[FEAT BC Admin]

This area is for discussions in general topics.

Topic

[Deleted User]

Our 17 month old son was diagnosed only one month ago. We went, that same week, to the September ABA Conference at SFU. We are looking for therapists who want to work with our son once we get a consultant (could be months). He is extremely good natured and a joy to work with.

Tanja and Mark (Jake is our son)
460-8895 (Pitt Meadows)

[Sabrina Freeman]

Hi all!

There are a couple of interesting conferences coming up for those of you who are prepared to travel. Info. follows:

1. Eden Institute Foundation Princeton Lecture Series
A day of ideas and ideals, to promote advances in research and service provision for individuals with autism and their families. Dr. Ivar Lovaas and others will present.
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton University
June 8
members.aol.com/EdenSvcs or (609)987-0099

2. Conference 2001: International Conference on Science in Autism Treatment Designed for parents, professionals, physicians, educators and anyone who has an interest in scientifically sound information about autism and treatment options:
Edwin Cook, M.D., Tristram Smith, Ph.D., Richard Foxx, Ph.D., Bridget Taylor, Psy. D., James Mulick, Ph.D., and many more.
San Diego, California
March 8-9, 2001
Location: Hyatt Islandia
ASAT@autism-treatment.org or 516-466-4400.

The second conference is particularly appealing.

Sabrina
(Miki's mom)

[Deleted User]

To the first anonymous:

I certainly do not speak for FEAT so please keep that in mind. FEAT and parents who know that Lovaas style ABA (and i use this term to distinguish true ABA from so called aBA groups like Laurel house)is the only scientifically proven treatment for autism do not support local consulting groups because:

a.) they have not received adequate or effective training. They have not been trained by Lovaas or any other replicate sites. THey have not attended any other recognized school that trains in ABA.

b) they are funded by the Provincial govt that adamantly states that ABA is not proven, nor effective.

c) from what I have gathered over the past months, they do not appear to actually practice true ABA. THeir method seems to be some derivative, watered down approach that occasionally glimmers of ABA. Glimmers are not going to help your son.

Here is my advice. If you are planning to pay privately anyway, you want to ensure that your money is achieving all that it can. My understanding is that private Laurel house is not much less than a true ABA consultant from the U.S. You are better off going that route.

Essentially your results come down to several things:

a) the quality of your therapists, the work they do, their efforts and how they interact with your son
b) the latter relying on the quality of training they receive which depends on the education, experience and quality of the consultant you receive
c) the quality of programming your consultant provides. Quality programming only comes from someone with experience, dedication and a vast array of knowledge. It does not come from reading a book.

Obviously progress is also tied into your family dynamics etc.

I heard Sabrina Freeman say once (and I'm paraphrasing here, hope I'm accurate) that ABA is an incredibly powerful tool. IN the right hands, it can accomplish amazing things, in the wrong hands it can be extremely dangerous. Please take care in your choices.

ANd by the way your Doctor, who may very well be an incredibly knowledgeable person or may not be, may have only recommended Laurel house because it is the only name provided to him/her. THe Govt isn't exactly advertising that they are WRONG and that there is an effective treatment out there. The govt continues to say to its doctors and anyone else who will listen, that they are providing the best care. It is in their interest to tell DR. so and so that Laurel house is the best rather than admit that a consulting group from the U.S would be more effective.

Hope this helps
Michelle

[Deleted User]

Dear Anonymous:

You have asked for a great deal of candid
information without giving so much as a first name
or an appropriate email address. I am familiar
with Telus's customer ID email addresses and I am
aware that you have another one which is a little
less cryptic. Why are you hiding from us so
efficiently?

Fine, I will assume you have your reasons for
playing at secrets, and I will assume that it is
not because you are a government shill / Laurel
Group / CBI / Gateway employee trying to elicit
email to be used for threats. I will not, however,
send you email — I will simply answer you here:
Most of the members of this group have no time,
respect, or certainly money for The Laurel Group
et al because they are not bonafide Lovaas-ABA
consultants. They are part of the BC Autism
Industry, they are fed with your tax dollars by a
government whose goal is to see that your child
receives no effective treatment. Whether one does
the government/social worker route or the private
one, one is a thousand times better off on a
10-month waiting list for a real Lovaas consultant.

Signed
Anonymous Too

[Deleted User]

I am in the process of trying to hire people to work with my son but no luck so far. I was planning on working with a consultant from the Laurel Group as they were recommended to me by the doctor who diagnosed my son. We are doing it privately (not the government/social worker route). I have just started reading this discussion group's posts for the last week, and from what I gather there is no support for any B.C.-based consultant groups but I'm not exactly sure why. If anyone has any information that could help please let me know( e-mail a5a18301@telus.net). I want the best program for my son.

[Sabrina Freeman]

Just a reminder … this Wednesday (Oct. 18) at 7:30 is our monthly parent group meeting. This meeting is particularly valuable for new parents. We encourage experienced parents to come out and share your wisdom and advice with new parents.

For a map of the location please go to https://featbc.org … click on Feat Events.

Sabrina

[Sheila Hotra]

Hi Everbody, I just wanted to thank everyone who responded to my request about information on Melatonin. Everyone was very helpful, and I am happy to say that we started using it 4 nights ago, and so far so good, except one night he was up for 3 hours. I know it is still early and we are keeping a sleep diary. I am keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks again Sheila

[Linda Cucek]

James and I want to thank Sabrina Freeman, on her comments on the Global News last night.

James was compared to Glen Gould, a famous Canadian piano player. This was great for my son James' his self esteem is much higher now.
The Global news said James' was a piano Genius.

Thanks again to Sabrina.

Your friends, Linda Cucek and son James

[Sheila Hotra]

Hi, my son is 4 1/2 and we are having problems with him waking up in the middle of the night and either not going back to sleep, or awake for 2 or 3 hours before he does. We are looking into putting him on melatonin. I know it is only available it the states. Just wondering if there are different types and what people have found to be successful. We are going to discuss it with our pediatrician tomorrow. Any information anyone has would be very useful, what brand you buy, where you usually get it, etc. You can e-mail me directly at shotra@home.com We are finding his ABA sessions difficult and less productive when he hasn't slept properly. Thanks Sheila

[FEAT BC Admin]

Message Forward
***********************************

Subject: Re: Room One: General Topics Discussion
Date: Wed, 4 Oct 2000 10:43:53 -0700
From: "victor/Anna silveira"

Our family has found that having only one member with less than 6 months
experience seems to work best.

We tend to encourage our new members to have a strong basic theory
background as this will make a good therapist in the long run. Then we
usually have about 2 weeks of observation , a week of partial integration
for the new therapist, followed by a week of shadowing – about 4 weeks in
total.

Once the new member can get through their protocols without difficulty ,
they are ready. I strongly encourage not being premature in letting a new
person going solo too quickly – this often gives you grief in the long run.

Be very careful during your interview, avoid anyone desperate for a job , a
new therapist needs passion.

Lastly, pay your good therapist's well and treat them well. It is much
easier to RETAIN than to RE-TRAIN!

We do 30 hours a week of therapy with 3 therapists and have had a 2
therapist turn-over in the last 16 months.

Hope this helps

Victor Silveira ( Christian's dad )

[Author]

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