Ms. Marilou from TasKids brought a bag of water beads, she gave some to William to put in water. He loves it so much that he keeps touching them while watching iPad.
Tag: TasKids
Typical ABA Session
Currently, we have ABA sessions on M, W, F, from 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM. Mondays & Fridays we have Thomas as William’s BT. He’s been with us for about a year now. On Fridays we have Brenda; which is our new BT for about few months. Brenda is also responsible for Social Groups on Saturdays from 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
A typical ABA session at home would be Thomas/Brenda asking William what he wants to do or what game he wants to play. Most of the time I’d be cooking our dinner while listening to their conversations. Some times I sit down and watch them. We’re so lucky to have BTs who are patient and dedicated to their job.
Now it’s summer so some times we go out to the back yard and William plays in the trampoline. We also walk around the neighborhood to practice our goals of “Asking permission/Elopement”. William tends to run off to whatever he wants so the goal is for him to ask permission before he goes and to stay next to mom & dad when going out.
ABA Supervisor Decided Not to Send BT to Daycare
Wednesday 10:00 AM. I texted Huy, the supervisor, about what happened at the daycare yesterday that Mr. Gary was so upset and wanted me to call him. So Huy called me to talk about it.
Huy came with our new BT Anthony to the daycare yesterday (3:30 – 5:00 as schedule); Huy talked to Ms. Chastity and Ms. Angelina asking how was William doing without aid for the past 2 months. They both said William has been doing great. So Huy came to Mr. Gary and asked the same question. At first Ms. Gary said it William is doing fine but then went on saying that William is talking deficit, and that William doesn’t want to play with other kids so Huy should set up some activities like small group to help William. Huy replied that it’s not his job to do so; he and his staff are here just to support William, not to interrupt or pull William out of his daily schedule. I think this is why Mr. Gary is mad because Huy would not take his advise and refuse to do so.
Then Huy concluded that it seems to him William doesn’t need any help at the daycare any more so he will not send BT to the day care! I felt very sad about his decision; he only came for 1 and 1/2 hour and only based on the 2 teachers’ words who each has about 10 children to watch.
Dropped William at the daycare as usual, Mr. Gary was sitting in the yellow bird classroom, and gave me a signal that he wanted to talk. So after I put William to his bed, I came to him. He was very mad, “This is exact his words: there’s nothing else I can do here”. Mr. Gary referred to what Huy told him. Mr. Gary was upset because he thought Huy’s quitting on William by decide not to have sessions at the daycare anymore so he suggested things that Huy still can do for William, like setting up the small group where William can learn to interact with other children but looked like Huy took it the wrong way: Huy said “He told me how/what to do my job!”. I explained to Mr. Gary that they’re here just to SHADOW William, they will not interfere or create opportunity because it’s not their job to do so; and Huy preferred natural settings. Mr. Gary calmed down and he said, “If they’re here just to shadow then he’s right, William is fine here, he doesn’t need any help.” Then Mr. Gary said “I should apologize to him”, I gave him Huy’s number, he called but Huy did not pick up; he left a message in Huy’s voice mailbox.
Then Mr. Gary turned to Ms. Chastitiy and another staff (?), “Is William lacking of anything that need to improve?” They both said No; “William is very independent, he wakes up from his nap, put on his shoes, go to the play ground and play, doesn’t make any trouble at all.” The only thing he needs to improve is Speech. So they agreed that William doesn’t need any aid here.
Mr. Gary turned to me and said, “if there’s any tears these should be happy tears because William is at a different stage now”. I agreed with him, William is so much different than he was 1 year ago before he has ABA sessions. Of course I’m happy that he has growth so much but to say he doesn’t need any more help then I disagree.
I’m so touched that Mr. Gary did not think twice to argue with Huy to fight for William’s benefits. Other daycare’s director would careless about an ABA supervisor’s decision. From bottom of my heart, thank YOU Mr. Gary! I know all you want is the best for all your children under your supervision at the daycare.
On the way driving back to work, I realized that it must be the daycare staffs’ words that influenced Huy’s decision. They all said William is doing fine. I just hope that what they said is true. Although I’m very skeptical about that because to them if a boy doesn’t make any trouble, it means he’s doing fine.
Bottom line is that as a Mom, who knows his son the best, I still think William needs someone to encourage him to participate and socialize at the daycare; otherwise he’d be often stand or sit alone near the fence , just like when I dropped him off in the morning during last summer break. When William has school in the morning, his time at the daycare is not that much so I would not worry about that too much; but when the school is off and he has to stay at the day care all day, it hurts me when I see him standing and holding on to the fence looking at my car as I drive away. Other children at his age would just run off to his friends, say hi and play in the group. Our boy would just stand there and watch with careless and emotionless eyes.
I felt hopeless that I can’t convince Huy to change his mind. He took over the case for only a few months; at first he cut the hours (we lost 7 hours/week) and now plans to stop ABA sessions at the daycare, and based on what? Doesn’t he need to base on the ABC data to decide? What would another mom do in this case?
William’s First Trampoline
Listened to Huy & Jody from TasKids, we bought William his first trampoline so that he can jump to release all the energy that he has. The plan is to let him jump before each ABA session so that he’d have less energy to run around. But seems like he doesn’t like to jump that much because he’d only spend less than 10 minutes in the trampoline.
.
Cut Back on ABA Hours!
Monday afternoon, normally it’s the PC session with Jody and One to One session with Aaron but Aaron cancelled so Jeannie covered for him. The supervisor Huy also came to go over the progress report that he had to prepare to turn over to his director; the report is due to the Cal Optima on Sept.
He went over the goals that set by previous company ABEST and how William achieved the goals. There are about 7 goals that he marked “Discontinued” because he thinks William achieved them. And in conclusion he recommended to reduce the One on One hours from 24 hours / week to 17 hours/week, meaning cutting back 7 hours/week. He also cuts back the PC hours from 12 to 10 hours/month.
We’re not happy with his decision because William achieved a few goals but there are still lots of goals in the list that we haven’t started yet. He based on the ABC data collected by the BTs at home or day care sessions to conclude that William achieved the goals. I was learned from parent training from previous company that in order to master a goal, William has to demonstrate that skill with BTs, and with parents and can generalize that skill out in the community as well. We rarely take William out to the communities during session so Huy would have no idea how William behaves when in the community. From our recent travel trips, we were very frustrated because William would never listen, he would run off unexpected and throw tantrum if we did not allow him to do what he wanted. Huy only comes few times a month, and observes for about 1 hour per session, how much can he learn about William in such a short time; plus, he just took over our case for only about 3 months! As a Mom, I know William the best, I know William still needs lots of training on controlling his behaviors so cutting back the hours is not gonna help. 3 or 4 hours of cutting back is ok but 7 hours is too much!
William Loves The Book “Rosie Comes to PreSchool”
Tuesday evening, ABA Session with Ms. Jody as usual.
Which book do you want to read? Ms. Jody asked
Rosie! – William responded without thinking.
Last year when I brought the books into the room; he would throw them out the door and close the door. Now he loves to read the books; and we read book every night on our bed before he goes to sleep.
The book “Rosie Comes to Preschool” is long but he always wants to finish the book. He know about 80% of the words in the book.
We’re so proud of you William!
