Teach me language by Freeman& Dake : General Priniciples

Earlier  this year DH and I were wondering how to add some structure to our home program without ABA .

That is when  I discovered this book owing to my good friend M's recommendation

This is a book written in 1997 by Sabrina Freeman and Lauralei Dake .. it seems a little pricey on paper ( on amazon here its for around 55 dollars ) but its worth every penny

  Its a very easy read

  Anyway back to M,

M has two very bright boys with autism and hyperlexia and she has given me a lot of good advice over the years

Her BEST advice for me has been her recommendation on this book

This book is for a very specific kind of autie

  Skip over this post my dear friends whose kids dont fit this specific description

But if you child is a hyperlexic table ready child - let me give you some crib notes on things DH and I have been using for R in his home therapy program

  This book is for the following type of kid

1. Kids who are hyperlexic

2. Table ready 

Here are the basic Principles you employ in each session

WRITTEN SCHEDULE

Each session must have a written schedule

This  give the child a feeling of control and its very important that the entire schedule be completed

We also must find a way to make each session be pleasurable -

We should praise the child for correct answers
We must   give choices when we can and also have a reward at the end of the schedule

    A schedule at the beginning of each session can be as simple as this

REPETITION

All the exrecises should be done multiple times but the therapist must encourage many different correct answers ( its possible that answers are atypical and that is fine )

  Exercises must be presented by the therapist by modeling correct answers and in  writing

Eventually, we will want R, to complete the exercises himself but only after he has seen the therapist model it and then help him several times

TEACH USING THE CHILD's STRENGTH :
This is critical . R is a child who processes the world visually ( I think this is true of all hyperlexic kiddos )

In this curriculum, we are teaching oral language using visual channels .

Once the child can read a sentence , understand the sentence and then eventually identify the sentence when someone else reads it then his oral ability is strengthened 

PROMPTING AND FADING

When an exercise is first introduced the child will have to be helped but eventually the help needs to be reduced and then faded away till the child does independent work

EMPHASIS ON GENERAl KNOWLEDGE:  

One of the problems with R is how little general knowledge he has !!

  Bright kids with autism will often not pick up the most basic things fom the environment  :due to following reasons

1. because they often do not process oral information due to their visual brains

2. Due to their great ,memories they may remember many minute details BUT They may not have the ability to discern the main idea from the detail -

the book has a section on general knowledge and the idea is to give the child a structured way to acquire the general knowledge 

IT Is IMPERATIVE THAT THE THERAPIST WORK ON THE DEFICIT ( AUDITORY PROCESSING ) BY RELYING ON THE STRENGTH ( VISUAL PROCESSING)  HOW OFTEN :

We want to work daily and if possible multiple times a day  we are introducing language visually

- so that the child will acquire language in the same way that an adult acquires a foreign language
     ESSENTIAL TO CUSTOMIZE: IF SOMETHING IS NOT WORKING WE MUST GET TOGETHER
 AND FIX IT 

Ok that is the introduction

Tomorrow I will write on the three techniques we have been  using

Simple Word Association,Complex word Associations, Writing an Essay etc