Rapid Prompting Method

[Guest guest]

I (and Darcy Hamre from Horizon Clinic) attended the visitors day on

Friday at the Carousel School in Los Angeles, where Soma M. (recently

shown on 60 Minutes) of India is trialing her Rapid Prompting Method

(RPM) on mostly nonverbal autistic kids.

The most basic premise underlying Soma's work is respect for and the

assumed intelligence of autistic kids. She does not dumb-down the

subject matter, but rather teaches age-appropriate topics. She first

tries to determine the child's best learning approach (visual, auditory

or kinesthetic --you can check out this theory in " How Your Child Is

Smart " by Dawna Markova, PhD, as well as whether they are right or left

brain thinkers), and she tailors her delivery to that. When starting

work with a child, she only does 15-30 minutes a day of RPM, and

gradually increases the time.

Soma focuses on teaching academics, and, for the most part, ignores

stims. She views stims as part of an autistic child's neurological

process (this belief is based on some of Merzenich's neuroplasticity

research at Univ. of SF--they've measured the positive neurological

change that occurs when autistic kids stim), and she uses stims to

identify and capitalize on their interests, and sometimes to convert

the stim into a discussion/learning experience. She also believes that

allowing certain stims during instruction time actually improves their

ability to focus and learn (ex. kid flapping hands, or clenching

something--like say a rock).

At the same time, she engages them with amazing rapid-fire verbal and

physical prompts. For example, she demonstrated with two children by

asking questions, and they answered by pointing to letters to spell

words. She prompted with a very quick, urgent " come on, come on,

touch " for each letter. The kids independently spelled, including

words like " extinct "

She emphasized the use of constant running dialogue to keep them

focused on topic. (Her speed rivals that of an auctioneer!) She uses

a chart for letters and numbers, but beyond that her materials are

primitive. She just uses tablet paper and tears off small pieces,

handwriting each word, spelling it out loud as she does it, then posing

a question and expecting them to select one of the two options.

Examples: " This is A and this is B, which is A? " or " 7x6 and 5x8,

which equals 40? " She starts working with kids on age appropriate

things. For example, with 4 yr olds, she starts teaching alphabet

letters; with 9-10 year olds, however, she discovered they already knew

the alphabet (just from past exposure, not necessarily classroom

teaching) and so she was able to start with words.

Also affirmed both from the research, as well as from her son Tito, is

that autistic kids have extremely poor body awareness. (Tito has said

that his mind feels detached from a body.) Thus, she uses a frequent

physical prompt at the elbow, to initiate a point. She is strategic in

the placement of options. At first, she keeps choices spread apart,

and gradually brings them close so that kids can eventually use a chart

or keyboard with accuracy.

She asserts autistic kids lack the ability to initiate, which is what

necessitates the use of continual prompting. She did say prompting

some things fades over time, but when asked when kids start initiating

and prompts are faded, she replied something to the effect of, " if the

child initiates (other than their most basic wants), he wouldn't be

autistic. "

Classroom curriculum at Carousel School is based on regular California

public school age-appropriate subjects. We observed a history class.

The teacher read out of a regular textbook, then posed comprehension

questions. Each student had a shadow who would write the correct

answer and another choice, and the child had to select one. They have

monthly tests in all subjects, though I don't know how that's

administered.

The school director noted that, since Soma started working with the

kids, behavioral problems had diminished significantly (they estimated

by 80%).

I'm pleased to have had the opportunity to meet Soma, hear her

philosophy, and see her work. She is an amazing teacher, and I believe

her work, if duplicated, may eventually have far-reaching effects for

many autistic kids. Soma plans to conduct a training series in the

spring and summer. She also is making a limited number of weekly

training commitments for some organizations. I hope to try to bring

her to Austin this summer.

I'm sure my description is far less dynamic than the delivery of her

method, but I hope it helps describe what she's doing. Do let me know

if you have other specific questions, especially while the experience

is still fresh in my mind!

Lange