hsmom27 Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out what curriculum to use for my 6yo DS with severe autism. Every teacher he's ever had agrees he's very bright. Language however presents a tremendous problem. He reads very well, but he is currently incapable of spontaneously using more than single word utterances. Here's what I've got so far. I'm studying SOTW 1 and the human body w/ my other NT 6yo DS. I'm just going to have DS sit in on those lessons. Then for math I'm going to try MUS alpha. My real concern is what to use/ how to approach LA. DS taught himself to read, but it's almost impossible to figure out how much comprehension there is. We're slowly working on using full sentences in everyday life, but so far he can't answer any question. I'm planning on trying to get him to answer very simple WH questions, using early readers. I'll also start Spelling Workout A. What else should I be trying? Or are there any other suggestions for subjects of study? SN sites with curriculum I haven't seen yet? Anything someone here has used to move their child beyond single words? I'm open to any suggestions here! I should add that while we're constantly working toward this, DS is LF enough that no one sees him ever living/ functioning independantly. At the same time, it's obvious that he absorbs everything going on around him. I just want to provide him with plenty to think about, if he stays largely locked in his own mind. Thanks for any suggestions and reading this whole thing!:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtsmamtj Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 For us I worked on communication, pronunciation, etc. at that age a lot. Our son taught himself to read also and had an amazing memory for numbers/facts. We used Victory Drill, a speech program from Natthan Chask which I can't remember the name of - it has been awhile, Abeka Letters and Sounds, Abeka K math. After Abeka for a bit we went with Growing with Grammar (didn't know about this until son was in 4th grade) along with MUS in 4th grade. Our son was very good at doing what the lesson said to do, but in the end minimal comprehension except in the areas that were repeated a lot. One thing that was a huge blessing was our son loved to listen to audio - songs, stories, etc. T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 I think what you are doing with him sounds great. Have you tried an ABA approach with his verbal language? If you could spend some one on one time working with that (train older siblings too if he has them) you might be able to increase his verbalizations enough to have a better feel for what his comprehension is. My son is far higher functioning, but we had to teach him to answer each type of question individually. We started with what because those are the easiest, who, where, when and how were much harder and why took years. One step it sounds like your son can accomplish a great deal. If he can read, there must be a pretty capable mind trapped in there. I'm with you, keep feeding it good food and keep trying to find out what it is absorbing. Don't stop trying to break into his world. You can do it through floor time or ABA, but keep breaking through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmom27 Posted April 9, 2009 Author Share Posted April 9, 2009 I believe there's a lot of comprehension. It's just seems impossible to get it out of him, unless he chooses to do so. And I was wrong. He can answer what questions. He has a large labeling type vocab. Although occasionally he'll answer brown, instead of bear, if you point to a brown bear and ask, "what's this?". We use an ABA approach to everything, but any resource suggestions for how to tackle answering other types of questions? Thanks for the responses mamas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niffercoo Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out what curriculum to use for my 6yo DS with severe autism. Every teacher he's ever had agrees he's very bright. Language however presents a tremendous problem. He reads very well, but he is currently incapable of spontaneously using more than single word utterances. Here's what I've got so far. I'm studying SOTW 1 and the human body w/ my other NT 6yo DS. I'm just going to have DS sit in on those lessons. Then for math I'm going to try MUS alpha. My real concern is what to use/ how to approach LA. DS taught himself to read, but it's almost impossible to figure out how much comprehension there is. We're slowly working on using full sentences in everyday life, but so far he can't answer any question. I'm planning on trying to get him to answer very simple WH questions, using early readers. I'll also start Spelling Workout A. What else should I be trying? Or are there any other suggestions for subjects of study? SN sites with curriculum I haven't seen yet? Anything someone here has used to move their child beyond single words? I'm open to any suggestions here! I should add that while we're constantly working toward this, DS is LF enough that no one sees him ever living/ functioning independantly. At the same time, it's obvious that he absorbs everything going on around him. I just want to provide him with plenty to think about, if he stays largely locked in his own mind. Thanks for any suggestions and reading this whole thing!:) I highly recommend Tammy Glaser's website. She has a 20 year old daughter with autism and she's been homeschooling her since she was 6. They use RDI, and a Charlotte Mason approach, and the difference in her daughter is amazing! She puts lots of videos up of her daughter, and it's incredible! http://www.aut2bhomeincarolina.blogspot.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 I didn't use a curriculum, but here are some of the things we did. For answering question words, you can get speech therapy cards that are meant just for this. They have packs of "who" cards for example. They have pictures on each card and you ask "who is playing" answer "the boy". If he can't answer you say is it the girl (who might be reading) or the boy (who is in the floor playing). Keep breaking it down. Pointing to the right answer counts at first, then a verbal answer, etc. For responses, when my son would only give single word labels for everything, we would write what we wanted him to say. If he said milk, I showed him a 3x5 card that said "Can I have milk please?" (I might have just had milk please first). My son read early and we used his reading to build his verbal language. The first time he said "I love you mom" he read it off a 3x5 card that I wrote. :001_smile: I had cards for everything! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 How does he do with spelling? My oldest attends an center-based ABA program with a nonverbal child who uses an alphabet cuff to communicate. He points to letters to spell words. I know there are keyboards that read what you type, too. Could that work for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmom27 Posted April 10, 2009 Author Share Posted April 10, 2009 Thanks for all the great responses. I'm definitely going to try simple cards to try and expand his responses. That seems in line with what's been working so far. Also the RDI stuff looks interesting. I need to get some money to buy the book and see what approach exactly, they're using. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
specialmama Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Does he like the computer? There are so many great programs! We just discovered TeachTown which is based on ABA principals, keeps data on progress, and provides off-computer activities selected for your child's skill/ability level in order to increase generalization. It is customized for each child, but based on a developmental age of 2-7 yrs. You can try it for 6 wks for $5 from Timberdoodle (after that it's $30/mo!) We're going to try to get the regular fee paid for by hubby's work or the school system or his therapists... maybe his speech path could even cover it... anyhow, I do encourage you to check it out if you haven't! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 My sister has a child with a lot of autism traits, but have severe epilepsy with many delays. She has loved this item from A Beka. His is an immunization injury. https://www.abeka.com/ABekaOnline/BookDescription.aspx?sbn=55557 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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