5 Tips for Celebrating Thanksgiving with your Child

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The changes that come with holidays are typically a challenging time for children with and without a diagnosis. There are changes everywhere ranging from routines, people, locations, foods, etc. We have written 5 tips for you to help celebrate this Thanksgiving Holiday with your child. 

free Visual recipe idea by live love speech

1. Prepare them for the change in routine. If you are going to family or a friends home, inform your child by showing them a picture of the person and their home. You could also show them on the calendar what day you will be headed their way to prepare them for the upcoming change! We love adding a “change” to some of our daily visuals to indicate visually that a change is coming as well.

2. Bring their favorite items or activities. We can help our children feel more at ease if we incorporate some of their favorite items or activities in the new or semi-familiar environment. This is a process we call “pairing” which means we are incorporating things they love to a new environment or people to create a more positive relationship. 

3. If staying at home, involve your child in the Thanksgiving festivities. We can incorporate our children with items like setting up the dinner table, helping with decorating and even helping us in the kitchen. We LOVE this free visual created by Live Love Speech that uses pictures to show the sequence of events for creating a Turkey Cookie!

4. Reduce the Stressors in the Environment. If your child dislikes loud noises or particular foods, prepare for these ahead of time by having noise canceling headphones in close proximity, a designated space the child can go to to remove themselves from these stressors and having an array of other foods the child may be more likely to eat. 

5. Read and practice using a social story. Social stories are a great tool to introduce new concepts or activities. Reading the social story and then practicing what the experience will look like will be key. After reading the story, create a “Thanksgiving dinner table” where the child can see some of the foods they may be exposed to, practice sitting at the table and even practice walking towards their safe zone if they become flustered or frustrated. Here are 5 social stories that you can review. 

We hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday with your family! We are grateful that you have chosen to read our blog and hope these tips will help your family during this time!  

Preparing For In Home ABA Therapy

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ABA Therapy hours were approved and you are ready to get started, YEY!! 🎉 You are probably asking yourself what you may need to do to get your home ready for sessions. Below you'll find a simple guide to setting up your home for success with in-home ABA therapy services.

1. House Rules: Let us know what your house rules are so that we may all may follow them (i.e. any cultural practices, no shoes inside the house, noise levels, etc).

   1. Access to your home: Letting your team know any areas that they can have access to. We love to teach in the child's natural environment and sometimes this may look like playing in the room with their favorite doll house, playing with chalk outside and teaching new skills like riding a bike around the neighborhood!

   1. YOU! We love when our parents are a part of our sessions. We love to teach in the moment when implementing any techniques or protocols and want to make sure you feel confident in them when we walk out.

      • Also note: You know your child best! If you notice your child may be doing something different than usual or may be having an "off day" (i.e. may be getting sick, didn't sleep well), let us know so that we may modify our activities for the day to best help them.

   2. Your child's favorite toys: We love incorporating your child's favorite items within our sessions and teach through play (see Natural Environment Teaching)!

   3. Table and chairs: Sometimes we will complete activities that require a table and chair (i.e. homework activities, teaching trials that require a flat surface, messy items like kinetic sand or slime that we'd like to keep in a contained area and not on your floor (you're welcome 😉)) (see Discrete Trial Teaching).

   4. Distracting Items and/or Activities: Blenders, vacuum cleaners, dump trucks, TV's & siblings! We love teaching in the home because we are able to work through some of the most common distractions however, there may be some that are TOO distracting and should be kept to a minimum when our therapist arrives. Our team will review these items with you and how we can work together to minimize or bring these into sessions.

   5. Code of Ethics: All therapists in an ABA therapy team have a Code of Ethics to abide by. We always recommend that our parents review this Code of Ethics and ask any questions to their child's case manager if any areas are violated. Parents are able to report any violations to the Behavior Analyst Certification Board.

      1. RBT Ethics Code

      2. BCaBA/BCBA Ethics Code

We encourage our families to observe our sessions and ask any questions you may have in the moment. Communication and commitment to our families are part of our values at AMA Behavioral Consulting and we want to ensure we share our knowledge in each step of the way.

We hope this list was helpful and if these services seem like a great fit for you, make sure to fill our contact form here.

Preparing for An Initial ABA Therapy Assessment

Reading Time: 5 Minutes

An initial assessment is an opportunity for our team to get to know you and your child. There will be several events that take place during this initial session and we want to make sure you know what to expect! Below you'll find the main components of what to expect during an initial ABA Assessment:

Photo credit: B & E Photography

1. Caregiver interview: The very first thing we will do is complete some questionnaires about your family and your child. This will include discussing any family history of diagnosis, developmental milestone progression and delays and learning about any medications or allergies. This will also be a great opportunity to talk about any concerning areas (i.e. Your child is not communicating using vocal words OR does not respond to one-step directions). We also like to use this time to discuss any short or long term goals you have for your child and your family unit to include in our programming.

