Following in the footsteps of other autism moms I follow online, I will be keeping the details of our service provider private, to safeguard my family’s privacy. But I will be talking in depth about Aidan’s ABA program, how we set it up, how it works, its benefits and complexities, and hopefully my readers can learn something from our firsthand experiences.
When Aidan was indicated for autism at 18 months old, his paediatric neurologist recommended we begin early intervention therapies as quickly as possible. She explained that the earlier we started, the better his potential outcome would be. And so we flew into action around this research – there was no time to lose!
We did a lot of reading on the various types of therapy available, and after a lot of deliberation, decided to look into ABA. We knew it had a murky past, but also that it had hugely evolved into a far more supportive approach since its inception. We were specifically interested in a therapy that would help to tackle some of Aidan’s sensitivities and his long list of rigidities, because our lives had become increasingly impacted by them. Aidan’s world was becoming smaller. The list of things he couldn’t cope with was getting longer. And the saddest thing of all was that his autism was stealing many of his greatest joys from him. For instance, he’d want desperately to go outside to play, but couldn’t get past a rigidity at the front door. It was heartbreaking to watch him struggle with horrible anxiety and an almost primal need for control around specific things – such as whether the front door was open or closed when he went to put his shoes on. We wanted to put a pin in his obsessive and compulsive tendencies as far as possible, and give him ample tools to live a full and very happy life.
My exposure to autism support groups was mainly online at that point, and those groups were all based in the USA, so I got a chance to read a lot about the pros and cons of ABA. ABA is widely accepted as the most effective early intervention therapy in America and as such, is state sponsored. Special needs parents could access 40-hours of ABA a week, at no cost to themselves. Of course, we live in South Africa where little is available through the government, and so most all therapy options here are at full cost to parents!
When we began to research ABA programs here in the Western Cape, we realised that there wasn’t much available. A cousin of mine had used an international provider to implement her child’s ABA program when they lived in Joburg, and she highly recommended the organisation to us. This organisation provided a fully comprehensive, holistic program, which covered academic advancement, speech therapy, gross and fine motor skills, behavioural management, and even feeding therapy. But of course, it was prohibitively expensive! We couldn’t afford it at all. And that’s when my parents, Aidan’s grandparents, offered to cover the full cost of this exceptional program. We were completely blown away by this amazing offer and unique opportunity for our family! And we will be forever grateful to them for this incredible gift to Aidan.
Once we’d brought the service provider onboard, there was a ton to get setup before the program could begin. First, we needed a space that could become a therapy room where Aidan could have his sessions. Monty was only too happy to give up his home office for conversion into a classroom. We packed everything up, moved it into the garage, and cleaned the room from top to bottom. We removed pictures from the wall to ensure there would be no distractions for Aidan from his studies and put up a large whiteboard in their place. Monty built a freestanding bookshelf which he painted a cheery turquoise colour, hung blinds on the window, put locks on the built-in cupboards, and got an air conditioner installed. The only thing left to do was to buy the list of “materials” the ABA therapist would need.
I’m a compulsive list-maker, but I don’t think I’d ever seen a list that long! It included:
A plastic table and chairs
A whiteboard and markers
A chalkboard and chalk
A magnetic board and magnets of all kinds
An art easel and paints
A colour printer and cartridges
A laminator and plastic sleeves
Press stick, Velcro strip, tape, and scissors
Crayons and plain paper
Different types of stickers
Batteries of all kinds
A clock for the wall
A huge stock of bubbles
And about 30+ very specific toys and games
The only thing left to do was to make a final list of all our challenges at home, and specific routines we wanted the program to target, in order for the organisation to help Aidan to their greatest ability. This was the only thing that I had no trouble with, because I’d agonised over the many points on this list for a year and a half already!
Pretty soon we were all set and ready for the first therapist to arrive in South Africa. The therapists would be coming over in three month stints, because of our visa rules and regulations. We couldn’t have been more motivated and excited to get started! I couldn’t quite believe that we had this opportunity to learn so much from the best ABA specialists out there. I was so excited I could barely sleep… the program was about to begin!
