Autism Therapy: writing

definition of writing: not yet defined.

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Using Computer-Presented Social Stories and Video Models to Increase the Social Communication Skills of Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders
Journal of Positive Behavior Intervention, by Sansosti, FJ, and Powell_Smith KA, published in 2008, summarized Sep 30, 2008

There appears to be a role for Social Stories and video models woven together into a social skills therapy program in the schools.

The purpose of this study was to test a method of teaching social skills at school to children with high functioning autism. The study used the computer to present Social Stories and video models. All three boys (6-10 years old) in the study improved their social skills so much that their social skills were almost at the same level as their peer's social skills. The teachers liked the social skills treatment program. Writing good Social Stories requires some training and practice, however, and the authors suggest that schools offer training to staff in how to write Social Stories.


Social Skills Interventions for Children with Autism
Psychology in the Schools, by Scattone, D., published in 2007, summarized Nov 19, 2007

Teachers need to teach children with autism social skills as well as reading, writing, and math.

People with autism often lack social skills. Research shows that social skills can be learned and therefore social skills therapy can help children with autism. Therefore, social skills should be on the Individual Education Plan (IEP). The first social skill to teach is looking at another person and making eye contact. This review article describes many types of social skills therapy.


Individualized Education Programs for Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Psychology in the Schools, by Wilczynski, SM, Menousek K., Hunter M., and Mudgal D., published in 2007, summarized Nov 14, 2007

This review article describes the skills and subskills that should be thought about when writing an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for children with autism.

Every child with special needs should have an IEP that includes everything that is required by the child, is unique for the child, and has goals that can be measured. Many children with autism need help with speech, social skills, and developing wide interests that can be shared with other children. Even though these are common issues for children with autism, the needs of each child with regards to these issues are very specific. That is why it can be hard for parents and teachers to develop IEPs for children with autism. IEPs are also hard because there are few studies that show which types of classes work best for children with autism.


Treating Autism Pharmacologically: Also Tacrine Might Improve Symptomology in Some Cases
Journal of Child Neurology, by Niederhofer, H., published in 2007, summarized Oct 26, 2007

Drugs that are used to treat Alzheimer's disease may help people with autism. In this letter to the editor, Dr. Niederhofer points out that rivastigmine, memantine, and tacrine have been mentioned as being helpful therapies for autism. He tested the effects of tacrine on three patients (average age 17) with autism. He found that tacrine only helped a little bit with symptoms of autism.

Dr. Chez answered the letter by writing that tacrine should be researched further as a treatment for autism. He notes that he has shown in his research that memantine helps patients with autism in terms of language and behavior. He believes that Alzheimer's drugs may be able to improve the quality of life for patients with autism.


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Mom Writes Book About Journey with Child’s Autism

Jun 14, 2011

Melanie Fowler, with degrees in speech pathology and special education, was still unprepared for her son’s diagnosis of autism. She and her husband Seth decided that they could help other parents “navigate” the system of schools, therapies, family interaction. Melanie wrote Look at My Eyes to help parents and to provide information for teachers. The book covers practical issues that include: finding a baby sitter, dealing with insurance companies, and having fun with your child. While Melanie wrote the bulk of the book, Seth provided insights that only a father can, and he blogs frequently on their site, www.lookatmyeyes.com. Since writing the first book, they’ve learned even more and want to share that in a second book.

Read original article: Family Crafts a Guide for Living with Autism


Teacher Uses Social Stories to Help Child with Autism Deal with Death

Dec 6, 2010

A special education teacher, was asked by a parent to help her child with autism understand the death of his grandmother. The teacher, using a program called Writing with Symbols, began a social story for the child. She included family photos and images from Google. She used simple language that the youngster would understand, "Grandma Mary Died. My Grandma Mary grew old. Grandma Mary lived a long time. She died because her heart stopped. Her breathing stopped too. Now, Grandma Mary does not feel sick. She does not hurt anymore.” An additional tool to help the child may be a visual schedule. For example, if the child sat quietly for the prescribed length of time at the funeral home, then he would get his favorite pizza. While the Internet has links to lots of tools to help parents with autism and death, the main tool is to be prepared.

Read original article: How to Explain Death to a Child with Autism


Questions to Ask for Your Child During Special Education School Meetings

Nov 30, 2010

Pamela Gross Downing, a special education teacher, provides some questions that parents should ask when reviewing school goals for their children with autism. While some school districts call the meeting “Individualized Education Program” (IEP) and others call it “Admission, Review, and Dismissal” (ARD), the objective is to get the best possible education and therapy for your child. Some parents may find it intimidating to be surrounded by school administration, therapists, and counselors. Some parents may also be hampered by limited English-speaking skills. Downing says, “For children with autism spectrum disorders, focus tightly on the communication, reading and writing goals.” She also explains that while many school districts are short on funding, it is important for your child to receive speech therapy, occupational training, and physical therapy.

Read original article: Autism: Questions to Ask During the ARD Meeting


Young Woman with Autism Writes and Facebooks to Tell Her Story

Oct 20, 2010

Ashley Florek, now 24 was diagnosed with autism at 18; in the past 10 years she has written over 900 pages of a dream-inspired book titled Voyage of a Dreamcaster. Ashley explains that her main character, Catalina, is like her, but bolder and braver. Ashley’s journey has taken her through several diagnoses as she struggled to communicate socially – elective mutism (now called selective mutism) and then high-functioning autism. Her mom, like so many parents, was persistent in helping her daughter reach her potential. Ashley graudated from college majoring in English with a concentration in writing. She and her mother both understand the need for adult services, and Ashley continues to reach out and educate folks about autism through her Facebook pages.

