Christopher has been talking up a storm this past week! He's getting better at some of his more difficult alphabet characters, namely W, and he seems to be showing off his knowledge of all the words he knows associated with each letter. We used to step through the alphabet with a standard set of words: A, Apple, B, Ball, C, Cat, D, Dog, etc., he's now prone to using other words where he knows them, E might be Egg or Elephant, K might be Key or Kangaroo, J might be Juice or Jacket - he's definitely making language progress. :)
Christopher's Language
Blog Pages
Been payin' some attention to my blog. I like it. I wish I could password protect some of the content tho, so I'm not done tinkering.
THE 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU
Phoebe to Selena Gomez at Hershey Park
My baby girl has been invited to a concert! :) Rachel's Mom Susan is taking the girls to Hershey Park this weekend. She is so excited! My first concert was not until my 21st birthday, James Taylor at King's Dominion. I'm so glad that Phoebe is getting this opportunity early in life. This will be her first out-of-town trip without Mom or Dad, but it's only over one night, and she'll be with her little bff and "Mom#2" so I know she's going to be fine.
ABA versus Son-Rise
There appears to be some very fundamental differences between two leading programs for the treatment of Autism. This account of the differences is from the Son-Rise side.
Understanding of Autism | |
ABA | The Son-Rise Program |
Sees Autism as a behavioral disorder, with behaviors to be either extinguished or reinforced | Sees Autism as a social interactivity disorder, where the central deficit is relating to other people |
The child needs structure and must learn to sit appropriately, follow a schedule, and comply with requests | Helping the child to be flexible and spontaneous enables him/her to handle change and enjoy human interaction |
Area of Focus | |
ABA | The Son-Rise Program |
Changing the behavior of the child | Creating a relationship with the child |
Seeks to “extinguish” the child’s repetitive “stimming” behavior | Uses “joining” technique to participate in the child’s repetitivebehavior |
Method of Teaching New Skills | |
ABA | The Son-Rise Program |
Repetition – Uses discrete trials or similar method to prompt the child to perform a behavior (followed by a reward) over and over again until the child has demonstrated mastery | Motivation – Builds the child’s own interests into every game or activity so that the child is excited, “comes back for more,” generalizes skills, and relates naturally rather than robotically |
Areas of Learning | |
ABA | The Son-Rise Program |
Often focuses on academic skills | Always teaches socialization first |
Sees academic areas such as math as an excellent way to help the childcompensate for lack of social skills | Seeks not to help the childcompensate for social skills deficits but rather to overcome them |
The Role of the Parents | |
ABA | The Son-Rise Program |
Professionals are the major players, with parents having a more observational role | Parents are given the most central role because their love, dedication, and experience with their child is unmatched |
The Role of the Facilitator’s Attitude | |
ABA | The Son-Rise Program |
Sees attitude as largely irrelevant, with effective application of behavior shaping techniques being what matters | Sees attitude as vitally important, since having a non-judgmental and welcoming attitude determines whether the child feels safe and relaxed enough to interact and learn |