2. Informal and Direct Observation: While we (Behavior Analyst) are completing this questionnaire with you, we will be observing your child in their natural environment. This is a great opportunity to discreetly observe any behaviors you may have reported, your child's ability to request items or attention while you're busy and also observe the way that they play with their toys!

3. Direct Assessment of Skills: We will then begin testing some skills in the natural environment. Depending on the child's level, we may use a variety of toys (it will look like we are playing but we promise we are testing!). We may also use testing books that have pictures and/or words to assess your child's skill level. Some of the categories we will test for early learners using the VBMAPP as an example will include:

   1. Requesting: Your child's ability to ask for items or actions they want/need.

   2. Labeling: Your child's ability to label items when asked to do so.

   3. Receptive Skills: Your child's ability to follow instructions and selecting items when told do so.

   4. Visual Perceptual/Match-To-Sample Skills: Your child's ability to complete multiple step items like a puzzle, matching and sorting.

   5. Play Skills: During our entire assessment, we will be evaluating how your child plays. Does your child repeatedly play with items a certain way? Do they explore the types of toys we bring in for the session?

   6. Social Skills: Your child's ability to take turns, share their toys and even make eye contact when they want to gain our attention.

   7. Motor Imitation Skills: Your child's ability to imitate the actions we show them through direct or play presentations.

   8. Echoic Skills: Your child's ability to echo words and sounds that we present during the evaluation.

   9. Please note: This is an example of what we would test and does not include additional skills like the child's ability to respond to fill-ins, answer questions, or their ability to create new relations based on direct teaching. For older children, we may use other assessment tools and categories (like these above), to best help them at their developmental level. Our team will review what tools will be used for your child!

4. Assessment Write-Up: Once we are finished with the assessment, we will create an assessment write-up with a summary of your child's skill set, behaviors and goals for the next 6 months. We will also review, based on the assessment results, what we are recommending for hours and what sessions will look like. We will send you a copy and review everything listed to ensure that your goals for your child are in agreement with the goals we have selected.

5. Insurance Approval: The next step involves sending this report to your insurance company for approval. This can take anywhere from 2 weeks to up to a month (time varies by insurance). Once the therapy hours are approved, we will discuss scheduling and get ready to start services. For more information on how to prepare for in home ABA therapy, please read our article here.

We hope you found this article helpful and would love to know if this was helpful in the comments!!

5 Things To Do After Receiving an Autism Diagnosis

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As a parent, receiving the news that your child has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum comes with a whirlwind of emotions and questions. Depending on the level on which your child was diagnosed, difficulties may follow. As you may have read, there is no “cure” for Autism. However, you are your child’s number 1 advocate and you will be able to fight for what your child needs. What follows are a few recommendations of things to do after your child has received an Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis: 

1. Evidence-Based Practices. Researching evidence based practices will be very important to ensure your child’s success. Evidence based practices have been heavily studied, researched and replicated. The National Autism Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorder provides a great list of evidence based practices you can see here.

2. Therapy Services. Your child may need additional support that your pediatrician/neurologist and/or psychologist may have recommended. Service providers will specialize in areas like speech development and communication, behavioral health, mental health, physical therapy and additional school services. We will be writing a blog post soon to discuss each of these service professionals and the incredible services they provide. 

3. Books. We often learn from other’s experiences. There are several books that we love and recommend to start the journey. Here are some of our favorite books: Parenting with ABA (Leanne Page, BCBA does an incredible job discussing behavioral concepts that you can implement with your child), The Verbal Behavior Approach (Dr. Mary Lynch Barbera discusses Verbal Behavior and how to implement it with your child) and last but not least the book we are currently reading Differently Wired (by Deborah Reber who discusses how to overcome the challenges in raising an neuroatypical child). 

4. Parent/Caregiver Support Groups. We have joined several support groups to help parents and caregivers. In these groups, we often see families come together and help support each other when they need advice, recommendations and support. Some of the groups in Hillsborough County include: Special Needs Community Resources of Pasco County- Florida, Southshore Special Needs Support, Families with Special Needs Kids-Tampa Bay. 

5. Additional Resources. There are several pages that provide additional resources from initial diagnosis to transitioning to adulthood. Some of our favorites are: 

   1. Autism Speaks

   2. Associations for Science in Autism Treatment

   3. First Words Project

   4. National Autism Association

Remember, this is a time where your child needs you at your best. Be open to new techniques that may be suggested by your service providers. The journey will not be easy but your child needs you in their corner to celebrate each milestone and help them reach their full potential. Teach your child that they have a voice and their voice matters regardless of their diagnosis. Your child deserves respect, dignity and deserves to receive what they need to be successful. This is not an easy feat but YOU (mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, foster parent) are here to help your child be the best they can be and we believe in you!