Read original article: Woman with Autism 'Not so Alone' Thanks to Facebook


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Please comment on this autism topic.

Responding to homeopathy

Feb 23, 2010 by Anonymous

I am  James K. Feldman, Attorney at Law, located 1115 Tall Grass Circle, Stow, Ohio 44224, telephone (330) 920-1507, personal email:  JimFriend@aol.com  I was born May 30,1938 with Asperger's and Tourette's syndormes, and was treated for these disorders with sparse success with phenothiazine and benzodiasapine drugs, megavitamin therapy and psychological counselling until December, 1996.   At that point in time I was prescribed homeopathic treatment by the Family Holistic Health Center, 556 West Portage Trail, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio 44223, telephone (330) 923-3060.  Their modality of therapy is best described at the website:  www.drugfreeasperger.com  Before starting treatment I was unable to practice law.  I had needed to drop out of the Akron Universityh Law School 9 times in 14 years before graduating in 1975, and had barely passed the bar exam by the skin of my teeth.  Since I have been treated with homeopathy, I have been able to practice successfully in this profession and I have participated in many activities in behalf of folks with autism spectrum disorder and do extensive writing on the subject.  My higly detailed case history and all material I have written is available free upon request.   Among the homeopathic remedies which I was administered in succession were Anacardium, Stramonium, Lyssin, Sulphur and Calcium carbonate.  These can be checked out on the internet by entering the name of each one of them after the word "homeopathy". 


Responding to social stories/scandanavian research has proved the "story" is needed for sexual development to occur

Feb 12, 2010 by Anonymous

 


this is exactly pure education for normal people and should be taught exactly as you are doing. I am amazed at what I read on your webpage. Education is healing allways. Now the story is a hard one for me also, I am disciplining myself to notice the story, nature, my own dreams, entertainment choices that have an into, body, and END. This is important to any story and helps us develop complete rythmic sexual cycles of response, awareness and nocturnal orgasm necessary for age appropriate behavior orientations. Thanks so much for writing and reminding us all to be aware of this area of life and those gifted to write creative stories are so needed. God bless you all there at Healing Thresholds. Kathy


Applied Behavior Analysis

Jan 18, 2010 by Anonymous

Although I don't know enough about the Sonrise system, I do know that ABA, if done correctly is the most intensive system around and gets the job done in the shortest amount of time.  We used ABA on our own son starting at age 2yrs 4mths and got him into a mainstream school at six yrs. ABA taught him speech, reading, writing and age-appropriate behavior.
VInce D'Souza


Blog from 35,000 feet

Aug 7, 2009 by Anonymous

So here we are, already above the clouds on our way to Orlando for our super-fabulous vacation! Finally, no more sleeps until we go! Jonathan and my mother-in-law are sleeping, I’m writing, Thomas is looking at the pictures that Jonathan drew for him and Hayley is probably annoying the hell out of the person in the seat in front of her. I have a hard time sleeping on airplanes because they make me nervous, so I thought I’d write.
The past few weeks with Thomas have been very difficult. He’s been hyperactive and difficult to deal with; the noises he’s been making have been driving us all nuts. He hums the theme music to “Indiana Jones” very loudly (we’re hoping to make it to the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular later today) and this kind of thing makes us quite crazy. Even Hayley has been bothered by it, which is a new thing.
Jonathan and I think that Thomas’ new erratic behavior has a lot to do with the trip which, until right now, has been coming up. He’s been trying so hard to understand and deal with this Disney World thing that he’s been acting out in other undesirable ways. Only this morning was he able to admit that he was excited about going to the airport. Hopefully, once we get on the Mickey Bus, he’ll be able to tentatively admit that he’s excited about Disney World. We got in line this morning, very early at the International Terminal because for SOME REASON, the boarding passes I printed out didn’t work for just me at the skycap. We were ushered into the elite line for security which went very smoothly, luckily. Getting everybody put back together and re-shod after that can be a pain and as a complete surprise to me, the metal E-Z Combs I had in my hair contained enough metal to set off the detector.
Jonathan went to park in long-term parking and re-joined us at the gate like clockwork and the kids got antsy waiting to board the plane, but they’ve been pretty good so far. I’ve just been told that we’re over Indianapolis and we’ll be over Valdosta, Georgia in about an hour. So we still have about two hours to go.
Jonathan and I have been saying “This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy!” like Chevy Chase in Vacation right before he goes skinny-dipping with Christie Brinkley. We still can’t believe we’re doing this! I’m up in the air right now and I can’t believe it. Now it’s in God’s hands, I guess.
Thomas has been showing more interest in some of the shows we’ll see in Disney World like the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, the Beauty and the Beast show and the Nemo show. Hopefully, his mood will only improve. Otherwise, we’re screwed. And I know that when I get home, I’ll need a vacation. This is Jonathan’s idea of a vacation: Go, go, go all day, fall into a deep and exhausted sleep at night, wake up the next day, repeat. I like beaches and Mai-Tais and a nice tawdry novel. Oh well. The kids had just better have fun, that’s all. They had better love this time and remember it for always. Now, and only recently, have I begun to understand the emotional and financial undertaking my parents went through when I was in eighth grade and they took my three sisters and me to Disney World. SIX ROUND-TRIP AIRFARES? Good God. Not to mention all of the six-day park hoppers. Hotel. Food. Yikes. So I understand now what that was all about.
I just hope that Thomas responds well to the whole thing. I hope Hayley stops whining. They fought at the airport just after we made it through security about who was going to hold my hand. I mean like, screechy, whiny fighting. Hooray. So what did I do? I bought them both a chocolate donut. And I had coffee with real cream and real sugar.
Hey, I’m on vacation!


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