Something is working…
This last year I have to say has been an amazing year. One of discovery, trial and error and much growth. This time last year our family was doing everything we could to move to a different state that provided better Autism services for our daughter. We had put our house on the market; we were trying to convince my husbands company to allow us to move to a different area. We felt lost and scared. Julie was not making progress very quickly, the state had no money to support the children in the system and to hire a therapist to work with Julie was going to be cost prohibitive. So a prayer was said. “Lord give me strength, I cannot do this on my own.” “Please lord I am not very bright, I need a billboard to show me the way.” “I will trust in you.” Well the house wouldn’t sell, the market went belly up and it hit me. I am good at working with Julie. I had been supplementing her care for the last year with the knowledge I got from her case worker on RDI treatment, the books I had read on floor time therapy and the class I had taken called More than words. The piece I felt like we needed though was a base knowledge to work from. We needed checks and balances, a way to track her progress and see where her deficits were. I had read that ABA therapy could provide this for us so I called a local therapist and asked if she could train me how to do ABA therapy and then I could administer the therapy to Julie. This was what we were looking for. This was the answer to our prayer. The other door was clearly closing and the billboard said you can do this! I am lucky enough to be at home with my kids and I was able to make the time to do the therapy. Also I was able to have my own input on her therapy, know what her goals were and do therapy in a way that I knew would be motivating to Julie. A year later and you wouldn’t know that she was the same child. Granted we still have work to do but she is doing an amazing job. She has found her voice, she is very in tuned to her emotions, she has learned to do pretend play and when she looks at me now I see her and I know she sees me too! ABA therapy was our answer. It may not be the right choice for everyone or maybe you can't commit the time to do it. But from one parent to another if I could give you any advice it would be know what your child is working on and reinforce it 24/7 being immersed in her therapy allowed me to know her goals from sun up till sun down and I could work on them in a therapy session as well as in the natural environment. No matter what therapy solution you choose for your child I ask you to be a part of their life and go through this life with them. It is the most rewarding thing you will ever do.