Special education teachers can be taught to use applied behavior analysis (ABA) techniques in the classroom.
Many teachers have very little training on evidence-based practices for children with autism. This paper describes a model program that was designed to train current teachers of children with autism. The program was intense and lasted for five days in the summer. All but one of the nine teachers in the study learned the teaching methods taught in the training. The teachers were followed in the classroom for up to six months to see if they used their training.
Twitter
Facebook
By Email
RSS Feed
Please comment on this autism topic.
Camp Leaps and Bounds
Dec 21, 2009 by AnonymousMy son went to the summer camp, and LOVED it. He really made great progress in a number of areas, and had fun too! He's enrolled in winter camp, and very excited to start next week.
A magical vacation...
Aug 20, 2009 by AnonymousOkay. Here goes.
We had a wonderful vacation. I can only say that now, a few days later, after I’ve been given time to ponder and reflect. I wrote a blog on the airplane home, but after reading it now a few days later, I think it was a little harsh so I’m doing a re-write. I liken it to childbirth. After the baby is out and you’re thrilled to be a parent, you don’t really remember the agony of it all. You even start thinking about when you’ll have another one.
To be honest, most of the trip was exhausting to us. We learned a lot, which is a good thing. We’ll do things a bit differently next time, whenever that turns out to be. We think the kids had a great time; at least they’re saying that they did now. They were not very well-behaved for a large portion of the vacation. In fact, Donald Duck himself had to break up a fight between Thomas and Hayley at Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary Resort. We were suitably mortified, I can assure you. We were, needless to say, disappointed in the kids and their behavior. We had hoped that they would be magically wonderful, since every Disney employee we ran into wished us a “magical” day. Even when I called the front desk for extra towels, I was wished a “magical” evening. I should have asked for “magical” towels.
There were two main pieces of advice that we received prior to our vacation that we should not have taken as gospel truth. The first was that autistic children can improve dramatically (magically!) while at Disney World. I really thought that this would happen for Thomas, since he is one of those kids who requires more stimulation than other kids. And Disney World is sensory overload extraordinaire. I’ll just say that Thomas has never acted more autistic in his life. I was quite disappointed. I’m not saying that I thought we’d spend ten days (too long, by the way, but more on that later) in Disney World and come home with a cured boy, but I at least thought that he might be better while on vacation. He was worse. And his badness rubbed off on his sister. Hayley copped an attitude most of the time which I’m sure has nothing to do with the fact that every Disney employee who crossed her path called her “princess.” I was called princess a couple times, but I know I’m not a princess. Trust me, I know. For Hayley, the jury in her brain is still out.
The second thing that we were told to do over and over again by everybody we talked to was to take a break in the middle of the day. Go back to the room, go swimming, take a nap, have a snack, re-charge the old batteries and then go back to the parks in the evening, fresh as daisies. Here’s what happened to us: We got on the bus to go back to the hotel, and during the bus ride the kids fell asleep. We made the trek back to the hotel room where the kids, having rested quite enough on the bus, would be bouncing off the walls just as Jonathan and I wanted to curl up and take a nap. Ha! So we maybe would take them swimming or watch cartoons for a while and then head out again. So this way, the kids were great for the rest of the day but Jonathan and I were completely frazzled and every little thing the kids did wrong set us off. The grown-ups were the cranky ones by day’s end. So some of the best days we had were ones where we went all day long, taking for our “break” a sit-down meal for lunch.
Despite our “go all day long” routine, I managed to pack on twelve pounds! Yes, despite walking around in the hot and humid Florida sun, sometimes toting a child on my back, I managed to gain several pounds over the course of the ten days. I can sum it up in two words: brownie sundaes. We did the basic Disney Dining plan which included one snack, one “quick-service” (fast food) meal and one sit-down table-service meal per person per day. Both the quick-service and the sit-down meal included a dessert for adults. Well, what are you supposed to do but order the dessert and scarf it down? We’d already paid for it! Next time, we think we’ll skip the dining plan, although it was very nice not to have to budget for food which can be a very inexact science. The food was all paid for before we left so that any extra money we brought could be used for incidentals and suchlike. We actually spent very little cash because we didn’t have to pay for food while we were there.
