Mark Ludy's Wordless Picture Book, NOAH

My homeschooler and I were given a copy of Mark Ludy's wordless picture book, NOAH, to review for you.

NOAH is a rich resource in many ways. Yes, Noah from the Bible. That Noah.

A picture book without words telling the story of Noah...hmmm...I wondered how it would be done and done well.  The pictures must be detailed enough to tell the story. And Ludy does tell the story and more. Ludy prompts me with pictures to imagine what the characters might have been thinking as God told Noah to build the ark and Noah obeyed.

The pictures are colorful, visually descriptive - simply stunning. The illustrations are fun to view. The moon, the animals (including dinosaurs!) (I did not ever imagine a toucan sitting nearby the builders while the ark was being built), the scenery, the people are all very detailed. Ludy's version of Noah has Noah quite the accomplished draftsman. The 'blueprint' of the ark is one of my favorite pages in the book.

Obviously, the pictures tell the Bible story about Noah's ark. But there are many other uses for wordless picture books in a homeschool, especially with a child on the autism spectrum.

We still use an occasional wordless picture book in our homeschool.

Sometimes, text becomes an obstacle to meaning and comprehension in autism. The reader is so focused on decoding words that there is no room for meaning. Wordless stories allow us to focus on the story itself, on meaning, with comprehension.

In all things autism, perspective taking is a big deal. Theory of mind. Shared attention. Wordless picture books pack a big punch where perspective taking is concerned.

My daughter and I can hold the book together and describe something each of us notices on each page. I learn a lot about her by what she notices. It allows me to spotlight an important part of the picture, a part important to the plot or theme of the story.

Wordless stories allow us to tell the story from beginning to end in multiple ways. We can tell the story as an observer from outside the story. We can tell the story from the main character's perspective. We can tell the story from any and every minor character's perspective.

Wordless stories allow US to compose the text while practicing perspective taking. We can write a version for a toddler using just one or two words per page or we can write for a first grader or, as a stretch at my house, we can write an early chapter book. (We will not attempt the chapter book yet, but we reserve the right to revisit that idea in the future as she is more developmentally ready.)

And in NOAH, Mark Ludy gives us something extra that facilitates our taking a closer look. He hides a mouse on every page for us to find. Sometimes, my teen w/ an autism spectrum disorder rushes through an activity with a goal to be finished (something she learned early in behavioral intervention). We have worked for years - and continue to look for ways to work on slowing her down and taking her time to be reflective. Looking for Squeaker the mouse slows us down and provides opportunities for us to notice details we wouldn't notice if we were rushing through with a goal of finishing the book.

I adore wordless books and the potential they offer in our homeschool with an autistic child. The wordless stories with beautiful illustrations and a familiar story usually become favorites. I think NOAH will be a favorite that we revisit again and again.

NOAH retails for $19.95 (it is on sale for $16.95 at the time I type) and is a sturdy hardback. Peek inside the book here.  

"Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”) I was given a copy of Noah to review. I was not paid for this review and am not obligated to provide a positive opinion.

Exactly Like "Lion King"!

We have been working on comparing and contrasting during this homeschool year. I've been very relaxed about it. No worksheets. No forced reading.

I've modeled quite a bit of comparing and contrasting about familiar stories or real-life situations and asked my girl for her own observations with simple, how are they alike and how are they different kinds of observations.

Last night, we were watching "Mirror, Mirror" on ABCFamily, and as Snow White was left in the woods for dead -she was ordered by the queen to be killed by Nathan Lane's character and he had mercy and left her there alive, expecting her not to survive on her own because the beast to eat her - my girl said, "This is exactly like 'Lion King'!" And it is. Simba was driven out into the wilderness; he was supposed to have been killed by the hyenas, but the hyenas let him go, expecting him not to survive on his own.

My girl isn't able to put into words how the situations are the same. She knows what she knows, but the explanation is a challenge for her. So, I modeled it for her to spotlight that she does indeed know what she knows. I look forward to watching her begin to put more complex comparisons into words.

I Feel Like That Inside

A baby on the aisle next to us at Target was crying this morning.

"Mom, do you hear that baby crying?! That is exactly how I feel inside right now." my girl told me.

I knew she was done. Ready to go. She'd already expressed that to me in a calm fashion. But I had to find her sister's facial scrub as the last thing to go into the cart before we headed to checkout. Still, she was aware of how she felt and was able to regulate a few moments longer instead of screaming with that baby!

A. very. big. deal. indeed! 

All the work over the years on physical awareness, on physically stopping, on physical control, is moving into mental and abstract modes.
 

