We’re back with another hot seat! I am talking with Swethana, a mom of two girls whose youngest, now age 5, has been diagnosed with autism. I am looking at some of Swethana’s daughter Richa’s assessment, and we are discussing what these mean and how to enact the 4-step Turn Autism Around approach to help intermediate learners.
Swethena is sharing how she discovered my Turn Autism Around approach and how she uses my programs. We discuss her previous therapy and what it looks like now, post COVID. She tells us how Richa’s diagnosis affected her and how the hope of ABA therapy turned this around.
In this episode, we are reviewing Richa’s assessments and discussing what to do next. We talk about the VB MAPP assessment and the one-page assessment and how we can make goals after completing them. Richa is verbal but non-conversational, so we are looking at behaviors and barriers for this child and discussing how these may change and what I would do when looking over her assessments.
Richa presents as a level 2 or level 3 VBMAPP learner, so we talk about programming for kids who have language but may not be conversational. I talk about many examples as we walk through the 4 steps of the Turn Autism Around approach when building plans for learners like Richa. Swethena and I talk about beneficial reinforcers and how to motivate kids like Richa.
Today’s Guest
Swethena is committed to helping her child and being a positive light in Richa’s learning. She reminds us that special needs children are put into the lives of such truly special parents and siblings. I am so thankful for Swethena for being generous with her child’s data and documents, making it possible to share information like this to help even more learners, parents, and professionals.
Swethana is a mother of two beautiful girls. Her youngest daughter was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) at the age of 3 and a half and was later diagnosed with Epilepsy at age 4. She graduated with a Master’s degree in Computer Engineering from George Mason University and is currently working as a software developer. She resides in Kansas City with her husband and her two girls. She continues to support and advocate for her daughter as her family navigates through their daughter’s autism journey using ABA therapy. Her mission in the future is to spread awareness about autism and Epilepsy, especially to help spread awareness about ABA therapy, and would like to provide support and hope to other special needs families.
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