I Wonder If You Can Really See My Son

Leo and I had such a lovely day together -- a pleasant day, a day an NT kid might grumble about, running errands and going on outings. Leo was a great sport, and good company. But I suspect that we may have looked odd to anyone unaware of Leo's challenges, or who doesn't know how much effort Leo, his family, and all the dedicated professionals and educators who have worked with him over the past seven years have put into supporting him, into helping him look merely quirky rather than out of control.

So, theoretical observer, let me interpret for you, in case you are curious about kids like Leo when you see them out and about, and wonder what is actually going on with that funky kid and his or her parents. Let me elaborate for you, explain to you just how successful our boy's day was.

At the Soccer Field

We started our day accompanying Mali while her team took soccer pictures, as Seymour was at another park watching Iz play her own soccer game. We were surrounded by lots of yabbering small children. I held Leo's hand the whole time, which might look funny as he is obviously not a small child himself. Why do I hold his hand? Because it makes it less likely that he will bolt. Because noisy, swarming little kids sometimes make him skittish, and holding my hand can help him feel calm. It also prevents him from engaging in his latest stim: spinning and stomping:

While we were waiting for Mali to stop making faces at the camera, I introduced Leo to several parents of kids who knew Mali. After I told Leo each parent's name, he replied on his own, "Hi, 'Name.'" This elicited big smiles of delight from several parents who knew of Leo but had never really talked to him before, and didn't realize what a friendly, polite kid he is.

Successes:

1. Leo didn't bolt.
2. Leo didn't stim.
3. Leo waited with me during a non-preferred activity for 30 minutes, without getting impatient.
4. Leo didn't treat the small kids like the bowling pins to his bowling ball. No one was scared of him, much less hurt by him.
5. Leo spontaneously inserted correct names in a social greeting, with eye contact, and as an appropriate response to a social question.

What we need to work on: Spinning and stomping. I'm worried that this is an OCD behavior. It's time for us to visit his behavioral psychiatrist anyhow, to monitor his blood sugar levels and liver function (Risperdal being a black box med that requires consistent checking in) so I will ask about the behavior then.

At the Coffee House

After Mali's pictures, we went to our wonderful local, autism parent-owned coffee shop, Cocoa Java, to wait for Seymour and Iz. Leo spied bagels in the food case the moment we entered the cafe, but I asked him and Mali to sit down at a table and wait while I ordered their food. The person working the counter had a workflow pattern slightly incompatible with child patron happiness -- she handed me their donuts on plates immediately, but then went off to make my single-drip coffee before taking my money. So. I had to wait at the counter with the kids' food until the barista finished up, as any donuts I put down on the table would be inhaled instantly, and then there would be impatience while I drank my own coffee when it finally arrived.

While I was waiting, Leo asked me for bagels several times, from across the cafe, in his standard request format, "Want a bagel, please?" It might have appeared odd to another patron, my son's continuing to ask me for a bagel after I'd already told him no. But for Leo, it was a form of self-soothing and processing -- he really wasn't going to get a bagel, that blew, and he had to deal. Eventually the coffee arrived, I sat down, and we all enjoyed our coffee house treats.

Successes:

1. Leo waited calmly for a highly-preferred food item, without me sitting next to him, and without taking out his frustrations on the little sister who was sitting with him.
2. He accepted that another highly-preferred food item would not be coming his way, even though he could see it, right there in that display case.
3. He did not lost his shit completely and cause a scene over #1 or #2.

After a while, Seymour called to say he wouldn't be able to meet us, as Iz's post-game soccer photos were taking forever. I dropped off Mali with Seymour so he could take our youngest to her own game  after Iz's pix, and drove Leo home to his session with Therapist V.

Lunch at Suraj

Seymour and the girls left for a daddy-daughter hootenanny shortly after Therapist V finished his Leo session, which meant Leo and I had the afternoon to ourselves. We immediately took off on one of our favorite mother-son excursions: buffet lunch at a local Indian restaurant.

Once we entered the restaurant, I let go of his hand so he could feel more independent. He then did a giggly happy dance -- the dance of anticipatory naan bread joy. But he wasn't too loud and it didn't last more than fifteen seconds -- if he had been genuinely disruptive to other patrons, we would have left. We've been customers since before we had kids, so the restaurant staff knows and doesn't mind Leo's quirky behaviors.