Essential First Steps for Parents of Children with Autism Review

Woodbine House sent me a review copy of Essental First Steps for Parents of Children with Autism by Lara Delmolino, Ph.D., BCBA-D & Sandra L. Harris, Ph.D.

Disclaimer: I was given the book at no charge to me. I am not obligated to provide a positive opinion.

Essential First Steps is written for parents of toddlers through kindergartners with a recent autism diagnosis. It's a good size to slip into your purse or diaper bag to read in a waiting room (parents of kids on the autism spectrum tend to spend a lot of time in waiting rooms), a soft cover of 152 pages. Priced at $21.95, at the time I am writing this post, the book is on sale for $12.71 via Woodbine House.

Essential First Steps gives readers ten chapters, with each chapter beginning with a relatable vignette about a family.

Chapter 1 describes and defines autism and terms related to diagnosis and treatment.

Chapter 2 is a very basic intro to ABA. 

Personal sidebar: ABA is one of the interventions I wish we had not done.

Chapter 3 is a cheerleading section for ABA. 

Personal sidebar:  I'll have to admit, ABA worked. Yes, my child did learn everything we taught her in ABA. However, we checked off skills from the ABLLS one by one as if the things we were teaching were discreet skills and not part of a continuous process model; for example, we taught her pointing as if it were merely a mand and not a huge expression of joint attention. We created the robotic, prompt dependent child they promised would not happen and we left her with a bizarre set of splinter skills with no foundations because none of our behaviorists (we had five or six in three years) understood development.

Chapter 4 is about early intervention and school, IEPs (and ABA).

Chapter 5 is about helping your child relate to others, ABA style.

Personal sidebar: Developmental approaches worked far better than behavioral approaches in terms of social reciprocity and joint attention at my house.

Chapter 6 is about verbal communication.

Personal sidebar: There is heavy emphasis on manding, or requesting. From page 88, "Of course, children with ASD eventually need to learn words for things they are not requesting, but this type of language instruction is a secondary priority at the early stages of teaching."  I strongly disagree with this philosophy based on our experience with it. A developmental approach beginning with non-verbal interaction is better in my experience.

Chapter 7 covers play from a behavioral perspective. See my sidebars above.

Chapter 8 covers self-help skills toward independence.

Chapter 9 is about sensory and behavior challenges.

Chapter 10 reminds parents where to look for support.

Essential First Steps is a basic introduction to behavioral intervention and parents new to the diagnosis who are interested in behavioral intervention may find the guide helpful.

Art Without Boundaries

We were given a treat this morning. A local artist is completing certification for MnemeTherapy with the Art Without Boundaries Association and we volunteered to help her with certification.

Impulse Buy

Old Navy stores have a variety of trinkets and junk by the checkout lanes. One item caught my eye recently and I bought it on impulse:

http://www.melissaanddoug.com/pink-sticker-collection-art-and-crafts

My homeschooler is using the stickers to illustrate some stories this morning. (She just asked me how to spell "believe".)

*LOVE*

Definitely not junk.  I thought it might keep her busy during her brother's baseball games.  I never thought about it as a potential homeschool resource for a child who is on the autism spectrum (a typically developing child may enjoy using the stickers as illustrations as well). We could compose some stories together, or she and a friend could compose some stories together. 

Why didn't I think to buy several of them and the blue version, too?? (smacking hand to forehead) 

Staying Together; Spotlighting Connection

Following up on the previous post about mixed messages, I am still in reflection mode...

One of the challenges I had back then was that my child would not stay with me.  I had to keep up with her.  At the park.  At the doctor's office.  At occupational therapy.  You name it.  If she was ready to go, off she went and I went with her.  She didn't have to stay with me because I stayed with her.

Along with making sure my "talk" matched my non-verbal language, I had to re-visit setting limits and boundaries, while at the same time, spotlighting connections between the two of us.

What do you mean, Penny?

Stop talking to them and use your body to show them limits and boundaries instead, they will begin to see the limits and boundaries and respect the limits and boundaries. Your life will become so much easier when the kids move along with YOU instead of you keeping up with THEM. I cannot tell you how much stress was relieved when I made this change.

The trick is to begin really small. At home. On a day when you are feeling very rested, very calm, very emotionally strong. This is a kind of limit and boundary setting, and they will challenge you, because of your past patterns together.

Examples: Require that they stay with you while you load the dishwasher. Or throw in a load of laundry. Or fold a load of towels. Something short. If they walk away, stop what you are doing, go over to them, offer a hand, bring them back, announce, "We're not finished yet." with a big smile. This is where you can offer opportunities for them to do more than simply stand there, they can help toss in laundry, too, or whatever. If you can block them from leaving with your body, then do that. Use your body, your body language, your actions, your behaviors. I have cornered my child into a corner in the kitchen with me on the outside of the corner, which allowed me to take one step (body language, not "talk") to block her from leaving as I was unloading the dishwasher.

