Remy is a 5-year-old boy from York who struggles with the daily life challenges of living with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Just4Children want to support Remy so that he can receive regular Applied Behaviour Analysis therapy (ABA) to provide him with the skills to help him regulate his emotions better and lead an independent, happy and successful life.

The Autism Spectrum Disorder that Remy lives with affects his ability to communicate in a functional way, which means that he cannot progress easily. He suffers from severe echolalia; a condition that involves the constant repetition of noises/words that are heard. Remy will repeat certain words hundreds of times a day, and when asked a question he will often just repeat it back, or not say anything. Remy struggles with attention from people, even including close family, as he feels easily overwhelmed. He doesnt like changes to his routine and will react with biting, kicking, and a severe meltdown. He is often trapped in his bubble of self-stimulatory repetitive behaviours.

On a typical day at school, he struggles with the conversational aspect of friendship building and focusing on what is being taught. If allowed, he would probably be happy just playing by himself. He has a lot of things to say but finds it difficult to express himself. His friendship circle is small and he cannot engage in dialogue yet. He withdraws into his self-stimulatory behaviours quite often, which prevent him from making any real progress at home and school. He is at mainstream school now, but experiences anxiety and requires 1-1 support since some of the classroom activities are unsuitable for him.

Remys behaviour can be unpredictable, uncontrollable, and self-injurious. When a meltdown kicks in, he has little sense of danger and he will just run out into the middle of the road just to get away.

The pandemic has made him even more anxious about being around people, and there are fears that he will regress. Its important for Remy to be able to commence with ABA therapy as soon as possible to give him the best opportunity to live a normal and happy life.

ABA Therapy is a science and evidence-based therapy that can improve social, communication, and learning skills through positive reinforcement. It helps to increase positive, helpful behaviours and decrease problem behaviours that are harmful or affect learning. Many experts consider ABA to be the most effective treatment for children with autism spectrum condition. It is drug-free and based around the interests of the child with many hours of carefully tailored play therapy delivered by highly trained and qualified tutors at home and school. The support that is available to him at school is not focusing on his behaviour and motivation and social skills to the level that ABA therapy will. He needs to focus on these skills to be motivated to learn. ABA programmes normally focus on building important behavioural skills across home and school and he will receive an in-depth assessment in both settings before therapy commences. His specific skills and knowledge will be assessed according to a VB MAPP, which is an assessment and skills-tracking system to assess the language, learning and social skills of children with autism or other developmental disabilities. This assessment will then produce some measurable targets and outcomes that Remy can work towards. It breaks down all the functional important skills he has to work on and specially tailors them to his abilities. This is far more in-depth than what the school is able to do and will produce a more beneficial outcome. Everything is data-driven in ABA and so improvements in his social skills and other target areas will be easy to analyse and record.

The younger the child, the more effective the ABA therapy. But due to restricted budgets, neither the NHS nor the local government are able to fund this essential therapy for young children. Remy will need at least 20 to 30 hours a week of specially devised ABA Therapy to work on a variety of essential skills to improve Autistic Spectrum Condition.

ABA Therapy is a step forward in the right direction. It will benefit Remy by helping him manage a lot of lifes daily challenges and expectations and help him regulate his emotions better. This will be the bedrock of his success as an independent, happy child who will understand his own mind and not be afraid to express himself.

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