Autism regression is both heartbreaking and confusing.
Whether you have a young child who is just starting to show signs of autism, used to
say some words, now lost them, used to wave and now doesn't, or even an older child with
a diagnosis of autism that regresses in some areas, it is very scary and like I said, heartbreaking
and confusing.
Hi, I'm Dr. Mary Barbera, autism mom board certified behavior analyst online course creator
and bestselling author of The Verbal Behavior Approach.
Each week I provide you with some of my ideas about turning autism around so if you haven't
subscribed to my YouTube channel, you can do that now.
Today I'm sharing a small excerpt from a podcast I did about autism regression, autism regression,
regressing of any skills when, um, you are, uh, you are young, um, or older is, is heartbreaking.
A lot of times it could be a medical issue that's causing the regression.
Um, it could be an abrupt regression.
Um, like overnight your child starts seizing or overnight he starts not talking and the
later it it is, you know, the more vocal like I've heard stories.
Uh, apparently according to the research, 20 to 30% of parents report that their child
did regress into autism, that they were developing on track or mostly on track, and then either
had a sudden or slow regression.
And, um, I noticed a regression mostly in hindsight, um, with Lucas, uh, shortly after
his first birthday.
And, um, I was pregnant with Spencer, so I wasn't really noticing, but you know, he regressed,
he stopped saying hi, he stopped waving.
He used to really have a nice wave and you, you think like, Oh, he's just becoming a picky
eater or he has a cold or he has an ear infection and he's just a little off.
Um, and it was spiraling, um, and he was actually regressing and the little cute baby songs
and fill ins that he used to do were gone.
But I was pregnant then I had the baby, then it was winter time.
Older kids can regress to.
Um, but you know, and in that situation it is very alarming when a suddenly a 10 year
old regresses even a 10 year old with severe autism, if they suddenly lose skills that
they once had or again, more slowly, um, how do you turn things around?
How do you help the child get unstuck?
Step number 1 for any kind of autism regression or lack of progress is an assessment.
And that doesn't have to be, uh, you know, waiting in line for a doctor to assess or,
or, um, having a behavior analyst assess.
It can be a 1 page assessment like I created that you can get at no cost at marybarbera.com/join.
You can get a guide with that 1 page assessment and you can get started.
So my thought is you really need to step back and look at the whole picture.
So when you assess, we need to know, you know, the age of the child and what their, what
their medical status is.
Do they have a diagnosis?
Um, do they have other medical complications and that sort of thing.
And speaking of regression, it's really, really important that especially if it's a sudden
or even a slow regression that you, um, rule out medical problems, high lead levels, um,
you know, brain tumors, any kind of metabolic issues can, uh, hearing loss that can all,
um, mimic signs of autism.
Uh, there are, there are auto-immune problems.
There are bacterial infections like PANS or PANDAS, which I've done video blogs about
that can all cause a regression or cause things, symptoms of autism.
You do want to go to a pediatrician or family doctor.
You might even need to go to a specialist who specializes in autism treatment, um, and
really look closely to see what's going on.
So whether it's a regression or, or just the lack of progress in the areas of anything,
whether we're talking about a child who is not talking and you don't know how to get
them talking, if they are, um, 10 years old and not taking a shower themselves or if they
are having reading problems or if they are having sudden or chronic problem behaviors
that you can't control, um, you need to assess where they're at and where they should be
at.
So if it's a young child, um, I did a video blog on, uh, the MCHAT.
Um, these are tools you can check yourself to see is my child falling really far behind?
I did a toddler guide, Is it autism, ADHD or typical toddler tantrums?
You can get that at marybarbera.com/toddler.
So just assess and, and when you assess, don't count language and skills, the child had more
than a month ago.
Um, especially if you're seeing a regression because it's not really helping the situation
if you say, you know, yeah, my child touches body parts, but he can only touch his body
parts if you sing a song, um, or you haven't heard the word ball for 3 months, but you're
still counting that as a word and I get it.
