ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis)

While we were going through the process of beginning school with Daniel, we had a home visit / assessment from Holdsambeck Associates - who would turn out to be one of our favorite and best resources. They came in and observed Daniel while he played, watched how he interacted with his twin - Anthony and us. They asked questions, and interacted with Daniel. Soon after we had a meeting and went over all things that had been observed, and how the information gathered would help to establish a beginning point for ABA services. A binder was put together for his programs, information to be gathered in, to show progress.

So, with ABA beginning, we got his own little table to work at, blocks, puzzles and other items he would need. The company would provide his programs. Initially there would be two sessions a day - each 1-1/2 hours each. They would be every day Monday thru Friday after his SDC (which was 3 hours long the first year), and a session on Saturdays. A different BI (Behavior Instructor) would work one on one with Daniel each session. Because he wouldn't stay focused and tended to become increasing agitated, we could not have any men on his team. All of his instructors were women (I think this kept his attention for many reasons, but whatever the reason, it was it worked). He would have several programs to begin with. The very basics were covered at first, putting one item with another, getting him to imitate words, actions and eye contact. From the beginning Daniel was very compliant, they would work for so long then have a few minutes break, with a 10 minute break at the half way point. For the first couple of weeks - whenever an instructor would show up at the door, Daniel would run behind me and start crying, but he would comply with his instructions. It broke my heart, I wanted to cry every time he did. I knew I couldn't do anything. He had to go through this if he was ever to be part of our world and not continue drifting away.

After a while Anthony would try to be included...

We began ABA incorporating ASL (American Sign Language) for anything we would request him to say. We would tell him to "say moon" and sign moon at the same time. Getting him to respond to requests seemed to take so long. He would be compliant and sit down, allow the BI's to make him do things "hand over hand", however, he seemed to be saying... "I'll talk only when I feel like it, and you can't make me." We would also use the sign language for pictures, using it as a visual prompt when he wouldn't comply with just seeing the picture. After a while, we all learned together the limitations of ABA for Daniel. For example, he would completely shut down after 5 o'clock, he wouldn't respond on Saturday's. So, once we had a routine down, we stopped working after 5 and on Saturdays. Then the sessions became 2 hours a piece.

Once the boys turned 3 and we had Daniel on track, we had Anthony assessed with the local school system. It had been a long road getting Anthony what he needed because he seemed to simply be "delayed". Though we knew more was going on, and since his delays didn't show up as much until later, we kept being directed to have him assessed with the school. However, they wouldn't assess him until he was 3, and since he was going to be three, the regional center would not see him until he was assessed by the school.