ABA is hard work for a little 3 year old. The first few weeks he would come home exhausted, go right to bed, wake up for dinner, and go back to sleep for the night. Every day was the same thing. I have to believe this is the right thing to do. The most widely accepted research states that this is the best way to help a child with autism. It is hard as a mom though.
I wish I could keep my little guy home with me. Let him spend his days playing outside with his brother and sister. This is his big brother's last year at home before starting kindergarten - part of holding Nathan back a year was to give the boys another year at home together to just be kids.
So, is the ABA therapy working? I guess so in some areas. They tell me Matt is passing his programs and doing great. He is becoming more independent. The potty training is starting to actually produce some good results.
I don't know if he is talking any more though or connecting with us any better than before. It's only been 2 1/2 months, so I'm sure these things will come, but I wish we could see big results a lot quicker.
He is just now getting to the point where he is not utterly exhausted after school every day. Now I have to make the decision on whether to get him started in his prescribed occupational therapy 2-3 hrs per week and his prescribed speech therapy 2-3 hrs per week. More hours of not interacting with my son, but his developmental pediatrician feels that he needs this. My mommy heart wants to just let him be 3. I wish I knew what to do.