Leo followed behind me as I pillaged the buffet, asking me for naan bread every thirty seconds. I reassured him each time that he could have it -- but not until we sat down at the table. He remained calm.

Once we sat down, I tore off pieces of naan bread and handed them to him individually, usually requiring that he answer a question correctly first, such as "Who likes naan bread?" (Leo's response: "I do!")

My behavior probably appeared very odd and controlling -- a helicopter mom hand-feeding her chubby son -- yep, that family's got some food issues. But there was actually a lot of work, progress, and practicing going on, for those who knew what to look for.

Every time I handed Leo a piece of naan bread, I was dipping it in my saag -- right in front of him, so he could see what I was doing. (Saag is spinach cooked down and pureed with onions, butter, and spices. And, at Suraj, with a definite chili kick.)

As you can see, I put more than a speck of saag on each piece of naan. What you can't see, because I positioned the bread in this shot for saag-daubing display, is that every other time I handed him a piece of naan, it was with the saag facing Leo -- I was not in any way attempting to hide what I was feeding him. He ate every single piece. Happily.

He then asked for ice cream. Since dessert is included in the buffet (self-serve mango ice cream, mmmm, though I had chai and gulab jamun), I got him a bowl of the orange stuff. He ate the entire thing himself, with his spoon. His grip is still a little bit awkward (fine motor/grasp issues), but he ate all that ice cream all by himself. He even spontaneously mopped up drips! (See video.)

Successes:

1. Leo used the correct pronouns in answering all of my questions (and "I do!" is new -- he usually answer "me!").
2. Our boy with his history of eating only six food items is now eating a spicy Indian food, willingly. I will be increasing the saag amount gradually, with the hope that eventually he'll eat the saag itself without the naan.
3. He did not cause a scene in trying to snatch naan bread from the buffet.
4. He fed himself an entire portion of food using a utensil rather than his hand.
5. He did not bolt his naan bread, nor did he bolt his ice cream -- actions that have in the past resulting in his barfing on the table at this very restaurant because he doesn't seem to be able to tell when he's full -- or perhaps his compulsion to eat overrides his "I'm full" sensor.

Number 5 is the one we're still really working on, the preferred food compulsions. Seven years of ABA and we still need to monitor all preferred food items, other wise he'll sneak off and/or snatch and bolt them -- as he did in that SF Weekly article about him and his iPad.

Side note: I'm still disappointed in the behaviorist/SF Weekly commenter who declared Leo's food snatching a behavioral failure -- what a dick. As if ABA therapy implants an on/off switch or guarantees 100% compliance! I'm glad my mom and so many other people chastised him for being unable to look beyond that one incident and appreciate the article's lauding of Leo's many successes.

Side note #2. Leo's food snatching has spawns some interesting side effects: He's getting sneaky and plotty, which IMHO demonstrates a degree of Theory of Mind. A few weeks ago, after swimming in our pool with his sisters, I asked him to run in the house and get dressed while I spent 120 seconds closing the pool -- running in the house and getting dressed independently being what he does after every pool session. However, at some point earlier in the day, he must have spied our new jar of Nutella on the top shelf where he was not supposed to be able to reach it -- because when I came into the house, he was standing on the counter -- naked -- with the Nutella jar in his hand, scooping it into his mouth as quickly as he could. Quite the sight -- but I was laughing too hard, and working too hard on not letting him see me laugh, to get a picture.

At the Hair Salon

Leo let this lady cut his hair, without any significant behaviors. He squawked and fidgeted a lot, initially -- which I'm sure drew quizzical glances from the other patrons -- but once I brought out his iPod touch and held it in front of his face so he could watch Ben 10, he settled down. The stylist was then not only able to chop off his luxuriant glossy curls, but she was able to buzz a clean line around his ears and neck.

The result is quite striking, I think -- don't you? Handsome boy! Though I do cry quietly every time we have to cut off those beautiful curls.



Successes:

1. Leo did not scream and cry and try to escape from the stylist's chair.
2. He did not need to sit on one of the playground-style kiddie chairs. He sat in a regular chair.
3. He did not require a lollipop or any other food item to comply.
4. He did not jerk his head around so violently that his hairline looked badger-chewed.
5. He was able to focus on a video during the session, and sit extra-calmly.

Leo, with our and his team's support, is still working on some of his issues -- the food bolting especially (we're going to be formulating another new approach, both at home, and with his teacher at school). But I hope this rundown of Leo's today helps some people appreciate that, when you see a kid like Leo out and about town, perhaps instead of thinking, "Why is that kid behaving so strangely," you could ask yourself, "I wonder just how hard that kid is working."

