As I sit here watching my son in therapy its clear as day he's not benefiting from it.
I truly believe ABA would have been a good fit, unfortunately his insurance doesn't cover ABA therapy.
The cost for ABA therapy can run into the thousands for weekly sessions, and at this point in my sons life thatβs something I believe he has always needed.
Constant clear redirection is what my son thrives on, but he's also getting older and set in his ways, habits and routines.
When my son was first diagnosed at 3yrs old I should have signed him up for ABA then and got him in an program that provides it.
But like anything else in life it was all new territory for us and my head was spinning from all the medical jargon that was being thrown our way.
I opted for the usual speech, occupational therapy that's common place. These therapies worked for a while but son gets stressed out now because over the years it's pretty much the same things being repeated at every session.
Recently he started with behavior therapy which is just a watered down version of ABA.
He works on focusing, attention, proper ways to ask for things, safe ways to play etc.
His sessions are 1 hour a day at home, 2 hours a day in school and his therapist works with him one on one at home and school.
He's been doing the behavior therapy for close to 6 months now and I haven't seen any significant improvements, he's still very active and gets bored very easily.
I have to constantly intervene to redirect him back to his session, he wonders around and tries everything he can to take control of the session.
Therefore even therapy is no break for me because his therapist can't handle him and needs me to be present in case son decides to bolt from his session.
Kids like my son only benefit from clear rules with no bending or compromising.
If he's given any lead way he'll take it and run with it.
That's the main reason traditional therapies don't work for kids like my son.
He feels like his therapist is just another friend to play with, he doesn't take it seriously
Therefore he's not getting anything out of it, it really is a glorified playdate nothing else.
All I want is for my son to understand rules and structure outside of our home, but when he has therapist that loose control of sessions it becomes impossible.
Everything I have taught him works well with me, It's other people he has problems listening too and following rules with.
This is why I believe ABA therapy would be a perfect for my son, I'm sure he would resist at first but the structure alone he would love and look forward too.
The clear constant redirection is what he's used to getting from me so I'm sure he would fall in line with that also.
I do not believe ABA is any kind of torture or punishment like some would have me believe, I believe kids like my son need something more than the go to therapies like speech and OT.