The Lovaas programme is an intensive home educational programme, where the goal is ultimately to move the teaching to a school, albeit gradually and with a one-to-one Lovaas tutor available as a helper or "shadow". Most programmes operate at around 30 – 40 hours per week, although the break-up between formal therapy in the "therapy room" and generalisation or school-type visits will vary, depending on the child’s skills and where he or she is in the programme.

Below is a rough outline of a typical week that Evie is currently engaged in, after 3.5 years’ of Lovaas. It varies somewhat, depending on when we have team meetings / workshops, and whether it is term-time or not. Basically, in term-time Evie attends mainstream sessions such as mainstream school part-time, currently one half-day per week, Rainbows (a version of Brownie Guides for girls aged between 5 and 7), and a Music Class with a local Education Otherwise (EO) group. Usually we have one team meeting and one workshop once a month. The workshop is run by our Lovaas consultant from LEAP. The team meeting is run by Evie’s mother and by the Senior Tutor. We try to arrange things so that all tutors attend all workshops, and preferably all team meetings, but occasionally this does not work out, because of time-tabling constraints. Evie’s mother is a trained Lovaas tutor and works between 2 and 3 sessions per week, as well as carrying out "overlap" (working with another tutor, especially during initial training, to assist the tutor with therapy or documentation).

Play dates are run either with Evie’s mother present, or with Evie’s mother and another Lovaas tutor. In addition, less formal play dates are often arranged, where Evie and her mother just visit friends, and less structure and fewer expectations are placed on Evie during these visits. Play dates last around 1 to 1.5 hours. In addition, many opportunities for generalisation and outings are made, e.g. visits with family or family and tutors to relatives, the cinema, the theatre, swimming, the park, McDonalds, etc, etc! "FAMILY TIME" is when we do something especially enjoyable as a family. At lunch times Evie often gets an opportunity to visit the local park, walk up to buy a comic from the local shops, or play in the garden, when the weather is good enough. We plan at least one hour’s break between the morning and afternoon sessions.

Out of term time, we try to see more children, whether on play dates or on planned outings. We also fit in special Education Otherwise visits too, with local children who are taught fully or partially at home.

Example Weekly Schedule
 

	Morning	Afternoon	Evening
Monday	Tutor1 (3 hrs)	Tutor2 (3 hrs)	Rainbows (1 hr) accompanied by Lovaas tutor
Tuesday	Tutor 3 (3 hrs)	Tutor 4 (3 hours)	Play date
Wednesday	Tutor 3 (3 hrs)	Tutor 3 (3 hrs at school)
Thursday	Tutor 1 (3 hrs)	Tutor 2 (3 hrs)	Play date
Friday	Tutor 4 (2 hrs) Plus tutor 4 at music lesson (1 hr)	Tutor 2 (2.5 hrs), though this could also be 2 hrs Lovaas, 1 hr Montessori teacher	Play Date
Saturday	Tutor 5 (3 hrs)	Tutor 4 (3 hrs)
Sunday	Tutor 5 (1.5 hrs plus church (2 hrs), accompanied by Lovaas tutor)	FAMILY TIME

 

Total average formal therapy time: 33 hours per week

Total average generalisation time: 7 hours per week, plus play dates and outings.

Evie thus works seven days a week, approximately 50 weeks a year. She has time off on her birthday, at Christmas, at Easter, and during her spring break and summer holiday. This break of therapy could not have been possible with her during earlier stages of her Lovaas programme, as her self-stimulatory behaviour was so bad, and because there was a great fear of regression (losing skills through lack of practice). Now, she seems to benefit from a break in her therapy, although this still needs to be limited, and of course we do a lot of reading, stories, songs, and fun things during the "out-of-therapy" times. Also, she often just needs to chill out and "do nothing", e.g. after a full day of 6 hours’ therapy, she will go to her room to read books and say, "Mummy go downstairs. I am reading. Thank you!" We respect this need to relax, although it may mean that she is "stimming" (involved in self-stimulatory behaviour). We figure that when you’ve worked that hard, and when you’re only a little kid, anyone deserves a break!

Also, it is worth remembering, that we make huge efforts to make all of Evie’s therapy, generalisation, and outings huge fun, so it is not as bad as it perhaps appears. Another point to remember, is that Evie is an only child, so a family with other siblings around to play with their child with autism, would perhaps not feel the need to arrange all the things that we do with Evie.