Road Less Traveled…
Road Less Traveled…
We did not place our son in a public school, and instead embarked on a road of unilateral education, which has led over several years to his tremendous improvement. Our journey was in part inspired by the book “Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family’s Triumph over Autism
With the financial assistance of our extended families, we managed to set up an intensive and highly customized private therapeutic program for David consisting of applied behavioral analysis (ABA), at approximately thirty hours per week, speech therapy, occupational and physical therapies, sensory integration, and social skills groups. It has been a full-time job for me to oversee all the elements of this extensive program – to interview and hire therapists, maintain instructional space, purchase materials, coordinate team meetings and reports, participate in goal setting, and often serve as a therapist myself.
The power of ABA for autistic children cannot be overestimated in rewiring their neurological pathways, in shaping their behaviors and enabling them to gain (or regain) the most fundamental skills as a foundation for future more advanced learning and productive functioning. In my son’s case, ABA therapy was the first critical step in pulling him out of autism and launching him on the trajectory of independent learning. Unfortunately, not many parents are knowledgeable to appreciate whether their children are receiving quality ABA services at school/home or just a poor resemblance of those (which can do more harm than good). I would like to see parents educating themselves about the principles of ABA and becoming competent partners in developing and evaluating they children’s behavioral therapies.
