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Ryan's e-journal
In November of 2007 I was approached by a podiatrist
who had seen the improvements with Alzheimer's
patients in a local assisted living. As a result of the
amazing progress of her 10 year old autistic daughter,
we launched the ASD program.

John heard about the program and Ryan,* his 15 year
old son became our second success story.

Noell Hammer, founder, AWB
Session One

Parent reported pre-session behavior:

  • non-verbal (one or two word sentences)
  • short attention span
  • impulsive behavior
  • does not make eye contact
  • lack of social or emotional reciprocity
  • repetitive use of language
  • repetitive motor mannerisms

Here are the things I observed:

  • He was very well behaved-I was expecting grabbing and
    jumping up like Cara's behavior

  • 1-2 word sentences in a high pitched voice

  • Very little eye contact. Looked away and closed his eyes
    when we sang.(see picture-right)

  • Sang the melody and approximately 30% of the words of
    the songs, usually not completely forming the words

  • His swinging was uncoordinated and jerky

  • When presented with the butterfly catcher game, he
    mimicked the butterfly with the wrong hand, even with
    several promptings

  • Strokes were uneven and didn't reach all the way

  • Would bounce the paintbrush, then forget and stroke
    (short term memory)

Post session

  • He completed the entire session without getting up
  • He made eye contact when we sang the exit song and
    inserted most of the words
  • Swinging was much more smooth and coordinated
  • After two tries, he formed a "net" rather than the butterfly
    and caught it with the correct hand
  • He said multiple word, complete sentences with
    prompting.


Observations of following sessions:

Starting using multi-word sentences with prompting

  • Initiated session, remembered the song we used, and the
    order of the process.
  • More eye contact and expression, more smiling
  • More complete words in the song, 90% accuracy rate for
    word insert
  • Swinging much more coordinated and smooth
  • Catching the butterfly with net, rather than mimicking.
    Confuses hands only occasionally, after session, could
    switch and be the butterfly and call the hand (left/right)
    This is a huge step and requires coordination of verbal
    and movement.
  • Painting strokes more even, straighter, reaching both
    sides
  • Longer attention span, greater concentration
  • Did not grab paint brushes, could request brush or paints
    in a complete sentence when prompted: "May I have the
    paint brush, please?"
  • Became quite adept at high five game and could call out
    right/left and go at a very quick pace. Indication of faster
    brain response


Parent report improvements in these areas:

  • verbal skills
  • attention span
  • eye contact
  • social or emotional reciprocity
  • repetitive use of language
  • spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative play
    appropriate to developmental level
  • repetitive motor mannerisms


Notes from following sessions:

His dad reported that last week Ryan spontaneously (meaning
without prompting) started telling stories about things he
remembers when he was younger in great detail. (this is a boy
who only said 1-2 word sentences a month ago.)


  • Today we worked on asking and answering questions
    and sentence structure. It is very much like learning a
    new language for him.
  • His eye contact is great and his attention span has
    improved.
  • He inserts all the words to the song and he is so good at
    the high five game it's no longer a challenge. (two weeks
    ago he didn't know his right from left)
  • He reproduced complex free-form shapes exactly.
  • He repeated back the story we wrote about his picture.
  • He no longer covers his ears when planes go over


Here are other pages you can visit:

Ryan's Gallery
Cara's Gallery
Autistic Gallery
Autistic Resources
Photos used by permission
*Name has been changed by request