Breathtaking!

Pamela surprised me today several times in very promising ways:

1. Pamela is loosening up on the "sacred hour" which has been an institution around here since before we started RDI. She used to be quite adamant about watching television between noon and one, kicking David out for the duration. She only allowed exceptions for travel and for expected appointments away from home. I have noticed her loosening up on the sacred hour for the past two weeks. Today, David called me and said, "Mom! Look at the time." It was 12:25 and Pamela was soaking up rays on the back porch.

A few minutes later, Pamela happily checks to see if we have GF/CF chicken broth so she can make alphabet soup when we get back from shopping.

2. We drove to Walmart and picked up a couple of things. My mind was on all the things I had to get done today and it was Pamela who pointed out some girls' underwear with Sponge Bob, Dora, the Little Mermaid, etc. Although it was a short interaction, I felt she was truly sharing joint attention with me. Later, we looked at the books and she pointed out different picture books to me.

3. Then, a mini-miracle happened. We were heading over to the self-checkout and bumped into a kindly lady I know from church. Pamela has been staying home from church, and I am hoping she will choose to go with us one of these days. She had not seen this lady in ages, so I introduced her as J.B.'s mom (J.B. rented a house to us for 18 months and Pamela knows his name and who he is, so this was my way of scaffolding interest). The lady said, "Hi, Pamela, I’m N."

Pamela smiled and said, "Where are you from?"

N. needed me to repeat Pamela's question and said in a very engaging way, "Why, I'm from Manning, just like you." She patted Pamela on the arm.

Then, Pamela said, "I was born in Alaska."

"Alaska? It's so cold in Alaska."

"Yes. Where's David?"

I told N. that David was at home. Then she said, "Was David bad?"

Pamela shook her head and said, "No. David's not bad." Pamela likes to cheer people up after an argument (which we did not have with David today), so she gave me a hug.

Then, N. said, "Why Pamela, I just love hugs!"

And, Pamela hugged her. Pamela asked to go sit on the bench and I agreed. N. told her goodbye and Pamela waved to her!

4. And, if that wasn't enough, Pamela had brought a thick stack of old photographs in the car. While I was driving, she would make comments. Usually, she talks about the state, time zone, and/or Chinese astrological sign for the year the picture was taken. Today, she made very declarative comments with very little of the static.

She looked at a picture of a bunch of us midshipmen jumping into the pool with full dress uniform. Pamela said, "Swimming pool." So, I said, "Did you see what we were wearing?" She laughed and said, "Yes, clothes!" (I am one of the people in the blur . . . after the final parade before graduation, we all jump in a pool to celebrate because we no longer need those uniforms . . . crazy tradition, huh?)


Pamela was very fascinated by a picture of Hawaiians standing on boats at the Polynesian Culture Center in Hawaii. She said, "Boats." I told her that her dad took Grandma and Grandpa there when he lived in Hawaii. (This was before he and I met!)

She showed me another picture from the same place. I told her that Lisa met her husband Johnny at the center when he worked there. Last summer, we met Johnny and their beautiful daughter Leilani for the first time. (Lisa and I met in high school in Newfoundland.)

She showed me a picture of Steve boogie-boarding in Hawaii. She asked me, "Where's that?" because she truly did not know. I told her that her dad was at a beach in Maui, Hawaii. She did mention Hawaii Standard Time, but then asked for the city. I told her, "I don't know!"

She asked where this picture of Steve and I near a flooded swing-set. I asked, "Where do you think?" She said, "Sand Point." I said, "No." Then, she realized it was another island with tundra, "Adak, where you were born!" Again, she did not know the location of this shot.

She looked at this baby picture of herself and said, "Eating food." I said, "Yeah, you made a mess!" (Wasn't she a cutie?????? I can tell this was taken in December because four red advent candles are in the forefront!)

Then, she looked at this picture of Steve's parents' house in Louisiana. I know she remembers the house, but there was snow on the ground. She asked, "Where's the house?" I said, "In Louisiana. In 1989 Grandma and Grandpa had a crazy snowstorm." She smiled and said, "Uh-oh!" I laughed and said, "Yeah, God sent a big surprise."

