The Sky is the Limit...

Since the end of January, Katelyn had been getting 7.5 hours of ABA per week. We were on waiting lists for a few different ABA providers, hoping to get more hours added. However, it never seemed to pan out.

Then one day I met another local mother at Katelyn's EI playgroup. Her son also has autism, so we began talking about therapies. I mentioned that Katelyn was only getting 7.5 hours per week, despite the fact that it was recommended that she have 20-25 hours per week (and there have been studies that have shown that 20 hours minimum is the "magic number" for ABA to really be most effective). She gave me the information for the ABA provider that her son uses and she said to give them a call since they had offered her a ton of hours from the start. I immediately called them when I got home and asked if they had availability. They were very responsive and were out within a few days to do an intake on Katelyn. Shortly after, they came out and did an evaluation to see what areas they would need to work on with Katelyn.

Because we absolutely love Katelyn's original ABA therapist, I mentioned to her the fact that we were going to be adding another provider to work with Katelyn, but that we wanted to definitely keep her on as well. She spoke with her director and they actually ended up offering us a few more hours with another therapist also!

So, all in all, Katelyn is now receiving 26 hours per week of ABA, in addition to her 1 hour of speech therapy, 1 hour of occupational therapy, and 1 hour of developmental stimulation through EI. This is a HUGE increase in services and we couldn't be more pleased. And now she has a total of 7 therapists!

She has come so far in such a short time with just the 7.5 hours per week, so we can only imagine how high she will soar now that she is getting even more help. The sky is the limit.

The Verdict Is In...

Kevin and I met with the doctor at the autism diagnostic center today to discuss Katelyn's official diagnosis. She has been diagnosed with Autistic Disorder (classic autism), and she is considered in the moderate range right now. In order to be diagnosed with autism, a child must meet 6 of the 12 criteria, and Katelyn met 9 out of 12. However, the doctor did explain that meeting more criteria does not necessarily mean that the child is more severe; it depends on which of the criteria is met.

The doctor feels strongly, as do we, that Katelyn will be very successful with intensive therapy (25+ hours per week, including ABA, speech, OT, and more), and that she will most likely improve significantly. She said that she would not be surprised if Katelyn is considered mild within a year.

What happens now?

The next step will be getting her set up, through her current Early Intervention provider, with a specialized team that will provide the intensive therapy. When Katelyn turns 3 in July, her services will then be provided through the public school system. When I asked whether Katelyn would be in a regular pre-school classroom with an aide, the doctor explained that, because of her speech issues, Katelyn would benefit most from a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio, and then once her speech improves significantly, she could be integrated for part of the school day in a regular pre-school classroom with a 1:1 aide. I also asked about what will happen over the summer since she turns 3 in July, but pre-school does not start until the fall. The doctor said that Katelyn will need to receive year-round services (so there will be no gaps in her therapy), so she will need to be involved in a summer program through the school as well.

The doctor also highly suggested that Kevin and I become involved in a support group for parents of autistic children, which is something that I plan to look into further. I already frequent an online support forum (www.autism-pdd.net/forum), which has been unbelievably helpful.

Thank you to everyone who has been following my blog. This is going to be a lifelong journey for us, and having friends and family (and even internet "strangers") who offer support, experiences, hugs, and more, really means the world to us.

Let the Testing Begin...

We are having Katelyn tested at a top autism diagnostic center. We met with the doctor on Monday for the parent interview. The next step is to have Katelyn evaluated, but it may not be until January :( We are contemplating meeting with one of the interns since they would be available sooner than the doctor.

The most important thing right now is that we get a diagnosis. Once we have the diagnosis, Katelyn will get SO many services to help her, such as ABA (applied behavioral analysis) therapy and more.

We have also added a developmental educator and an occupational therapist to her Early Intervention plan, so now she will have speech, dev. ed., OT and play group weekly. We have also bought her flashcards and speech videos and she is adding more words to her vocabulary on a daily basis! We are doing all that we can to help her in the interim while we wait for the evaluation.