After you have practiced new body language- (and if you are like me, you need the practice - because I was not doing any of this AT ALL) - you can begin to pair words that match your body language and explain, for example, why you don't want them leaving the OT's office without you. 

The other "one other thing" that you can begin to do as you implement different body language and cut down on "talk" is to intentionally look for and create short/brief opportunities that spotlight "staying together", that give her a concrete role with you, that spotlight his role in a connection with you. Use an object. Remember to stay as quiet as possible.  Keep verbal directions to a minimum.  Avoid prompting - prompting robs her of managing her own attention.  Give him plenty of processing time (as much as a minute!). 

Ideas:  Move an end table or lightweight piece of furniture together so that you can vacuum under it. Move the end table back when you are finished. The table becomes the tangible, visible, concrete "connection" that spotlights his role with your role, his "staying with you" role. Ask her to hold one side of the big trash bag with you as the two of you move through the house and gather the trash. Have him help you carry grocery bags into the house from the car with both of you having a hand on the same bag of food. Ask her  to hold one side of the laundry basket as you gather dirty laundry or as you deliver clean laundry to different rooms. Carry a bucket of water together to water flowers in the yard - if you have a stick of wood or a piece of strong rope, hang the bucket across the wood or rope and balance it between you as you water things.

Little things, little moments add up to big experiences that carry over to other people and places.

I don't have to stay with mom because she keeps up with me.

My daughter began participating in a research project a few weeks ago. We drive to a hospital for a study that looks at a possible relationship between speech and sensory.

Twice in a row, we have seen the student whose session is just before my daughter's session. He's an adorable little boy at a pre-k or kindergarten age.

As soon as his session is complete, he is directed by Mom to get into his coat and when his coat is on, he rushes to the elevator. This study takes place on the top floor of a tall building. Mom can't pause to talk to the researcher because she has to run after this child.

"I don't have to stay with Mom because she keeps up with me."

Like my daughter at that age, he has lots of words and "talk". (He is charmingly conversational. My daughter was not.)

But he has little idea what is in his mother's mind. And he has no sense of responsibility for self in staying near her with what is in her mind (that Mom wants him to wait for her to go to the elevator together).

He is very competent with the routine. He knows the path to the elevator, knows how to get on one if the door opens. He probably knows how to push the button to call the elevator. All of those are skills of independence. (My "sidebar" question is: What about interdependence?)

And should he get on one of the six elevators going down in that bank of elevators, he would expect his mom to deal with it, to find him.

Yes, he is competent with what the routines are. But not as competent with how people are.

I had a child very much like that little boy. We were heavy into behavioral intervention. And it wasn't until my behavioral program fell apart and a developmental opportunity dropped into my lap that I found that we could help her experience the interdependence, the attachment and joint attention she needed in order to stay with me, to hold some responsibility for herself, and we did it without addressing it explicitly in a program.

That still boggles my mind sometimes. When our behavioral program fell apart, we were introduced to the concept of interdependence, what it is, why it is important, how to grow it in the order it happens in typical development.

The same experience and practice, the same skill that the child needs in order to stay with Mom until she is ready to leave is the same skill he needs to stay with his class at school. It's the basis for collaboration in the workplace. (One of IDEA's objectives is future employment. Shouldn't interdependence be a focus in special education? It should be. But it is not.)

And watching the mom and researcher rush to the bank of elevators to grab the boy before he can descend without them reminds me of something I read about attachment quite a few years ago.

It is worth sharing again:

from "Hold on to Your Kids WHY PARENTS NEED TO MATTER MORE THAN PEERS" by Gordon Neufeld, PhD and Gabor Mate' MD.

From page 65: "When the child experiences his need for proximity in physical terms -- as very young children do -- attachment serves as an invisible leash." ...

"For the most part, however, this attachment programming gives us great freedom. Instead of having to keep our eye on the child continuously, we can afford to take the lead and trust in his instincts to make him follow." ...

from page 66:

"The child's instincts to keep close to us can get in our way and frustrate us. We do not welcome the work of attachment when it is separation we crave, whether for purposes of work, school, s*x, sanity, or sleep. Our society is so topsy-turvy that we may actually come to value the child's willingness to separate more than her instincts for closeness. Unfortunately, we cannot have it both ways. Parents whose young children are not properly attached face a nightmare scenario just keeping the child in plain sight. We should be thankful for the assistance attachment provides in holding our children close. If we had to do all the work, we would never be able to get on with the sundry other duties that parenting involves. We need to learn to parent in harmony with this design rather than fight against it."