Pamela saw this picture of her aunt and herself near a pool. Pamela said, "That's Florida." I said, "Yes, that was Aunt Essie's house. She’s in heaven." (I took this picture when Pamela was fifteen months old. When we got home, we took her to that fateful vaccination (MMR and DPT on the same day). What a mistake! She was already having health problems with never ending diaper rashes and ear infections. Her illnesses and autism ramped up after this!)

She showed me this picture from Disneyland and said, "Rocket!" I replied, "That's when we took you to Disneyland!" (We visited my sister in San Diego and hit Disneyland on the way back. We had just started the process of getting Pamela evaluated. We did our best to fake enjoying the trip for Pamela's sake. How could she notice our heartbreak?)


She showed this picture from Germany, "It's a church!" I replied, "That's when we saw Oma and Opa in Germany." (Pamela was four on this trip. She was afraid of Mom's canary and hid behind the couch a lot. She did well on the trip except the jetway terrified her and the people smoking after dinner triggered an allergic reaction in her. David was a baby, and his great Oma just loved him because he would play with the ball of yarn sitting in the basket!)


Then, she held this picture of David and her in the plastic pool. She pointed, "David's in the pool." I said, "Oh, yes, you were playing." Then she said, "Ariel." I said, "David was so cute." She pointed to his shirt and said, "Baloo!" (Pamela attended special education classes in the local public school. Steve and I were on active duty in the Navy.)

She saw this picture of her on a slide and said, "Florida!" I said, "Yes, that's when we moved to Connecticut!" (We visited my sister in Florida on our way to Connecticut. Both kids enjoyed playing with their cousins, who are about the same age as my kids.)

She looked at a picture of her and David on farm and asked, "Where's that?" I replied, "Allentown, near Philadelphia." Then she said, "Five more states" because she realized it was during our move to Connecticut in 1995 after Steve and I left the Navy and began homeschooling.

Then, she saw a picture of David at a playground. She said, "David's sliding!" I said, "That looks like fun!" She said, "Just like gravity!" (Pennsylvania had several wonderful playgrounds, and we had a pool, swingset, and climbing trees--a kid's paradise. They spent many happy hours playing in our backyard.)

She commented on this shot of the kids doing a homeschool Christmas program. Pamela said, "David's signing 'Silent Night!'" I said, "He did such a great job!" (We attended a fantastic co-op in Pennsylvania. The kids loved going to classes and all of the field trips and other activities. It was a blast!)

She showed me this mystery road and asked, "Where's the road?" I told her I didn't know but said the date was August 2001. Then, she told me, "That’s Alaska!"

I felt like this conversation was much closer to the joint attention we are seeking because many of her comments were declarative. When she did ask, she truly did not know or was confused. When I did answer with the name of the state, Pamela did not fall into her typical patterns (state, time zone, Chinese astrological year). She did not ask me to tell her what she already knew in a static conversation. She made different comments based upon the pictures themselves.

Wordless Wednesday: My Baby's Practicing for the SAT

Uncovering Uncertainty

Today we celebrated Veteran's Day by attending our town's first annual Veteran's Day parade, which started promptly at 11:00 AM on November 11. Bravo Zulu to all of you veterans who served our great country! Thank you for your service!

After the parade, Pamela and I collected some fall leaves for a friend in Florida, whose children have never seen snow, much less autumn colors. We are goint to try to rectify that situation in a small way. It is a lot easier to mail leaves than snow! Afterwards, Pamela enjoyed the neighbor's swing before we headed into the house to get ready to hit the store.

Uncertainty about Hidden Things
We continue to investigate what forms of uncertainty make Pamela anxious enough to go static and stimmy. I am fairly certain that not knowing what hidden things are do not fluster her one bit. This package for someone at church has their name in care of me. It sat in Pamela's view all day and she never asked what it was and to whom it belonged. She does not the recipient, and I am surprised she did not ask.

After the parade, I put two of these buttons in my jeans pocket. Before we left for the store, I put my hand in my pocket and said mysteriously, "I have something in my pocket." When she asked what it was, I smiled but didn't give her an answer. She showed no interest until I mentioned it again in the parking lot. I put one on her zipper handle and began jiggling it. She said, "Rattle!"

