Larry King Live

I know I already posted for today, but I really had two things I needed to say this week and since Michelle is on vacation I’ll just take her spot and post twice. Nicole and I happened to be online doing a chat last night when someone posted that Larry King Live was talking about autism right at the moment so we both flipped it on. While I am happy that people in the media are bringing awareness to the topic I wish that a little more research would be done prior to airing shows like this.

I have to say that I was utterly depressed and very sad watching this show last night. It even caused me to talk to my t.v. (yes I know they can’t hear me). All of these parents and celebrities on there showing this grim picture of what autism is and what we should do to “treat” it. Of course all of what they discussed was compensation strategies that will not help those children reach a quality of life. It made me so sad because these parents want so badly to hope that things will be okay, but obviously do not see a bright future for themselves or their children. Nicole and I (as well as many other RDI ® consultants) know we can do something to help these families and I think that is what makes this so hard to watch.

Well we took action and I posted a comment on Toni Braxton’s website www.toni-online.com and we both e-mailed Larry King. If any of you feel so moved I would encourage you to do the same. Let’s get the word out that there is something we can do to remediate autism and provide a quality of life for people on the autism spectrum and their families.

Here’s to remediation!
Erin

An Overflowing Heart (Emotion Sharing)

There was a great quote this morning on my daily calendar which tied in nicely with what I was going to write about.

“When the heart overflows, it comes out through the mouth.” – African proverb

I had the greatest emotion sharing moment ever at school yesterday. I have a group of two students with autism that come to see me two times each week. One of the students asked at our previous session if we could read the book I know an old lady who swallowed a fly. So yesterday was the day. Now, I have several versions of this story and just randomly selected one of the books off the shelf to read. I guess that even though I have read this version before I must not have ever really paid attention to the pictures. As I was reading yesterday I was really trying to call attention to different aspects about the book not just the words, but the pictures and to use some declarative language. I came to the page where the lady is going to eat the cat and looked down at the picture where I discover the lady is making a cat sandwich. She is putting all sorts of condiments, lettuce, olives, cheese, etc. on the cat’s head. The cat has this expression on it’s face like “why me?” Well I started to chuckle a little and then the two students started to laugh and we all ended up just laughing and laughing about this. It got even funnier when on the opposite page the woman has obviously started to eat the cat and the cat’s tail is sticking out of her mouth. Well needless to say we all had a good belly laugh over this.

How I wish I had a video camera yesterday to capture that on tape. It was the best. Our hearts were surely overflowing out of our mouths at that moment. Try letting your heart overflow today.

Talk to you soon,
Erin

Staying the Course

As a consultant to families I get to celebrate the highs with them, as well as support them through the lows. When families experience periods of difficulty or setback I often find myself telling them that autism is tough, but they are tougher. They have to be. Autism is hard and change usually doesn’t come easily. We cannot allow ourselves to become too blinded by the joys of the highs or the sorrows of the lows. We must stay the course and know that in every marathon there are some miles that will be harder and slower than others. I recently came upon something called the Stockdale Paradox, which was written in the realm of the business world. It reads:

“Retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties. And at the same time confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

I want families to write this out and stick it on their refrigerators! We must be tenacious in our desire to remediate autism, and at the same time be honest and willing to act on the things that are getting in our way. It does no good to believe that somehow we will prevail if we are not willing to look at the very real obstacles and problems that must be addressed. It also does no good to stay focused only on the immediate problems at hand and not have a long-term vision and mission for what we will accomplish. Both are needed – a long term mission that accepts nothing less than success, as well as short term willingness to confront the obstacles that are getting in the way.

Until next week,
Nicole

Happy feeding!

So Sarah, Nicole and I are at a feeding conference today, tomorrow and Saturday. What a great experience so far. We are all really excited by how much it coincides with the philosophy of RDI. The technique is grounded in typical development which completely aligns with RDI.

This program also requires participation by parents and needs families to carry out the program throughout each day which also goes along with the RDI lifestyle. We are very excited to get back to the center and start implementing some of these techniques with the children we see each day.