# # #

another excerpt:

"The desire for sameness with important attachment figures leads to some of a child's most significant and spontaneous learning experiences, even though closeness, not learning, is the underlying motivation. Such learning occurs without either the parent having much conscious intent of teaching or the child of studying. In the absence of attachment, the learning is labored and the teaching forced. Think of the work that would be involved if each word the child acquired had to be deliberately taught by the parent, each behavior consciously shaped, each attitude intentionally inculcated. The burden of parenting would be overwhelming. Attachment accomplishes these tasks automatically, with relatively little effort required from either parent or child. Attachment provides power-assisted learning--how delightful it is, many people have found, to study a new language when in love with the charming instructor! Whether we know it or not, as parents and teachers we rely heavily on attachment to make models out of us."

page 67 of Hold On to Your Kids, Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers, by Gordon Neufeld, PhD and Gabor Mate' MD

Interdependence (and attachment) are so important. Too often, in autism intervention, we sacrifice interdependence on the altar of independence. And we don't have to do that. Nor should we.

If you are a parent in the middle of heavy-duty autism intervention, don't forget the non-verbal foundations of attachment, interdependence and joint attention first, the way they occur in typical development.

My two cents worth.

Joint Attention in Children

If you are studying joint attention in terms of autism intervention, here is a nice blog post about joint attention with some how-to ideas.

I have a note of caution of my own to add:

We made the mistake of checking off "pointing" on the ABLLS when we taught
pointing as a one-sided mand to request an item. Pointing is so much more than a
mand. Pointing is part of rich non-verbal interaction and joint attention.
Please don't make the mistake of teaching pointing as simply a mand and checking
it off your to-teach list.

Automation

I am tired, tired of having to think so much, tired of not being able to put my brain / mind on "automatic".

I have to think and concentrate multiple times every day about information that should be automatic, and it is not automatic because we are so new here. Getting around town requires thinking and concentration. Remembering what each grocery store carries in terms of GFCF food takes a lot of mental space and time- none of it is automatic yet.

Getting info from the "I have to concentrate on it to remember it and apply it" part of my brain to the "automatic" part of my brain takes me many experiences over time. The process is sometimes exhausting and feels defeating.

I celebrate little victories when I do instinctively accomplish something now that wasn't automatic three months ago when the move was newer.

I want my girl to grow and develop in a way that things that are automatic for us are automatic for her. I don't want her having to remember a bunch of social skills rules to consciously think about to apply. I want to give her opportunities to experience what we experience and feel them from the inside out. I don't want her memorizing routines. I want her to be able to get herself dressed and ready, to warm up food, to make a meal, to do laundry etc without memorizing a task list every time.

It's another important reminder about how I want to approach autism intervention -- and WHY.

Theory of Mind, Context and Past Experience

I have gotten another close-up look at an important piece of the core deficits of autism.

Individuals who are on the autism spectrum are often described as having deficits in Theory of Mind.

In the early days of my child's autism diagnosis, I heard the term "theory of mind" often. No one explained how theory of mind develops until many years into the diagnosis (thank you, Dr Gutstein!). Instead the whole idea about how to acquire theory of mind was mysterious to me, and sometimes I imagined a fantastical theory of mind fairy who comes to the house and bestows it upon children in the middle of the night.

Dr Gustein (of RDI®) taught me about theory of mind, although he calls it by another name: joint attention. Joint attention develops in typical children in stages, and it made sense to him that we can go back to the beginning and grow joint attention in children on the autism spectrum if we go in the order that joint attention develops in typically developing children. (And yes, he's right, it works.)

Part of my education as a parent involved learning about all the pieces of non-verbal joint attention to help my child experience as a foundation to the verbal pieces.

Some aspects of non-verbal communication are really obvious to me. Gestures. Facial expressions. Pitch/tone of the voice. Sounds. Eye gaze.

Some aspects of non-verbal communication are not so obvious.

Context and past experience are on that list of aspects of non-verbal communication. Context? Past experience? What does that even mean? Yes, I understand that learning from mistakes allows us to make course corrections for now and in the future. But I didn't grasp the concepts the way I do now that we have moved across the country.

Since the move, I seem to spend a lot of time being frustrated because I have no context and past experience with anything in our new location. They don't DO things here they way we DID things 'back home' in our former location. I have made the mistake of assuming something was pretty much the same here as it was there and wound up scrambling to repair the breakdown in meaning. I am unable to perspective take effectively here because I am so new to the way they do things here.

None of the breakdowns are showstopping, but they are frustrating.

I'll give you a couple of examples.