Uncertainty about Directions
Pamela has a keen sense of direction, partially because of her eye for pattern and because we have been so many places. She was born on an island in the Aleutians, halfway between Russia and mainland Alaska. She has lived in thirteen different homes, not including three weeks in a high-rise apartment in Santiago, Chile and three weeks visting family in El Salvador. She does care about routes and even tells Steve which road to take home sometimes. I tested her yesterday and today by taking round-about ways to wherever we were going. In both cases, we traveled down streets we have never seen. Pamela asked, "Where are we going?" I scaffolding by telling her our destination and adding, "We are exploring right now." Pamela was not a bit angry or concerned. In fact today, she said, "New. Brand new" when we entered an unfamiliar neighborhood.

Next time, I plan to remove the scaffolding by having a destination in mind, but not tell her. I am not sure how Pamela will take that level of uncertainty.

Loa, the GF/CF Dog

Today, a gorgeous sunny day with a bit of a breeze going, Pamela, David, and I met up with the entire Jamberry and Habeeb crew (Sly, Jman, SB3). The only one missing in action was Steve, who was helping out Tammy's brother with a favor. The next time, Jamberry and her boys--all four--will stay with us so that we can talk without Pamela and Jman looking for an escape hatch from the chatty mommas (actually, they were both VERY patient). I loved holding SB3 and got to see the gamut of his emotions: placid, sleepy, hungry, poopy, and giggly. Yep, I saw him laugh, and he was sooooo cute.

I enjoyed talking to Jamberry and Habeeb, fellow boat schoolers. How often can you talk about the Dark Ages, going over the wall, getting fried, Storm Brother's ice cream, Annapolis' version of the Ho Chi Minh trail, women's glee club, itchy wool uniforms, peacoats, overcoats, and reefers? See what I mean! You don't have a clue what any of that means. Not even Steve, the 16-week wonder, knows what some of it means.



Before moving onto my dog, I wanted to address Penny's comment from Monday's post, asking if Bob's Red Mill withdrew their oats a few months back because of gluten contamination. I was not too worried because Pamela showed no signs of a reaction to the cookies or eating an entire bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. I emailed the company and, within 24 hours, they replied,

Our Gluten Free Oat products were withdrawn from the market for a few months because of a bad flavor and odor profile caused by the way they were processed. Our supplier has since updated their processing procedures and we now have a limited supply of Gluten-Free Steel Cut Oats.

Now, onto Loa, the GF/CF dog (the fawn colored one on the right) . . . ever since we moved to Carolina, we have struggled off and on with major skin problems. The first thing we treated was fleas, something unknown to her when we lived in Colorado, Alaska, and Minnesota. We got the fleas under control, but she continued to have unpredictable breakouts, which we thought might have been fleas. We got very aggressive with weekly flea shampoos and bimonthly treatments, but no change. The only thing that ever cleared her up were antibiotics and steroid shots, unhealthy for her in the long run. We even did the protocol recommended by the vet: Omega 3 oil, Benadryl, weekly baths with a special creme rinse, hot spray for new open sores, and dog food for sensitive skin. Even our most dedicated efforts failed. He finally told u$ Loa may re$pond to low-allergenic pre$cription diet.

Fortunately, what I learned with Pamela helped. At first, we tried Hills Prescription Diet canned z/d dog food. The vet prescribed antibiotics, but no steroids, so we could see the effect of the food sooner. She did very well for a week, so we bought more of the same plus Royal Canin's Potato and Duck dry dogfood. For two days, I caught Loa gnawing on rawhide and she had another breakout. Rawhide may cause allergic reactions, so we only let the healthy-as-a-horse dog chew them.

