What works ... What doesnt ... your kid ... their kid...

When I started this blog, I also started posting on Twitter - hoping to spread the word of my blog, connect with other people in the community, and also gain some ideas for blog topics.  What I've noticed the most is the bickering among members of the autism community - parents vs parents, therapists vs therapists, parents vs therapists.  It's sad, really. We should be working to spread what we know, not denouncing everything else that is mentioned.

This particular blog stems from a conversation I saw between two tweeting parents.  One parent was very excited that her child was going to begin PECS in the coming weeks and was hoping to see a result in functional communication - whether verbal or not.  Within minutes, her tweet wall was attacked by other parents with such things as "PECS doesn't work" ... "don't get your hopes up, it will probably lead to nothing" ... and "my child has been doing PECS for years and we've gotten nothing out of it".  Wow, way to be supportive of a parent embarking hopefully on a new method for their child. Now this isn't a blog promoting PECS (although, I should say I do work with children who use PECS to communicate quite well nonverbally and a few who began with PECS and later developed some type of verbal language).  But just because a method doesn't work for someone else, doesn't mean it won't work for you!!  On the same token, just because a method does work for someone else, that doesn't mean you'll see the same results in your child.  But shouldn't other parents and professionals still be motivating you to try?!

I've mentioned before that my favorite saying regarding autism is "when don't really know what autism is, but we do know how it presents itself".  We also know that it presents it self differently in all of our kids.  And autism aside, our kids are completely different from each other.  Some kids are verbal learners while others are auditory learners. Some kids need more immediate reinforcers while other kids prefer big reinforcers at the end of a chunk of time. Some kids thrive off of PECS and some kids don't seemingly benefit.

That being said, there are certainly some therapies I'm on the fence about and some therapy methods I question - which I hope all of you question therapies before you ok them for your children - but there are still TONS of therapies being offered to your kids.  I'm a firm believer in a behavioral base with other therapies mixed in depending on your child's needs, learning styles, etc.  Just because a therapy doesn't work for little Joey in your son's classroom, doesn't mean your child won't benefit from the same therapy.  And just because little Joey is thriving with a particular treatment, that doesn't mean you'll see the same results ... but if you want to try something, other parents shouldn't be knocking you down!

C'mon people ... support each other! Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences with other parents but don't tell them what will work for their child, you have no idea!  And for Pete's sake, STOP fighting with each other - HELP each other!

My Job as a Behavior Therapist

Behavior Therapist is just one of the names for an individual who provides Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) for kids with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders).  The facility I work out of (a psych hospital in New England) refers to us as behavior therapists - but I've heard behavior specialists, ABA therapists, behavior analysts, and milieu therapists. 

It's fair to say that I "fell" into my job.  I started college knowing I wanted to be a psychology major but thinking that I wanted to counsel adults.  A friend told me about a job in a behavior program for college students and I figured it would help me "get into the field".  (which seems to be everyone's goal ... )  I took the job having never met a child with ASD (as many of college students do) and will admit that I learned what I know now from both parents and the kids what I worked with. 

As I said, I provide Applied Behavior Analysis which is a highly supported form of treatment for kids on the spectrum.  "Analysis" refers to the data we take and use a means of measurement for program coordination - should we change something? add something? stop doing something? ABA is backed by statistics, evidence in journals, and much of the scientific community - so I feel secure doing what I'm doing.  This certainly isn't to say that I don't support any other type of treatment - in fact, we do implement other methods (ie, PECS, food therapy, horn therapy, playgroups ...) as part of our everyday work. 

For most kids, we see them 20-30 hours per week in their home - although, not all ABA programs are home-based.  Most studies I've read support at least 20 hours per week for substantial changes to be observed. 

All in all, we work with kids on academic skills (especially if they are in typical and/or integrated classrooms), daily living skills, social skills, negative target behaviors (self-injury, tantrums, socially inappropriate responses), and anything else the parent/guardian may request. 

As I said, I "fell" into the job ...  not planning on enjoying it.  I'm typically not a kid person - I always say "The person at the wedding dancing with kids? ... I'm physically as far away from that person as you can get ".  But I love my job because I find myself relating with these kids and understanding them - something beyond sympathizing with them.  While many of these kids suffer with being socially awkward, many of them have taught me how to relate better with people in my own life.  

I plan on using this blog as a way to discuss how the kids I've worked with help me, teach me things, and ways we've worked with them ...