ADRIENNE ISAACS EDLC 651
Family Interview
Adrienne Isaacs
School of Education, Liberty University
Author Note
Adrienne Isaacs, LUID: L31540624
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose. Correspondence concerning this article
should be addressed to Adrienne Isaacs, Email:
ADRIENNE ISAACS EDLC 651
FAMILY INTERVIEW
Focus Family: Yessenia and Benjie Ayala
Verbatim Interview
1. When did you discover that your child’s speech/language development was
atypical/delayed? We discovered Benjie had a problem at the age of 8 months and we
were more certain at 10 months.
2. How did you come to the decision that his speech/language was delayed? We started
to notice that he was not developing and responding like he was the first months of life.
3. What signs/symptoms indicated the speech/language delay? Benjie was a happy baby
and at 8 months I noticed he became withdrawn. He stopped responding to his name.
4. What were your next steps once the speech/language delay was identified? I was in
denial and we were making plans to move to AZ. We attempted early intervention at 2
years old but Benjie had some words that day, so he passed the evaluation. He was
diagnosed with being at-risk for autism by the age of 3. We had aba therapy for 2 years,
40 hours a week. OT, Speech therapy, Feeding therapy, and music therapy.
5. How has the speech/language delay affected your child’s life? When he was younger,
he tantrumed all the time. He suffered from anxiety and any change in our routine would
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trigger a tantrum and he wasn’t able to tell us what was wrong. He didn’t have the words
to say how he was feeling.
6. Are there any benefits to your child’s atypical communication abilities? He has
become very observant and clever.
7. Are there any specific challenges because of your child’s atypical communication
abilities? He is 11 and does not have any friends. He has siblings but seldom does he
play with them. They love him and they try but he withdraws himself.
8. Has your child’s speech/language delay affected your parenting? If so, how? Benjie's
speech delay has caused us to change the way we eat. We learned that Benjie has
MTHFR and should never have been vaccinated.
9. Are there techniques/practices that you must use with this child to assist in this
specific area of language development? We are gluten and dairy free in effort to try to
heal his gut. We use alternative means of communication with him. He has an AAC
device.
10. Are there specific benefits that have increased your abilities as a parent? Benjie's
issues have helped me to see how we should eat as a family. It's given me compassion
for other families with special needs.
ADRIENNE ISAACS EDLC 651
11. Are there any specific challenges to you as a parent? We deal with the unknown and
how Benjie will react to new situations. We recently got a Six Flags season pass and
while we had fun, it's been challenging. He enjoys the rides but screams when getting on
and getting off. He has anxiety to get on and then doesn't want to get off.
12. What support systems/resources do you have to help you with your child’s language
development? Benjie and I are currently working with Growing Kids Therapy in
Herndon, VA.
13. Are there any support systems or resources in regard to your child's
language development that you feel are lacking that you wish to have? No, not
particularly. I seek things out. I research if I feel there is more that we need for Benjie.
14. Is there anything that you would advise to parents facing a similar situation? Yes.
Learn how to advocate for your child and try to get him or her the help needed even if
people think it's crazy.
Summary of Interview
Yessenia is a friend of a friend that I met through a Christian homeschooling group.
When I mentioned that I had an assignment for a MAT class, Yessenia was happy to assist.
Yessenia is married, although her husband did not participate in the interview due to his work
schedule. The family is of Hispanic heritage and Christian faith. The family has three other
children who are typically developing. Benjie is the middle of the four children of the Ayala
family. Benjie is 11; his older sisters are 13 and 16, and younger brother is 7. The family has
ADRIENNE ISAACS EDLC 651
been homeschooling since the oldest child was 5 years old. Yessenia reports that the family chose
homeschooling because it provides them the opportunity to customize their children’s education
to their child’s needs, their family lifestyle, and their convictions/their faith.
Yessenia describes the family as close knit, enjoying lots of time together. She also states
that the children get along well with each other. The older sisters are understanding and
supportive of Benjie and the younger brother tries to engage Benjie and play with him. However,
Benjie does not often engage with his siblings; instead, he withdraws himself. Yessenia also
mentioned that the family has a good support system of other family members, their church, and
a few homeschool groups that they participate in. Yessenia mentioned that although others do
not always understand Benjie’s needs, nor the choices of the family to meet those needs, they
respect and support their family.
Yessenia and her husband first had suspicions that Benjie was not typically developing at
8 months. She and her husband noticed that Benjie had stopped responding to his name. He was
a typically happy baby up until that point; however he began to be withdrawn at 8 months. They
noticed symptoms like not responding to his name. By 10 months then they were more certain
that something was wrong.
At 2 years old, Benjie was evaluated for speech and language delay through Early
Intervention. However, his delay was not significant enough to qualify for early intervention
since he had a few words at that time, and he was not entirely nonverbal. At 3 years old, Benjie
was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. At that time, he did qualify for speech therapy
services, in addition to other services as well – ABA, feeding therapy, occupational therapy and
music therapy. The family now attends Growing Kids Therapy center in Herndon, VA. Growing
Kids specializes in assisting nonverbal children with acquiring communication skills, including
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alternate augmentative communication. At Growing Kids, Benjie currently learns “spelling to
communicate” which is an alternate form of communication. The therapy progresses from
pointing with fingers to letter boards to typing on keyboards.