Again, in hindsight, it was a wonderful vacation but not without its ups and downs. We thought the kids would be better than they were. At the end of the trip, we decided that the kids were still a little too young to truly appreciate what they were enjoying. I don’t mean that we expected them to sit us down, look us in the eyes and say, “Mom, Dad, we know just how great an undertaking this has been for you, we understand the cost involved and we truly appreciate everything you’re doing for us. We will always treasure this time with you in our memories.” I don’t think I’ve even said that to my own parents now, who took us all to Disney World when I was in eighth grade. I can say that I have a huge appreciation for them having done it, and I understand what kind of planning and budgeting went into it.
Also, as I hinted at before, ten days was just straight-up too long. Next time, we’ll stay for maybe a week and get better accommodations. The All-Star Movies Resort was fine, but it was clear that it was Disney’s version of the nosebleed section given its proximity to the parks and the clientele. It was rather noisy and we dealt with rude people a lot. Really, at Disney in general, it’s every family for themselves, and those who realize this sooner rather than later will have a better time in general. Jonathan and I, being pushovers, care about other people’s feelings and were shocked at some of the rudeness we witnessed.
So next time – this hypothetical “next time” – we’d stay for shorter in a better hotel, rent a car so that we weren’t constantly at the mercy of the Disney Bus System and ditch the dining plan so that we could eat (less) outside the World and probably spend less. Everything at Disney is so expensive! I read that Disney will ride a money horse until it drops and boy, was that ever true! Plus, if you do the Dining Plan, Disney’s got you – all your money and you’re never leaving the parks until they shuffle you onto the bus to the airport and drop-kick your luggage to its final destination, and they don’t really care where that might happen to be. Our bags did show up, but somewhat smashed.
So that was our trip. If you have any questions, let me know. Now, we gear up for school! Hayley had her kindergarten assessment with Mrs. H. yesterday and she did a swell job! Pre-school really paid off in that respect. After her little interview, we went and visited Thomas’ new classroom and saw his teacher again. After seeing his teacher and class again, Thomas is much more…okay…with going to first grade. Plus, I told him that I’d make him cold pizza to eat for lunch. So that was great! I feel like he’ll be okay now and that he understands he’ll be at school all day and eat lunch with his friends. He’ll get a recess which will really help him out and Mrs. H. said that he will have sensory breaks in her classroom a couple of times per day or as needed. Thomas was pleased to hear that. When we were in his new classroom, he noticed many similarities between his kindergarten room and the first grade room which made him very happy. There was a chart on the wall for the weather, lots of numbers to count the days and the old “green-yellow-red light” cards on the wall to track everyone’s behavior.
As we walked home from school, I asked him again how he felt about it. I said, “So how do you feel about first grade now? Do you think you’ll like it?” He replied, “I think it’ll be great!” I really, REALLY hope he means it! School starts next Wednesday.
I can’t wait, for my own sake. It’s been one hell of a rough summer.
Just around the bend...
Jul 26, 2009 by AnonymousSummer is half over and as with people nationwide concerns regarding bugdet cuts to services, inavailability of services that are supportive of our children on the spectrum and the dangers in the community that became more apparent as they get older abound. While I am sure parents overall have concerns about their children being at risk in their community this fear is exacerbated greatly when your child is often oblivious to these dangers because of social skill and comprehension deficits. In the past few weeks I have run into two friends whose teenage sons, once a part of a special needs support group which has fallen prey to the budgetary axe, both found themselves under arrest. I could debate the circumstances but suffice it to say that this is every mothers nightmare. So what do we do when the mainstream only hear about early intervention. It is as if by some misfortune parents who have not solved this exhaustive puzzle of advocating and searching for appropriate services and therapies simply no longer exist once their child falls out of that window the public eye envisions of a child on the spectrum. Beautiful doe eyed 2, 3, 4 and 5 year olds. What happens when they become 12, 13,16, 19? when insurance companies want to deem their progress insufficient and therefore not medicallly necessary? When schools have decided thier capabilities long before they max out at age 22? When they have too often become prey for others willing to exploit their disability? I lose sleep over the thought that my son will one day find himself in a compromising situation because of his inabiility to discern dangers around him, or people who would use him, hurt him.... So that is my thought for the week. How do you as educators, clinicians and parents affect change in the lives of our preteens and teens and adults with ASD so that mothers like me will not live this nightmare?
Thank goodness THAT'S over!
Jul 14, 2009 by AnonymousBastille Day. Also, visit-the-neurologist-day. Woo-hoo.