We started alternating between the two foods as a hedge against further food allergies. She got better and finished off the antibiotics. Last weekend, we ran out of Benadryl, and she had another breakout. I began to suspect the canned stuff, mainly because it had corn starch. I bought more Benadryl, so now we are doing the med and the corn-free potato and duck dogfood. If she stays clear for a week, then I test her with the canned dogfood with the corn starch for a test. I could go on and on with the variations I will have to do to isolate the culprit. Most of you know the process because you have done it with your autistic children. Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Sweet Moment in the Parking Lot of Walmart

After we checked out, Pamela and I were in the parking lot, walking to the car. We bumped into an acquaintance of mine and her little three-year-old boy. He attends my very short, in-the-spirit-of-Charlotte Mason music lesson for preschoolers every Sunday. He loves the drum and plays with a very steady rhythm. I told him that I missed him last Sunday, and his mother told me he had a stomach virus. Then, the coolest thing happened:

Pamela overheard the conversation and said rather stridently, "You're not sick!"

In my typical declarative response, I pointed to the boy and said, "He was sick on Sunday. But, you're not sick."

We reached their car and were winding up our conversation. Then, Pamela turned to me, pointed to him, and asked, "How does the boy feel?"

I told her, "I don't know. You could ask him a 'How do' question?" I scaffolded her syntax because I wanted her to succeed in this interaction with a total stranger (she has never met this little boy).

She looked at him, pointed, and asked, "How do you feel?"

Then, he looked up at her and said, "Fine!"

Then, his mom prompted him to say thanks, so Pamela thanked him. LOL. But, then when he waved good-bye to her, she waved back and said, "Bye!"

Isn't that sweet?

Onions and Popup Ads

The First Layer
Working with Pamela feels like peeling back the layers of an onion sometimes. Last month, we agreed with our consultant to continue working on expressive gestures as a long-term project and to start working on a short-term objective like calling joint attention. Initially, I summarized this short-term objective in this way:

Simply put, when Pamela wants to point something out to me like a toy at the store or the truck that went off the side of the road, she needs to make sure that I am looking in the right direction! She needs to stay calm and help me redirect my focus until I am turning my attention to the same thing as her.

The Second Layer
In working on this objective, we discovered that Pamela's ability to have joint attention was not always consistent. So, I peeled back the layer from calling joint attention to sharing joint attention and altered the goal somewhat:

My objective was to focus on experience sharing by focusing on being together more than the activity itself. We are solidifying experience sharing before transferring more responsibility to Pamela in calling joint attention.

Pamela can share experiences beautifully on her terms. Tuesday, she came up to me with a crocheted scarf that a friend gave to her and asked, "What's this?" I said, "A warm scarf." She said, "No, it's a long tail." I looked and she had the other end sticking out of the back of her pants. I spotlighted my delight nonverbally and through comments about her pretty tail.

A little bit later, she came up to me and talked about her bee sting on her finger from last spring. I buzzed and pretended to sting her with my pincer grasp. She laughed. Then, I kissed it to make it better.

The Third Layer
Sometimes, Pamela becomes very static or verbally stims. In Monday's cookie video, Pamela went back to thoughts of salad several times. It might have been because I have not fed her in this manner in years, making it a very uncertain situation for her. Uncertainty may be the reason why she falls back on static conversations or verbal stimming. Our consultant remembered another child who struggled with uncertainty in the same way. She suggested I figure out what situations cause Pamela to go static and then work on helping her discover that uncertainty is not a bad thing. We are not even sure this is a formal objective, but we still need to address it!

Schedule
Pamela does not mind living in an unknown state of mind when it comes to do with the plan of the day. Years ago we used to have "I don't know" days to help reduce her dependence on a routine or schedule. Today, she will say, "It's to be announced," when I tell her I don't know exactly when something will happen.

New Way of Doing Things?
Pamela has a hard time when we are doing something deviating from what she generally expects. It is not that I have to be rigid, but, when something catches her by surprise, I see more static responses. The day she struggled to speak because of skeeter bites, I threw her off because I was sitting on the bed and talking to her. I hardly ever do that. When I followed her in the yard on Tuesday, simply to find opportunities for experience sharing, she got very mad at me. Wednesday, at Walmart, we explored some very cute Christmas shirts with lights. The problem is that I am not a shopper, so this was very unexpected behavior to her! She went back to her static statements ("I want Coke!"), much like she went back to her static, "I want salad!" when we ate cookies on Monday. Sharing experience lasts about forty-five seconds before her brain cannot handle the uncertainty any longer. It feels like an annoying pop-up ad that you can click off, but mysteriously appears a minute later.

