Autism Diva is NOT Jenny McCarthy

Thank you to our readers for setting me straight on this. Jenny McCarthy does not publish the Autism Diva blog. The Autism Diva blog is against controvercial or biological approaches such as chelation; wheras, Jenny McCarthy is in favor of them. I do not personally have a stance on these treatments. My intentention is to make readers aware of any potential advances in treatment that may be available to them. I know that chelation has been under a great deal of scrutiny because of legitimate safety concerns. I am also aware that all of the biological treatments out there are not a solution for the vast majority of children who suffer with this disorder. I still hold out tremendous hope that a cure will be found and also hope that I will be a part of that solution in my doctoral work.

Marcy

Massive Improvement from Autism Intervention with Teen

CNN presents ABA intervention with teen

The following article on CNN offers a bit of hope for parents with a specific set of challenges. The good news is: this Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) intervention did seem to truly help this family. This child also does display what appear (from a distance) to be classic signs of Autism. There are a few words of caution for parents and laypeople that I must share before sharing the article: 1) The reason this worked was because the child had specific behavioral types of challenges and the family presented measurable goals. Some challenges of Autism, such as cognitive, emotional, social, and academic issues, are not purely behavioral. My personal belief is that ABA may not suit these challenges (although a really good behavioral therapist is worth her/his weight in gold). ABA is certainly a tried and true approach for a variety of Autism’s challenges. 2) The second problem with this intervention is that it costs $20,000. Who has that kind of money? Very few. In that case, I would be happy to refer parents to additional resources that would require more parental support to implement but fewer dollars. Autism Speaks or the various associations of ABA practitioners could be a resource here. In general, however, it is always refreshing to see a family find so much helful support and relief. See the link here to read the story and watch the video for yourself:Teen’s family transformed after autism intervention – CNN.com*

Emotions DVD for Children with Autism

Emotions DVD

A new DVD Series, called The Transporters, was discussed in the Associated Press today. The idea behind these movies is to introduce emotions to children with Autism by way of  ‘vehicles’. Many children with Autism tend to enjoy objects with predictable moving parts, such as trains and trolleys. These objects have faces on the front that are quite pronounced with the intent to draw attention to the emotion of the vehicle.

According to the article, the DVD’s benefits have been demonstrated in the research. The authors site one study of 20 children who watched the videos for 15 minutes per day for a month became proficient in identifying emotions. In general theory, my guess is that these videos would be helpful. Interested readers would have to look past the antiquated terminology like ‘normal’ and ‘autistic’ used in the article. However, using technology, and what the researchers call “autism friendly formats” to teach difficult skills, sounds like a reasonable idea. Further, the authors state again how ‘teachable’ social skills are. I wholeheartedly agree with their claims in that regard. The videos were developed Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University. The full article can be found at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090115/ap_en_mo/eu_med_autism_video. The company website is a nice resource: http://www.thetransporters.com/.

The Tragic Gap

For those of you who have followed my website content for some time, you are aware of the term I borrow from my London travels, ‘mind the gap’. The gap I refer to there is the place where a child with disabilities has benefited from a great deal of therapeutic interventions. The child has progressed so far in treatment that he/she may actually lose the original diagnosis. However, all the pieces are not put back together yet as the child is not quite ready to function in the world. I say “mind the gap” because this is the place where many parents have found few resources are available.

The ‘tragic gap’ I refer to in this post is a different kind of ‘gap’ altogether. This was defined by a modern-day hero in teh field of education, Parker Palmer. He said that the tragic gap is the distance between the way practitioners believe education should be and the place where it actually is. He says ‘the real work gets done in the tragic gap’. In the world of education of children with disabilities, most would argue that the gap is even larger.

What I find most concerning about the tragic gap now is that by government mandate and the rules defined by NCLB (no child left behind), there is a pardigm shift to data-based decision making and accountability. While this might be good for test scores and have some positive implications for educational factors such as literacy, I am increasingly concerned about what will happen with social skills education. We know that social skills and general mental health are important to all educational pursuits. How can a child learn in a hostile and dangerous environment? To this aim, School Psychologists are required to be proficient in these areas. However, test scores will not immediately reflect results from this kind of work. Creating an environment that is condusive to acceptance, promotes diversity, and improves mental health and social functioning, will eventually change school performance. My concern is that in this climate of short-term accountability and data-based decision making, people are likely to lose sight of these long-term intiatives. Let me remind everyone again, “mind the gap!”

Marcy Willard is at DU

Sorry for the lapse in posting materials. Will update soon. Thank you for your support!

Autism Society Wine Tasting

I am pleased and humbled to report that the Laughingwell Company’s playgroup program was recently ‘front page news’ in the Autism Society of Boulder County’s Newsletter this month. I had the privilege of attending the ASBC recent wine tasting fund raiser where I encountered some amazing community advocates and leaders. After this meeting, I was invited to participate in this month’s newsletter.  Here is the article: autism-society-of-boulder-county

Autism Society Wine Tasting

Originally uploaded by marcywillard

The article is about the important difference between play skills and social skills. The primary difference being that play is child led. Rather than a teacher proctoring certain rehearsed skills, Play Coaches simply facilitate communication and help the children understand the dynamics of play. There is certainly a degree of structure to these facilitated play groups but the goal is for the children to become independent ‘players’ and ‘playgroup leaders’ themselves.

Music Therapist

Music Therapist

Originally uploaded by marcywillard

It is my pleasure to introduce Ryan Judd and his new venture: Boulder Valley Music Therapy. He is a Board Certified Music Therapist with a Masters in Music Therapy and a Bachelors in Psychology. He has worked with Autism and PDD for the past 9 years. His new music therapy groups start Friday June 6th at Pearl Street Studio in Boulder. For more information, contact Ryan personally at 720-317-1132. Ryan Judd and Marcy Willard may also find the opportunity to collaborate for playgroups and events. Feel free to email Marcy or call Ryan with questions.

Nicholas tells how it is

Nicholas 3

Originally uploaded by marcywillard

 

This gorgeous face in the middle here is Nicholas. He has Autism. Nicholas was invited to be a key note presenter at Chapman University recently. He presented on what life is like with Autism using Facilitated Communication. The device he is using here is a Label Maker, A Dynawrite, and a Lightwriter which uses text to speeech software. You will see not only what an amazing and intelligent child he is, but also how facilitated communication has allowed Nicholas to share his wonderful ‘insights’ with the world.

Here is the link to watch this awesome keynote address at Chapman University:

http://video.google.com:80/videoplay?docid=2469172257630821069

Facilitated Communication

Nicholas 2

Originally uploaded by marcywillard

Here is Nicholas using this method of facilitated communication. Nicholas participates in a regular eduation classroom at a private school in California. I had the distinct pleasure of getting to know his mom, Nancy, while I lived in the area. Nancy is getting her Master’s Degree in Special Education at Chapman University and has done extensive research as an advocate of Facilitated Communication.

Here is the clip of Nicholas’s key note address at Chapman University:

http://video.google.com:80/videoplay?docid=2469172257630821069

In his words

Nicholas

Originally uploaded by marcywillard

Nicholas tells his story with his own words in the attached clip. It is absolutely imperitve that experts in Autism listen to the children’s experience in their own words, whenever possible. As you will see from this clip, we can gain some amazing, ‘insights’, as Nicholas terms it.

Here is the clip:

http://video.google.com:80/videoplay?docid=2469172257630821069