I do not understand what it is about these children that they absolutely CANNOT shut their little mouths for FIVE MINUTES while I talk to the neurologist. They were good and well-behaved until she walked in the room and that was it! They were acting like they do when I’m on the phone: like I’m standing around, doing nothing, waiting only for them to make some request of me. I broke it down, and every minute I get to spend in this doctor’s office costs $25. I had to ask her to repeat herself more than once because the kids were acting like we were at the park instead of the doctor. Then, after I finished my disjointed and frequently interrupted conversation with her, she dropped a bomb: She wanted Thomas to have blood drawn to check his liver and kidney function, and also a CBC.
I have lost count over the past few days of how many times I have told Thomas that there would be NO SHOTS at the doctor. Technically, I was right; there were no shots. But somehow, Thomas didn’t see it that way. The doctor told us that we could just come back tomorrow or the next day so that we had time to prepare Thomas, but this hospital is a good hour away (on two expressways that are both under construction) and I decided to just bite the bullet and get the blood drawn today. What jolly fun we had! Actually, the phlebotomists thought the kids were both hilarious. Thomas sat on my lap and screamed his head off while Hayley held her hands over her ears and said, “Mommy, this is CWAZY!” When they took the needle out and slapped a bandage on his arm, they offered him stickers and he said, “But I wasn’t well-behaved! I don’t deserve stickers!” We left the lab as both techs were doubled-over laughing.
Anyway, Thomas did a lot better with the neurologist’s exercises than he did last time. He successfully completed almost all of the things she wanted him to do which is a great improvement. We decided together that he should try an increased dose of Strattera, moving him up to 18 mg from 10 mg. We’re going to stick with the current dosage of Clonidine because he hasn’t gained any weight since his last appointment, which is good. A side-effect of Strattera is weight gain, I guess.
I just wish they would behave at this doctor’s office. No matter how I threaten them or try to coax them or cajole them beforehand, NOTHING works and they’re always a pain. I wish I could see this doctor without Thomas (or Hayley) having to be with me. I guess it doesn’t work that way.
In my last blog I mentioned that I was trying to get Thomas to do some writing over the summer. We did have a successful “writer’s workshop” about a week ago. We all sat down and drew a picture and then decided what to write about it. It took a lot of waiting and asking pretty-please to get Thomas to sit down and do the thing, but once he sat down he drew a nice picture of several cars on a street and then wrote – mostly by himself! – “there are 5 people in the cars.” I was so proud of him that I wanted to scan the paper into my computer and e-mail it to his teacher. In the end, I decided to leave her alone and let her have her summer. I was so tickled that Thomas even seemed to be happy with the whole thing because of my favorable reaction. We’ll try again soon. It’s just nice to know that Thomas hasn’t forgotten how to read and write since school got out. Actually, he did a much better job than he used to do in school every day, writing most of the letters and sounding out most of the words himself.
While at the doctor, we got her to sign a letter I drafted for anybody at Disney World who might want to see it. It outlined the reasons why Thomas can’t be expected to stand in long lines or be around people for too long. Really, the reason we’re going to get the Guest Assistance Card for Thomas is not for his own comfort or our sanity. It’s more for the comfort and sanity of innocent people who might be standing near us. I shudder to think of what might happen if we encounter metal queuing-area fences. If he’s got anything in his hands to whack against the metal, there will be no survivors. Anybody in line with us will be doomed. In fact, I’ve decided that’s a good thing to say if there are any rude looks or inconsiderate comments from any other patrons in line while we move modestly up to the front. “Trust me buddy, you don’t WANT to wait in line next to this kid! Wanna read the letter from his neurologist?” I’m sure everyone will be perfectly courteous and understanding.
We’re still swimming as often as we can and trying to fill up the kid’s summer days with fun activities, but it’s hard. The weather (I know, again about the weather!) has not been consistently warm or sunny, or I have to work that evening or we have a doctor’s appointment…it’s always something. We should (God willing) be done with doctors until January, so that’s good. Well, except for the pediatrician. Hayley had a check-up last week (along with a Hepatitis A booster for Thomas…I’ve never heard so much screeching in my life) and absolutely REFUSED to pee in a cup, so we’ve got to give them a sample sometime.
I’m not fooling anyone, least of all myself. It’s never going to get done, and I’m not making a special trip to the doctor with Hayley’s urine so they can dip a stick in it and tell us that all’s well.