At my son's honors day, I sat in the bleachers of the gymnasium. At our former location, the folding chairs on the gym floor were reserved for the guests of honor, the students. Not here. I saw parents taking the folding chairs on the floor. I figured out my misunderstanding (breakdown) and moved to the folding chairs (repair).

Eldest received info about freshman orientation that listed three days of orientation. We did not know whether to choose one day or if the students are expected to attend all three days. Since one of the days overlapped a marching band rehearsal, I deduced that the three days would be the same and that the students were to choose one day. WRONG. A neighbor with older children knew from past experience that past orientations were six hours long on one day. She phoned the school to ask if her freshmen were to attend all three days. Yes, they are supposed to attend all three days. We got a call from a student in the neighborhood who wanted to know if my girl wanted to go together and we didn't know my girl was supposed to be up and getting ready. That misunderstanding (breakdown) was more stressful, but still easy to adjust to (repair).

I keep experiencing misunderstandings because I have no context or past experience here and, honestly, the repetitive misunderstandings are sooooooooooo dysregulating! I feel knocked off balance a lot, I feel I am put into a position to simply react to events around me instead of responding thoughtfully, and I spend (waste) a lot of time trying to guess different meanings to figure things out ahead of time in order to try to avoid misunderstandings, and still have to navigate and repair a lot of them. And I am competent at recognizing breakdowns in meaning and repairing them! Imagine the frustration of an individual on the autism spectrum who is not competent at meaning making, breakdown, and repair! (I better understand the craving for repetitive behavior and the need for sameness, too.)

Since the move, I see more clearly the importance of context and past experience in theory of mind and joint attention. I also see more clearly the importance of recognizing breakdowns and being an active participant in your own repairs, and not only in a remediation program addressing the core deficits of autism, but also with our typical children.

I look forward to the time when new events for us are in the minority and we are experiencing more familiar events where we are able to use past experience and context more effectively. In the meantime, we'll keep rolling with the change and uncertainty of new schools and routines. ;)

Regulation baby steps

My 'Rella is at camp again this week, a 9 am - 3 pm camp for children with special needs. She has enjoyed herself. One day last week she got into the car with me and exclaimed, "This is the best day of my whole life!"

Yesterday and today, she resisted going to camp. I struggled a little to convince her to get dressed, to get in the car, and once we were at the camp venue, to get out of the car and go inside. (She did get dressed, get in the car, etc, but she was protesting the entire time, and not very nice about it.)

Today, her resistance was worse than yesterday. She was really drawn to her restrictive interests (Wii and an animated movie).

Sidebar: I remembered midday that we caught her with gluten and casein at my mom and dad's, Saturday. Dietary infractions show up in her behavior several days later, and her resistance to leave her stims could be related to Ritz crackers and M&Ms from Saturday. (I'll watch for eczema on Thursday - I usually see the eczema on the fifth day.)

I'm better at staying calm through her dysregulation, although it dysregulates me, too. I know I need to stay calm and regulated so that she can feed off of my regulation and calmness. Co-regulating. Dr Gutstein always said it is co-regulation and co-control are the training wheels for self-regulation and self-control.

Thank goodness for the wonderful camp staff. They took a protesting 'Rella back to her classroom (her body and actions were participating, but her mouth was protesting). I left and waited for the phone call to come get her. Yes, I was dysregulated. Her upset can really knock me off balance. I have to work on that.

After the staff member walked her to the classroom, I talked to the other staff members about her competence. I don't want to leave her in a situation where she feels incompetent to deal with her own dysregulation. She is beginning to handle it herself, something that is a joy to watch. I also don't want to reinforce the idea that she gets to escape when she feels incompetent, either.

After I headed home, I learned that one of the staff had a talk with 'Rella, asking her if she would try one hour of camp and if she still wanted to go home, they'd call me to come get her. "Deal," she told the counselor, and she offered her hand to shake on it. And she stayed all day and had a great day!

Hooray!

Healing Autism Naturally by Becky Cash

Autism mom Becky Cash's new book, "Healing Autism Naturally" ($15.95) is a book about Cash's journey with several children who were very sick that happens to include children who are on the autism spectrum.

Why did she write a book?

"'I think I'm going to put my daughter on a probiotic,' I said. I don't know what kind of reaction I was expecting.

'Oh, I could have told you to do that,' he said.

After that, I went to my father, the guy who had worked for the Food and Drug Administration as a food qlaity tester, among other things, and said, 'I'm taking a good probiotic, and I started Faustina on a good probiotic, and she's doing a lot better.'

Do you know what he said? The same thing. 'Oh! I could have told you to do that.'

Now, you have to understand that my daghter had been screaming in pain for months.

