PDD Diagnosis

If the preschool is not ABA or teach then I would not send my child to that pre school. Teach and ABA if look at them side by are almost the same. The way His old ABA teacher and teach now explained to me was that ABA is more DATA taking. I would look to it up and see from but teach so far is not bad. My son is doingwell. He still cant talk yet and I feel that it is only because that is going to take moretime. I found that once they get into the higher grade ABA school are harder to find and public school seem to work more with teach. Good luck

or see about the Shield Institute here is their website.
http://www.shield.org/children_school-program.html

Hello J. M, My daughter was diagnosed with PDD at age 3. She is almost 7 and doing great. She too received services through early intervention, and attended a school with children with similiar disorder. She progressed really well and now attends a regular public school. She is a very outspoken little girl. I believe she is doing so well today because of the services of Early Intervention at such a young age.

ABA can be a powerful tool for learning discrete, sequential tasks (like brushing his teeth). The major draw-back to ABA is that it does NOT generalize. Each skill set is learned, but the skills generally do not carryover to another skill set. I have done ABA with children and the discrete trial method is effective, but should not be the only intervention provided.

Talk with the EI service coordinator. Some preschool programs utilize a discrete trial (ABA) method within their program, but do not strictly adhere to the methodology and therefore cannot call themselves ABA providers. I would suggest talking with the identified program's director about whether or not they use empirically proven methods (PECS, TEACH- North Carolina model, etc) to facilitate development. A well-rounded program that provides multiple methods for learning will be more impacting than simply using ABA.

Good luck- make sure that your son is getting plenty of OT and language therapy! If you are in Dutchess County, the St. Francis preschool programs are fantastic!

Hi J.
My daughter was diagnosed with PDD-
NOS over a year ago. We were unable
to use ABA with her due to her inability
to attend to a task for more than 30
seconds at a time. I think it really
depends on your sons ability to stay
focused. We used the floortime approach.
We followed her lead and then build upon
the activity of her choice. I can
recommend a book if your interested.
Also, if you are in the Naugatuck, CT area
I am starting a support group with another
mom which meets at the Naugatuck
YMCA on Saturday mornings if your
interested. The first meeting is on June
13 at 10:00am. Here's a link to our web-
site (which is a work in progress)
www.spectrumsupportgroup.com

Hi J.,
Our now 3y/o was dgn w/ PDD-NOS. Our boy has been in therapy: ST and ABA for 6 months. He has ABA 10 hrs a week, and it works! He has improved tremendously, but has ways to go. If your son's new school doesn't have ABA, perhaps you can have a therapist come to the house after school a couple of days a week.

hope it all works out.

Hi, I am a speech therapist who used to do ABA and I entirely agree with Krista. ABA is a great tool and has it's place, but it is limited. I did it with a child who was rather severe and it was the only thing that helped control his behaviors. In his case, it was a really good match - but most kids need more at some point. He may benefit from ABA in the beginning, and may need to transition to something else that keeps him more well rounded as he learns skill sets. But discrete trials along with other intervention techniques may work well for your son also.

Talk to the preschool and see what they can offer. ABA is a technique that you need to be certified to do. It is a method of using discrete trials (which means: do step 1 with cues, then without cues until successful. Add step 2, do steps 1 & 2 with cues, then without cues until successful. Add step 3..... so on a so forth for each lesson). Discrete trials can be done without ABA (but you do want to make sure it is a successful approach). I am an advocate for ABA, but I do feel that it only has its place like everything else - if started with ABA - he'll likely need to transition into other approaches to continue to expand his knowledge.

I see you are expecting #4 in August - congrats! But, I know how overwhelming this can be too! Since he's been getting EI - talk to the SLP also. He/she will likely be able to make some recommendations based on what is seen during therapy. Good luck!

Hi J.- i'm sorry I am a little late with my response I had a rough week, kids sick, Mom visiting from Florida,my youngest sons birthday, etc. etc... Anyways my middle son was diagnosed as pdd a year ago. His developmental pediatrician also recommended ABA- I personally was not thrilled with the idea of it, just because I thought it sounded so intense and didn't know if I was ready to go that extreme. I talked to all of his therapists at the time ( when we were in Early intevention) to see what they thought, they all said it could be helpful but may not be necessary, so I decided that when he went to preschool in the fall to see what happened and how it went without having ABA- well....
the progress my son has made since Sept. is so unbelievable
(without ABA) he talks full sentences now- he barely put 2 words together when he started in Sept. His frustration level is almost completely gone- (now we are almost positive most of it was due to communication!!)Don't get me wrong he still has issues that we deal with on a daily basis but I feel I made the mother's instict right decision in this case. SO my suggestion to you is to read up on ABA (if you don't know about it yet) and go with your gut feeling- and know that even when you make your choice it is not unchangeable!!! Good luck and feel free to contact me if you have any questions you think I could help you with!!