Week 8

January 27, 2018| Jason Michael Reynolds|3 Minutes
January 27, 2018|By Jason Michael Reynolds|3 Minutes

Week 8

Introduction:

ABA is one of the most recommended therapies in the United States for those with autism. But there is a lot of controversy in the autism community surrounding it. Some see it as extremely harmful compliance training. Others have had a fantastic experience.

If you are unfamiliar with it, I broke down ABA in an extensive 3-part series, which you can find here.

On top of that, I did a 12-week series of what ABA looked like for us. I’m not trying to promote it or discourage its practice. My aim is simply to inform you so you can make an informed decision on whether ABA is right for you or your kids.

You can find an index of all the video’s here.

And now, the post!

So we had a shortened week this week and only had a couple sessions.

This was the week of daylight savings time so Jonah’s stamina was VERY low. His circadian clock was telling him that the therapist was supposed to be leaving an hour earlier than he actually left.

And I give a lot of credit to both the therapist and the BCBA as they both gave Jonah space to do what he wanted and shortened the therapy sessions to accommodate him when they realized that the amount of time they were here was becoming aversive.

It’s a fine line to walk. On one hand, you want Jonah to be able to express when he is ‘done’ working (and at the end of his stamina), but on the other hand, when he has that tool, he may want to be “done” working right when they show up, which is not exactly what we are after.

That’s a tough lesson for an Ausome little boy. Sometimes you don’t get what you want. Even when you verbally request it…

Heck. That’s a tough lesson for ANY kid.

As far as his progress, he has started matching flashcards. He is matching cartoon images with ‘real’ images (so like a drawing of a cup to an image of a REAL cup), differentiating between color and shape. He has really come a long way on that front.

He is repeating word sounds and phrases with 100% accuracy.

He can identify colors and shapes verbally and we have also been reinforcing that.

So overall, we’ve had a good week. We will see how we progress.

We need to work on our stamina.

ABA Weeks 1-12