Child with autism related problems and I need a private school that can really teach him ?

Question

He's fixing to turn 11 in a few weeks and is in real need of beh. mod. We luive for now in MS, but willing to relocate for him.

Answer 1

By law, your public school MUST provide him with an adequate education, and you can challenge what they are doing through Due Process. Did they provide him with a teacher trained in ABA, TEACCH, and/or other autism-specific instructional programming? If not, you can demand such training for teachers and staff through his IEP. Administrators are caught between the requirements of IDEA, and the lack of funding... only by forcing the issue AS A PARENT can you ensure that the proper programming is being put in place (sadly). We special ed teachers have minimal, if any, advocacy power for our students... because we won't jeapordize our jobs by suing the district on behalf of a student. Parents CAN sue the district on behalf of their child, and so administrators will listen to them IF the parent has demonstrated knowledge of their rights and of Due Process.

http://www.wrightslaw.com/


That being said, if you don't have the time to challenge the public schools, and do want to send him to private school:

description of ABA:
http://www.autismspeaks.org/whattodo/what_is_aba.php

Here are a list of schools that use the official ABA approach. Scroll down to "USA by state."
http://rsaffran.tripod.com/schools.html

http://www.spectrumschools.com/

http://feator.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Web_Links&file=index&req=viewlink&cid=46

http://www.aboutautismlaw.com/autism_res.html

http://www.mayinstitute.org/childrens_services/autism,_pdd,_dd.asp

Answer 2

you might also look into the connections center in houston. They have developed a program called RDI or relationship development intervention. Some of the basics of the programinclude dividing his behaviors into 2 distinct type. instrumental and experience sharing. When a child asks for a cookie or stands in line to get lunch, thats instrumental. Even though he may be interacting with other people he is basically using them as instruments to get something. On the other hand if he does something just to share the experience with you thats very different. Examples of this could be when your walking, does he adjust his pace with yours? Try playing a drum. Does his rhythym change if yours does? Does he bring new things to you so you can share his excitement?
With my 11 yr old very verbal son,we are working on getting him to look at our faces for answers. This may sound strange but sometimes we answer him nonverbally. This makes him look at us to see if we are shaking or nodding our heads. We also are teaching him some basic sign language. Again to keep him looking at the person with whom he is talking. We also have changed the way we say other things. For example we stopped telling him to take out the trash. Instead I will say "looks like the trash is full again" . Since the trash is his responsibility he must put it all together and figure out that means he needs to take out the trash. He now takes pride in doing things that he was not told to do. He even does things that we have not hinted about and then comes and brags to us. We also are working on "productive uncertainty". This is teaching him that sometimes the things we don't know about can be very possitive. It is helping him to deal with his anxiety and reduce his need for transitional support. You can start this by asking him " do you know what I have... pause....candy". Don't over do it. That is don't make him wait to long. Start with the basics and the slowly expand to other things. And the excitement needs to be there in your face and voice as well.
Unfortunately we don't have a certified RDI consultant here in San Antonio, but there is a lot of info available online at http://www.rdiconnect.com/

I probably should mention that this program is very parent intensive. That is you do it more than the teachers do. This is necessary to insure that there is consistency through out the childs day. Also it helps keep you from being dependent on whether or not you have a good teacher this year.

Answer 3

I'd like to say that everyone gave very sound advice. However, I would like to add the suggestion that, if you can afford it, look into having a home service provider to do ABA or whatever is done at the school you enroll him in. If you are limited on funds, you might want to try contacting a college or university with a special ed grad program. There should be individuals needing hours towards their degree.

Answer 4

I agree with Truckturner, the Central San Joaquin Valley (California) has lots of possibilities.

Also Clovis Unified School District has been great for our 6 year old Autistic child.

If you go to cureautismnow.org, there are probably some resources to find a good private school for your child.

There are many parents with autistic kids so ask around
and good luck!

Answer 5

Oconomowoc Developmental Training Center in Oconomowoc, WI.

Answer 6

The Winston School of San Antonio. It was the greatest thing in the world for my brother.

My mom is a developmental pediatrician & my brother has Asperger Syndrom.

