Seeing some progress from ABA therapy

Andy has been picking up a fork from the table and putting it in his mouth! It is so awesome to finally be seeing this happen. He is gaining muscle memory somehow through repetition with the ABA technician at therapy. We also reinforce this at home, but we've never seen a big change like this, so suddenly. The ABA therapy really seems to be paying off! He attends 4-5 days a week. Andy does start to lose interest in picking up the fork after about 5-6 times. Once this happens though, I hand him the fork and he will continue eating for about 10 more bites. If he starts lessening his grasp on the fork when I try to hand it to him, then we finish the last few bites with hand over hand feeding.

I'm trying to consistently show Andy that he needs to hold the utensil every time, if he wants to eat. He has no problem putting toys and rags in his mouth to chew on them, so now we have to push our expectation that he will feed himself. We are seeing some improvements, and this comes with a great relief! Andy does not stab at food with the fork, but just getting him to put the fork with food on it into his mouth is unbelievable.

Trying ABA therapy

We are trying ABA therapy for Andy. He attends for several hours. They are working on his communication with others, and trying to get him to use picture cards to get what he would like. He has cards with his water cup on them, tv shows he likes to watch, and toys he likes to play with. The technician is working with Andy to show him how to use the cards. The hope is that he will pick up a card from a board and hand it to the technician. I felt he might be more successful picking up the card he would like, and placing it in a container, because he doesn't really hand people things yet. I don't know though, maybe he will surprise me!

The first few visits were rough. He was happy in the car, but when we arrived he was fussing and crying. After he played a few times with the technician, he started to become happy when we pulled up. He no longer fussed as we walked in. He will have a few crying episodes here and there, but the technician says that he does well there. There are other children in close proximity to Andy that are crying and fussing also, and sometimes this sets him off. We send him there with noise canceling headphones, that they use sometimes. They say he enjoys a sensory room with nature sounds going and lights hung up at the ceiling.

Andy is benefiting from this therapy so far. He is improving on fork feeding himself, as this is a goal they work on as well as here at home. I put the food on the fork and put it on the table or hand him the fork. He will then either put the fork down, remove the food from the fork and mash it up, or he will put the fork with the food on it in his mouth and put the food back down. They are also working on him shape sorting, brushing his teeth and communication.

Since Andy has been diagnosed with autism, his insurance will pay for ABA therapy. It has been great since I was able to get it started soon after his school year ended. He loves getting in the car and having somewhere to go, and things to do. It's been a real blessing for us, because I think it's helping him, and it's definitely helping us give him a great day.