Re: Yet Antother Intervention Method

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 8/18/2005 8:49:17 AM Central Standard Time,

ginam@... writes:

<<He also said that when he got " one of the difficult cases " where the child

has huge behavioral problems and was " non-verbal " , they referred the parents

to use ABA.>>

That's interesting. I'd suggest just the opposite. I've worked with several

families of kids who were getting nowhere with ABA, due to the child being so

encapsulated and hard to reach, who switched to a Son-Rise/floortime type

method with excellent results. Most were able to re-introduce a more structured

program like ABA or NACD successfully once the child was more reachable and

the " behavioral problems " subsided.

Of course the success of any program depends greatly on how it's

administered. Given my limited experience with Texas Children's (granted it was

a bit

over ten years ago), I have a hard time imagining them properly doing any sort

of

child-centered program like floortime or Son-Rise well.

I do know of four families who went through floortime training and used it

with their children. I met all four through Son-Rise, when they went on to

train in that program. The two are somewhat similar but I personally think

Son-Rise is a stronger program if you choose to go with a more playful route

that

builds on the child's interests. It's especially helpful at addressing

" behavioral " problems and building motivation, communication and interaction.

Gaylen

[Guest guest]

I have attended a workshop a couple of years ago in Houston (sponsored by

Texas Children - I think). I remember the speaker mentioning something to

the effect that the floor time methodology works great for children up to 7

years old. What about older children, I asked? His reply was to switch to

something like ABA. He also said that when he got " one of the difficult

cases " where the child has huge behavioral problems and was " non-verbal " ,

they referred the parents to use ABA. The conclusion for me was: It is not

a very comprehensive method. Furthermore, I enrolled my child when he was 3

years old at the Texas Children program called BEAP which uses the

DIR/Floortime method and had to pull him out because no one knew how to

handle him. In my opinion, there are some useful aspects to the floortime

method, a lot of which are based on the ABA principles, by the way, but

falls short of addressing negative and aggressive behaviors.

Yet Antother Intervention Method

> Good Morning,

>

> I am new to the group, did a quick search, and did not see that

> anyone has mentioned one of the intervention models that we use with

> my 3 1/2 year old, HFA son, Merced.

>

> Dr. Stanley Greenspan (www.stanleygreenspan.com) is based out of

> Washington University in the Washington, DC area. Over the

> last 20+ years he has developed, and continues to improve upon, what

> he calls the DIR/Floortime (www.icdl.com) (www.floortime.org) method

> for children with all sorts of developmental delays, language

> delays, and especially autism.

>

> The shortest way to describe it, and keep in mind this is not doing

> it the justice it deserves, the Floortime approach is a method that

> empowers families to learn a new way to play with their children,

> and by doing so, encourage functional language development.

>

> He has recently published a long term study of some boys in their

> mid-late teens who are now: creative, thoughtful, sensitive and able

> to live and react to the real world.

>

> I am in the process of trying to bring more DIR/Floortime

> facilitators to San as a way of broadening the choices

> available to families who are dealing with their child's

> challenges.

>

> In Michigan, there is a man named Dr. , who has taken

> Dr. Greenspan's method and tweaked it a bit. He has called it the

> PLAY project (www.playproject.org); it is currently in use

> throughout school districts in Michigan and scattered throughout the

> US. The most exciting part of the PLAY project is that it is so

> cost effective: around $5000 per year, vs. around $50,000 for other

> methods that may not be as effective.

>

> I would encourage everyone to please check out the links, and

> encourage your Texas community to at least try to bring these

> methods to you.

>

> Thanks for your time.

>

> PS -I was online yesterday, and I would encourage you all to check

> out Autism from the Autistic person's point of view at:

> www.aspiesforfreedom.org

> and

> http://oddsandfriends.typepad.com/askanaspie/

>

> It is really interesting to see what they have to say about 'curing'

> autism; it gave me a lot to think about as a parent.

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> Texas Autism Advocacy

> www.TexasAutismAdvocacy.org

>

> Texas Disability Network

> Calendar of Events

> www.TexasAutismAdvocacy.org

>

[Guest guest]

Gaylen,

Just wonder: what is your background? Are you a teacher? Therapist?

I have a feeling about any behavioral or cognitive approach we need to combine

to use for our kids. Actually, most of the approach based on " kind of " the same

idea. As parent, we just need to be a very emotional-sensitive, good observer

and good record-keeper, ready to adpat the " autistic " viewpoint to see this

world (this is the difficult part), good listener to help our kids.

