Getting up and getting started...

Pulling yourself together is easier when you have three children depending on you to get up and act as if everything is going to be ok. Even though every morning the "Autism Express" chugs through your brain, (you know the one girls... the sound of a train going chug-a-chug-a only its the single thought "autism-autism-autism-autism"...), you get out of bed and drag yourself down to perform the perfunctory duties. Nappy change, bottle, drive the kids to the school bus and back home to sit and be alone with my thoughts. After a while, I decided that I needed a plan. So I sat and worked out what I needed to do. Autism had my daughter but I wanted her back!

I emailed the family I worked with to ask their advice. I got a phone call from Australia that very night giving me the much needed support that would put me on the road to early intervention. As I said in my first post, I don't know what led me to work with my little friend but now I was equipped to help my little girl. I had received an appointment to see the paediatrician but it was going to be another two months before she was seen. I didn't want to wait any longer and see her regress further into herself so it was time to take matters into my own hands. I had the tools and knowledge just needed to put them in place. Suddenly, I didn't feel so useless.

My tutor friend dropped me over all the old notes from our courses so I could brush up and get back in the saddle so to speak. I poured over every note and made a list of reinforcers I could use. I was lucky as Munchkin did have some toys she liked and tv shows (Maisy Mouse and Elmo) so wasn't relying on food reinforcers of which she had none. And so we started ABA.