Our FANTASTIC trip to HALO in Austin

I realized that I haven't posted about our trip to HALO yet. Oh my goodness, it was fantastic. I don't even know where to begin and I'm sure I'm not going to do it justice. I also tend to space out with anything that gets too scientific and technical, so everything I explain is in really simple layman's terms - because that's the only way I understand them. :-)

Soma is originally from India and has a son, Tito, who is nonverbal and considered severely autistic by most people. Anyway, she never gave up on him and eventually taught him how to read, write, and type. They've been featured on 60 minutes and the BBC did a huge program on them awhile back. Well, HALO (Helping Autism through Learning and Outreach) is based in Austin and Soma works with nonverbal kids and basically assesses their learning style and the way they best learn so that we (parents, teachers) can teach them. A lot of the kids she works with end up being mainstreamed in school with an aide trained in RPM (rapid prompting method) and do GRADE LEVEL coursework. So, we went on June 15th and in 15 minutes she had accomplished more with Noah than 3 school districts in the last 3 years. She realized that Noah needs visual and tactile stimulation to communicate. He can't see or process information that's laying flat on a table - like most kids do. The material has to be held up vertically in the air about 3 inches from his eyes. He also has to see your lips move - so he needs direct face to face instruction. When he starts to stim, she found that tapping his hand or putting a piece of tape on his hand will cause him to redirect his focus to the question you're asking and he chooses the RIGHT answer. I kid you not. Oh... and the reason his IEP has stated "Noah will stack 2 blocks on top of each other" for the last THREE years is because he never could do it. Turns out he has very poor motor planning. He can't hold a pencil... not because he's dumb... but because motor planning isn't a strength of his. Basically, Soma believes that all children with autism are actively learning and absorbing info everyday, but can't communicate or express it. Instead of forcing them to learn like everyone else -sitting quietly, hands on the table, eyes looking ahead, and being dead quiet, she recognizes their learning strengths and works with that. Right now, Noah is choosing between two choices. Ex: I'm thinking of an animal. Am I thinking of a r-o-c-k rock or a h-o-r-s-e horse? And she writes horse and rock on two separate pieces of paper, taps his wrists, holds up the papers 3 inches from his eyes and he chooses the right one. She does it with numbers, too. "23, 24, 25... what comes next? 26 or 21?" Well... Noah was counting all the way up to 70,naming animals, parts of the house, transportation methods, and fruits. Oh, and she had him counting by tens, too. But if you put the answers flat on a table, talk to him from behind or to the side of him, he can't answer the question. She is a genius at assessing the way each individual child learns. We go back for one day next month and then a 4 day camp in October. The prices are extremely reasonable - considering what most of us are used to paying for ABA.

We are also very lucky because they only take kids who are at least 7 years or older. Noah is one of the last kids to get in at the age of 5. They upped the age from 5 to 7 at the end of May, but we've been on the waiting list since February, so we were grandfathered in. Praise the Lord! I can't imagine having to wait another year and a half to see Soma. It was the most amazing thing I've ever witnessed and we all needed to see it unfold before us.

If you know someone who might benefit, their website is a WEALTH of information and gives tons of info, case studies, videos of instruction, lesson plans, etc. (http://www.halo-soma.org/). So it is entirely possible to start working with a child before you see her. We spent the last few months just reading to Noah and spelling words and asking questions to get him used to it. Eventually, over the next few years, Soma will help us teach Noah how to read and maybe write or type on a keyboard. They want us to teach him Kindergarten curriculum and talk to him like any other 5 year old.

Can you believe that? They want us to do Kindergarten level work with him!!!!

I mean, in the last three years Noah has mastered 5 IEP goals... and all were recess goals. People said he had severe MR. We (family) were even beginning to wonder. We would get so depressed because it seemed that we had tried everything and nothing really worked. It turns out that we just weren't trying it "the right way". Noah is "in there" in that little body of his and it's all been there this entire time. He is smart! He just can't get it out. Oh! I nearly forgot... for two of the questions, he actually SAID the answer. "Bird" and "car" for "Which one is an animal? B-I-R-D bird or R-E-D red" and "How did you get here? By T-R-A-I-N train or C-A-R car".

I really think we've found his learning style. Of course, it won't cure autism. We are still doing homeopathy and trying to heal his gut. We still do the Listening Program (which I LOVE) for his auditory training. We still see a cranial sacral therapist and now have an amazing OT out in Kaufman. We are inching along at a snail's pace... but I swear, I might be able to imagine the finish line. It's a looooooooooooooooooooong way away, but it's there. And last week.... and all the weeks and years before... Icouldn't see it. So, if any of you have been feeling down about your child or someone you know who has autism, I just wanted to say they are definitely aware and definitely with it. Seriously, Noah was counting by ten's! So that's proof right there.

Well, I just had to share our good news. We are so excited about this coming year. Like I said, it's not going to cure Noah's autism, but it does give him a "voice" and a way to communicate. Can you imagine that in a year or so that Noah might be telling us what he wants for his birthday? What his favorite color is? What he wants to be when he grows up? He might be doing first grade work? It's wild and wonderful to think about. It's watching a miracle unfold.

Noah's Mom