Alec DOES ABA!

Today, I mustered up my courage and did several ABA/Discrete Trial exercises with Alec. I have tried this before, and he threw a huge tantrum. I tried it again today, expecting the same.

At first, Alec did cry and I had to hold him down in his seat for a few moments. When he did that, I gave him a reinforcer, in this case, a bit of a Hershey's kiss. We did that a few times for one drill and then I let him go and watch a video.

After lunch, we tried it again with bits of some cookie. Something surprising happened: He loved it. We started with "Look at me" and when he did, I made a huge fuss with a lot of hoopla, whoo hoos and give-me-fives. Alec squealed with delight.

Next, we worked on facial parts. "Touch nose". Alec performed on cue! We went through nose, chin, cheeks, eye, ear and then tongue, which was the only one that stumped him. With each correct response, I gave him a bit of a cookie and the hooplas. Alec was actually having fun! We worked on tongue a few times and he got those right. More bits of cookie and hoopla.

I said, "Okay, go and play!" and he did for a few minutes, only to come back and say "Let's do more!". I was so excited, I got another cookie (forget about dinner, he was getting it. We worked on colors, starting with green. First, I would put out just a green block and say "Touch green." When he got it, he received a cookie bit and hoopla. Then I added another color, orange, and it took him a bit, but he figured it out and we had great fun. I used colored blocks, the words in color, colored objects as comparisions, always saying "Touch green". He got them all right, so I threw in orange, comparing it with green objects.

Again, I said, "Great, now go and play!" and he did, only to come back with "Let's do more!" So, worried about too much cookies, Alec began working for a goldfish at a time. We went through two little bowls with exercises. He really was having a great time and so proud of himself. Wow!

I am going to have to figure out some exercises and bone up on what I learned at the ABA seminar I went to in July. I am truly excited and believe Alec can learn so much this way. He was clearly proud of himself, too. And now I'm not afraid anymore.

Oh, I know he'll have fits again, especially when I try some harder exercises, but I am encouraged today. I'm holding onto that feeling!

WAY TO GO ALEC!!