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Lauren is a married mom of two girls, who found my book and courses and is ready to begin to Turn Autism Around for her oldest daughter, Avery. She is taking the “hot seat” as we discuss her fall into the autism world, the concerns Lauren has had for Avery since birth, how to implement the steps of the Turn Autism Approach at home and with ABA therapists, and teaching toddlers with autism.
This family’s fall into the autism world began before the birth of their 3-year-old daughter. When Lauren was pregnant with Avery, she experienced low movement and had to have a C-Section birth due to Avery’s breech position. Her concerns continued throughout infancy as Avery expressed excessive crying without consolement. During childcare, Avery began to demonstrate problem behaviors and Lauren noticed she was very different and behind peers her age and younger. The problems and concerns continued and even worsened through the hit of COVID-19 when we were all in home isolation and after the birth of Lauren’s youngest daughter, Skylar. Pediatricians falsely reassured her and explained away Lauren’s concerns. After much research and pushing, she finally was able to see a developmental pediatrician that gave her the diagnosis of severe autism.
It is stressful and scary to receive a diagnosis like severe autism. I want to really emphasize the idea that just because you have this diagnosis now at age 3, does not mean this is your life now. Lauren is a motivated parent and she is educating herself on how to do her best for Avery. The Turn Autism Approach is made for parents and professionals like Lauren to help increase desired behaviors while decreasing problem behaviors. Together, Lauren and I go over the steps and important order of the Turn Autism Around approach.
4 Steps to Start Teaching Toddlers with Autism
Step 1: Complete the one-page assessment, language sample, and self-care checklist. Make it clear, concise, and graphable. This gives you an idea of where your child is at and identifies their strengths and needs.
Step 2: Complete the one-page plan. When you have a child with many strengths and needs, it can be hard to know where to start. This plan helps you decide what behaviors to start with, what is the standard you’re looking for, and how you’re going to teach it!
Step 3: Teach behaviors and skills. The goal of the Turn Autism Around approach is to increase desired behaviors and decrease problem behaviors. Increasing these good behaviors requires a lot of pairing and strong reinforcement. We are not forcing children to learn, we are encouraging it by making it work for their needs. I highlight the importance of table time in my approach and how to make it happen.
Step 4: Take easy data! Use calendar tracking, word lists, mand lists, or complete more frequent language samples. This data is going to be motivating for you and the ABA therapist that works with your child. Make it known the words and skills your child can do and how that repertoire is growing!
In this episode, we discuss all of Avery’s data and how Lauren can implement the Turn Autism Approach using the data and the steps. She is the perfect example of a parent “captaining the ship” and I even encourage her to take the lead when her visiting ABA therapist works with Avery. Lauren says that her key to self-care during this stressful time is utilizing and taking advantage of the help available to her. This is so true for everyone whether or not it’s family, friends, a church, therapists, etc. you can find your village, you just have to reach out!
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