Pamela is getting used to the shopping forays. Yesterday, Pamela completely adjusted to the idea of me and her exploring a section of Walmart. She had a moment or two of frustration and then went with the flow the moment she spotted Hannah Montana accessories. We flitted from Hannah to Christmas jewelry to generic jewelry: her "I want chips" popup add only happened once or twice.

Unknown Objects?
Pamela has no problems with not knowing what a hidden object is. I tested it out twice. I put a toy spider in my pocket and said mysteriously, "I have something in my pocket." Pamela asked a couple of questions and I gave her a few blank "I don't know" answers. She went right back to her school work. We received a book for her in the mail, and she had no problem waiting to find out what it was. She had only three book popup ads with a lot of time in between.

Phone Calls?
Pamela MUST know who is on the phone when they call. If I ignore her, she will bug me with, "Answer me." I do not get many phone calls, so I have not been able to assess if she goes static. I hope you can live with the uncertainty!

Where Are We Going?
I am fairly certain this is an area where she needs certainty. Pamela's sense of direction is so keen that her "Where are we going?" popup ad happens as sooon as I make a wrong turn. One of the things I will have to work into our periods of uncertainty is finding ways to drive somewhere without telling her exactly where. I anticipate lots of popup ads! LOL!

The Fourth Layer
Friday, I reflected on what a fellow RDI mom has written on trust. Now, Pamela trusts me in most situations. Perhaps, that trust is shaken when I behave in unpredictable ways. Maybe, I compensate too much and, when I don't, she goes static. This friend discussed how when she first started RDI her goal was to coexist in the same room without making any demands. So, I borrowed her idea and applied it to the yard since Pamela got riled up at me the other day.

As predicted, Pamela grew very angry and obnoxious. She was furious when I announced we were going to go out because it was "after school hours"--an unpredictable time. I decided to push this, but then, once we hit the yard, I LEFT HER ALONE. I figured I needed to win her trust, so I did my own exploration and she did hers. After about five minutes, she was near me doing her own thing. I saw a dead vine branch hanging from the tree top, and I grabbed it because I know she has a thing for sticks. I began pulling it. She was very interested and joined me. First I pulled, then she pulled, and we pulled together. We moved to different locations to test the best direction for bringing it down. Her face flushed with joy at our success. I left her alone to play with the very long branch because I wanted to end on a positive note.



In this video, I strung together pictures to give you an idea of how our explorations went on this beautiful fall day.

Wordless Wednesday: Meals on Wheels

Chewy Brownie Cookies

Chewy Brownie Cookie
2/3 cup buttery sticks
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups GF/CF baking flour
1/4 teaspoon xanthum gum
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups GF/CF chocolate chips
1/2 cup GF/CF oatmeal

Cream the first four ingredients (wet ones). Beat in eggs. Combine the next five ingredients (dry ones). Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and beat (not heat) until just blended. Stir in chips and nuts. Drop by spoon. Bake at 375 degrees for nine to eleven minutes.



My objective was to focus on experience sharing by focusing on being together more than the activity itself. We are solidifying experience sharing before transferring more responsibility to Pamela in calling joint attention. While baking cookies together, I learned thing: focusing on little unexpected things and spotlighting them rather than the procedure.

In the first two videos, the camera angle looks awkward, but I really wanted to capture our facial expressions and sharing. In the first one, I capitalized on unscripted things. I have been trying to capture Pamela's "magic finger" (a "problem-solving technique" for her). She does her "magic" at 3 minutes 50 seconds!


My two favorite moments were when we discovered a mistake in the recipe and talked about how to correct it and when Pamela learned to scoop cookie dough with spoons. You can see on her face that she was in the moment here and not agenda-driven. I loved Pamela's smile of pride when she learned something new (handling two spoons).


In the final clip, we are enjoying cookies. The problem is that Pamela had made a salad and wanted to eat that salad, dog gone it! You can see how she goes back to something static--salad--because this activity has no procedure. I slowed down the pace by feeding her and myself, which allowed her to relax--you can see how for a good forty-five seconds she was in the moment.


