ABA for aspies

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What does ABA for high functioning kids look like today? Does anyone here have their elementary school aged kid in it? What kinds of behaviors are you targeting with it? Just trying to figure out if I should look into it more.

Emotional Regulation - A step beyond emotional recognition into handling emotions, problem solving, and inferencing, impulse control

Play- Imaginary play, learning to play along with peers, following vs. leading

Conversation - Taking conversation a step further, longer convos with a variety of questions

Academics - Learning how to take tests, auditory processing practice in a "school" setting, reading comprehension, academic support, writing skills

Peer support - Reading body language, peer convo, problem solving with peers

Inferencing - Continuing to teach inferencing, in life and in books, social stories, etc

Independence skills

Those are the ones I could think of off the top of my head....

My four-year-old is very smart and great at academics.

The main things that he works on with the ABA therapist are:

obsessive compulsive disorder/repetitive behaviors/inflexibility

social skills, such as taking turns, sharing, and not getting upset if he loses a game

stimming--licking and bitting himself and clothing

whining and throwing fits in order to get his way

potty training

My older son, with high functioning classic autism, has also done ABA for behavior issues.

What does a typical therapy session look like? Is it much different than what a speech therapist would do during a social skills class?

An ABA therapist is going to have a M. A. in education or psychology. Mine has an undergrad degree in psychology, an M. A. in psychology, specialized training and experience, and certification to teach special education.

I did my kids' speech myself and relied heavily on pictures, teaching them reading at the same time, and speech DVDs. (I have an expired certification to teach English and graduate work in that area and a little in liguistics). However, I know that some speech therapists use an ABA approach. Also, an ABA therapist can do additional speech lessons if your insurance doesn't cover enough lessons for your child.

The sessions (which occur in my home) involve the therapist playing games with my kids, having them do school work or occupational therapy activities that they do not want to do, and working on activities that normally result in behavior problems or stress.

With my younger son, for instance, one fixation was people getting into the car in a certain order and through certain doors. He would have a meltdown if it was not done "right." Basically, she worked with him on allowing people to get into the car in the wrong order without getting upset--desensitization. He will cooperate for her better than he will for Mommy when it comes to unpleasant tasks.

I tend to give my most unpleasant duties and biggest behavior challenges to the ABA and try to reserve speech, reading, reading social stories, and most academic activites for myself.

Another important reason that I have an ABA therapist come into my home and help out (private pay $ 30/hr.) is that I have two kids with a whole lot of needs and no one to help. (The school services here are completely inadequate.)

If I don't use DVDs, computer programs, and the ABA therapist, I cannot stay on top of everything--potty training doesn't get done, my son doesn't get enough occupational therapy, a reading goal doesn't get met--something gets left on the back burner.