ABA

Nathan has gotten started with his ABA (applied behavior analysis) therapy. Initially they were out at the house "getting to know" him, and he didn't take to the interruption in his routine too well. Now, a couple weeks in, they are running the program, having him work in his goals and earn rewards via a token board. They use this system at school so he's familiar with it and he responds well to it overall. He's been getting rewarded with grapes and mandarin oranges! Ha! That's my Nathan-- hates candy but will work for grapes! They are working on motor skills and play skills with the plan to eventually be able to work on social skills (our health insurance denied the social skills group the behavior analysis company offers but perhaps they will approve it later, or we can find peers to practice his social skills with). Right now we have 6 hours per week of this therapy, and may go up to 8 if they have availability open up on Thursdays (he's approved for up to 10 hours per week). What with 3 days per week of this plus the 2 hours he spends with the speech and occupational therapists on Tuesdays, Nathan's a busy guy! The behavioral folks primarily work directly with him, so dad can get work done while they are here, and when I can play with Cianna and get things done around the house on my day home for it. This service has been authorized for 6 months and then our health plan people will re-evaluate. His speech and OT were also authorized for 6 months and we are halfway through that now. His progress reports for those therapies showed progress, and I've seen improvement in fork use for sure and also with fasteners, as far as OT. I believe the services will be re-authorized so long as he is progressing but still demonstrating a need, which I think will be the case. It will be interesting to see how much progress he makes with all of these additional services in place plus all the services he was already getting at school.