Consultant available for help

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I will always be available online at WP for free advice, but if you ever feel the need for more in-depth advice about your situation, I can provide distance consultation. I am employed full-time as an Autism Consultant and have credentials and testimonials from my job that I can provide. My fee is reasonable and if you're worried about the fact that I won't be there on-site, let me tell from experience, a video camera is much less intrusive than a strange person sitting in the room. I do that as part of my job and I'm usually told that the child and the child's peers are behaving differently due to a stranger being in the room. However, when they get used to a camera being in the room, they forget it's there after a few days and then they are more likely to be "themselves."

To allow my clients control over their own videos, I usually recommend uploading it onto youtube.com with a private account. The parent/caregiver can provide me with the password to access the video and then of course can take the video off youtube or change the password if they no longer wish for me to view it.

Before any consultation, I ask for signature on a contract regarding liability and privacy. No one can guarantee that advice will always work; if you are not happy with the initial consultation, you can choose not to seek services in the future. If I don't know what might work, I will let you know and I will then refund any money paid to me. We can do an initial needs assessment for half of my usual fee. Follow-up and discussion can take place via skype if you have a webcam or via chat.

This type of consultation is ideal when you don't have access to a qualified professional, when you are on a long waiting list, or cannot afford the more pricey options such as fees charged by many BCBA's. I have the same knowledge base as a BCBA, I just haven't taken the coursework yet. I've had the best training imaginable- on the job and in the real world, along with mentoring from amazing teachers, administrators, and a great BCBA who happens to be a mother of a child on the Spectrum herself.

Let me know if you would like any free advice (for general questions) or more advanced fee-based consultation.

Hm, maybe you should let us get to know you by posting in threads on this board more often?

So you have no formal qualifications at all? Every parent of an AS kid I've met has read a lot of books on the subject, worked with it personally, and interacted with other kids on the spectrum. I also think some people may be uncomfortable with sending video of their children to a non-professional stranger on the internet. More information about yourself might help.

Formal Qualifications? You mean like a college degree, where the info and material they offer can be years old by the time they graduate? Or the professionals who open shop to sell industrial solvent enemas or 'cure' autism with diet and supplements?

Where do you think ABA came from? Sure, it is codified and taught by credentialed 'professionals' today, but 99% of the knowledge base and interventions we use came from 'stupid' parents who live and interact with their subject 24X7, not in 15 minute sessions and then go home to study House. After hearing of how parents dealt with issues, the light bulb appeared and, "Eureka!" the professional 'invented' a new protocol and hung a fancy label on it.

As far as the medical/psych community is concerned, AS didn't exist and wasn't taught until 1994 - 16 years ago, when it was recognized as an official disorder and added to DSM-IV. Much of the early knowledge is outmoded (found to NOT WORK) and replaced with things that parents discovered that give better chances for success.

Many of your professionals are the same ones who tell parents not to worry that their child is delayed or default to medicating kids first, instead of as a last resort.

Every parent of an AS kid I've met has read a lot of books on the subject, worked with it personally, and interacted with other kids on the spectrum. YES! That's my point. And many of them are more qualified and prepared to offer solutions that actually work. Over the course of the last 28 years that we have been involved with ASDs, the greatest source of useful info for handling problems has been support groups, where parents swap remedies and stories of their successes and failures. These forums have provided a wider audience for those who have 'been there, done that' and can pass the help along to parents and other interested parties. Matrix has found that their talents have helped parents and wants to charge for their services. Nothing wrong with that. It's a resource that may be 'just what the doctor ordered' and worth the fees.

uncomfortable with sending video of their children to a non-professional stranger on the internet No more so than providing video to a professional stranger in their office.

(Especially with the new HealthCare Law that gives the federal government and all kinds of other NGOs access to everyone's medical records and info. They say that everything will be secure, but that's what Homeland Security said about the airport scanners and you can see them posted all over the internet. It won't take long before some government troll thinks the video of a full-blown meltdown is cute and has it go viral on the internet.)

matrixluver's YouTube idea will allow you to keep control of your video.

So you have no formal qualifications at all? Actually, if you read the post, it only says that, "I just haven't taken the coursework yet." NOT that they are a Neanderthal. They could have a dozen PhDs, but not certification in ABA. And, even if they don't have degrees that prove that they have been taught to think only one way, what do you want? Someone who is effective or a piece of paper?

More information . . . If I were considering the offer, the first thing I'd do is check out some of the 147 posts they have made in the last two years. If they looked like something I could benefit from, I'd contact them directly. For the same reason you are concerned with your video on the net, I wouldn't expect someone to post a lot of details here.

Exactly. As a former moderator, it ran through my head if the post was appropriate, and if it had been from someone coming from some other planet, I would have asked a moderator to look at it. But we're talking a member here, with a posting history. There is an ability to get a feel for what this person has to offer, and how sincerely the offer has been made.