Our Intervention Program

In the Beginning Katie's intervention program did not develop overnight. At first we were as confused and overwhelmed by the volume of information we turned up as anyone else. If you have read our four part section "Meet Katie," you should have some idea just how bewildered we were in the beginning. Although we searched for answers as long and as hard as any family in our position would, in many ways we were just plain lucky.

How Lucky Were We? Katie's Montessori director happened to have the skills necessary to distinguish between a willful child and a developmentally disabled one. Both our pediatrician and our speech pathologists happened to know about, and favor the methods of, Stanley Greenspan. Katie happened to be hyperlexic, so we always had a means of communicating with her. My sister happens to be a teacher who has taught disabled children in inclusive settings for many years and who knows special education law backwards and forwards. All of these happy accidents combined to enable us to have a reasonably clear picture of Katie's needs and the means by which we should address them before the behaviorists knew she was alive.

Run, Don't Walk. Still, there was one thing we did in the beginning which had nothing to do with luck. We acted. When we knew next to nothing, we acted on instinct. When we knew Katie had a language problem, we acted on that and did our research in the wee hours of the morning while she slept. When our speech pathologists suggested other interventions for Katie, we acted on those and asked what more could be done. When our pediatrician referred us to Dr. Greenspan, yelling fire couldn't have moved us any faster. We never considered waiting to see if Katie would "grow out of it." What if she didn't? She would never be three years old again.

To spend months assessing a child, or waiting to see how the child does on his own, before beginning treatment is to waste critical time. When very young children with severe difficulties in relating and communicating come to professional attention, assessment and appropriate intervention must begin within days.

Stanley I. Greenspan

Reconsidering the Diagnosis and Treatment of Very Young Children with Autistic Spectrum or Pervasive Developmental Disorders

Zero to Three

October/November 1992

Weighing the Options	How we made sense of the volumes of information our search for answers turned up.
Defining Goals	What we hope for and expect Katie to achieve. Why we rejected Applied Behavior Analysis.
Necessary Elements	The meat and potatoes of our program.
What Will Go Wrong	*Notice we said will,* not might.**