Posts
Today I had the opportunity to attend a good workshop conducted by a colleague who is extremely well-versed in ABA....just about all my colleagues in the Autism Spectrum Disorders program were there, new hires and very experienced staff. The workshop was on Discrete Trial Training. (I often wonder why teachers don't cringe at the notion of "training" their students, rather than educating them, but that's just me).
Now that I have completed two Floortime classes, one Summer Institute and am on my way to becoming DIR/Floortime certified, (in addition to my teacher certification and ABA certification) I am more alert to the way we treat children and the importance of guiding children on the spectrum to play constructively. While I sat with about 25 ASD teachers and assistance while we were all being "trained" to do discrete trials, I became nervous. How can I as one person, with both points of view (ABA and Floortime) have an impact? Am I just a drop of water in a very large pond? I think that ABA is here to stay and needs to find its place; I also think we as educators need to expand our thinking about what constitutes 'teaching', 'training', and 'learning'.
And I don't mean this next statement to be inflammatory, but I am wondering if people are drawn to ABA because it is simple, it's fairly easy to learn (at least at the beginning stages), and by taking meticulous data ad graphing it, they can see a child making progress, albeit slow. It is harder to measure progress in Floortime, harder to see the results.
So I think my question for this blog this year is: How do we meld the two? Or, perhaps it is, how do I meld the two?
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Play and autism
During my time off, I spent a fair amount of time reading about playing. Play is a child's work, the way s/he learns to make sense of the world. It is not a waste of time!
What about kids on the spectrum? In 1979, Wing and Gould suggested that the features of autism might be categorized in three areas: problems in socialization, communication, and imagination. Generally, instead of creative pretend play, children on the spectrum tend to prefer routines and stereotypical behavior when they have free time and "play". In this type of play, there is no learning occurring, although perhaps it serves as a form of self-comfort. It has been shown in research (Solomon, 2007; Wolfberg, 2009) that children with autism can expand their pretend play. Wolfberg paired children with autism with typical peers and guided the play interaction, guiding both the typical peer and the child with autism, and she provides many examples of pretend play in her groups. Solomon and colleagues (2007) run a program called The PLAY Project in Michigan, I believe, with young children in Early Intervention Programs. They based their methods on Greenspan's DIR/Floortime model. Pre and post testing demonstrated that 45% of the children made god to very good progress.
So, we know that play can be improved in children with autism. Who is responsible for helping with this? Parents, trained by university personnel? After-school program teachers, classroom teachers and aids? In a short school day (6 hours) with many goals on a child's IEP, when will a teacher have time to 'play' with the kids? How do we get the parents involved? To be honest, schools bear the responsibility to educate the child, but a six-hour school day alone cannot remedy everything; parents, guardians, and caretakers have to be involved.
Play does build cognitive, social and emotional growth (Elkind, 2007). So, how do we bring play into schooling for kids on the spectrum?
What about kids on the spectrum? In 1979, Wing and Gould suggested that the features of autism might be categorized in three areas: problems in socialization, communication, and imagination. Generally, instead of creative pretend play, children on the spectrum tend to prefer routines and stereotypical behavior when they have free time and "play". In this type of play, there is no learning occurring, although perhaps it serves as a form of self-comfort. It has been shown in research (Solomon, 2007; Wolfberg, 2009) that children with autism can expand their pretend play. Wolfberg paired children with autism with typical peers and guided the play interaction, guiding both the typical peer and the child with autism, and she provides many examples of pretend play in her groups. Solomon and colleagues (2007) run a program called The PLAY Project in Michigan, I believe, with young children in Early Intervention Programs. They based their methods on Greenspan's DIR/Floortime model. Pre and post testing demonstrated that 45% of the children made god to very good progress.
So, we know that play can be improved in children with autism. Who is responsible for helping with this? Parents, trained by university personnel? After-school program teachers, classroom teachers and aids? In a short school day (6 hours) with many goals on a child's IEP, when will a teacher have time to 'play' with the kids? How do we get the parents involved? To be honest, schools bear the responsibility to educate the child, but a six-hour school day alone cannot remedy everything; parents, guardians, and caretakers have to be involved.
Play does build cognitive, social and emotional growth (Elkind, 2007). So, how do we bring play into schooling for kids on the spectrum?