So to have my pediatrician and my dad tell me that they could have told me about probiotics and didn't? To know that there was something that wasn't a guaranteed solution but wasn't a medication that we could have tried?

That was a defining moment for me. That was the moment I realized that I had to take control of my families health."

Becky Cash wrote this book for parents like her, for parents who didn't know, whose doctors didn't tell them, and about much more than probiotics.

If you have a child with developmental delays, with digestive problems, celiac sprue, diabetes, autoimmune issues, you'll related to something in this book. No, it's not an indepth guide, yet it is a decent introduction into how to approach and intervene for children with issues and challenges.

I relate to Cash's story in many ways. I've seen my daughter's regulation, health and general functioning improve with the right supplements (based upon labwork under the supervision of a doctor, not on guessing - I always recommend working with a doctor).

I have a couple of issues with the book. One is that my own experience is quite different from Cash's. She saw success with a behavioral approach and she covers it more extensively in her book, and she created a consulting business around it. A behavioral approach for us did everything the professionals promised it would not - it created a robotic, prompt dependent, more autistic little girl. She was rigid and weird and could not interact, although we gave her lots and lots of words. (She learned everything we taught her, actually. We just taught her out of developmental order.) We have been intervening for almost seven years with RDI(r), undoing, unraveling three-plus years of damage by ABA. (Part of our story is here.) Cash mentions RDI(r) as a social intervention and describes it briefly, but not enough to do it justice. My advice, from my mistakes and my journey: If you are trying to establish a game plan for your child who is on the autism spectrum, take a hard look at RDI(r) as your primary intervention.

The other is a smaller issue and that sometimes the book feels a little bit like a Shaklee commercial.

My favorite chapter, one I wish I'd read early in our journey, is chapter seven, ASD and Your Family.

If you are looking outside of mainstream medicine for what, exactly, is involved in a "biomedical" approach to treating autism, Healing Autism Naturally is a good primer for explaining the basics. The 226 page paperback is easy to read; Cash's writing style is warm and welcoming and she shares a lot of her own journey with her readers. If you've been on the pathway a while, you may have read more in-depth books than this one, although if you're like me, you may enjoy reading the story of another mom. We have a lot in common.

I was given a review copy of Healing Autism Naturally. I received no financial compensation for the review and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Reflections on Exhilaration

Li'l Bit's interest in playing with a group of kids at the ball park last night is new. (Post w/ photos here.)

She needs lots and lots and lots of those little successful (competent) moments like that. She needs practice.

We've given her practice with all the foundations she needs to be competent in interactions like the ones that happened last night, that are largely nonverbal.

By giving her experience and practice - without directions or prompts - by using ourselves differently, by using ourselves in ways that allow her to be an active participant with us, by slowing down, using fewer words and less "talk", and allowing her time to process and to move her body into positions to coordinate with ours, to allow her the time she needs to feel herself taking an action, to turn her own head, to shift her own gaze, to reach, to move into place, etc etc etc, she was able to very naturally position herself for that "volleyball" game and for the "hot potato" type game they played next.

No, she's not ready for 30-40 pre-teens at the community pool (I was quite down that night ) but she did great in a quiet setting at the ballpark w/ up to 7 or 8 other kids.

Little glimpses of progress keep me going. I pray for more opportunities for her to practice competence and grow.

PS: Now may be the time I need to locate "The Games Bible" and find some ideas. I bought the games book at a bookstore when it was closing and got a good deal on it. Of course, it is in a box, somewhere, a victim of our recent move.

The Process of Shaping

Charlotte Mason's teaching and philosophy about education is a strong influence on many homeschoolers today. The more I learn (thanks, in a big part to Tammy Glaser) the more I see Mason's words lining up with what I know about development and about autism remediation from a developmental approach.

From Simply Charlotte Mason dot com, an article on the process of shaping, "I am, I can, I ought, I will":

go HERE

Charlotte Mason and Developmental vs Behavioral Autism Intervention

I watched some of Autism One from home via Ustream last week. I watched most of Dr Partington's presentation on Verbal Behavior out of curiosity and with some hope that he understands development better than he did 10 years ago when we were being misled directed by behaviorists following his protocol. I was disappointed.

The overwhelming error that grabs me is a foundational one. Dr. Partington implies that joint attention is a category on a list that includes expressive and receptive spoken language.

His implication, from what I've learned via RDI(r), is incorrect.

Expressive and receptive language fall UNDER a broader umbrella of joint attention, and joint attention grows in distinct developmental steps/stages. The predecessor to verbal behavior is NONverbal behavior, and NONverbal behavior involves early stages of joint attention.

