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ABA help.... Please respond



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amother
Tangerine


 

Post Thu, Jul 23 2015, 9:55 pm
I seriously need to get an ABA therapist for my son. He would benefit behaviorally tremendously but he is far from autistic. Does anyone know if there's a way to get ABA services through insurance or any other venue without having the autistic diagnosis? I'm in NY if that makes a difference
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imorethanamother




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jul 23 2015, 10:04 pm
Let's unpack this. Why does he need ABA? What kind of behaviors are you seeing?
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amother
Burgundy


 

Post Thu, Jul 23 2015, 10:17 pm
ABA is essentially dog training for children. Why on earth would you subject your child to that, if they will respond to other methods of learning? What makes you think that ABA is (for your child) superior to play therapy or another form of behavioral therapy?

Don't get me wrong, my son (who has an autism diagnosis) has b"H k"h benefitted tremendously from ABA. But for the life of me, I can't imagine why someone would voluntarily subject their child to it when there are other options available.

As far as insurance coverage goes, it is going to depend on your insurance provider. Call your health insurer and ask if your plan covers ABA, and under what circumstances.
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amother
Tangerine


 

Post Thu, Jul 23 2015, 10:19 pm
He's great and has many maalos but is a very stubborn child. He has many delays in other areas (speech and ot) which he is currently getting services for but his behavior is proving to be a challenge targeting his other delays. He has minimal interest in playing with toys and prefers to just run around and destroy things. Two of his therapists suggested it, and I began to do some research and think it may help get his behavioral issues in check.
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nylon




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jul 23 2015, 10:27 pm
Honestly, most insurance is very specific about only paying for ABA based therapies for autism spectrum disorders--if they pay for it at all. The evidence isn't there for NT children.

Have you had a comprehensive evaluation? You can't really plan any therapy without it.
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imorethanamother




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jul 23 2015, 11:43 pm
What kind of therapist suggested it? Educational psychologist? Speech therapist?

I wouldn't call ABA "dog training", which is somewhat insulting. It is a way of taking a lesson a normal child would receive and breaking it down into fundamental building blocks that typical children understand by osmosis. For example, in order to teach a child about understanding differences (opposites and sames), they first have them just identify what an object is, then have them group by color, then introduce a second color to differentiate, then a third. From there, they move on to different categories to teach a child that a dog is an animal and not a color. Etc etc.

ABA teaches the child these lessons with a series of lessons that is rewarded for good answers and behavior. For the child that tries to behave badly to get attention, this behavior is never rewarded with negative attention, and instead given a neutral face and told to try again, without receiving the positive reward. (Though we don't say, "Now you're not going to get the reward!")

Your insurance company is not going to pay anyone $50 - $100 an hour without an autism diagnosis. What you need is parent training, which many agencies will offer. You can negotiate with them pricing and a finite number of sessions.

Really, though, for the difficult child, the parent is going to be the therapist. You can obtain ideas from an educational psychologist, you can read self-help books about handling the difficult child, but you're the one to implement them. Redirect from bad behavior rather than criticize, yell, or punish. Reward for any and all positive behavior, even the tiniest steps. "Yay! You jumped on the bed but took off your shoes first! Here's a cookie!" and do that a bunch of times until you state clearly the next goal. Make the consequences for bad behavior (time out, neutral face, make sure it's not reinforcing), and stick to them no matter what. And always make sure your child understands the rules.
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seeker




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Jul 24 2015, 3:21 am
amother wrote:
ABA is essentially dog training for children. Why on earth would you subject your child to that, if they will respond to other methods of learning?

That is an absurd oversimplification. Please stop saying things like this, as it will give parents a the wrong (negative) idea and makes them hesitate to accept it for their children who might benefit greatly. Maybe you need to learn more about ABA or maybe you have only seen one way of using it. With a skilled therapist, ABA can be very broad and flexible. The part that you're probably thinking of as "dog training" is just one specific technique that would be used in specific types of cases. Some ABA sessions actually look very similar on the surface to other therapy sessions such as regular speech or SEIT.