Answer 7

Boston has some great resources. The Higashi school is a private school for autistic children.http://www.bostonhigashi.org/home.html

Answer 8

do a research on St. Jude children research hospital. It is a great place for cancer theraphy for children but i think they do cover more than that in their clinic. Good luck and hope everything gets well.

Answer 9

the hot-bed of behavior modifcation therapy is in the central valley of california. it has every program known to man (lovaas, teach, etc)

Answer 10

Here's some info on 2 techniques: One is Verbal Behavior (ABA) and the other is called DIR/Floortime. DIR/Floortime (Greenspan) uses child-driven motivation to develop and generalize language skills in the context of social interaction (getting down on the floor and teaching children how to play). This is how typically developing children learn.
Subjects can be taught incidentally through teaching in the natural environment this way. If you are looking for a more structured program that also makes use of a child's motivation in order to teach and explore through play and develop language skills, Verbal Behavior is data-driven, (and unlike the more traditional ABA- Applied Behavioral Analysis programs- the child does not sound robotic, and "splintered skills" are consolidated as missing skills are filled-in (literally) through systematic instruction. It is ABA with an emphasis on B.F. Skinner's analysis of Verbal Behavior).
I believe that both programs are driven by the ABLLS- a test that measures specific areas of language (and other educational and self-help skills) mastery, and is criterion-referenced (the child is measured against him/herself and not against the general population). Using the results of this assessment, which are plotted on charts, VB tailors a specific program to address these missing skills using mixed and varied tasks- a departure from the Lovaas-based, mass-trialing program where the same question is presented ten times in a row.
This is still a discrete trial program (where many presentations are given during the course of teaching time), but the major improvements are: mixed and varied tasks and questions, mixed and varied difficulty level of tasks and questions (ex. "Touch your nose, What is your name?, Tell me something that is red, (holding up a toy car, or picture of a car) What's this?"), higher rate of successful student responses by eliminating wait time and a fading prompt heirarchy, AN EMPHASIS ON FUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATION (the student learns that language is useful- for example- a child wants a cookie- The teacher is holding a piece cookie and sees the motivation is there for the cookie- The teacher says or signs AND says, "Cookie." The child signs for or repeats, "cookie" and is IMMEDIATELY given the piece of cookie. The same goes for a ball, or swing, or bubbles, blocks, crayons, etc...Child learns "I ask=I get=Language is useful." This in and of itself reduces problem behavior while teaching meaningful language, rather than the constant labeling of object seen in more traditional ABA programs), specific behavioral procedures for reducing problem behaviors, and teaching in the natural environment (similar to floortime, however there are goals and language skills to be taught in the context of play).
Before any of this happens, there is a period of time given for the child to pair (or bond) with instructors- instead of placing demands right away and creating an aversive teaching condition. Instructors become conditioned positive reinforcers- or givers NOT TAKERS, as is so common in traditional ABA programs that I have seen.
VB is NOT NEW! The behavioral principals it is based upon were written about by BF Skinner DECADES AGO. This "technology for teaching" was originally developed for use with institutionalized, self-injurious adults with Down Syndrome at Florida State University (Dr. Brian Iwata and Associates). It was further developed by Dr. Vincent J. Carbone for use with Autistic children in a clinical setting. Dr. Carbone and Associates have been working with the Verbal Behavior Network (in association with POAC-Parents of Autistic Children) to make this "technology for teaching" applicable to a public school setting for students with Autism. In my teaching career,I have been to training sessions for Lovaas-based ABA programs, (which were painful to implement and painful for the students to endure), DIR/Floortime conferences/workshops in Tyson's Corner Virginia (which I liked the concept of building on student motivation and learning through play and social skills/language building), and most recently, I attended an extensive 6-part workshop on Verbal Behavior. With this training, my students have really "taken off" in the right direction with behavioral improvements and NATURAL SOUNDING language development. Students that did not respond to picture card communication systems took off using sign language to request and receive. I had to try to keep looking up different signs to teach! I do not know sign language! All I know is that I made more progress with my students in a couple of months than I had made in a year and a half using other strategies. There are school districts in New Jersey that are successfully using these techniques in self-contained classrooms within the public school system (I believe Brick Township is one of them). Check out these web sites: