I had an interesting conversation with Dan’s BCBA this week. I came to see her for solutions to Dan’s behaviors at home. Some of the behaviors became too much to take. Besides the running around and demanding tickles all day, which is something Alex and I can still deal with, improving our cardio vascular ability every day, Dan’s behaviors towards his little sister are hard to take. He really wants to play with her, yet he does not know how, and so he grabs her favorite blanket just to hear her scream. Anything for attention!

So I came to see the BCBA to create a home training or program that will help us - and Dan - with that.

 We talked for a while and I loved hearing her ideas and strategies and then she told me this nice story, about how she used to work at a home with adults who have autism. They could make their own food and they had a van that took them to work every day – yes, they had jobs! – and they could talk to their families on the phone and send emails.

When she worked there, it made her understand the importance of the things they teach our children at school at an early age.

“I finally figured out why they keep on teaching kids how to sort! You know how they make them sort the blue tokens from the red, or the square shape from the circle? It’s because later they can work at filing papers with different labels and sort cans at the store. These are valuable useful skills they can use forever!”

Who knows where our kids will end up, but it is good to know that someone puts thought to the things they are learning. One day it will all make sense!