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.