I have been seeking opportunities to experience share. Pamela came into the house with a beautiful red fall leaf, and we talked about it. She went outside, and I followed her after she had five minutes on her own. I was hoping to capitalize on that moment, but I failed. She got real static and tried to get me on her verbal calendar train, but I refused. We walked around the yard, but it was a bust because she focused on calendars and started sputtering at me when I didn't join her.

I pouted and walked in the house. She knew I looked upset (deep down inside, I was mildly amused), so she followed me. I looked at the floor sadly, so she put her hands on my upper arms and kissed my forehead. She said, "I apologize." I looked up and told her a forgave her and kissed her on the cheek. We agreed to explore the backyard tomorrow. I love how she read my emotion and tried to repair it.

There are two big things I discovered:

1. When *I* am unsure of what to do, I talk too much. I talk to cover up my uncertainty.
2. When *Pamela* is uncertain, she falls back on static conversations or verbal stimming.

Autism in Adults

With reference to adult outcomes, we do know some things and we shouldn't be all that impressed . . .

It is not an overstatement to say that adaptive behavior competencies will get you through times of no academic skills better than academic skills will get you through times of no adaptive behavior competencies.

Who do you think put these remarks in his presentation The Autism Education Network's recent Collaboration in Autism Treatment conference?

If you guessed, Dr. Steven Gutstein . . .

. . . you would be . . .

WRONG!

This speaker did cite the 2004 Howlin study that Dr. Gustein uses as well as two I do not remember seeing (Green (2000) and Cederlund (2008)). He mentions several statistics like those spotlighted by Dr. Gutstein as well:

In a group of 20 adolescentes with Asperger syndrom, Green, et all (2000) found that despite a mean IQ of 92 only half were independent in most basic self care skills including brushing teeth, showering, etc. None were considered by their parents as capable of engaging in leisure activities.

Howlin, et all (2004) surveyed 68 adults with autism with an IQ of above 50 and found a majority (58%) were rated as having poor or very poor outcomes. With regards to employment status they found

• 8 were competitively employed
• 1 was self-employed earning less than a living wage
• 14 worked in supported, sheltered or volunteer employment
• 42 had "programs" or chores through their residential provider.

Cederlund, et all (2008) followed 70 males with Asperger Syndrome (AS) and 70 males with autism more than 5 years after their initial Dx. The results indicated that while 27% of the AS group presented with "good" outcomes, 26% had a "very restricted life, with no occupation/activity, and no friends." Outcomes were considerably worse for this with an autism diagnosis.

He came to similar conclusions as Dr. Gutstein. IQ does not predict the ability to stay employed, keep friends, and live independently. In his talks, Dr. Gutstein goes further to say that neither language nor success in school predicts employment, friendship, and independence for autism-spectrum adults. So, who is the mystery speaker? Dr. Peter Gerhardt. Unfortunately, his conclusions, I fear, will produce more of the same . . .

Before I go any further, I must be completely honest. I am not a fan of ABA; I have a personal bias against ABA. In spite of all of the "evidence" (and I am a statistics hound, having earned my bachelor's degree in mathematics and master's degree in operations research), I am not impressed.

Why? Because, as these studies point out, success in school (a static system) and high IQ (a static ability) does not address dynamic intelligence, which is required for sustained employment, relationships, and independence. ABA targets static skills (learning procedures, thinking in the box, memorizing information, reacting to a prompt in a predictable way, etc.). In fact, Dr. Gerhardt points out, "in supporting adolescents and adults, there are times where previously accepted 'prompt hierarchies' may have to be modified." His answer? Prompting a la bluetooth. Hmmm . . . I am being flippant, I know--Dr. Gerhardt's presentation is full of all kinds of ideas to make an ABA parent's heart sing. However, having seen Pamela master developmental milestones that have enabled her to learn all kinds of life skills in the past 18 months--milestones I thought impossible for autistic people, I want more than direct-prompt-driven behavior.

What I like about RDI is that direct prompting (imperative teaching) is the absolute last resort for teaching problem-solving and thinking outside of the box. RDI acknowledges that the great strength of autistic children is static learning. Pamela learned her calendar skills (knowing the day of the week given the month, day, and year) through her eye for patterns, a static ability. Rather than developing that part of the brain even more, I find it more beneficial to develop the area where she is weak: dynamic thinking. It is slower and not as exciting as ABA, but I think in the long run will pay off for us!