Because I bet you anything, those quirky kids -- they've worked their asses off, just to be able to leave the house and appear in public. In Leo's case, the goal isn't even to blend in, but rather to be able to grocery shop, eat in a restaurant, go to the park, or get a hair cut without disturbing anyone else, or causing a major incident. We got through the entire day without having to abort a single errand -- quite an accomplishment for such an easily overwhelmed boy.

I hope, after reading this, you're as proud of Leo as I am.

What to Look for in a Behavior Analyst

If you are a parent of a child with autism, and are considering engaging a behavior analyst -- for ABA therapy, to help your child gain skills, and/or to mitigate disruptive behaviors -- how do you know what to look for? What does a behavior analyst (sometimes also called behavioral therapist) do? And what should you expect from them?

Special needs activist Noria Zasslow put together this list of shared expectations for engaging a behavior analyst. I have published it with her permission.

----

Information a Behavior Analyst Should Provide To You

My training and expertise :

• I have been practicing as a behavior analyst for ____ years.
• I am certified by BACB (Behavior Analyst Certification Board).
• My specialty is _____ (working with l children, teens, adults, parent training, etc).

I provide the following services:

• I will help you with behavior you would like to change.
• I will help you with maintaining a behavior, identify more appropriate replacement behaviors, develop a plan to teach those behaviors.
• I will help you develop a plan to help you acquire a new behavior or improve your skill level.
• I may provide training to others as well.
• I will not work with you in any other capacity except as your behavior therapist or consultant.
• I will provide a Behavior Intervention Plan if applicable.

How I proceed:

• I do not make judgments about behavior.
• I suggest ways of adjusting and modifying behaviors to reduce pain and suffering.
• You will be provided information at each step in the process.
• I will explain my assessment and the results of my assessment.
• I will provide a plan for intervention and treatment and ask for your approval.
• I will cooperate fully if at any moment you wish to terminate our contract.
• If I believe that my services has become non-productive, I will inform you of my intent to terminate our contract and provide referral information.
• I will work at your home only if you are present. It is not appropriate for you to leave me alone with your child or to ask me to take your child to places not directly related to my work.
• If I need to cancel or reschedule an appointment, I will give you a 24-hour notification of cancellation. Please do the same.

I must comply with the Guidelines for Responsible Conduct of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board.

It is not appropriate for me to accept gifts, meals, or to be involved with your personal activities (family celebrations/birthdays, family outings).

I will request:

• A list of any prescribed/ over-the-counter medications.
• Your concerns/requests.
• Your help to understand behaviors that you wish to address.
• Questions about your family habits and daily routine.
• Your opinion.
• If you are dissatisfied with my services, please let me know. You may report your concerns to the Behavior Analyst Certification Board.

CONFIDENTIALITY
I do not disclose anything about our relationship. However the law provides confidentiality limitations in cases where:

• I have your written consent to release information.
• I have reasonable grounds to suspect abuse or neglect of a child, disabled adult, or an elder adult.
• I am ordered by a judge to disclose information.

Fees:

The current fee for my services is ____

Dr. Bridget Taylor: Interview, Webinars on Autism & Problem Behaviors

The amazing behavioralist Supervisor M has been leading Leo's ABA therapy team since he was two, but not every child with autism has my son's luck. ABA therapy can be expensive, school districts can be resistant, and qualified therapists can be elusive.

How lovely that Dr. Bridget Taylor has become the senior clinical advisor for Rethink Autism, the online ABA Therapy curriculum resource. I know am not the only parent who, upon hearing that ABA therapy could actually make a difference for my child, daydreamed about having Dr. Taylor on his ABA therapy team. Dr. Taylor is the ABA therapist and researcher who helped Let Me Hear Your Voice author Catherine Maurice's children lose their autism diagnoses. She also co-founded New Jersey's center for learners with autism, the Alpine Learning Group. Thanks to Rethink Autism, she can now be part of any ABA therapy team with internet access.

The Rethink Autism team is aware that not everyone can afford their monthly subscription rate, so they have engaged Dr. Taylor to conduct free webinars, both tomorrow, Wednesday, October 20, and Monday, October 26, in which participants can discuss autism and behavioral problems with her, via live chat. Here is Rethink Autism's summary of the webinars:

Does your child with autism have trouble cooperating? 

