Juliette, Autism and ABA

Juliette's first 7 months of ABA therapy for autism.

Juliette developed normally at first, crawling, walking and talking at the expected times. She acquired language rapidly, and seemed like a fairly typical child. However, at about 20 months her behaviour worsened and she started losing skills, eye contact and all her language.

Juliette commenced therapy at 2 years 2 months and was given a diagnosis of severe autism soon after.

At this point she could not understand or follow a basic one step instruction such as "do this" (tap table). She was functionally non-verbal and had to be taught to say basic words such as "mummy" "yes" and "no". She was taught PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) early in her program. Although PECS was originally designed as a communication system for non-verbal kids, in many children it had the unexpected effect, when done well, of triggering expressive language. This is exactly what happened with Juliette, with a relatively short space of time she started using her words, allowing PECS to be phased out.

Juliette has made excellent progress in the past 2 years and is an absolute delight with a wicked sense of humour. Her eye contact and social interaction is good, and while she still has a language delay, we continue to see significant gains from month to month.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• autism
• ABA
• therapy
• early
• intervention
• behavioural
• analysis
• lovaas
• PECS
• behavior

[kathydarrow]

Very Special and a beautiful little girl!!

I would like to suggest instead of a behaviorial approach to think about now a developmental approach for Her deficits. I am a Mom of two children on the spectrum and an RDI consutlant....my children no longer classify for the Dx of Autism. Behaviorism cannot fill in the social deficits left by Autism....my children were in ABA for 4 years....and I thought we came as far as we could...until I discovered

[PaceyPanda]

I'm so pleased about the progress of your children. It's a shame so many think of ABA as a therapy rather than a set of principles to develop effective interventions. I agree with many of the goals in RDI (and Floortime), I just adhere to measurement to determine the effectiveness of the intervention. What a fantastic result and so inspiring - I can only imagine how much work you've done. thanks, Mandy

[dness87]

i am so glad i found this video, my son was diagnosed with severa autism yesterday and i have seen so many children not be able to enjoy normal child activities, this video gives me alittle hope. i will also be doing ABA soon. She looks wonderful.

[PaceyPanda]

I'm so sorry to hear of your son's diagnosis. I wish you all the best in your journey. Just remember that ABA is not a therapy, but rather a set of principles to use in the development of a program - I hope you can find your way to a good program and access to a BCBA - it never ceases to amaze me what even children with severe deficits can learn with the application of scientific principles to teaching. It is a very challenging time, I know, but there's good reason for hope. Take care, Mandy

[ali786haq]

hi there,,, great to see her progress... my son is 21 mths and has been diagnosed with autism. When did u start your daughter on ABA and how many hrs therapy did she receive? Please

[PaceyPanda]

Hello...my daughter started when she was 25 mths old - it's wonderful you've had such a young diagnosis. I did the majority of her therapy for the first year and she did receive 40+ hours per week, but I know a lot more now than I did and I would have focussed on away from the table therapy had I known then what I know now. I believe Lovaas said "every waking hour" but then I had a daughter who was severe and needed a lot of help! Best of luck!

[mcdegreg]

beautiful, I just cry as a baby, be praud of all work done

[MapleLeafReptiles]

I am going to school to become a behaviour therapist for young children with autism and this video makes me very excited for it!! What a cutie :)

[gafgariowned]

Thanks for this video. Parents look everywhere for information and it's awesome you shared your success story here.

[00700Austin]

Wow, she is beautiful and so precious :) Hope all is well.

[Pooch1962]

Wow.... this video brought me to tears. I was reminded of the utter dispair we faced when my son was diagnosed at 18months. Fast forward and he will be four in six weeks. Intensive ABA is the only way. It has given us the opportunity to pull our darling son back through the doorway from his world into ours. It hasn't been easy, and has come at an emotional and financial cost to us, but I wouldn't change a thing. Thank God for dedicated therapists. I would love to see an update. All the best.

[justusseven]

Hi - I see this was a few years ago. Wondering how she is progressing and if you still use ABA. My son is 3 and just diagnosed - our therapist starts in two days. Did you do biomedical too?

*thanks!*

PS - Your video inspires me. I watch when I am overwhelmed and need encouragement and hope! What a sweet girl!

[lozza577]

I get so inspired when I watch this clip, you have done a great job. My son has been in intensive ABA therapy for 5.5 months now and has made huge progress, he will be 3 next month. I live in the country and took him to the city every week for therapy (300km's way) for the past 5 months but now now we have started home based therapy, however his compliance has gone out the window...any suggestions? also we are aiming for 24 hrs per week as he doesn't have a day sleep, how did you manage 40 hours

[Blushie753]

she's so adorable! its great to see all these improvements after ABA therapy, it just gives hope to all parents of children with autism and those who care about them

[hollysaf]

What a great little girl, my little girl was non-verbal a year ago, non-resposive to our voice and did not play with toys. She was referred to a special needs nursery at the age of 3, using ABA, PEC'S and Music therapy our daughter improved every day. She's now talking, singing, will respond to our voice and is reading and writting. She starts school in September and now has a diagnosis of HFA. She's my world and she has changed so much. Good luck for the future xxx