Thanks to verbal behavior, we programed our daughter with hundreds of words. She could label and mand and answer questions but was not interactive verbally OR non-verbally. We completely missed joint attention when we addressed it as just another category within a verbal behavior approach. I know we are not the only ones.

Our switch to a developmental approach had us putting stages of joint attention front and center with communication (real communication, not limited to the verbal behaviors of labeling, manding, and answering questions) a goal. We learned to use ourselves in new ways that gave our girl experience and practice with people. Interacting. First at non-verbal levels.

A switch to a developmental approach made all the difference. I think had we used a developmental approach all along, we'd have had no need for verbal behavior. Words and talk would have happened naturally and in context.

Blogger Tammy Glaser thinks so, too. She dissected Dr Partington's lecture from both Charlotte Mason and RDI(r) approaches. Go HERE to read her thoughts.

Autism One Simple Strategies for Improving Information Processing in ASD

free
simple
strategies
you
can
use
right now
at home.

this
advice,
this
expertise
has
made
all
the
difference
at
my
house.

Dr. Nicole Beurkens

Autism One
Simple Strategies for Improving Information Processing in ASD

Role-Modeling vs Prompting-&-Reinforcing

I've had modeling on my mind. Role-modeling. There's great power in it, you guys.

I am a Southerner by birth. If you've ever spoken with me, you know I carry quite a twang. My college voice and diction teacher taught me that I have a Southern dialect. I also speak and translate Left Coast and Midwest dialects of the United States.

I have used the term, "y'all" most of my life. After several years of living in the Midwest, though, I heard myself dropping "y'all" and saying, "you guys" in place of it. The first few times, I looked around to see who said "you guys". Surely it did not come from my mouth. I do not say "you guys". I say "y'all".

How did this switch in my vernacular happen? Shocking as it may be, it happened outside of my will and effort.

No one prompted or reinforced "you guys".

At the same time, I was removed from everyone and anyone who used "y'all".

And, you guys, slowly but surely, all that role-modeling around me affected a change in me.

I remember little moments in our RDI(r) journey after years of behavioral therapy. We were told (nicely) to shut up, to turn off all the talking and prompting, and to communicate richly in other ways. Slow down to allow her to respond, to take her own physical, non-verbal action, in interactions with me.

We videotaped quite a bit of interaction at the time, watching the tapes, learning from them, seeing where I went too fast, where I didn't allow her the opportunity to be active with me, where I did.

And, in reviewing the tapes, I remember seeing my girl gesturing with her "talk". She wanted "that one". "Over there." And I had to follow her gesture. She began using facial expressions and using the direction of her face and head to communicate alongside her words. And she did all of that without our directly teaching her by prompting and rewarding her. I was astounded.

Flashback: When she was two, we taught her to point as a mand. First she pointed to her juice to request it, then we paired pointing with the "j" sound, and eventually, we shaped that into, "juice please" and "I want juice please". And we checked the box for pointing on the ABLLS. Pointing. check.

But pointing isn't simply a mand. It's a piece of rich joint attention. And we missed that.

And I believed that she could not learn anything that we did not directly teach her via the behavioral technique of prompting and rewarding.

I was wrong.

Role-modeling works, you guys.

PS: We're among people who use "y'all" now. I wonder how long it will take for us to make the switch to "y'all" with all the role-modeling around us? I predict that I will be the first one we'll hear come out with "y'all" instead of "you guys". ;) My children have known nothing but "you guys". It will be funny to hear them make the switch, and I believe it will happen at some point.

What's Eating Your Child?

I requested this book to review because I wanted to share it with you. Kelly Dorfman has been instrumental in teaching me how to be a detective with my daughter's ups and downs. I was fortunate to attend several presentations when different organizations brought Dorfman to workshops and conferences near me. (Somewhere, among all the boxes as we are in various stages of unpacking, is a Dorfman presentation on disc on the topic of the relationship between sensory issues and nutrition.) I even know one family (in real life) who consulted with Dorfman for their child and were impressed with her knowledge.

This is one VIR. Very Important Resource.

"What's Eating Your Child?" (with the longest subtitle I've ever seen, "The Hidden Connections Between Food and Childhood Ailments: Anxiety, Recurrent Ear Infections, Stomachaches, Picky Eating, Rashes, ADHD, and More. And What Every Parent Can Do About It") gives parents, and perhaps teachers, doctors, and other professionals, too, an education into what illnesses and behaviors can sometimes be food and nutrition related.