For many parents and families with children on the autism spectrum problem behavior can be challenging. That's why this month's free live webinar focuses on the best problem behavior treatment and prevention strategies available. You'll learn how to begin immediately applying these techniques with your child and have a chance to ask questions via live chat with autism expert Dr. Bridget Taylor, a leader in the field of autism treatment and research, and rethink autism's senior clinical adviser.

Register for a webinar session now by clicking a date below:

Wed, Oct 21, 2009 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EDT

Mon, Oct 26, 2009 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM EDT

For those who can't participate in the webinars, read on -- Dr. Taylor agreed to answer a few of my and Supervisor M's questions about autism, managing problem behaviors, the role of the internet in the autism community, and the most important things parents should be focusing on at various stages in their children's lives:

What has drawn you, personally, to the Rethink Autism online and webinar model?

As a clinician working in the field of autism treatment for over twenty years, I am very excited about being involved in an innovative company that has the potential to reach many families of children with autism. I have always been committed to translating complex concepts and teaching techniques for families so that they can be empowered to teach their children. Rethink Autism’s video-based curriculum presents teaching techniques in a simple step-by-step manner so that families can see how to teach their children.

Do you plan to have your Rethink Autism curriculum contributions about managing problem behaviors at home, etc., evolve with your research findings at the Alpine Learning Group, for example reducing too-rapid eating by use of a pager prompt?

All of the Rethink Autism’s teaching techniques and procedures are based on research that has been conducted in the field of applied behavior analysis. The techniques that I will discuss about managing challenging behavior are based on general principles of learning, and how challenging behavior is usually a result of the interaction between environment and behavior. That is, behavior occurs in relationship to certain events occurring in the environment. If we can identify those events and determine the reason for the challenging behavior, we can change behavior for the better. The pager prompt study is one example of how you can teach an individual with autism to attend to specific cues in the environment in order to reduce a behavior of concern. In this case eating too quickly.

Some children with autism engage in problem behaviors due to skill deficits and; a general lack of self-management skills; they do not yet have a rich repertoire of independent play, leisure, and self-care skills (and so must always be engaged by an adult). In addition to teaching independence, what are some ways school staff and families can manage these problems without promoting problem behaviors (e.g. excessive repetetive/stimulatory behaviors, prolonged dependence on adults?

Yes, many children engage in behavior because they lack skills in specific areas. So, teaching children with autism play and leisure skills can replace some repetitive behavior. Teaching children with autism for example to follow photographic activity schedules can help to keep children stay engaged without constant prompts from adults. Research in the use of activity schedules has shown that children can sustain engagement by attending to photo cues that serve as prompts to engage in play and leisure activities. In addition, teaching other functional skills such as how to ask for a break when demands are too difficult or how to wait for a preferred activity can be helpful to reduce challenging behavior associated with these contexts.

What are some suggestions to include the family member with autism in general family activities? Day to day living?

Make activities very predictable and start with short realistic activities. For example, if you are going to a restaurant, begin with one that does not require a long wait (e.g., a fast food restaurant), and bring your child’s preferred activities to engage in during the waiting period. In general, help the child with autism know what is expected of him / her in during the activity (e.g., first we are going to the store and then we are going to Grandma’s house). Pictures can serve as cues for children as to what will take place during the activity and the general sequence of the activities.

In terms of general family routines such as eating at the dinner table together, start with a short duration of sitting and use timers to help the child know how long he will have to sit. For other family activities the child may need an incentive or a reward to participate. For example, if you want the child to sit and watch a TV show with his sibling, intermittent rewards such as access to a preferred snack while he is watching the show, may motivate him to participate in the activity the next time. Over time, you can fade the snack out. In general, the more you practice family activities and make these activities very predictable, the more the child will learn about what is expected and it will become easier over time.

How can parents assist the teams they collaborate with? 

Parents are clinicians' best allies. They can assist in many ways. For example, they can help clinicians identify important goals to work on (e.g., cooperating in haircuts, attending religious services, playing with siblings), they can help in transferring skills learned during teaching sessions to every day, real-life activities, and they can support the intervention by implementing the interventions in daily life. In addition, since they truly know their child best, they can provide essential information to team members about the child (e.g., likes, dislikes, general patterns of behavior, etc).

What is the one suggestion that you would make to a parent of a newly diagnosed child? 

Access interventions based on applied behavior analysis as soon as you can.

