DS 5 is in Kindergarten. When he was 3 he was diagnoses with Pervasive Development Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified, so basically some characteristics of Autism. His main areas of concern were a lack of reciprocal conversation and reading of social cues, and failure to ask questions. We started an ABA therapy program for him of 5 hours a week plus a social skills group once a week. When he was 4.5 we had his IQ tested and found he is gifted. Other testing established that he is no longer on the autism spectrum. He still has issues with executive function and on task behaviour when he is not interested. When he started school this year we stopped the ABA therapy sessions, but he was having a joint psychology session once a week with another boy with a similar profile. They were working on higher level social skills and emotional regulation. The therapist is going away, and we have the option to continue the sessions with a speech pathologist at the company, but I am not sure if she will be as good as the psychologist was, and I am also not sure if DS really needs a weekly session any more. We have also stopped the social skills group as we enrolled him in an academic extension program.
He is an emotional little boy, he does struggle a bit with executive functioning, but does therapy just go on forever? I know we need to keep an eye on him as being gifted can cause social stresses. And I won't hesitate to seek counselling for him if he seems to need it in the future, but I am thinking his psychologist leaving might be a good opportunity to take a break from intervention for awhile and see how DS goes. His school thinks he is fine.
