- ABA RECOVERY STORY -

We began working with Reagan in April 1995. She was just turning two. After reading 'Let Me Hear Your Voice' I immediately started to work on getting words instead of tantrums or vague gestures (waving her hands).
I spent entire days redirecting stims and trying to engage her in activities that I had planned for my daycare crew. About three weeks into this Reagan used her first word - "mo" for more. She learned to say help, and up as well and even with those few words her behavior began to improve.
We employed a local consultant shortly thereafter and she learned to imitate gross motor movements and we were on our way. Reagan progressed quickly in terms of language but social still remained far behind after two years of therapy. Her most obvious "stim" was body tensing in which she would bring her arms up in front of her body, clench her fists and grimace.
This looked very strange and was a tell tale symptom even after she had shown tremendous improvement. This stim was very stubborn and remained well into the fourth year of therapy.
Today, Reagan attends a private kindergarten and has just received her report card for the third quarter. She has mastered all academic objectives and received check plus in all citizenship areas. Reagan's language tests in the normal range with many skills in the superior range. Best of all, she obtained scores in the average range on the Test of Pragmatic Language this past fall.
Reagan's social skills have improved tremendously since even last year. She has a best friend at school and a best friend in our subdivision. She has had sleepovers away from home and at home. She often begs to visit friends. Recently the neighbor kids invited her to play (something that they NEVER did before and a real milestone)-when it was time for her to go home they begged their mom to let her stay longer!
We have devoted a LOT of time to developing gross motor skills and Reagan now appears typical in this area. She does have above average skills in swimming and roller blades with the best of them. She is on a soccer team for the first time and is one of the more aggressive players! I'd have been pleased if she just ran after the ball!
She plays piano and has performed in two recitals. During her more autistic times she was very sound sensitive and crowd noise put her over the edge. It was quite a day when we could watch her perform on stage and take a bow while the audience clapped, without holding her ears or crying!
Reagan is very curious and asks many questions. She is beginning to share experiences much more frequently and is able to organize her thoughts more easily into narrative speech.
Her playskills are fantastic, (right now she is pretending her barbies are having a pool party, because that is what her birthday party will be) We have battled perseverative play for years and it has taken that long to overcome!
Let's see, do I consider Reagan recovered? I would have to say yes, because her autism, if it still exists inside her somewhere, in some form, does not handicap her in any way. Reagan can do anything her peers can do, some things she can do better. She is not controlled by unusual fears or perseverative thought patterns. She is able to express herself, and she is accepted and liked by other children. Best of all , she knows and loves her family and is very very affectionate!
Do I still see autistic residua? Yes. Is it disabling, and do other people see it? No it isn't disabling and no other people would never guess in million years that she had autism, many people I tell do not believe it.
Her residua consists of some talking to herself under her breath. Some brief periods when tired, mostly, of "zoning out" which we can easily snap her out of. The most obvious thing she still does is to play with her ears a bit too much. We still work on these issues and we still work at improving her conversation skills, although I can honestly say we would probably be okay if we didn't.
Reagan's "recovery" from autism has taken almost four years. It has been four years of hard work, constantly redirecting inappropriate behavior, and constantly striving to assemble a program that would target her individual needs. Many people have helped us, and we have spent a ton of money. It has been worth every penny and every minute of time that was invested.
These days we often hear that Reagan if ever autistic at all, must have been very mild (The opinion of an allergist we saw last week when she'd been ill) While I'm pleased that this is the impression people get, I do want our experiences to serve as evidence that autism can be overcome.
It is neither easy nor cheap-but it can be done. Would Reagan's "recovery" fall into the 1 to 5 % of spontaneous recoveries? I would say definitely not! Reagan's recovery has been anything but spontaneous!!!! - Lynette

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