Power Ranger Helmet or Motorcycle Helmet?

With the focus of early Intervention; I find myself frequently dreaming about what my patients will grow to be like and what skills that I’m helping to teach them will translate into their teenage and adult lives when I am no longer their BCBA. I am sure many BCBAs wonder the same thing. This then leads me to think about my family’s own experience with ABA.

I; like many others in the field; entered the field of ABA therapy because someone very near and dear to me is diagnosed with Autism: my brother. As I think back; we have worked on a plethora of skills during his ABA treatment; which lasted from 7 to 21 years of age. He worked on things ranging from learning to mind our business in stores (he was keen on reprimanding children who were not related to him) to money management and job skills.

One of the things that has had the greatest impact on our family was teaching my brother the skill of compromise. Man oh man; I really wished he had this skill when I was 14 years old and we had to stop the movie we had playing at my sleepover to watch Barney. I was mortified. He is now able to display his awesome compromising skills.

Cosplay has been the recent fascination with my brother; specifically with the Power Ranger characters. We even had the Red Ranger come to our Thanksgiving dinner! My brother and my dad were getting ready for my son’s basketball game. My dad was standing by the front door calling for my brother to hurry up when out of nowhere pops out my brother; the Blue Ranger. Quickly; my dad went into action; thinking back to his parent training days; and got my brother to agree to put on regular clothes by saying he could carry around his new power ranger helmet (which looked like a motorcycle helmet). Not only did they make it to the game on time; in everyday clothing; but my brother also looked super cool carrying around a “motorcycle” helmet. I can’t tell you how excited my dad was to tell his BCBA daughter about the whole ordeal and how they got from point A to point B rather smoothly.

The point of the story is; in the environment of early intervention; I know many of us wonder if what we are teaching our patients will stay with them or translate to skills that will help them as adults. I’m here to say that those skills most definitely impact their adult lives and I’m willing to bet that the patient’s family members can remember exactly who the person was that helped teach each skill. It’s important to remember that what we teach is impactful and it's pretty cool to think that 10 years after a child has left your care; a parent may be remembering you; screaming your praises; and thanking you in their head. I know my dad was thinking “THANK YOU BECCA!!!!” that day.