I am not trying to bash ABA here, but to draw some clear distinctions between the two. Remediating autism means giving the child a second chance to do over what they missed the first time around. It means looking at the typical developmental profile of a typical child and letting them try to master those missing gaps. That is why ABA looks great at first because children pick up all of these wonderful static skills very quickly and you become the miracle worker. BUT, they have no idea what to do when things change or something unexpected happens. Static is easy for them, so why spend time focusing on what comes naturally? That is why you have so many highly intelligent autistic people with degrees who cannot hold down a job.

Not only that, the parents/therapists doing ABA have to engage in a completely different manner. In ABA, you expect the child to give an immediate response--in RDI, you are told to wait up to 45 seconds to allow the child to process and think. In ABA, you give the command in the same way every time. With RDI, when the child is on a roll and feeling competent in the situation (there are no commands or prompts), you add variation for which you have no prompt or target response. If they are able to go with the flow, you keep adding variations. If they freak out, you help them recover, get them going with the flow again, and challenge with a different variation. With ABA, everything is focused on verbal communication. With RDI, you are trying to be as nonverbal as you can because that is what most of our kids missed during their infant and toddler years.

If I boiled it down to one comparison, I think an ABA child is expected to do, but an RDI child is allowed to discover.

P.S. Here's more food for thought: an article called Reaching an Autistic Teen about a school started by the father of a spectrum teenager that employs Greenspan's ideas. I like this explanation of developmental theory (which is what RDI is too) on page 4:

I begin to picture the brain metaphorically as a tangled ball of Christmas lights. When you plug it in, there are strands that light up perfectly and there are dark zones where a single burned-out bulb has caused a line to go out. If the bulb for Exchanging-Smiles-With-Mother doesn’t light up, then Empathy won't be kindled farther along the strand, or Playfulness, or Theory of Mind (the insight that other people have different thoughts from yours). The electrical current won't reach the social-skill set, the communication skills, creativity, humor or abstract thinking.

I think RDI is less-child driven and tries to balance between parents and children more. I am inspired that it is the PARENT of a spectrum child (a father, no less) who started and runs the school. Very neat!

Dynamic Thinking and Math

In September, I wrote a post about dynamic thinking and Greg Tang's Math Appeal, which we finished two weeks ago. Why dynamic thinking? Pamela thrives in static situations: predictable, expected, orderly, and sequential. She has a keen eye for patterns and details as a result and has no problems learning anything that has a logical procedure with very little ambiguity.

When you think about how many of us teach children math, we tend to do it in very static ways. According to his biography,

Greg Tang was tutoring math in his daughter's class when he noticed something interesting about the dominoes they were using. Each white dot had a pencil mark on it, which meant the children had been counting them one at a time. Mr. Tang taught them to look for patterns instead, and to add and subtract groups of dots in order to calculate the dominoes' value quickly. From there, he developed a new method of teaching arithmetic in a visual and spontaneous way. His method teaches both computational and problem-solving skills, and is so fun and challenging that children forget they are learning math! He believes that all kids are capable of doing well in math, and he has a mission to make math a natural part of every child's life.

The other day I was checking David's statistics problems by hand and something about static thinking hit me. Math is not his favorite subject, so he prefers sticking to procedure. He put his number in order and then added them. As I studied the number, I noticed that, by ordering them slightly differently, you could line them up nicely in easy to add groups. Of course, when I pointed it out to him, he rolled his eyes and told me that was too complicated and he would rather add them up the hard way! LOL! Maybe, this sort of thinking only appeals to geeks like me!



Lately, Pamela has shown some signs of dynamic thinking in math. She has been counting down the days to Daylights Savings Time. By noon today, she had already reset the kitchen clocks in anticipation of the big event. She told me we are now living in Houston time (my sister lives near Houston, and my parents are visiting her right now). I ought to be thankful that Pamela is a flexible enough thinker not to wait until exactly two in the morning to make the switch! But, that is all static stuff.

