Grand Forks, N.D. (PRWEB) July 29, 2013
Five-year-old Maddy Robinson is the newest face of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders' (CARD) Mission Possible: Portraits of Hope online video series that highlights the personal journeys, challenges, and successes of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Maddy achieved recovery from autism after early intervention using applied behavior analysis (ABA) led by her parents using the Skills curriculum. Maddys story can be viewed at http://portraits-of-hope.centerforautism.com/.
Skills was created by researchers at CARD, the worlds largest provider of state-of-the-art, early intensive behavioral intervention for individuals with ASD, in an effort to address the global need for affordable access to an effective and comprehensive autism curriculum. The online program is based on the principles and procedures of ABA, an empirically-supported treatment, and is designed to be both comprehensive and easy to use, increasing treatment effectiveness to produce positive results for every child.
Maddy was diagnosed with autism at the age of two and began using Skills at two-and-a-half years of age. Now, after receiving 30 hours per week of intensive ABA-based intervention through her customized treatment program designed by Skills, Maddy has fully recovered from her diagnosis of autism. Maddy recently entered kindergarten and is considered a social butterfly; making friends wherever she goes.
When Maddy was diagnosed with autism, there were no ABA providers in the state of North Dakota, said Maddys mother, Janna Robinson. Thankfully, we found Skills and knew the intensive ABA method was working when, after just a month into treatment, Maddy reached out and asked to hold my hand.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in every 88 children in the U.S. is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), making it more prevalent than juvenile diabetes, pediatric cancer, and childhood AIDS combined.
Nothing makes the work we do at CARD more gratifying than seeing the successes of individuals like Maddy, said Adel Najdowski, Ph.D, BCBA-D, the Skills senior content development contributor and director of dissemination and research. Many families do not have access to the services they so desperately need, which is where Skills comes into play. With this tool, parents can personally treat and track the progress of their child.
Skills is based on over 40 years of research on using ABA for autism intervention, as well as research on child development. CARD supervisors and therapists use the Skills program to assess a childs strengths and weaknesses, design a treatment plan, and track progress through integrated reports, graphs, and timelines.
Skills offers the first and only ABA-based comprehensive social cognition and executive functions curricula available with the goal of achieving positive results for every child. While the system identifies and provides lessons for each child based on the results of his or her assessment, it also allows users the flexibility to tailor the program to the childs unique needs. It is designed to give educators for children with ASD access to the most comprehensive assessment of a childs development available. Each of nearly 4,000 lesson activities includes IEP goals, worksheets, visual aids, tracking forms and lesson videos.
Teachers, parents, and practitioners can also use Skills as an effective management tool, as the online program evaluates treatment progress one child at a time. Skills provides charts and graphs that track treatment gains and the impact of various events (including other treatments and life events) on the childs progress. Plus, by allowing the user to look at progress across a number of children, the user can evaluate treatment integrity down to the individual teacher.
Read more from the original source:
A 5-Year-Old North Dakota Girl Overcomes Autism with Use of Skills®, an Online Autism Curriculum