Yesterday was Ellie's first day of what we are referring to as her "school". In truth, it is the Parent-2-Child Early Intervention program designed to train parents to be their child's therapists, basically.
First, a little history: This was not always the program in place here. According to the lead therapist and coordinator, the area used to provide a full ABA program in-home. Each child was assigned a therapist who would make home visits to work with the child in their own environment for 15 to 20 hours a week--the standard amount of time recommended to achieve improvement with ASD children. But even as the numbers of children on the spectrum rose, the funding continued to be cut until the in-home hours were fewer than seven a week. Progress was impossible to achieve this way and the agency was forced to look for alternatives.
The Parent-2-Child Program was being developed in California to bring parents into the process and teach them how to play the role of their child's therapist. So our local agency went to California and learned about the program as a possible alternative way to help the ballooning numbers of ASD children in need of early services and supports. This is their second year of operation and they do feel that it is superior to the drastically cut ABA program that they had prior to the change, although I'm not sure that they feel it is as good as the 15 - 20 hours of in-home ABA offered initially.
The techniques are not that difficult, so I don't believe that it is impossible to train many parents to do the job of the professionals. But I expect that they do have some parents who are resistant or unable to get the hang of being as structured and controlled as they need to be to be effective. I expect that for the children of those parents, the loss of a structured, therapist-led program cuts especially deep. Then there is the fact that life for most of us does not provide enough uninterrupted time in the week to focus on working one-on-one with the child who needs it. Therefore, instead of a series of uninterrupted, structured work sessions we are encouraged to "fit it in wherever possible" which, I expect, is less satisfactory as well. At the very least, it means that all the children enrolled in the program are not offered the same chance at success. The children whose parents have more time, more patience, a better ability to assimilate the tenants of the program into their daily lives, to organize and structure, and greater focus and dedication get the best chances. Meanwhile, children whose parents work fulltime, are too busy, or unorganized, unstructured, who have a hard time getting the gist of the program, or are just plain overwhelmed get shorted. For the child, unfortunately, it's the luck of the draw. For Ellie's sake, I hope that we are able to bring the right mix of time and structure to her program. It won't be easy.
For her part, Ellie had a wonderful first day of school. Every part of the hour and fifteen minutes is carefully structured and focused on parent and child interaction. Ellie seemed immediately at-ease in the room and stayed engaged for the whole session. We went to the second morning session, so there was only one other parent and child there, and several therapists and interns. We worked through each station happily while Lexi worked on her seat work at a table set up just for her outside the classroom. She made friends with some of the interns and women working there, and declared that Ellie's school was "great!"
As so it begins. This week will be spent learning the routine and getting acquainted with the therapists and the facilities. Next week we begin training in earnest. Wish us luck!
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