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Taking a leave from the blog
Hi folks,
For the coming month of August, I am taking time off from the blog...going to think about what to do with this blog and where it is going. Comments, please?
For the coming month of August, I am taking time off from the blog...going to think about what to do with this blog and where it is going. Comments, please?
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Struggling with Naurobiology
Hi all,
I am home for the summer recuperating from shoulder replacement surgery. As such, I have a rather large agenda. One item is to read neurobiological literature on autism to try to shore up my very limited understanding. Another is to read more about perspective-taking, joint attention, and the research supporting/refuting DIR/Floortime. And so today I read and took notes on several articles, most of which I had to go back and forth between Google to find definitions/examples for some of the brain related words. But! Here is a beginner's view on some of this.
Christpher Gillberg has presented a summary of the known literature on where in the brain is autism? Autopsy and imaging studies suggest: cerebella dysfunction (cerebellum: a region of the brain that plays an important role in motor control, cognitive functions such as attention and language, and probably in some emotional responses such as regulating fear and pleasure responses). Within the cerebellum are Purkinje cells, which receive more synaptic input than any other type of cell in the brain. Purkinje cells use GABA as their neurotransmitter, and exert inhibitory effects on their targets. Bauman and Kemper (2005) have demonstrated in their post-mortem studies that children and adults with autism have significantly reduced numbers of Purkinje cells. However, in other post-mortem studies, additional abnormalities have been found in other areas of the brain, often in the cerebellum. The reduced number of Purkinje cells has to have happened prenatally, before 28-30 weeks gestation. Minshew and Williams (2007) characterize autism as a "polygenetic developmental neurobiologic disorder with multiorgan involvement", although it predominantly involves the central nervous system. They state that autism is primarily a disorder of connectivity, involving hemispheric connectivity. It appears that deficits in high-functioning persons with autism occur in processing that places high demands on integration of information and coordination or multiple neural systems. Intact abilities share a dependence on low information processing demands and local neural connections.
So - autism is not a disorder of one area of the brain, or even of two. It appears to involve the connections made between areas of the brain, that demonstrate problems in central coherence, executive function, and aberrant reading of facial expression. "Polygenetic" refers to the current research that indicates many genes appears to be affected at different levels of expression and at places on the genome. Although there is a heritability component, determining the inheritance aspects are far less simple than what we know about Fragile X syndrome.
Gillberg also references frontotemporal lobe dysfunction suggested by autopsy studies, functional imaging studies and neuropsychological studies. More on that later!
I am home for the summer recuperating from shoulder replacement surgery. As such, I have a rather large agenda. One item is to read neurobiological literature on autism to try to shore up my very limited understanding. Another is to read more about perspective-taking, joint attention, and the research supporting/refuting DIR/Floortime. And so today I read and took notes on several articles, most of which I had to go back and forth between Google to find definitions/examples for some of the brain related words. But! Here is a beginner's view on some of this.
Christpher Gillberg has presented a summary of the known literature on where in the brain is autism? Autopsy and imaging studies suggest: cerebella dysfunction (cerebellum: a region of the brain that plays an important role in motor control, cognitive functions such as attention and language, and probably in some emotional responses such as regulating fear and pleasure responses). Within the cerebellum are Purkinje cells, which receive more synaptic input than any other type of cell in the brain. Purkinje cells use GABA as their neurotransmitter, and exert inhibitory effects on their targets. Bauman and Kemper (2005) have demonstrated in their post-mortem studies that children and adults with autism have significantly reduced numbers of Purkinje cells. However, in other post-mortem studies, additional abnormalities have been found in other areas of the brain, often in the cerebellum. The reduced number of Purkinje cells has to have happened prenatally, before 28-30 weeks gestation. Minshew and Williams (2007) characterize autism as a "polygenetic developmental neurobiologic disorder with multiorgan involvement", although it predominantly involves the central nervous system. They state that autism is primarily a disorder of connectivity, involving hemispheric connectivity. It appears that deficits in high-functioning persons with autism occur in processing that places high demands on integration of information and coordination or multiple neural systems. Intact abilities share a dependence on low information processing demands and local neural connections.
So - autism is not a disorder of one area of the brain, or even of two. It appears to involve the connections made between areas of the brain, that demonstrate problems in central coherence, executive function, and aberrant reading of facial expression. "Polygenetic" refers to the current research that indicates many genes appears to be affected at different levels of expression and at places on the genome. Although there is a heritability component, determining the inheritance aspects are far less simple than what we know about Fragile X syndrome.
Gillberg also references frontotemporal lobe dysfunction suggested by autopsy studies, functional imaging studies and neuropsychological studies. More on that later!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Beautiful Essay
I have my friend Shirley to thank for this lead. This is a fabulous essay written by a mom of a child with severe disabilities, and also a charming personality....reading it humbled me
totally.
http://jenniferlawler.com/wordpress/
Feel free to post your comments.
Susan
totally.
http://jenniferlawler.com/wordpress/
Feel free to post your comments.
Susan
Friday, July 16, 2010
On the Death of a Mother and Advocate
Hi,
I just read this morning in her daily blog ((http://autism.typepad.com/autism/) Kristina Chew tells her readers that Clara Claiborne Park has died. Clara was the mom of Jessy Park, whose life was chronicled in two books, "The Siege: A Family's Journey into the World of an Autistic Child" and "Exiting Nirvana: A Daughter's Life with Autism". I remember "The Siege" vividly, as it recounts the first 8 years of Jessy's life. "Exiting Nirvana" chronicles the adulthood of Jessy, her job, her social skills, her talent as a painter, and as the recipient of her mother's love. Clara was a great mom, a vivid writer, and a person who tried very hard to see the world as Jessica perceived it. Both of these books should be required reading for anyone in this field.
On another note, I am now at home resting from my shoulder replacement on July 12. I am reading "Infant/Maternal Mental Health, Early intervention, and Relationship-Based Therapies" A Neurorelational Framework for Interdisciplinary Practice". I am also reading several articles on the neurology of relationships and kids on the spectrum. These are BIG READS and I hope to comment in the next few days.
I just read this morning in her daily blog ((http://autism.typepad.com/autism/) Kristina Chew tells her readers that Clara Claiborne Park has died. Clara was the mom of Jessy Park, whose life was chronicled in two books, "The Siege: A Family's Journey into the World of an Autistic Child" and "Exiting Nirvana: A Daughter's Life with Autism". I remember "The Siege" vividly, as it recounts the first 8 years of Jessy's life. "Exiting Nirvana" chronicles the adulthood of Jessy, her job, her social skills, her talent as a painter, and as the recipient of her mother's love. Clara was a great mom, a vivid writer, and a person who tried very hard to see the world as Jessica perceived it. Both of these books should be required reading for anyone in this field.
On another note, I am now at home resting from my shoulder replacement on July 12. I am reading "Infant/Maternal Mental Health, Early intervention, and Relationship-Based Therapies" A Neurorelational Framework for Interdisciplinary Practice". I am also reading several articles on the neurology of relationships and kids on the spectrum. These are BIG READS and I hope to comment in the next few days.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
More again on DIR/Floortime Institute
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Today will be a short entry.
I am impressed by the kind of conversations that occur here on a regular basis, conversations filled with love and hope for the children. There is a powerful optimism here about treating children in a positive, developmental, fun manner. This work is built on the research in attachment neurobiology, an area in which I will read deeply this summer. It is not a literature that lends itself to research on specific skills, discrete skills, single-subject research that is the domain of the ABA literature and world. Yet it is measurable, and there is research to support it, research that is continuing and much needed.
My question and task is: How to marry the worlds of ABA and developmental approaches? I do not believe that we should throw out ABA...there is too much benefit to it, too much it has accomplished. And yet ABA is limited in what it can teach a child or a family; it is time for addition of more approaches.
Today will be a short entry.
I am impressed by the kind of conversations that occur here on a regular basis, conversations filled with love and hope for the children. There is a powerful optimism here about treating children in a positive, developmental, fun manner. This work is built on the research in attachment neurobiology, an area in which I will read deeply this summer. It is not a literature that lends itself to research on specific skills, discrete skills, single-subject research that is the domain of the ABA literature and world. Yet it is measurable, and there is research to support it, research that is continuing and much needed.
My question and task is: How to marry the worlds of ABA and developmental approaches? I do not believe that we should throw out ABA...there is too much benefit to it, too much it has accomplished. And yet ABA is limited in what it can teach a child or a family; it is time for addition of more approaches.
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