Software

Last night I had the doctor next store come over and give the kids' lungs a listen. The cough they had sounds like it is getting worse, and I was nervous that it could be bronchitis, or something worse. he said they sound clear. That makes me feel better.

So, Zach put his mouth on my finger last evening, again, not out of anger. I was anticipating a bite, and he looked me in the eye, and then gave me a kiss. It was as if he had the urge to do it, and stopped himself. Phew.

With Zach getting some computer skills (more than Sophia had at this age I might add), we are now looking into software packages that could help him attain or bring out some of his skills. Zach grossly under-performs for people when in typical learning settings, but when given motivation, he can perform a lot more. Finding motivators for Zach has been difficult. What has been interesting to him one day, may not be the next. We run constant preference assessments on him to see what gets him going. Is it a toy? A video? A food item? A tickle? A bounce on the trampoline?

In the beginning, the therapists started with solely edibles, and in particular, candy to get him going. Zach did not care much about social praise at the time - remember this is a kid that would look right through you as if you didn't exist. The therapists carefully paired social praise with the edibles until the social praise was associated with something positive for Zach, and they were able to fade out the edibles. This is part of the design of ABA.

After edibles, videos came next for Zach. He would even request "mooeee" for "movie". Once he could say movie spontaneously, they actually had him qualify which movie: "Blues Clues"? "Thomas?", "Dora?". He did it. Of course, this was a skill he had at the peak of his summer sessions when he was receiving 35-40 hours of intense therapy a week. Hopefully, we will get there again.

Anyhow, one therapist that Zach really took to was Ali. We privately hired her for the summer to work with Zach, and she would do "her work" with Zach (usually running the discrete trials and programs the lead therapist would leave for her) and then she would end the session on a positive note by going into his bedroom and turning on the computer and playing with him on the computer. Did I happen to mention he mastered more programs during this time period when she was around than at any other time? While we could give all the credit to Ali, I feel like I should have picked up on the fact that she was smart enough to realize the reinforcing quality of that computer. The other therapists didn't quite have the knack of using the computer that Ali did so it was not continued to the extent it was used when she was here.

Light bulb moment recently. So Steve and I were actually considering whipping out some software that would be a game/skill builder and design it to match the skills he has and ones we would like to work on. It is so nice having a master programmer for a husband - and yes, he is probably one of the best programmers out there. Being a geek, I can tell you it was one of the things that attracted me to him. (BTW - he's not just good, he's Google-good - yes, Google contemplated him for a position, but Steve backed out once he saw the cost of living in the areas we would have to move to.)

Ahh, but wouldn't you know, there are already packages out there for kids on the spectrum. A few of them even have an ABA approach! This, of course, makes sense to me, since ABA is methodological and scientific in its approach.

So now we have to choose which program we think we will go with. They are not cheap, so I don't want to just throw money away.

There's Fast For Word at $1300. ( YIKES!)
Discrete Trail Trainer Bundle at $150, a little easier to swallow.
Teachtown, $10 up front, and $40 a month.

These packages in particular are interesting, because they track progress and actually even have an intelligent feature that automatically scales the levels of actitivies and type of activities to the levels the child demonstrates. The other thing I like about this software, versus traditional typical learning software, is that incorrect answers are not rewarded only correct answers. One of Zach's current games will allow you to hit buttons that are non-functional relative to the goal of the game he is playing, but still do something goofy, like make a funny noise or face on a character, which is a reward for him. Sometimes he will play with these little Easter eggs rather than the game, which makes the game last a little longer with nothing gained. In other words, it wastes time.

One thing I have read that I need to be acutely aware of is that we need to limit the time on the computer. There are a lot of children on the spectrum who become addicted to it, and won't leave the computer, when asked to (OK let's be real here, when forced to.) Some children will actually become combative. So glad I could talk to and read some of the veterans experiences before going down this journey - hopefully I will avoid a few land mines now. Some of this software has built in timers to help you with this. I am also looking to see if there is a built in timer function we can add to our computer generically to do the same thing - Sophia could use it, and let's face it, so could I! Once in awhile, I just can't seem to get off facebook. :)

There is a plethora of gaming software out there. Still need to go through it some more and talk to teachers, therapists, and other parents on their opinions of it. If anyone has used something- I would love to learn what you think - so send your comments in!