- He got diagnosed with Autism when he was 22 months old
- He received early step speech therapy once a week until he is three years old
- He has been in the daycare 5 days a week from 8:30 to 5:30 PM since last March.
- He has been receiving an ABA therapy 5 days a week, 5 hours a day in the daycare since March 2013.
- He got a great progress from a child using no words to a child says numbers, colors, express himself by saying 'i want this,that,....etc', ready to go, let's go,....etc.
-… read more

What methods or activities have you done to improve your child's vocabulary? Comprehension and socializing is affected by vocabulary - what do you do to help your child understand? Simple words help them understand, but then they don't have exposure to the same vocabulary as other children - widening the gap in their social circles. Do you teach words in the moment? Do you use games? story books? dictionaries? television? their special interests? daily activities to expose children to more… read more

My son spontaneously produces the words "go, wow, and uh oh" on a sometimes it's "uh oo" instead or "ga" for go. He has tried to say other words but usually leaves off the first letter, says the vowel sound wrong, or its unintelligible to anyone but me. I know that he's trying to say the words because he does it with the sign language. For water he says "gwagwa" :D so cute but still nobody can understand that but me when/if he decides to use it purposefully.

What's even worse than that is that… read more

What do you encourage for independent play. Be have drawing and puzzles down but can't seem to find anything else she'll take interest in. She's almost 3 and electronics are not an option at this time.

My son has a habit of scripting a lot. From the moment he wakes up, he repeats phrases he saw on TV, repeat some answers we have him, or repeats he what he wants to do for the day. This lasts pretty much all day.

When people see him and ask him a question, he typically ignores as he is so occupied with the scripting.

Anyone experience this with their child and is this just a phase? This is really hindering his ability to learn so Im pretty concerned about this.

I have a question for parents who have or had a high functioning, fully verbal autistic preschooler. My little boy has been in ABA since March and has made amazing gains, so much so that there are days I feel he doesn't even fit his diagnosis anymore, or that he could lose it at some point. So much joint attention and interaction with us, his family, so much affection, eye contact, you name it. He has no behavior issues, and no sensory issues. He tested at 4 yrs old in receptive and expressive… read more

Does anyone’s autistic child get violent or aggressive? My 8 year old foster son has just started to where he raises his fist to my daughter and myself. How do you handle it?

I have experienced many different request from parents. Some want more some want less and some don't participate in the school program at all. Some kids have paraprofessionals, OT, PT, sped teacher, and parents are unhappy and want more specialists, and some parents want less services and more inclusion with no para. I have trained all special ed staff in autism and am a certified autism specialist myself. So, because I still see parent concerns I'm seeking ideas from all of you so I can be a… read more

He used to repeat EVERYTHING you said back to you a couple times. That has gotten better but it seems like he just does it in a different way now. He now seems to ask Why for everything (even when he knows the answer). Has anyone else experienced this? He also asks why alot for emotion too. "why is that girl crying", or "what's that girl doing" when she is crying. I don't know for sure if this "why" thing is a form of echolalia...but to me it seems like he doesn't quite understand whatever… read more