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I wanted to share how I felt my family has benefited from behavioral therapies, specifically Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA). Two years ago my 3 yr old daughter, AnnaLisa was diagnosed with Autism through a Public Preschool Screening program. When we were told that there was an explanation for our daughters' unusual behaviors and lack of ability to communicate, we felt relief. Then we felt ignorance. We had no idea what autism was, or how to work with it. We knew that activities did not seem connected in her brain (for example she would sit on the toilet for 20 minutes and then stand up and poop in her pants, she would tell us to "Shut the door" at any given moment, etc). She was real intelligent, stubborn, and hard to figure out how we fit into her world. Over the next several months I learned a lot about autism, but two things stuck out to me. The first was that ABA seemed the best approach and that we needed to learn more about it. We enrolled with Southwest Autism Resource and Research Center (SARRC) to teach us the basics of autism and ABA. We watched how, in a matter of hours (total time was spread out in 20 minute sessions, twice a week, for 4 weeks), our daughter started reaching out to understand the world around her. We saw her get excited (when she was rewarded with a reinforcer) when she accomplished tasks (until this point she had only two moods, meltdown and apathy). This doubly excited us because we never saw her accomplish tasks or get excited. The second thing to stick out to me was when I realized the autism books were not describing my daughter, they were describing my 19 month old son, Andrew. We started becoming aware of his total lack communication, self-stimmulating behaviors, and sensory issues. He had regressed (much like his sister) after seemingly typical development, yet his odd behaviors were different than his sisters. Fortunately, because we were already on a long wait list for a specialist for his sister, we were able to get him in very quickly. Andrew was diagnosed at 2 years, 1 month. I know they say that you can not compare two children, but there is one observation that I can not help but make. Both of my children have been diagnosed using the same criteria, by the same school system, and same specialists. The results are that my son was considered "lower functioning" or "more severe". I was in the process of putting together a ABA program for my daughter, and initiated a similar one for my son. The habilitators and therapists that worked with my children were the same. Two years later I see significant improvements in both of my children. However, the world sees a greater improvement in my son. Not that they know that he had further to go, but because he appears to the casual, and even at times to the educated observer to be the "higher functioning" of the two. I feel strongly this is because of the intervention and support that he received at a younger age than his sister. For my children we found that ABA gave them the foundational building blocks to learning. They were able to organize their minds,understand "cause and effect", able to understand that words were for communication, and that communication added power to their lives. We continued on using different behavioral interventions such as Floortime, Greenspan, and Pivotal Response Training (although I am not an expert in any of these areas). I know that these important interventions have made it possible for my children to function in society. As a family we have put a tremendous amount of work into these interventions, but they are so worth it. My children can now tell me they are hungry, what they did in school today, and that they are sad, or happy, or want tickles. None of these behaviors and feelings were accessible to my children two years ago. We need to make sure that families with kids who fall into these challenges have the support and education to meet their children's needs. |