The only part I agree with is that it would help to have a better explanation of why OP seems to be very certain that her son "seriously needs" ABA while also being "far from autistic." Does he have any diagnosis? Has he been evaluated for one? (I was about to say PDD-NOS would also likely be approved for ABA, but then I realized that's also considered part of ASD now. Oh well, I'm not such a fan of the umbrella approach and am having a slow time adapting...)

Regarding getting insurance coverage, that would require at minimum a referral from a doctor - probably a specialist. Which brings us back to the question of whether DS was evaluated by a developmental specialist yet. (If not, it would have been more appropriate for the therapists to point you that way rather than jumping to ABA)
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imasinger




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Jul 24 2015, 7:05 am
What seeker and imorethanamother said. Both about the poster who gave such an unsatisfactory summary of ABA, which varies tremendously according to a child's needs and abilities, and about wondering whether the statement about being "far from autistic" is based on a diagnosis from an expert professional.

Maybe he is on the high functioning end of the spectrum. You could get ABA treatment if that were the case.

But if he is not, there are still ways to make things better. In my district, ABA is heavily focused on parent training. You can learn techniques to improve behavior, and try applying them on your own. If you post about the top 2 o 3 things you'd like to improve, those of us with experience with ABA may be able to offer some suggestions for change.
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seeker




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Jul 24 2015, 9:39 am
Btw in terms of insurance coverage, even if you are pretty sure he does not have asd he might qualify for that diagnosis and get services. You don't have to agree with the diagnosis. But I hear speech and OT delays as well as lack of functional play, which could lead a doctor in that direction.
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octopus




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Jul 24 2015, 2:29 pm
if you are in brooklyn, yeled v'yalda has some sort of program that sends aba therapists to homes. They can answer your questions regarding this.
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potatoes




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Jul 24 2015, 3:45 pm
octopus wrote:
if you are in brooklyn, yeled v'yalda has some sort of program that sends aba therapists to homes. They can answer your questions regarding this.

I have heard of ABA therapist thru insurance , yeled veyaldah facilitates it. Call them.
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Mama Bear




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Jul 24 2015, 4:11 pm
Your child can learn play and behavior skills from a regular Special Ed therapist, especially one trained in Floor time. At this point you can still get it through Early Intervention.
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octopus




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Jul 24 2015, 6:03 pm
potatoes wrote:
I have heard of ABA therapist thru insurance , yeled veyaldah facilitates it. Call them.


exactly! yeled v'yalda will tell you exactly what you need in order to get it. They will be able to tell you what paperwork/diagnosis you need in order to be eligible.
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octopus




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Jul 24 2015, 6:08 pm
or you may want to call up an agency, have your child evaluated, and just get services for him.If he is SEIT age (3-5) they get labeled across the board as " preschooler with disability." A SEIT can work on social/behavioral issues besides cognitive skills. Does your child have SEIT? (assuming he is in that age range?)
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amother
Bisque


 

Post Wed, Feb 08 2017, 11:11 pm
New poster here.
My son is exactly the way OP described her child.
He is almost six years old and has an evaluation pending at a developmental pediatrician.
He is definitely not autistic. He has a SEIT and gets OT and PT services.
His SEIT suggested looking into ABA . Does anyone know if insurance or the DOE will cover this if he doesn't have autism?
Any suggestions as to whom I can call (an agency etc).I am located in Brooklyn.
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amother
Lime


 

Post Wed, Feb 08 2017, 11:32 pm
Monsey NY, little boy 2 years old after conventional special ed, speech, ot... didn't show enough progress got ABA


If child still has Seit, call encore they fight for you to keep seit after the child should age out
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amother
Bisque


 

Post Thu, Feb 09 2017, 4:59 am
amother wrote:
Monsey NY, little boy 2 years old after conventional special ed, speech, ot... didn't show enough progress got ABA


If child still has Seit, call encore they fight for you to keep seit after the child should age out


My child till has SEIT because I have pendency . Are you saying I should call Encore for ABA?
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seeker




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 09 2017, 10:30 am
Yes, Encore has ABA SEITs.
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