They suggested this thing called ABA Therapy. Not knowing what that meant, I was like "oh, okay".... Then they went into this sign language thing. Which is what I THOUGHT ABA Therapy was, but I was wrong. More on that in a minute. The sign language thing..... They introduced Conor to 4 words/phrases: eat, please, more and all done. Eat obviously is bringing your hand to your mouth. Please is one hand making a circular motion on your chest. More is the finger tips of both hands touching together. All done is hands flat crossing over each other in front of your body. Thought this might be a good thing. They said that Conor would probably get frustrated with the trying to teach him this, and they were right. When I try to get Conor to do these motions, he gets really fussy. When I do them myself and try and get him to watch me, he gets really fussy. But, he always did the same thing when anyone would try and get him to talk. If I said "Conor...... Say mommy" he would get frustrated. It's like if I just say the word "say" it's like he know I am trying to teach him something and he gets upset. It's the same reaction with the sign language. He gets frustrated. But.......... Hoping that eventually he picks up on it a little and at least becomes a little more comfortable.
In additional to their butt load of toys, Lindsey also brought with her an iPad. Of course, being an electronic thing, Conor was intrigued. She had several apps on her iPad for Conor and he really took to the two she showed him. The first one was of animals. There were maybe a dozen pics of different animals on the page. Conor had to point to one and when he did, it showed the picture and made that animal sound. He liked the cat and the dog and the lion the most. Then she showed him this other one with this little cartoon character Milo. Milo the mouse would imitate certain actions and Conor was supposed to repeat them. Such as jumping or crying. He didn't do those, but he did do the clapping one. Milo said "can you clap" and Conor clapped. This is a big thing, because he just learned THE DAY BEFORE to clap on command. He would clap when you clapped. He would clap when you grabbed his hands and clapped for him. But would never (until last Thursday) would he never clap when you just said "Conor, can you clap?" So for him to react and clap when a cartoon mouse told him to clap, was a big thing. Was very proud. I have done lots of research and I have actually found several articles and doctors and therapists who swear by what they call iPad therapy. Autistic kids are like magnets when it comes to electronics, Conor is no different. So why would it not make sense to put those learning tools on something they they are already interested in? Soooooooo this past weekend I did some iPad research to see what the cost would be. iPad, Kindle Fire, other tablets. There is definitely a cost difference. Need to do a little more research though before investing in one of these tablets. But it makes total sense to me....
Now....... ABA Therapy (Applied Behavior Analysis). I have read on it, and so far I am not sold on the idea only because what I found on Google were a lot of extreme cases and I was not impressed. But, I also found some very acceptable examples of methods on the Autism Speaks website (which is what I have linked here) as well as YouTube, this video is only one example. I will be discussing this more with his speech therapists on Friday. I ccontinue to work with Conor on these 4 words they introduced him to, I still get resistance..... But...... Just gotta "keep swimming".
Conor also had his first real session with Dareth, his developmental therapist. His speech was actually cut short because he was starting to get cranky and rubbing his eyes. Stacey suggested they stop and call it a day, because she felt Conor was going to need a break before Dareth got there. SHE WAS RIGHT. Gave Conor a little time to relax, watch a little Blue's Clues. So he was raring to go when Dareth got there.
Dareth brought some toys of her own, one of which Conor really took to was a peg board type game. Foam board with holes and little plastic colored pegs that you push into the peg board. This little "toy" worked a number of areas with Conor. Stacking, colors, pushing, pulling, taking turns, (not throwing them LOL), decision making, figuring things out. She also brought with her a sit and spin and some little cars. Conor was showing his "organizational skills" by lining up the cars on the sit and spin. Didn't really use the sit and spin for how it was intended, but again.... first session. Gotta start somewhere.
As in the speech therapy, I continue to work with Conor on these skills they are trying to teach him. I actually went out and bought that peg board game over the weekend for Conor and have been working with him. Granted, he still wants to throw them and dump them, but he is also working on everything else. I look forward to what this weeks sessions will bring.
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