It all starts today.

This morning I had my first meeting with a family of a child with Autism. I also got to meet Nina, the psychologist in charge of these programs. After 3 hours with a child who doesn't like to be told what to do, and is used to getting everything he wants, who pinches and doesn't speak, screams and doesn't like to make eye contact, I feel like I have found my calling. I left feeling great, like I knew what to do. Nina seemed impressed with what I had to bring to the table and how I was able to step in and get started straight away. I was able to get A to look at me in order to get some wiggles music, once he had established that I wasn't going to give it to him any other way. I will be working on gettting him to understand that he has to work for the things he really wants. I can take cues from him as to what things will be motivating enough to get compliance from him. Nina made reference to the Lynn Koegel book I have been reading, I had it in the car with me so she asked me to get it to show the mother. I am glad she likes that book, as it is the one that resonates with me the most as far as the type of therapist I would like to be. It is important to me to be happy about the type of training she will be asking of me. She told me I did really well. I had a cancellation from the family that lives far away, and she may just be avoiding setting up a program, in which case Nina may have some other families for me now she has confidence that I can do this. The mother asked if when could I come back. I rang the salon boss straight away to let her know I wanted Friday's off starting asap, and let the receptionist know too. If I believe that this essence is working for me then my ideal was that the currumbin family would find someone else, and that a family closer to home would come up. Nina is being strict about the commitment of 30 hours training from each family. Not just from me but in combination with the work they do themselves. Maybe that wont go down well with that mother. It would be ideal to work with a family that was able to keep the therapy going in between sessions once we had set up the pattern. The ball is rolling, I will meet with the salon boss tomorrow, I intend for everything to fall in line with me doing just Thursdays and Saturdays and very quickly filling up those extra hours with kids.