The home program is the most vital intervention for a child with autism. You need experience working with your child to be able to advocate for their needs in the future. I always recommend that families set up a home program before sending a child to preschool. Even if your child is already in school, a home program is vital.
STEP 1: Get the Pros in there
Ask around for speech therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, board certified behavior analysts etc... that have experience working with children with autism. Use your First Steps therapists as trainers. Have them train you in the methods of Discrete Trial Training. If they have no idea what that is--FIRE THEM! It's easy as pie to switch therapists with First Steps. Check with your local hospital. Contact their Home Health department and ask if they offer EPSDT (I have no idea what that exactly stands for). This works much like First Steps in that a therapist comes to your home for once a week for about an hour. Have each therapist give you homework for each day. Most therapists will start with just gaining the child's attention and getting them to follow an adult directed activity.
STEP 2: Drop the mommy emotions
You may want to DIE when you see your child screaming his head off when being made to sit at a table. Check all that at the door and realize this has to be done. Is it cruel to take a child to the ER when they've bashed their head in? Of course not. You know it will be painful, but it MUST be done. The same goes for getting your child to come back into our world. Occasionally, there are kids on the spectrum that require little of this intervention and enjoy new activities with a new person. In my youngest son's case, we spent 2 weeks teaching him to sit at a table. If a therapist can not get through to your child, don't waste time--fire them.
STEP 3: Down to the dirty work
You may have to quit your job for a while or get a lot of volunteers. It will depend on the child's level of functioning as to how many hours of therapy are required throughout the week. Contact babysitters, college students, church members, family members or whoever will help. Have them train with your therapists. Make a therapy schedule. If you get state help, you may be able to get some of these people helping in your home a salary. Contact your state's mental health department and find out what Medicaid waivers and grants are available to people with disabilities. We receive something called the Michelle P waiver. It is a medicaid waiver that pays for professionals and pays people that I hire to work with my kids. Don't think you can't have a successful program if your child is in daycare. This may actually be the BEST situation for your child if you can hire your child their personal aide (think Medicaid and grants). Children on the spectrum LOVE structure and, let's face it, daycares are much more structured than our homes. Your aide must be thoroughly trained by the therapists that come in weekly. Your child will need visual schedules and a quiet place to work with their aide. You still need to get in at least one session per week with your child. Knowing them gives you the edge, but listen to your therapists.
There are many different therapy methods, but the science and statistics are behind Applied Behavioral Analysis. More on this in the THERAPY section.