Shortly before my daughter's second birthday, I had the courage to peek diagnostic criteria for autism in the DSM-IV, and realized in just a few moments that yes, my child is on the autism spectrum. I called the early intervention coordinator in our county and asked her, "What do I do, now?" And she told me about a conference. A biomedical conference. Coming in less than a fortnight. And I went. And between the tears (I cried a lot during that two days), I heard people, not just the professionals who were presenting that weekend, but also parents, describe the differences in their children when diets were changed, when nutrition was addressed, when dyes, preservatives, gluten, dairy were removed, when probiotics were given. I'd never even heard of a lot of this stuff.

Red, flaming cheeks, a sign of yeast in the gut? What? Head banging a sign of a calcium deficiency? Excessive ear wax = a possible need for essential fatty acids? (What's an essential fatty acid?) There seemed to be a never ending list of often familiar symptoms and what might be causing them. I thought these people were nuts, but I heard the same stories over and over from different people, parents who seemed really serious (and not nutty otherwise).

Slowly, I realized that we (society) are often medicating children when we need to look at their nutrition and make changes there, first. (I'm not saying meds aren't necessary; sometimes they absolutely are.)

When I became a believer in what I originally thought were nutty theories, when I began to make connections between foods and my daughter's behavior, I wanted a book, a guide, a reference. (Part of our experience is described here.) Outside of what I thought was a rather old book by Doris Rapp, MD about allergies (which is quite good), there wasn't one.

Now there is.

Dorfman walks the reader through the process of being a nutrition detective in What's Eating Your Child?. She uses case studies from her own practice to describe challenges and behaviors in children, and to illustrate her thinking process. She tackles an interesting mix of challengings, including ADD/ADHD, chicken skin, allergies, hives, constipation, diarrhea, lack of growth, tummy aches, spitting up, picky eaters, insomnia, anxiety, tantrums and meltdowns, acid reflux, learning disabilities, speech delays, depression, eczema, a bi-polar misdiagnosis, ear infections, and worriers.

Check it out for yourself: Chapter one is here. A bonus chapter that did not make it into the book is here. Mrs. Dorfman blogs here. Her web site is here. Some of her articles are here.

What's Eating Your Child? is a 334 page paperback priced at $13.95 and is published by Workman Publishing.

If I had the funds or a magic wand, I'd put this one in the pediatrician's lobby, in the gasteroenterologist's waiting room, in early intervention libraries, in autism clinics, in ASA chapter offices, Down Syndrome groups, etc., across the country. I wish I'd had it to give my daughter's teachers and school staff when she was in school and to her ABA staff when we did that. I often felt like I was swimming against a current at school and with behaviorsts, when I was the only parent at school who was making dietary changes and when the behaviorists wouldn't look at anything that didn't have the right kind of scientific study behind it. Some of you are going to want this one to share with your parents and in-laws (sometimes they're the last ones to join families in their efforts to help children).

This one is another library must-have. Parents, teachers, professionals who work with kids need easy access to this resource.

Workman Publishing sent me a review copy of "What's Eating Your Child?". I am not paid for this review, I do not benefit should you purchase a copy based upon this blog post, and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Point To Happy

Workman Publishing sent me an adorable book to kick off Autism Awareness Month: point to happy, by Miriam Smith and Afton Fraser, with photographs by Margo Smithwick.

point to happy is a book for kids on the autism spectrum, a sturdy hardback with weighty pages inside. Priced at $19.99, each book comes with a pointer for pointing, of course, which adds an element of active participation to the story.

I expected a book about just emotions, but point to happy covers concepts like hungry and thirsty, colors, nouns, some actions, and two sequence strips, one showing a morning routine an one showing a bedtime routine. There are blank pages for families to personalize, too.

The book is intended, I think, for little kids, younger than my 11 year old who is on the autism spectrum, and yes, we would have really used this book when she was younger and learning concepts (back when we thought behavioral approaches would be our ticket out of autism).

If you've got a little one, and you're looking for ways to work on interaction with some concepts, this book is well done, with simple, straightforward pictures, a few words, and that's it. Children on the autism spectrum do not need unnecessary distractions, and the authors of this book clearly know that.

I had my girl read this book with me last night when it arrived; she has outgrown it. HOWEVER, I see another really important use for it. I want her to read it to/with her younger cousins, to teach them some of the concepts, body parts, words in the book. We will use it to give her more experience sharing attention, shifting attention, working at a 'good enough' pace for her younger cousins, keeping their attention, collaborating with them, dealing with when meaning breaks down, making repairs. She can play teacher, and this book is the perfect background activity for practice and experience with those social pieces. The pointer makes it especially interactive for playing teacher; it helps to spotlight a clear role for her in terms of active participation with another child.

Take a peek inside the book HERE. I think you'll like it, too.

Workman sent me a review copy of "point to happy". I am not paid for this review and am not obligated to provide a positive review.