About Evie
This is Evangeline Nanette Rees-Shah (or "Evie").
Contents
· History About Evie
· Links Other sites on Autism
· Guidance Notes for Parents Practical help for parents of autistic children
Evie was born in 1993. All appeared to be well until she was about 18 months old. She did not develop language skills. In fact, she had lost the skills she had when she was 12 months old. Finally when Evie was about 3.5 years old we had independent and unambiguous confirmation of what we suspected - Evie has classical autism.
In the UK, and elsewhere, there is very little help from the State if your child has Autism. Therefore, in November 1996 we started Evie on an intensive behavioural programme called the "Lovaas Method", which was later enhanced using Verbal Behaviour (VB) methods. Evie has worked very hard in the last 7 years and has made fantastic progress. We want to use this web site to tell everyone about our most beautiful daughter, Evie.
If you want to know more about Autism or Lovaas then try the links below or send us an email.
You can see more pictures of Evie at Disneyland Paris.
Have a look at this latest progress report,it will give you an idea the difference intensive "behavioural" therapy has made for Evie. Evie's progress is a result of a lot of hard work by her mother, her tutors and our Lovaas consultants. Also have a look at this weekly schedule to see how hard Evie and her mother and tutors have worked for the last 3 years. Evie is a good artist for her age. Have a look at this recent picture.
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Date |
News |
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10.06.00 |
We have not posted any updates or news for a few months as were preparing for Evie's annual review of her Statement of Special Needs. We were not happy with the lack of planning and co-ordination between our LEA and Evie's school. There was no budget for delivering Evie's provision as defined in her Statement. Therefore, we have decided to withdraw Evie from school and the LEA and the school understand out thinking on this. We will continue to teach Evie using a combination of Lovaas and home education. We have many reports now on Evie's progress. We will post others later, but have a look at this report by us. |
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25.12.00 |
Significant Changes to Evie's Programme We have been busy for the last few months incorporating the methods of Dr. Vincent Carbone (Verbal Behaviour) into our home programme. Look here to obtain more information on this important change. We will provide a progress report in the next few months so that we can track evie's progress using this method. In addition, we have now decided to give Evie Nystatin to see if this helps reduce the frequency of her fits (she has had 3 in the last two months). |
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25.03.01 |
We have had about an email a week asking for more information on Verbal Behaviour (VB). We will add more reference information on this subject in the next few weeks. |
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07.05.01 |
We have just produced an updated progress report (April 2001). Please have a look to see the impact VB has had on Evie. |
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06.04.02 |
We have prepared Evie’s 2002 progress report . We are so sorry that we have not updated the VB material. We have lots of new material – the problem is finding time between running the programme and looking after Evie and trying to have a normal family life! |
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14.06.03 |
Wonderful news about Evie’s diet. For the last 5 / 6 years Evie has restricted her diet to (wheat / gluten free) pizzas, pasta, pancakes and fresh peas (yes fresh peas). Also, she only drinks water. In the last 3 weeks we have managed to add the following to her diet: eggy bread, sausages, rice, and a range of home made biscuits. We are over the moon. Sharon is preparing an update to guidance notes on diet the will explain the process we have been through. Also, we are still trying to get time to add a comprehensive summary of VB. |
Official Lovaas web site (Lovaas Institute for
Early Intervention).
Information about Vincent Carbone and his methods
for ABA
PEACH - Parents for the Early Intervention of
Autism in Children, UK
Links (other children with Autism )
Disclaimer: the notes here are based on our experience and we would not recommend the application of Lovaas orother methods without professional input from qualified persons.
We plan to update this web site weekly and at the moment we are preparing the following information:
- A description of Evie's symptoms (autistic) when she was 2 years old
- An updated progress report on Evie
- A summary of the Lovaas approach
- Resources / tools for running a Lovaas programme (see draft ideas for this below)
- List of books and other sources of information to help in running a Lovaas programme
- Our experience of integrating Lovaas therapy with mainstream teaching methods and other teaching methods (e.g. Montessori, Kodaly, etc)
- Video of Evie as she was prior to Lovaas and now
If you have suggestions about what you would like to see on this web site please email us.
Diet
(14/06/03 – Please note: we are planning to update all this information)
We have compiled these notes on diet based on our experience with Evie.
· Sources of help and information on diet for autistic children
Resources for Lovaas Therapy
· Contact Details for Specialists in Behavioural Methods
Language and Communication
· Our personal story of how we taught Evie to speak