IFSP is one of a thousand acronyms that become part of your autism-speak. (honestly, it is mind-boggling how many there are!) It means Individualized Family Service Plan and together with the support coordinator, therapists and parents, goals are set for the child to achieve within a set period of time. For us, the goals are worked on for six months and then re-evaluated.
We had our IFSP goal evaluation on Monday with our support coordinator, our developmental therapist plus Tom and me. Connor met a few of his goals, including increased use of signs and words. Some of his goals were emerging and so we kept them ongoing or modified them if we felt it was still beyond his grasp.
For example, Connor is beginning to use the words "Mommy" and "Daddy" to name people. He isn't using them correctly and consistently, but that was our goal. Now, we decided that if he can recognize and name Mommy, Daddy and Ian correctly over the next few months, it would be great.
He has to work on his protection reflexes and that is now a goal as well as safety awareness. The speech therapist wants to see an increase of words retained and used and adding two word phrases. We will continue to keep his sensory issues a priority too. That might end up being more difficult for him than the actual language goals.
He also originally had read a book with the family for 30 seconds. You might laugh and say 30 seconds-but it takes about 5 seconds for him to decide he doesn't want you to sit and look at a book with him, he wants to look by himself and not be read to or have to point to anything on the page. Even the therapists cannot get him attending for very long, so we adjusted it to include a family task-puzzles, games, books, etc where he is actively participating. And sometimes he does - but it isn't consistent.
We will continue to monitor his routine and help him adjust to the smallest transitions he needs to make. Here's an example: after dinner each night, the kids must ask to be excused from the table. For Ian, it's "May I be excused?" and for Connor, he shows the "all done" sign, which is usually prompted. Then, they are expected to clear their plates in the garbage and put their plates into the sink. For awhile, Connor was getting a bit of an out and we decided that he could definitely be accountable for this too. Not being apprised of the change in routine, Connor would sign, slide off his seat and head for toys. Tom gently walked him and helped him clear his plate and put it in the sink using hand over hand. Connor loves the sound of the plate in the sink so he was happy about that. Next night, he heads off for toys and Tom redirects him back. Now he is ticked because it isn't what he wants to do or is used to doing. Once the plate hits the sink, he is fine. Finally, we would say "Connor, sink." His response-"No."-and walk off. We go get him and bring him back each time, ignore the protest and make him follow.
The breakthrough came this week. I was up getting juice for Ian and Connor slid down after signing that he was done. I was about to say "Connor, sink" and Tom was too, but he reached up and grabbed his plate-unprompted-walked to the sink and dumped it in. Did you hear the cheering?? It's coming along. So, we are working on more of that over the next few months.
In six months, he will be two and a half years old. We will revisit the goals to see what has been accomplished and then the school system will evaluate him for preschool, then the state will re-evaluate him for long term care just before or at age three.
I have to just say we have a tremendous team of therapists who work with Connor and without them, we aren't sure how far Connor would have progressed. They show us the way to talk to him, how to understand what things feel like from his perspective and give us great resources. They have our utmost gratitude and with their help, the goals are reachable and able to be surpassed.
7 comments:
Congratulations on Connor's new accomplishments. It sounds like he is doing really well and like you have good caring support. This is really eye-opening about how detailed and subtle the process of raising a child with autism can be. It sounds almost like it forces you as a parent to become very conscious of even the subtlest details and to view things in a kind of micro-cosmic way. Don't know if that's the right word. I'm glad things are going well. I think your posts are undoubtedly very helpful to other parents and so informative for everyone. Well done. (Sorry I'm so long-winded.)
It is truly such a slow process sometimes there is progress so minute that you don't even realize it at the time.
We are about to embark on a program with Kurtis that will virtually have a therapist or someone up the old yazoo, ya know! ALong with the three therapists he has had since October, he will now have a TSS for about 15-20 hours a week plus and hour a week of Floortime at the agency office and then, in addition to all of that, an ABA therapist in the home for 20 hours a week! My God! Where are we going to put everyone?
I am however very happy to see the agency is taking this strong a step for him though. His issues seem so much more ingrained that Maya's were that I really believe he definitely does need this much therapy. He is slowly beginning to make and maintain a little bit better eye contact and does work fairly well with puzzles that he has or that the therapists bring but the speech is a long way from coming through as is the real behavior issues, like getting him to sit still for 30 seconds, to focus, etc. I know you know what I'm talking about there as you've been there or are dealing with the same type of issues.
It will come -in its own time though and I keep learning to have just a little bit more patience too then. Sometimes I wonder what is more difficult -trying to reach our kids or for me to learn patience after so many years?
Wow, that is fantastic! I hope he continues with his after dinner chores. It's so good to train them at such a young age. I wish I had done that!!
He's making great strides.
What a milestone--taking the dish to the sink unasked! That's terrific. I found this post very informative about how the tasks are defined within time limits. It sounds like Connor is making steady progress. I'm very happy for you three!
You and Thomas are so consistent and patient. Tell Connor I love the sound of plates in the sink too, I've always enjoyed the clatter.
When I was a kid and had to do all the dishes I used to make believe there was a family living down the drain - kind of like Who-ville - and I was feeding them :)
Your stories amaze and hearten me! I'm learning a lot just from your insights!!!
Hi Linda! Glad to hear Connor is making progress with his goals. That is definitely a good thing as these little accomplishments can sometimes be few and far in between.
I was wondering if you could explain "protection reflexes" for me, please. I don't think I've heard of that, or maybe it's been referred to differently.
As for the acronyms..ya know, my experience having to deal with Autism has made it so much easier for me in the classes I've to take for my sign language certification. No matter the disability, all students must be diagnosed and have some sort of education plan. It really helps on those exams. *SMILES & HUGS*
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