Faces of FACE: Gordito

Gordito (Spanish for “little big guy”) is a 4-year old Asian-American boy. He has been a FACE student for one year, coming from the ASD early-intervention class at a local public school. His mother, Mrs. S., was very dissatisfied with that school and the care her child received there.

Gordito is one member of a pair of boy-girl twins. Both children were diagnosed with Autism/PDD-NOS and both entered FACE at the same time. Both children are non-verbal. However, lately Gordito has started taking parents, teachers, and caretakers by the hand and leading them to his desired object. He also has greatly increased eye contact and participation in activities. Gordito has made significant strides in his one year at FACE. He was previously prone to extreme temper tantrums lasting up to four hours. During these times, he was uncontrollable. Mrs. S. now reports that he has gone one month without a temper tantrum of more than a few minutes. Gordito is also better behaved in public and in other situations such as doctor’s appointments.

In addition to the programming at FACE, Gordito receives ABA therapy at home along with vitamin supplements. Mrs. S. feels that Gordito’s recent progress is largely attributable to FACE since it uses the ABA behavior module over the entire duration of the school schedule. The family is very thankful to all the staff and teachers of FACE.