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September, 2006
The Brent Woodall Foundation’s Exceptional Child
of the Month
Taylor
Taylor is an
eight-year-old girl diagnosed with mild to moderate
autism. She and her mother traveled from Mississippi
to Texas so that Taylor could receive services
provided by the Brent Woodall Foundation for
Exceptional Children. Although Taylor attends a
special needs class, her mother grew frustrated with
the school system as her daughter aged but did not
seem to develop new skills.
When we first
met Taylor, we saw a beautiful girl with bright eyes
and a fabulous smile. She appeared eager to learn
and highly motivated by social praise; however, she
lacked confidence in her ability, looking to each
person in the room for reassurance before completing
a task. At the time of the assessment, she was
unable to match objects to objects, pictures to
pictures or to identify pictures of items.
After several
days of being taught in a structured teaching
environment utilizing the principles of ABA, Taylor
had acquired the ability to complete each of these
tasks. Since the parent training in ABA, Taylor’s
mother has reported Taylor is continuing to acquire
new skills and has gained a stronger sense of
self-confidence. Her mom reports she will come home
from school, change into play clothes, put her
school clothes away and go back outside without the
assistance of someone else!
The most
exciting part of this story is after the Taylor’s
school saw her amazing progress, they have invited
us to come out to Mississippi to present a district
wide training in ABA to assist Taylor and the many
other children in their district who are also
affected by autism.
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