What would be your one suggestion to a parent whose child is ten years old? 

This is a good time to reevaluate the goals you are working on. Ask yourself, “will he need this skill when he is twenty years old?” How often will this skill be needed in daily life? How is this skill going to help him be as independent as possible?

How about for a parent of a child who is transition age? 

Identify agencies and supports in the community that your child can be part of for the long term. Identify agencies that have multiple program components such as career planning, residential planning, and recreation and leisure activities.

What is one piece of advice you would give all parents? 

No one knows your child better than you – you will be your child’s strongest and most passionate advocate. You are after all the architect of your child’s future and as you collaborate with professionals help them to learn as much as they can about your child and your vision for your child’s future.

What is one thing you would suggest that parents avoid? 

Avoid interventions that are not grounded in sound scientific research.

What are your thoughts with regards to the internet and the role it plays in the autism community? 

The internet can be a great resource to families in terms of learning about treatment, accessing services, and gaining support from other families. Unfortunately, it can also lead families down the wrong path to a treatment that does not have a lot of research supporting it. When parents google “autism and treatment” they are confronted with hundreds of options, this can be daunting for families. But, the internet allows families to learn about effective, science-based interventions such as applied behavior analysis. Rethink autism’s innovate web-based curriculum is one such example of how the internet can potentially change lives.

Rethink Autism: Behind the Scenes

If you read this blog and my posts on BlogHer, you know I consider Rethink Autism's "web-based autism treatment platform for parents and professionals" an incredibly useful and long-needed addition to the autism and education fields.

What you may not know is that I am a former software producer, and so am floored by the scale of Rethink Autism's production effort, and its resulting product quality. I could tell that Rethink Autism is a truly content-rich, dynamic, and flexible learning resource for autism families and professionals, but I wanted to know more about the process and philosophy behind the site: How was it developed, and why? How does the team decide what kind of lessons to include? Who are they planning to reach, and how will they make it more accessible to families with financial and language concerns?

Fortunately for me and for you, Jamie Pagliaro from Rethink Autism agreed to answer these questions, and more. Please do leave a comment if you have a question of your own, or would like clarification.

Can you tell us, briefly, why Rethink Autism was founded? Who was the primary team? What are your primary goals? Who are you trying to reach?

The mission of rethink autism is to offer parents and educators immediate access to effective and affordable Applied Behavior Analysis-based intervention tools for the growing population affected by autism spectrum disorders. Our core team has expertise in three main areas: clinical, technology, and filmmaking.

I have personally worked in the field of autism education for the past fifteen years, most recently as Executive Director of a public charter for children with autism in New York (the New York Center for Autism Charter School). During that time, I have been faced with many desperate parents trying to gain access to services, and many educators struggling to appropriately meet the needs of children with autism. With growing numbers of newly diagnosed children, the task ahead for policy makers and the professional community is even more daunting. For parents, this means longer wait lists, more diluted funds, and limited access to experts. What compelled me to join Rethink Autism was the idea of making research-based treatment tools accessible to everyone -- not just a select few -- in a cost-effective way.

Simply put, our goal is reach as many children with autism [as we can] through parent and organizational subscribers. We currently have individual parent subscribers around the globe. Some are in rural areas working with limited access to professional support, while others have professional support and are using the system to coordinate treatment across team members. We also have a number of organizational users across the country, including public school districts, early intervention providers, and nonprofit service agencies. They are using our platform to enhance their staff training, curriculum planning, and outcome monitoring. We are committed to keeping all of our users on the cutting edge of autism treatment research.

Can you tell us the scale of the Rethink Autism effort, and how long it took to build content and develop the site?

The entire site and its content were developed in one year. This was a tremendous undertaking that took a team of committed professionals on the clinical, technology, and filmmaking fronts. On the clinical side, we worked with about forty families in NYC who brought their children with autism in for filming sessions with our therapists on a weekly basis. During the year, we filmed thousands of hours of therapeutic sessions, each one carefully planned to help us create our 400+ training and lesson videos.

Our clinical team was also fully integrated into the filmmaking aspect, working with our production team to coordinate shoots, and edit each session. In fact, each lesson video was reviewed for clinical integrity by at least three separate clinicians. Our senior clinical advisor, Dr. Bridget Taylor, personally worked with our therapists to plan each lesson before filming, and reviewed each lesson for clinical integrity as a final checkpoint before adding it to our library.

