Hi, I'm Dr. Mary Barbara autism mom board certified behavior analyst and
best-selling author. Did you know that up to half of children diagnosed with
autism can recover if they are treated very aggressively with ABA therapy when
they are very young? It was first shown that kids with autism could become
indistinguishable from their peers in a classic study done by Dr. Ivaar Lovaas
published in 1987 - that is 30 years ago. So just to clarify, three decades ago
some researchers knew that recovery from autism was possible using behavioral
treatment. Yet I bet this may be brand-new information
for you today. I've known that ABA could lead to recovery for almost two decades
now and I'm shocked that this is not commonly discussed in the media or known
by many professionals and parents. As you may know my firstborn son Lucas was
diagnosed with autism in 1999 one day before his third birthday. As Lucas was
buckled in the car seat completely silent during the one-hour drive home
from the hospital in Philadelphia, my husband who was driving, was saying
things like "I guess he'll never go to college, he'll never drive, he'll never
get married." I was crying at that point, told him to
be quiet. I told them that I had prepared for the appointment, knowing that Lucas
would most likely be diagnosed that day and I had read Catharine Maurice's book "Let
Me Hear Your Voice," which was published in 1993. In "Let Me Hear Your Voice,"
Catherine Maurice reported that both of her children became indistinguishable from
their peers after intensive ABA programming and said that according to
Dr. Ivaar Louis who set up the original ABA protocols, up to half of children who
receive ABA can get all better. They could become indistinguishable from
their peers and not need support on a long-term basis.
When I read Maurice's book in 1999, I had tremendous hope when so when the doctor
did diagnose Lucas, he confirmed that intensive ABA programming was the best
treatment for young children with autism. I specifically asked the doctor if Lucas
could recover like the book had said. He told me that because Lucas had moderate
to severe autism that he was not that optimistic, that maybe if we would have
brought him in earlier, maybe his chances of recovery might have been better. He
basically said that he had seen kids get all better from autism but those were
more mildly affected kids. I still told my husband that we were going to start
ABA 40 hours per week, that Lucas was going to recover despite the odds and
that we were going to have a recovery party. I talked about my desire for a
recovery party in my book "The Verbal Behavior Approach," and on the back cover
of my book, Dr. Marc Sundberg, who wrote the foreword for my book said that
my book is one of the most valuable books for parents of children with
autism since "Let Me Hear Your Voice," by
Catherine Maurice. According to another author, Marina Saris, from the Interactive
Autism Network, two nationwide, large studies have shown that 4 to 13% of
children will lose their diagnosis by age 8 but they often do keep other
diagnoses such as language delay or ADHD. Children diagnosed before 30 months who
had less severe symptoms to start had the best chance of recovery from autism.
I have worked with hundreds of kids with the diagnosis of autism and dozens of
very young children with signs of autism. Some of them have become
indistinguishable. I've seen signs and symptoms of autism reversed and
sometimes eliminated, especially when I've treated very, very young children.
Whether the recovery rate is 4% or 47%, it's not zero and the earlier you
intervene, the better. I'm in the process of creating an online course for moms
and dads of toddlers, 1-3 year olds who are at high risk of showing
signs of autism, but not yet diagnosed. These toddlers may be receiving early
intervention services, you may be on waiting lists to be seen by a
developmental pediatrician, or he or she may have an older sibling or cousin with
autism putting them at a higher risk of autism. My mission with this project is
to teach parents how to intervene to help prevent or reverse autism symptoms
in toddlers showing the earliest signs of autism. If you are a parent of a
toddler with delays and/or you are worried that your child may have autism,
please take this short survey so I can ensure when I create my program it will
help you. Please share the link with any parent of a toddler with delays or to
parents of one to three year olds who want to learn strategies to prevent,
treat, and possibly reverse the earliest signs of autism. While my two current
online courses are for both autism professionals and gung-ho parents of
toddlers through teens already diagnosed with autism, this new course will be just
for moms and dads, grandmas, nannies of toddlers who are not yet diagnosed.
Please take the survey by clicking the link right below this video if you fit
this category and I'll touch base as soon as possible to share the survey
results. Thank you.