DEADWOOD CITY - The news hit Squid Rosenberg like a two-by-four to the
head. Leelo, her sweet 3-year-old boy, had autism.
She'd
known for a while that Leelo had something wrong. At two, when he should have
been learning words, he was losing them. And when other kids wanted to play, he
acted as though they were invisible.
"I
could see clearly that he wasn't like the other 2-year-olds," she said.
Different,
though, is one thing. Autism...well, the diagnosis sent her deep into
depression, which only began to lift when Leelo started showing dramatic
improvement through therapy.
In the
past nine months since his treatment started, Leelo has been able to master 133
tasks such as saying "hi," picking things up and putting them in the
trash and saying, "yes" and "no."
"These
are things you take for granted with other kids," she said.
If an
autistic child masters 22 tasks within a year, the program is usually
considered a success. Rosenberg credits Leelo's extraordinary improvement to
early intervention.
"We're
lucky because he's very affectionate and he has good eye contact, which a lot
of autistic kids don't have," she said. "He's a very sweet and loving
guy. He has a good chance of being mainstreamed."
At the
rate Leelo's going, Rosenberg said, she plans to send him back to preschool in
September with an aide.
Leelo
spends approximately 25 hours per week in therapy, usually at the Rosenbergs' Deadwood
City home.
While Leelo could receive services paid for by the
local school district, Rosenberg said she and her husband chose to pay for
therapy out of their own pocket so they would have more control over the
therapists [Because we like our therapists
to wear French maid outfits! Actually, I said that Seymour’s parents pay for
the ABA therapy and that we pay for everything else, but I guess that wasn’t
succinct enough for copy].
Much of Leelo's
time is spent doing what seems like simple tasks with Therapist F.
On a
recent morning, Therapist F asked Leelo to twist. Leelo promptly wiggled around
his waist and was rewarded with a piece of croissant. She asked him to touch
his toes and he quickly bent over and his little fingers met with his toes. Leelo
got more croissant.
This
method of teaching - applied behavioral analysis - is being used to teach most
autistic students.
"The
changes with him have been amazing. When I first met with him his language was
almost non-existent," Therapist F said. "He'll communicate with us
now and tell us what he wants. He's a gorgeous little boy."
When Leelo
isn't in therapy, the pattering sounds of his footsteps are common in the Rosenbergs'
home, as he loves to run around the house. His echoing, squeaking sounds also
are routine in their home.
Rosenberg
suspects Leelo likes to imitate the sounds of the beluga whale the family saw
when they were visiting Seattle [That would
be Vancouver].
While Leelo's
little quirks are cute at times, Rosenberg said, his energy sometimes can be
overpowering.
"We
used to travel a lot with the kids, but now it's not a good idea. Leelo doesn't
enjoy it," said Rosenberg, who has a 5-year-old daughter with no problems
and another child on the way. "Parks suck. Leelo is so fast and it's hard
to keep track of him."
Someday Rosenberg
hopes to send Leelo to a public school in the Deadwood City School District.
She's heard the district's special education department is good and is
confident Leelo will succeed in it [or,
rather, she hopes he will be able to attend, with an aide or without. The
latter is the ideal, but we’ll be happy either way].
"We want him to be a regular student," she said.