Monterey Bay Forum

six months

The good news is that children with all degrees of hearing loss — who receive appropriate interventions prior to 6 months of age– can obtain speech and language skills comparable to their normal hearing peers when age 3 years.

What parents can do:
Check and re-check that your baby’s hearing remains normal. Visit your pediatrician for screenings as your doctor recommends. Research recommends hearing screening every 2 months until age one year — and every three months until age two. (more…)

The link below takes you to an About Us page for Rethink Autism which has sample lessons using ABA techniques. There re a handful of free sample lessons. The subscription cost is $100 a month WITHOUT professional assistance. There is an additional monthly charge for professional assistance.

The good news is that you as parent have complete control of how the ABA program is done. You know how much stress your child can tolerate. You can tailor the lessons to fit the needs of your child. Certainly, $100 a month seems very reasonably priced.

One of the complaints I hear regularly about ABA is that outsiders come in to the home. The “work” is done in a separate room and the child is isolated from parent involvement during the session. Frequently some kind of sugar reward is used to motivate the child to do the work. All of those kinds of complaints are addressed with this program. No strangers. No isolation, Use of praise and hugs for a reward.

I looked at the sample for teaching imitation. It is clear and something a parent can do readily. Like telemedicine this program might be quite helpful for certain kinds of families.

In California because of budget issues the Early Start program (ages 0 to 3) may be drastically cut. Use of this kind of a online subscription program might be a helpful adjunct for some regional center clients who receive Early Start services.

written by Dr. Cameron Jackson, Ph.D., J.D. Licensed clinical psychologist cameronjacks@gmail.com

Rethink Autism

The Crysalis Program which assists children with autistic spectrum disorders was started years ago and achieved a fine reputation in the community of Santa Cruz. It was an innovative and eclectic program. The woman who started the program, Fran Bussard, retired a few years ago.

Currently, the Morgan Autism Center is operating the Crysalis program in collaboration with the Santa Cruz Office of Education. This is the first year of operation through the oversight of the Morgan Center.

The Morgan Foundation in partnership with Santa Cruz County Office of Education provides one-to-one intensive services to toddlers and preschoolers with ASD. Where the Crysalis program is located:

Struck Preschool
984 Bostwick Lane
Santa Cruz, CA 95062
(831) 475-0290

Before the Morgan Center took over the Crysalis program for a while was run by the Listen Foundation. This is what I could find about that program from looking at local records:

“Two Santa Cruz County Office of Education classrooms, operated in collaboration with the Listen Foundation, integrate several methods and strategies such as TEACCH floor time, applied behavioral analysis, and sensory integration to teach social, communication, academic, and functional skills to address the needs of students diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) The Listen Foundation is a private non-profit agency serving individuals with Autistic Spectrum Disroders (ASD) and other developmental disabilities since 1982. For informaiton about the Listen Foundation go to: www.listenfoundation.netListen Foundation.