Where Kamdyn Started
When Kamdyn started at Cornerstone in January of 2017, he was manding (requesting) with one word and often needed prompting from his therapist to express his wants and needs. He had difficulty transitioning away from reinforcement and often engaged in self-injury when making new choices. He also found toothbrushing to be very aversive. His skills were mostly in Level 1 of the VB-MAPP, and he had an overall score of 31.5 out of 170 on the Milestones Assessment. Kamdyn initially did not demonstrate mastery of any of the social skills milestones and displayed maladaptive behaviors when sharing with peers. He frequently engaged in repetitive behaviors, such as rolling trains in front of his face to watch the wheels spin. In addition, he had difficulty sitting still to do programming for 45 seconds.
How Kamdyn Improved
By the time Kamdyn graduated from Cornerstone, he was independently asking who/what/where/why/how questions and using full sentences to communicate his wants and feelings. He calmly put reinforcers away when his time was up and even asked to brush his teeth! Kamdyn learned a variety of daily living skills, as well, including warming up his food in the microwave and wiping the table after a meal. Kamdyn mastered almost all of the goals from the Milestones Assessment, including social skill goals, and achieved a score of 163.5 out of 170. Kamdyn was able to initiate appropriate conversations with peers and calmly share items with them. Additionally, he engaged in appropriate play with a variety of items, such as trains and scooters. Kamdyn could sit at his desk and work on programming for an average of 15 minutes, with his therapist available to guide him when needed.
Kamdyn was excited to start school, but we will miss him at Cornerstone! When asking his therapists and team lead what words came to mind when thinking about Kamdyn, they said: enthusiastic, imaginative, extraordinary, bright, amusing, humorous, delightful, and hilarious.
His BCBA Kayla Helms said, “Kamdyn brings so much joy to Cornerstone. He makes everyone laugh with his silly personality, and I am proud of him for working hard to go to school!”
Watch Kamdyn deliver his graduation speech virtually at this link.