In parallel, we designed the website interface to be aesthetically pleasing and incredibly user friendly. The families that we worked with also helped us test the interface at every step of development. For this reason, we are proud to say it has been parent tested and approved! It is also worth noting that thanks to their insights and suggestions for improvements on the design, using the website requires no formal training, explanation, or manual once you log on.

Do you plan to keep expanding the content and curriculum? If so, via existing plans or community feedback?

Absolutely! One of the aspects of this project that attracted me was the opportunity to continuously evolve and develop new content. And because we are web-based, this happens seamlessly for our users (i.e., they don’t need to buy or download anything new -- it’s added automatically!).

We are creating new content in our production studio every week. The ideas come from parent requests for specific lessons, suggestions from our scientific advisors, and plans that we have developed internally for curriculum expansion. For example, a few weeks ago a parent asked us about getting her son to tolerate wearing a band-aid. We developed a lesson to teach this, filmed it, and within two weeks added the lesson to our site. We also spent some time with one of our scientific advisors earlier this summer, Dr. Peter Gerhardt from the Organization for Autism Research, and he worked with us on developing new content for adolescents (e.g., pre-vocational and self-care skills) and higher functioning children with autism.

Sections of the site are freely available/not password protected, e.g., the sections on general autism information and advice. Do you have plans to expand those sections as well?

Yes -- in fact this September we rolled out a series of free back-to-school webinars, which included live chat with our senior clinical advisor, Dr. Bridget Taylor. There was also a free back-to-school tips video that accompanied the webinar. The response to this was overwhelmingly positive, so we will be doing additional free “tips” videos and live webinars on a monthly basis. Coming soon is Participating in Social Events, and later this fall we will have two special webinars on Managing Problem Behavior at Home and an Orientation to Parents of Newly Diagnosed Children. The later we are doing in conjunction with our friends at Autism Speaks.

How does email support work? Do you have behavioralists on staff to answer email queries, a professional customer support staff, or a combination?

We have a team of committed clinicians on staff to respond to parent questions regarding use of our curriculum. They are led by a PhD-level Behavior Analyst, and all of them have significant experience working with children with autism at home and in school programs. We want to be clear that we cannot offer formal clinical recommendations to families, as we do not come out to directly observe or work with your child. However, the Curriculum Support we offer has been an invaluable resource to many families working with limited or no professional support at home. All of the Curriculum Support is done via email, and we always respond within 24 hours during the week.

Rethink Autism is currently available in English. Do you have plans to translate the site and content into other languages? (As a former software producer for content-heavy products like world atlases, I understand the massive scale of a localization effort. But I also live in California, and constantly see families affected by autism falling through the cracks due to language barriers.)

Our goal is to begin translating into Spanish next year (2010). We recognize the need for translation, and have already had requests from individual families and organizations throughout the world. Once we have a critical mass of English-speaking users, we hope to deploy more resources into this international dissemination effort. As you have noted, this is a massive undertaking due to the amount of video content we currently have, and would therefore need to translate.

Do you plan to offer a sliding scale or scholarships for families and institutions in need? The $100/month personal subscription exceeds many autism families' budgets, especially during current financial tough times.

We fully recognize that there are many families in need, and our commitment is to making Rethink Autism accessible and affordable to as many of those families as possible. One of our goals is to be a self-sustaining company that keeps the cost of a monthly subscription at a level roughly equivalent to one hour of professional consultation. In the future, as our company grows we hope to offer subscription assistance to low income families, and have started to engage local and national nonprofit organizations about this. We have already donated free content to a number of these organizations as a way to support them in the short-term.

Rethink Autism has already hosted webinars, as well as live chats with professionals like Dr. Bridget Taylor. Are there any plans to host live, IRL seminars or conferences?

We are actively considering many different options, including live seminars. We already attend and exhibit at a number of national conferences in an effort to raise awareness about Rethink Autism. In the coming months we will be exhibiting at:

• Autism NJ conference in Atlantic City, NJ (Oct. 8-10)
• American Academy of Pediatrics conference in Washington, D.C. (Oct. 16-18)
• Organization for Autism Research conference in Arlington, VA (Oct. 22-24)
• NY State Association for Behavior Analysis conference in Albany, NY (Nov. 4-6)
• National Autism Association conference in Weston, FL (Nov. 12-13), 
• OCALI conference in Columbus, OH (Nov. 17-19). 

 Needless to say, I’m hoping my family will recognize me by Thanksgiving!

