New reading

Today I finished reading, "Replays" by Karen Levine and Naomi Chedd...it's great way to help resolve some behavior problems by helping the child deal with the feelings/emotions related to troubling/behaviorally challenging events. I am going to try it with one child I am working with.

Also started reading, "A Politically Incorrect Look at Evidence-based Practices and Teaching Social Skills: A literature review and discussion" by Michelle Garcia Winner. It's published by the author's own publishing company, Think Social Publishing. Working with kids on the spectrum and trying to teach social skills is a challenge, and I am looking for more fluid/relationship-based interventions.

I also have "Developing Play and Drama in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders" by Dave Sherratt and Melanie Peter. I had started this a couple of months ago from the library, renewed it three times, and realized that for me to read it, I HAD to underline and use a highlighter on the important parts. So I returned the library book and purchased a copy online. Now I can write in it to my heart's content! So much for using my local library to save a little money...

And finally on my bedside table is the third edition of "The Having of Wonderful Ideas and Other Essays on Teaching and Learning" by Eleanor Duckworth. I've seen her work with typical kids, using questions and comments to draw out their own ideas about what they are doing/learning. I am interested in trying to use some of these techniques with children with ASD.

And so the learning continues. I am degreed, certified, credentialed, taught at a University for over 20 years and am still a learner.

And, for that, I am grateful.

Vaccines and Diets

Ok, I think ...no, I KNOW...I've had enough of these debates. For the most part, vaccines do not cause autism. They might, however, be harmful to some children with immunity problems or those who are genetically predisposed, but we don't really know how to screen for those yet. Yes, I do know parents who believe their child was 'normal', even gregarious, before the MMR vaccine, but I have yet to see convincing video proof of that. Don't most parents have videos of their child from infancy? Why aren't these being studied? We do know that siblings of children with autism often show atypical development before 12 months, and that these signs are subtle.

OK, then diets....I have yet to meet a child who has recovered from the diet (DAN! diet, casein and gluten free). Does the diet sometimes improve behavior? Yes. I know a child who is barely verbal who pinches and attempts to bite; when restrained, he would resist for about ten minutes, then he often says, "Boo-boo all gone", is released and relaxed. This sounds to me as if he has some pain somewhere, doesn't know what to do, becomes aggressive, and when the pain is gone, he is calm again. Would a diet help him? Perhaps. We don't know the source of his pain.

Parents who live at or near the poverty line: They cannot afford these diets. They often do not have transportation to natural food stores, can't afford the food, and should not be made to feel guilty. The science so far does not support the use of the diet as a tool for recovery from autism. Maybe for some kids it improves some aspects of behavior, and for some families they decide it is worth it, but....for me, the jury is still out.

Measuring Effectiveness of Floortime

There is clearly less research on DIR/Floortime than on ABA interventions. ABA has been around for 40 years, while the first published study of DIR/Floortime was 1997. Since that time, more studies have emerged, but there have been few, if any, direct comparisons of ABA and Floortime have been conducted. In my experience, parents often choose a combination of both interventions.

One issue is the method of measuring effectiveness. ABA measures discrete, observable behaviors. Its underlying rationale is the behavior is governed by its antecedents and consequences; all behavior is thought to be governed by the consequences of Attention, Escape, Access to a Tangible or Automatic Reinforcement. Thus, these consequences are manipulated in treatment to motivate or discourage behavior. Behaviors can be counted, measured, graphed, and displayed, showing progress or regression over time.

In DIR/Floortime, child development is the skill or area to be studied. Greenspan and Wieder talk about developmental ‘capacities’, rather than specific behaviors. When I searched for a definition of capacity, I came up with the following:

“the ability to receive or contain; power of receiving impressions, knowledge, etc.; mental ability; actual or potential ability to perform, yield, or withstand; quality or state of being susceptible to a given treatment or action.”

From this, I conclude that a capacity is not a clearly measurable ability or skill; it is a fluid concept or construct. Indeed, it is challenging to try to define these emotional capacities and to measure them. Greenspan and Wieder have developed a Functional Emotional Assessment Scale, but it is designed for young children, not older than 4 or 5, I believe. Thus with older students, there is not a clear-cut way to measure progress.

In my practice, I have pulled out specific components of development (opening and closing circles of communication, imitation, joint attention) to document progress. I am also using a numerical scale to document progress across the Functional Emotional Developmental Levels (The FEDLs in Floortime). I am also writing narrative notes about each child once or twice a week. In short, I am trying to combine behavioral practice with developmental to construct a picture of how the children are changing.

I am hopeful that this is helping!

John Odgren

Hello all,

I've been following the recent Massachusetts trial of 19 year old John Odgren, who was convicted of murder in the stabbing of a classmate three years ago at Lincoln-Sudbury High School. John has Asperger's, and a history of being challenging in several school programs he attended. He was apparently obsessed with Stephen King, the horror writer, was a 'loner', had been bullied, but also brought knives to school. His defense attorney gave him an insanity defense, although whether he was connecting Asperger's to insanity was not clear. According to the newspaper accounts, Odgren also showed bi-polar symptoms, but did not appear to be diagnosed with that.


Asperger's advocates are horrified by the insanity defense, and truly, I am also nervous that this will move others to think that kids with Asperger's are dangerous and insane, which they are not. Will this verdict require schools and districts to put in place strategies to try to determine if a child is homocidal? As a special educator, certified administrator, I know I am not trained to do this.

So was justice served? Probably. Even if he had been found guilty by reason of insanity, Odgren would most likely have been in a psychiatric institution for many, many years. The major outcome of this horrific event is total sadness for two young lives lost, one to prison, one to random death. There is nothing good about this situation.