I totally did that.
I totally counted all kinds of utterances that I heard from Lucas before he regressed.
But, so step number 1 is an assessment.
Um, medical assessment, language assessment and self care assessment, problem behavior
assessment.
You want to know where your child or client is at and where they should be at.
I use the VB MAPP as a base.
I also use the self care checklist, which I find really helpful by Dr. Mark Sundberg.
And I also really, whether you have a young child or an old child who’s stuck, we also
need to look back and, uh, look at safety, look at independence and self care and look
at happiness too.
Um, I think the field of ABA gets really caught up in diving in and trying to teach kids,
but we really need to step back and make sure they're safe and make sure they're happy,
make sure they're comfortable and stop, really keep pushing.
If there's a problem and if they're stuck, then just keep pushing with the same programs,
the same targets, the same procedures is not going to get them unstuck.
And this is why I'm really excited that you're listening to this podcast and open to a new
approach.
And I have a new approach that is getting kids unstuck every day, which I am credibly
excited about.
So for Lucas, my son who's 23 years old now, despite 2 decades of the best ABA therapy
I could find, he remains non conversational.
And you know, that doesn't mean I don't continue to teach him language.
We teach him new language for new job title, like job work.
Um, when he goes to work, he has different jobs.
So we teach him the names of the jobs and the materials that are part of the jobs.
He needs to be able to request the parts of the jobs.
I'm also teaching him, uh, names of new people that are in his environment, people at work
mostly.
And then teaching him.
I'm just started to teach him to answer why questions like why is the pool closed?
Or why is so-and-so not here today?
Or why didn't you go to church with daddy?
And just trying to teach him because, and the answer and it's, it's working.
We're, we're having some success.
But just to remind you that, you know, not all kids are going to be conversational.
Um, and it's not because of lack of trying and you know, I'm not here to tell you that
there's no chance.
There's always hope.
There's always a chance.
And working on conversational skills with Lucas answering why questions, he can answer
a variety of questions, but answering why questions teaching him, um, yes and no responses
that are reliable, those kinds of things will really improve his quality of life.
For Lucas, I believe he is, has reached his full potential.
But like that's not a once and done thing that's continuing to, to have him reach his
fullest potential, be as happy, be safe, be as, um, independent as possible.
He, uh, has major problem behaviors at or near zero and a lot of that actually was due
to medical intervention.
Um, I did a, a blog, a podcast, excuse me, uh, with Dr. Murray, uh, Lucas's psychiatrist.
That's episode number 28.
So you can find that at marybarbera.com/28.
After you do an assessment, then step number 2, whether it, no matter where you're stuck
is you want to make sure that if you're stuck, um, your plan, your goals, your targets, your
programs aren't correct.
Um, it's never the child's fault.
It's always the people who are very, very much trying your best, trying to help the
child.
You need to, I use the, the analogy like peel the onion back.
You need to find the layer where your child is going to be successful.
So step number 2, after assessment is to revise the plan.
The goals, the targets, the programs.
If there's no progress in a program for weeks or months or years, you've got the wrong programs,
goals and targets.
Um, they, the, the child is missing prerequisite skills.
I remember my first consultant, um, who came in.
She, you know, we had a, a Lovaas ABA program in the beginning and I talk about that in
episode number 1, how we switched to a verbal behavior approach.
It's all throughout my podcast, but I remember her saying, um, you want to get into a program
and get out of a program.
If you get stuck for weeks or months or years with no progress or limited progress, it's
not the right program and you might have to put the program on hold and go and fine tune
what the prerequisites are that are missing.
I hope you enjoyed this short snippet from the podcast.
If you want more content, check out the podcast at marybarbera.com/podcast, wherever you're
watching this, I'd love it if you would leave me a comment, give me a thumbs up, share this
video with others who may benefit.
And for more information, you can attend a free online workshop at marybarbera.com/workshop
and I'll see you right here next week.