We are also continuing with the Free Live Webinars this fall, and will be sure to keep you posted!

Wanted: Your Questions About Rethink Autism

In case you haven't seen Rethink Autism, it is a new online program for delivering video-based ABA therapy training, collaborative data tracking -- and really good, compassionate, sensible information about autism in general -- to families who might not otherwise have access to ABA resources. It is available to anyone with a computer and internet connection, for $100/month (personal account). The program covers academics, social skills, behavior, and motor skills. Here's my recent writeup from this blog:

http://www.squidalicious.com/2009/08/aba-affordably-on-demand-rethink-autism.html

Since that post, people have asked me questions about accessibility with regards to costs, languages, offline populations, and general direction. I don't have the answers myself, but the Rethink Autism team has agreed to answer such queries during a 9/21 Q&A on my blog. If you would like to submit a question, please send it to me by Thursday, 9/10.

I'm not aligned with or compensated by Rethink Autism except intermittent site access for evaluation purposes. I just think it's a wonderful and much-needed resource for the ABA therapy-using segment of the autism community, and want to help them make it even better.

ABA Affordably on Demand: Rethink Autism

If you're at all familiar with ABA Therapy (Applied Behavioral Analysis), you know that you can use its anchor techniques of carefully planned positive feedback and reward/reinforcer systems to influence almost anyone's behavior. And that's what I wrote about at BlogHer this week (I hope people decide to use their newfound behavioral powers for non-nefarious purposes):

BlogHer: Using Behavioral Approaches in Autism (And on Anyone)

I also wrote about ABA therapy in general, why it can be so useful for helping children with autism learn, and -- most importantly -- a new way for autism families who want but normally wouldn't have access to an ABA program to bring it to their child: an comprehensive online program called Rethink Autism. As I said on BlogHer:

Rethink Autism creates a customized ABA curriculum for your child, provides hundreds of concise but thorough video-based lessons supplemented by printed lesson plans to teach you how to teach your child, allows automated scheduling so that you can coordinate with with your ABA team as to who's teaching your child what and when, and produces really straightforward data tracking and analysis. They even provide email curriculum support. This is a valuable and very well done resource, and I recommend it.

But here is something that I didn't mention on BlogHer, and which I think new, overwhelmed autism families need to understand: You can use Rethink Autism's many, many videos to learn how to interact with your child. If the integrated data tracking and scheduling is too overwhelming, then put it off until you're ready.

Instead, browse the topics -- which include motor skills and social skills as well as academics -- watch the videos and print the lesson plans, and start practicing those techniques with your child. Learning to communicate and motivate children with autism aren't skills that come naturally to many parents, and how-to manuals can only describe, not model. Video demonstrations, however -- those show exactly what to do. And if you need clarification, Rethink Autism provides email support. Once you're comfortable using the techniques, start incorporating the data tracking elements.

I've included some screenshots of the Rethink Autism interface below, so that you can see for yourself how well organized and planned the program is. I found it easy to use and the interface beautifully and gracefully designed. Click on the screenshots to enlarge them:

Individual lesson plan interface

Tracking data and team comments within a lesson plan

Video lesson interface: choosing steps

Video Lesson demonstration, including physical prompt

Regarding cost, as I wrote on BlogHer:

Rethink autism is also affordable. In fact the monthly Personal (as opposed to Organziational) subscription rate is less than one hour's time with a veteran behavioral therapist. While this is an incredible value, if it's still outside your family's budget, there are organizations like ACT Today! that help autism families fund their children's needs.

Rethink Autism provides excellent resources beyond its paid ABA therapy programming. It also provides free-of-charge resources for new autism families in its What Is Autism section, including a thoughtful Coping/Living With Autism area that reminds parents to appreciate and accept their child, themselves, and to act instead of reacting. There is also a Community section, in which Rethink Autism participants can ask questions of the staff and each other about issues and concerns.

Rethink Autism is a resource that the ABA therapy-using section of the autism community has needed for a long time: comprehensive, easy to use, and accessible by any individual with a computer, internet connection, and browser. I am grateful to the good folks at Rethink Autism for creating these tools, and I encourage those of you who reach out to or mentor families with new autism diagnoses to spread the word.

Disclosure: Rethink Autism granted me a few days of trial access, but I was otherwise not compensated in any way. What I have written above is my honest opinion, as it always has been and will continue to be in any reviews that I post in this space.