Yessenia believes that dietary changes are a crucial part of Benjie’s treatment. The
family has changed their eating habits to a gluten-free, dairy-free diet. They believe in limiting
what they feel are inflammatory foods and increasing anti-inflammatory, gut-healing foods.
Yessenia also strongly believes that Benjie’s genetic mutation made him susceptible to vaccine-
related complications. She noted that his regression began at 8 months around the time of
vaccination as an infant. She also detailed that their family dietary changes help to address
Benjie’s MTHFR condition.
Finally, during this interview Yessenia noted specific challenges and opportunities that
Benjie’s speech delay has presented. When Benjie was younger, he would have tantrums
frequently. Yessenia noted that because he did not have the words to express himself, he would
cry and have emotional outbursts. Benjie’s reactions to new situations are also challenging, for
example he screams when getting on and off rides at Six Flags. On the other hand, Benjie has
become very observant and clever according to his mother. Also, the family has now become
aware of alternate diets and gut-healing theories. Furthermore, Yessenia states that she now has
more understanding and compassion for families with special needs. Lastly, Yessenia encouraged
other families in similar situation to advocate for their children and to seek out resources and
information, no matter how socially awkward or isolating it may seem.
Recommendations for Teachers
ADRIENNE ISAACS EDLC 651
To address speech delays that are co-occurring with autism there are a variety of teaching
methods that are evidence-based and proven to be effective. First, discrete trial instruction is a
means of breaking communication skills into small components and repeating trials in a drill-like
fashion for a child to learn and use a desired response. This teaching method relies heavily on
teacher-directed prompts. This method also uses tangible (or even edible) reinforcers. (Paul,
2008) TEACCH, which stands for Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related
Communication Handicapped Children, is a classroom-based intervention that falls under the
category of teacher directed interventions. This intervention uses visual cues and structured work
systems to illicit desired communication from the students. (Sandbank et al, 2020) The critique
of teacher-directed methods is that the communication skills learned in this way are not easily
generalized. Children learn to respond to teacher-directed prompts, but they do not learn to
initiate communication of their own.
Another approach is more naturalistic teaching, called milieu teaching (which is an
umbrella term for many methods that use intrinsic reinforcement and natural settings.) In this
approach the teacher would wait for the student to demonstrate natural motivation and interest
through a gesture or other initiation. The reinforcement is then that the student gets the response
from the teacher that he/she desires. For example, if the student points to a book, the teacher
responds, “Book” and gives the child the book. The child’s attempt at communication is
reinforced because he/she received his/her desired item. It is natural and child-led instead of
contrived and teacher-led. (Paul, 2008)
Recommendations for Family
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Studies by Sandbank et al found that the greatest gains for children were with
interventions implemented by both clinician and caregivers. These children increased in their
expressive language abilities and composite verbal scores. Therefore, it is important that
caregivers implement interventions to address speech delays at home as well as the teacher
implement such interventions at school. Sandbank found that because caregivers spend large
amounts of time with their children and are familiar communication partners, communication
skills learned with caregivers are more easily generalized for children with autism. Combining
interventions at home (consistency and familiarity) with interventions at school (expertise and
method fidelity) yields the greatest results for children. (Sandbank et al, 2020)
Two recommendations to implement at home fall into the more naturalistic category.
DIR/Floortime and Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (NDBIs) are both
interventions that target autism-related speech delays. DIR Floortime is a constructivist approach
meaning that the children are an active part of “constructing” and developing their
communication skills. NDBIs are a combination of behaviorist and constructivist approaches.
The goal is to facilitate greater generalization by having the children actively initiate
communication instead of being only in the responder role. (Sandbank et al, 2020) DIR
Floortime is based on social interactions. The premise is that language and social emotional
wellbeing are developed through interactions between the parent and child. For DIR Floortime, it
was found that parents who spent more than one hour per day, and had high-quality parent
engagement had better child communication results. (Praphatthanakunwong et al, 2018).
ADRIENNE ISAACS EDLC 651
References
Paul, R. (2008) Interventions to improve communication in autism, Child and Adolescent
Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 17(4), 835-856.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2008.06.011.
Praphatthanakunwong, N., Kiatrungrit, K., Hongsanguansri, S., & Nopmaneejumruslers, K.
(2018). Factors associated with parent engagement in DIR/Floortime for treatment of
children with autism spectrum disorder. General psychiatry, 31(2), e000009.
https://doi.org/10.1136/gpsych-2018-000009
Sandbank, M., Bottema-Beutel, K., Crowley, S., Cassidy, M., Feldman, J. I., Canihuante, M., &
Woynaroski, T. (2020). Intervention effects on language in children with autism: A
project AIM meta-analysis. Journal of speech, language, and hearing research :
JSLHR, 63(5), 1537–1560. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_JSLHR-19-00167
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