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| Sean McCartan was diagnosed with
autism in July 2003 when he was three years old. Sean was severely delayed with
regard to his speech and language, his social, play and independent living
skills. Sean's parents Mark and Joan McCartan were very aware that "there is
very limited time in which appropriate intervention can achieve maximum effect.
Early intervention is crucial in order to treat autism with optimum results; we
had to act immediately". Mark and Joan looked into the various options available
for early intervention and they felt comfortable with ABA based treatment and
confident that it would meet Sean's needs. Mark and Joan contacted the London
Early Autism Project (LEAP), a London-based organization that implements and
supervises early, intensive behavioural intervention programmes for children
with ASD |
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In November 2003, Sean started his home-based programme
with a two day workshop provided by LEAP, however in January 2004 supervision of
his programme was switched to CEAT due to the fact more frequent and locally
based consultation was available. At the start of his programme Sean was very
unco-operative, lacked in focus and was without speech or a functional
communication system. Initially Sean's programme targeted co-operation,
attention, imitation, matching, puzzles and the understanding of simple
language. Sean received 34 hours of therapy per week conducted by a team of 4
therapists. Sean responded well to early intervention and after a few weeks he
settled nicely into acquiring new skills at a steady and reliable pace. Sean
learned how to imitate actions and replicate block structures, he was able to
match and sort objects and pictures, he completed 20 piece puzzles and he
started to understand what was being said to him. |
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| Over the next 12
months Sean progressed onto learning the names of familiar people, objects and
actions; he was taught to imitate drawings and play skills and to identify
features and functions of items. Sean became fully toilet trained. Sean's
spontaneous language increased through consistent facilitation of opportunities
for requesting and commenting. Sean learned to read, write and count. Sean
learned to participate in group activities, play board games and take part in
imaginative play. |
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Sean continues to average 34 hours of one-to-one therapy
with gradual integration into a Mainstream Nursery with full-time support. Sean
is now five years old, he is a happy little boy who can understand and use
language with relative ease. He can play with toys functionally and he can sit
with his peers and listen to a story being read by his teacher. Pre and Post IQ
tests conducted by a Board Educational Psychologist indicate substantial gains
in both Sean's non-verbal and verbal IQ. Sean continues to have many delays with
regard to the comprehension and production of language, social interaction with
peers and concepts such as past and future events. However he has made gains
that significantly increase his ability to access educational opportunities and
to be a part of his family along with his older and younger brother. A personal
account of Sean's Story is written by Joan McCartan in our March 2005
Newsletter. |
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