We were talking about whether we add or subtract an hour. Pamela told me subtract without hesitation. Then, I reflected on a verbal way of remembering the time change, "Yeah. I always remember fall back, spring ahead."

Pamela gave me her nonverbal image, "No! Leaves!"

I spotlighted her idea, "That's right! The leaves fall off the trees in fall."

She added, "Just like subtraction!"

Then, I said, "The leaves grow back in spring. Just like addition!"

That is a very cool way to remember and I would love to know of any other person on the planet who shares that image. What I love about it is that, instead of some rigid mnemonic, she came up with an unforgettable idea, rich in meaning and context.

But, wait there's more! The other day, I noticed that Pamela diverged from the way that I taught her to borrow and carry. Instead of writing the number to carry above the top digit or crossing out the number from which you borrow, she rewrites the digits to be changed. There is absolutely nothing wrong with coming up with your own way of doing math, as long as it is logical and correct!




Next on the agenda for encouraging mathematical thinking are more books by Greg Tang. Although they cover skills Pamela mastered years ago, I am doing a "redo" in the true spirt of RDI. Think about the math she learned procedurally in more dynamic ways:
Grapes Of Math
Math for All Seasons
Math Fables Too

Wordless Halloween!

The Second Unit's Next Five Sentences and Questions (Part III)

Today, I will follow up on the introduction to the second unit of language and thoughts on RDI and the association method with the five remaining repetitive sentences and questions. To quickly recap the earlier post, I covered the first sentence (This is a/an/some _____) and question (What is this?) and the steps used to cover them.

The next sentence I taught was (I see a/an/some _____). Because Pamela had already learned the difference between the three articles (a/an/some), we did not spend any extra time on them. I wrote "see" in green to attract her attention to the new syntax. I also took pictures of Pamela pointing to the object to emphasize that she was the subject (I) and she was in the act of seeing the object. We had not worked on eye gaze at that time, and I remember finding it difficult to get her to look at the object and pose for the camera. Notice that the first two sentences I taught were declarative in nature because the speaker states something about an object. (Click the pictures for a better view.)

As before, I taught the question that goes with the sentence next: "What do you see?" and then alternate randomly between the two sentence/questions to make sure Pamela knew which sentence answered which question. We also practiced this playing games and in real life to make sure Pamela understood the context in which to apply them.

The next sentence we covered was similar to the second: I have a/an/some _____. Again, we color code the verb "have" because it is the new word of interest. I purposely had Pamela hold each object when I took these pictures to emphasize the difference between seeing and having. After we taught the question "What do you have?" we went back to alternating between the three sentence-question pairs and being sure to use all three in games and real life.

The fourth sentence we covered was similar to the second and third: I want a/an/some _____. The verb "want" is green, and I had Pamela reach out to the object of desire to emphasize the meaning of the verb. After we taught the question "What do you want?" we went back to review all four pairs and using them beyond therapy time.



Then, I switched gears and focused on names of people and characters instead of nouns "This is _____" to go with "Who is this?" I remember this "little" change threw a few curve balls, which Pamela overcame after a few weeks (yes, weeks): (1) remember when to use articles and (2) when to ask "who" versus "what" questions. Her difficulty with these minor alterations in syntax confirmed my suspicions that she had syntactic aphasia.

Pamela found the next question much easier because there were no articles to trip her up: "_____ has a/an/some _____" and "What does _____ have?" She was so used to using "I" in sentences and "you" in questions, she had no problem substituting these pronouns with the name of a person. However, she struggled a bit with "has" versus "have." To you, it may seem minor, but children with aphasia are extremely poor guessers and they usually guess wrong! So, a little difference in the last sound of a word was huge and took another week or two for her to nail.

Up until this point, all sentences and questions were in the present tense. We finally reached the first past tense one, and, believe it or not, it threw Pamela for a loop: "I saw a/an/some _____" and "What did you see?" I forget how long Pamela needed to nail the sentence and question down, but it took quite some time to remember which words went with which tense!

Last month, something interesting happened. Pamela's skeeter bites were driving her nuts. We were working on expressive imperative and declarative gestures, but she was so distracted that she stimmed up a storm AND fell back on the six repetitive sentences that she learned five years ago! Here is the clip: