I am a tutor working with on ABA programmes with children with autism. So far I have worked with 11 children, 3 of whom I am still working with. I thought this would only happen at the end of a long career, but one of the first children I worked with I found out a couple of months ago has progressed from being autistic when I knew him to now having very high functioning aspergers. Another child I work with now used to be classically autistic, and would only pay his mother any attention when she sang him nursery rhymes for 10 minutes a day. He is now 4 years old and communicating at the level of a 3 year old!!! Incredible for a child with autism! Another child, who is 5, and used to be classically autistic, is now at the level where he can get his pronouns right and have basic conversations with you. Whilst it is a hard job with a lot of travelling involved, it is definitely worth it, and very rewarding!

Catherine Black ABA/VB tutor 4 children w. autism, Frimley, nr Camberley, Surrey

It is always good to hear that a child with autism is thriving due to an early intervention, however expensive. Those who would like to believe that intensive one-to-one intervention programs are no better than any other intervention, are usually those who either have not had the experience of a first rate program of the sort that Tony Balazs and his family have put together, or would rather not look into such an alternative for autistic children if the price is high.

My own son, Nicholas, is the fortunate recipient of a similar program (parent funded), which was mostly a type of play-based Applied Behaviour Analysis, in which we emphasized the quality of interraction between ourselves (as parents or therapists) and Nicholas. We always had a lot of fun.

Nicholas's sustained and continuous success is evident at age 10. He attends a mainstream school, has friends, etc. I wish more autistic children received such help.

Marti Leimbach
author of Daniel Isn't Talking

Marti Leimbach, Beenham, Berkshire

I believe that early intervention, support and investment saves a vast amount of money in the long run. The problem is that governments find this difficult to measure in the short term. Well done to the Balazs family for doing the hard graft, and the research. Many other families just don't have the resources. I hope that local authorities take note!

brenda bruce, hertford, UK