Doreen Granpeesheh was a new name for me, because I am almost completely unfamiliar with ABA and its cousins, floortime, Son Rise, etc.
She was discussing her new program SKILLS (Shaping Knowledge through Individualized Life Learning Systems). She gave a brief overview of ABA and that it is meant to improve deficits(such as social skills & communication) and diminish excesses(such as stims & tantrums).
Her new SKILLS model will hopefully be available in the spring at an extremely low, reasonable price (she is hoping around $50 and has applied for lors of grants to make this possible). She wants parents to be able to do this at home, because most of us cannot afford traditional ABA.
It is comprised of a HUGE online questionnaire which will highlight your child's specific deficits & excesses, and then you will work with your child step-by-step to acheive each goal that he or she needs using lessons you will download.
One thing the CARD curriculum attempts to shape is "Theory of Mind". Many of these kids do not understand that the thoughts of others are separate and different than theirs. In other words, "Because I know it, he knows it." The basic sections of the curriculum include: language, play, adaptive, motor skills, executive functions, cognition, social skills, and school skills (non-academic).
A study monitoring children who were taught using the CARD curriculum showed the following gains after 3 years:
*53.8% no longer had an ASD diagnosis
*46.2% went from Autism to PDD or Aspergers
* Average IQ score gain of 20 points
I encourage you to download the presentation to look over more details if you are interested.
The CARD website is http://www.centerforautism.com/
You can also hear her speak about ABA in videos from Autism Media at http://www.autismmedia.org/media17.html
In addition, I will update this blog and let you know if and when I have more information about the SKILLS assessment if it becomes available to parents.
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