it is so much harder when it is my child

kyethra

I am doing my field work hours for applied behavior analysis now, and have been doing this a couple of years now. And one thing I always tell parents is that it is really hard working with your own child, especially at first, because you worry you are being too strict, not strict enough, etc. And boy am I feeling it even more keenly now that my son is starting early intervention. He has had a speech delay for a while, but a couple of months ago I decided he was behind enough in a couple of ways that EI would be advantageous and thought he would qualify, and he did. So we start speech therapy soon. I was talking to someone I know in the autism world here who suggested PLAY Project-- I said I thought we might not meet the guidelines, but she suggested I see about it anyway, and because my son is high risk for Autism (I have Asperger's and my older brother has severe Autism) I think that helped us qualify. So we will start that soon too as well as their play group. And I feel nervous and worried. I know people and things the average parent doesn't, and have followed research and evidence based practices on speech... And I worry I am not doing enough. Part of it is that he isn't my usual client, he is 19 months and the youngest I work with is 3... But it is so much harder. How do you put yourself in a more objective place to effectively evaluate your child and their progress and programming?

mamantraining

Hi! It's funny we have a lot in common. I too work in the ABA field and my son began EI at 19 months for a speech delay. He now is diagnosed with apraxia.
It's tough, I defiantly have too much knowledge for comfort at times. While it sometimes makes me worry too much, it for sure is a blessing. I have a lot of strategies in my back pocket and I can advocate more easily for my son.
That said, I don't do formal therapy with my son. It is too stressful. Instead, I find natural ways to fit working on his speech into the day. As long as I see progress, I am happy. I don't take data or graph or anything...that's all for work.
I would see what the other professionals recommend for your son and supplement that at home. It's really hard to be objective with your own kid.
He's young and he's getting help early. Take it one day at a time.