" All the autistic kids (case) are different!!! "

Let say,

" All the kids are different!!! "

Again,

" All the people are different!!! " or " Everyone have a different Personality!!! "

or " Everyone understand and see the world in the different way!!! " .

So, be a wise helper for your kids.. open your mind, everything can works good

for your kid... keep trying...

God Bless!!!

Howin

Googahly@... wrote:

In a message dated 8/18/2005 8:49:17 AM Central Standard Time,

ginam@... writes:

<<He also said that when he got " one of the difficult cases " where the child

has huge behavioral problems and was " non-verbal " , they referred the parents

to use ABA.>>

That's interesting. I'd suggest just the opposite. I've worked with several

families of kids who were getting nowhere with ABA, due to the child being so

encapsulated and hard to reach, who switched to a Son-Rise/floortime type

method with excellent results. Most were able to re-introduce a more structured

program like ABA or NACD successfully once the child was more reachable and

the " behavioral problems " subsided.

Of course the success of any program depends greatly on how it's

administered. Given my limited experience with Texas Children's (granted it was

a bit

over ten years ago), I have a hard time imagining them properly doing any sort

of

child-centered program like floortime or Son-Rise well.

I do know of four families who went through floortime training and used it

with their children. I met all four through Son-Rise, when they went on to

train in that program. The two are somewhat similar but I personally think

Son-Rise is a stronger program if you choose to go with a more playful route

that

builds on the child's interests. It's especially helpful at addressing

" behavioral " problems and building motivation, communication and interaction.

Gaylen

[Guest guest]

Let me clarify. I was not trying to shoot down Floortime. Just relating my

experience. I don't think using exclusive ABA therapy is the only solution

either.

Re: Yet Antother Intervention Method

> In a message dated 8/18/2005 8:49:17 AM Central Standard Time,

> ginam@... writes:

> <<He also said that when he got " one of the difficult cases " where the

> child

> has huge behavioral problems and was " non-verbal " , they referred the

> parents

> to use ABA.>>

>

> That's interesting. I'd suggest just the opposite. I've worked with

> several

> families of kids who were getting nowhere with ABA, due to the child being

> so

> encapsulated and hard to reach, who switched to a Son-Rise/floortime type

> method with excellent results. Most were able to re-introduce a more

> structured

> program like ABA or NACD successfully once the child was more reachable

> and

> the " behavioral problems " subsided.

>

> Of course the success of any program depends greatly on how it's

> administered. Given my limited experience with Texas Children's (granted

> it was a bit

> over ten years ago), I have a hard time imagining them properly doing any

> sort of

> child-centered program like floortime or Son-Rise well.

>

> I do know of four families who went through floortime training and used it

> with their children. I met all four through Son-Rise, when they went on

> to

> train in that program. The two are somewhat similar but I personally

> think

> Son-Rise is a stronger program if you choose to go with a more playful

> route that

> builds on the child's interests. It's especially helpful at addressing

> " behavioral " problems and building motivation, communication and

> interaction.

> Gaylen

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 8/18/2005 11:36:54 AM Central Standard Time,

howin_chan@... writes:

<<Gaylen,

Just wonder: what is your background? Are you a teacher? Therapist?>>

Parent/therapist/consultant/teacher/etc etc. I have a 13-year-old son that

is on the spectrum that I've worked with in an intensive home therapy program

and then homeschooled from kindergarten on. I've also provided 1:1 therapy

services and in-home educational/therapy consultations to families, run social

groups, a summer camp for kids with social issues and taught some classes for

special-needs kids for the city of Plano's Recreation Department. I also

coordinate the volunteers and teams for the Plano Angel League, a special-needs

sports league. I kind of go where the wind blows me or I see a need.

Gaylen

[Guest guest]

I really really really wish the NIH would take some of the money they're

pouring into genetic studies and start studying various therapy and intervention

programs. The " no study backs up this therapy/treatment " really doesn't mean

much when so little effort has been put into studying stuff that can help

autistic kids. If you have a big college or organization backing you, like

UCLA,

you can fund the studies much easier. In my mind, that gives your method or

treatment more clout if the study shows effectiveness but doesn't necessarily

make it the only effective therapy or treatment just because you're the only one

with the money to fund studies to back up your method.

Gaylen