autism disability mental health motor patterns motor schema parenting pragmatic language psychology social skills social thinking
I read an article today posted on the web about teaching social skills. The authors of these articles are correct: We cannot leave the teaching of social communication to the teacher.
About two years ago an eight year old boy with autism who was being treated by our therapy team had a massive seizure in his sleep and died. I will always remember him because he was one of the severe children with self injurious behaviors and a great smile when he was happy. I will remember his family as his mother was trying to master the English language and did not receive all the services she could have due to the language barrier. I will remember the day I received the news that he passed away...it was right in the middle of my day..I still had clients to see after I received the news. I found that throughout that day and week...I just couldn't seem to pull myself together enough.
There are so many phrases like "The time is now, The time has come" to describe what I have just done. I find it exciting, necessary, and a tool that many families and even educators will benefit from. The truth is therapy is expensive and the costs add up. Not all families can afford to pay for a therapist and then pay more for a quality therapist. They want to give their children the best and may feel guilty because they can't afford it. How are people supposed to live, buy healthy food, and pay for the 40 hour therapy program recommended?!?
I was honored to be a presenter at a professional development seminar for speech-language pathologists. The topic: The SLP and Applied Behavior Analysis. As I prepared and conferred with one of my mentors, the question was asked "Where does the SLP see him or herself?" A very relevant question in light of the marketing and packaging of many therapies that parents are now asking by name at IEP meetings and private practices. As a practitioner and as an SLP I definitely understand why many parents are asking these questions, especially when looking at Applied Behavior Analysis. After all, as a profession they have better data collection methods and have the ability to approach therapy scientifically by breaking down the task to build skill sets.
I have been watching Oprah Winfrey's No Phone Zone in agreement! Yes Yes Yes we need to not talk on the phones with one another while in the car.
Everyone belongs to someone. They belong to friends and family. It is an amazing feat to belong to a global population and share professional wisdom and teach therapists, both present and future, and parents. It is amazing to have a stretch of a professional career that makes an entire population of people say Thank you for your work! Thank you for showing us! Thank you for making us pause and think differently!
As I type this, I am running between my office and my living room television watching one of my favorite new television shows, Parenthood.
As a practitioner I see TOO often, children with African-American heritage not getting diagnosed early enough. They get labels like delay, speech delay, ADHD, behavior disorder...but when I meet some of them...I think "why did he get missed?!?"
I have had this conversation with myself and some colleagues about this topic and yesterday I thought I must share this with you! I understand that this topic may not resonate well with everyone or may be offensive or just superficial! But it is the elephant in the room.
I recently went to a LAMP training given by PRC and cringed when the first sequence for communication training instructed the use of "more". Sadly it's more common than not. I interviewed and SLP and during her demo session with the child with Autism, she decided he needed to say the word "more". And early in my career, I too thought teaching "More" was important for first words...but its not. Here's why:
