Confused about ABA therapy

When the child psychologist comes over to see Andy once a month, he tells me over and over that Andy is developmentally like an infant. He feels that Andy is like a 3-6 month old infant. Therefore, he feels that I should do things with Andy on an infant level. He does not feel that Andy can grasp advanced communication skills, or even self-feeding. He tells me that you wouldn't expect a 3-month old infant to feed themselves, or communicate with you using picture cards.

Andy at Disney World

I am confused whether to keep Andy in ABA therapy during the school year. He will be at school for five hours, and then I will take him to ABA therapy right after for another 2.5 hours. My husband and I already think this will be too much for him. I am going to start out with three days a week. The autism center would like him there after all five school days.

I am confused and torn, between what the child psychologist tells me, and what doctors tell me to do. I do feel that this therapy could be beneficial for Andy, however, I don't know if he is developmentally ready for it. The child psychologist would like me to simply work on getting Andy's attention, and keeping it for half a minute and build up to several minutes.

Once I can get his attention, and keep him from easy distractions, then the learning can begin. He feels that learning can't take place just yet, because Andy's attention span is so small. The ABA therapy center is trying to get Andy to pay attention and do things for hours. They want to help him to communicate with me by having him hand me picture cards.

This is a good idea in theory, but Andy just isn't there yet. His stamina is also limited. He will already be worn out when I pick him up from school, and will probably need a break/rest. I will be dropping him off at therapy three days a week and this may be too much. I will have to see how it goes, and make decisions using my gut feeling about everything.

Scheduling fun for myself

I scheduled several concerts this summer as a way to take a break from the stresses of parenting. I got to go to see Kid Rock in concert at DTE. He put on a great two-hour show, and Foreigner played before him for an hour. I had a lot of fun with friends and family. I also had a respite worker with Andy the next day to help work with him as I had gotten very little sleep. My husband stayed with Andy while I was at the concert. Kid Rock did not disappoint, and he brought it night after night. I would recommend that anyone see him if they haven't before. People that have seen him in the past make sure to make it back again and again. I was able to get good pictures with my camera.

Getting respite care finally

We finally have a respite worker coming to our house.  Respite care means that someone comes to watch your child to give you a break. Sometimes I stay here for a bit to get things done, and then I go out to run errands with my daughter. The worker is not allowed to watch any other children. We tried getting a worker to help us about a year ago, but there wasn't anyone available near our township. She is employed through a county program for special needs kids and comes here three times a week for four hours. The most she can stay per day is four hours, which is plenty of time for me to get things done, or have time with my daughter. We are grateful things have worked out for her to be here and help us.