, doing a thing of his choice for the length of time of the tokens (it often involves me bouncing on the trampoline with him, oh joy!)

Is that the general idea?