Sarah and I are really looking forward to utilizing this program this summer in our feeding group we are running. We are all excited to learn more about how to use the program. What a great learning experience this has been and it completely makes sense from a developmental perspective. I am so glad to have the opportunity to find new ways to help families with the difficult aspects of feeding that face so many of our children on and off the autism spectrum.

Here's to expanded food realms.

Talk to you soon,
Erin

Nature Deficit Disorder?

Ever heard of this? I haven't. It's obviously a term made up by the author of this book. There seems to be a disorder for everything these days, but it did catch my attention. As I read the excerpt on this book, I realized that this guy had a point. I have not read the book to have an opinion on his beliefs, but certainly agree that our kids need to get outdoors! Below is a description of his book. Just scan through it, you'll get the idea pretty quick.

Book Description: "I like to play indoors better 'cause that's where all the electrical outlets are," reports a fourth-grader. Never before in history have children been so plugged in—and so out of touch with the natural world. In this groundbreaking new work, child advocacy expert Richard Louv directly links the lack of nature in the lives of today's wired generation—he calls it nature deficit—to some of the most disturbing childhood trends, such as rises in obesity, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), and depression.Some startling facts: By the 1990s the radius around the home where children were allowed to roam on their own had shrunk to a ninth of what it had been in 1970. Today, average eight-year-olds are better able to identify cartoon characters than native species, such as beetles and oak trees, in their own community. The rate at which doctors prescribe antidepressants to children has doubled in the last five years, and recent studies show that too much computer use spells trouble for the developing mind.Nature-deficit disorder is not a medical condition; it is a description of the human costs of alienation from nature. This alienation damages children and shapes adults, families, and communities. There are solutions, though, and they're right in our own backyards. Last child in the Woods is the first book to bring together cutting-edge research showing that direct exposure to nature is essential for healthy childhood development—physical, emotional, and spiritual. What's more, nature is a potent therapy for depression, obesity, and ADD. Environment-based education dramatically improves standardized test scores and grade point averages and develops skills in problem solving, critical thinking, and decision making. Even creativity is stimulated by childhood experiences in nature. Yet sending kids outside to play is increasingly difficult. Computers, television, and video games compete for their time, of course, but it's also our fears of traffic, strangers, even virus-carrying mosquitoes—fears the media exploit—that keep children indoors. Meanwhile, schools assign more and more homework, and there is less and less access to natural areas.Parents have the power to ensure that their daughter or son will not be the "last child in the woods," and this book is the first step toward that nature-child reunion.

Something certainly to think about. I was just talking to a friend of mine how when we were kids we were sent outside to play all the time. It's sad that television, computers, and video games have taken over the wonderful opportunity to venture outdoors, get some fresh air, release some energy and absorb some necessary Vitamin D. Not to mention, when we talk about guided participation, its much harder to guide our children when they are attached to a television screen. Just imagine all the opportunities when we are outside to explore, teach and guide our children! Here's just a couple ideas:

• sweep the garage
• pull weeds
• build a snowman
• bring the garbage out
• take a walk
• go on a scavenger hunt
• play a sport
• go sledding
• wash the car
• spread woodchips
• grow a garden
• build a fort

The options are endless! It's time to get out and experience life! On that note, have a wonderful week next week as I'll be enjoying the beautiful outdoors in sunny Florida making sure my children have the opportunity to learn about sea animals (Sea World), world animals (Disney's Animal Kingdom), and soak up a bunch of vitamin D as we all hang out by the pool getting some good exercise in the Florida sun.

Until 2 weeks from now!

Michelle

Learned Helplessness

One of the concepts we talk about frequently with families is “guided participation”, also referred to as the “master-apprentice” relationship that should exist between parents and their children. We want all children to be apprentices to their parents, to actively participate in life activities under the guidance of their parents. As parents we should always be striving for the right balance between supporting our children enough that they can be successful, but not so much that the success is more ours than it is theirs. One of my favorite Dr. Gutstein quote-ables is that we should be teaching our children to be captains of their own ship someday, not training them to be permanent deckhands. The goal is not merely for children to be little helpers to us, but for them to slowly and systematically learn how to think about the world so that they can become the captain of the ship someday!

I recently read an interesting piece about learned helplessness, which is basically what happens when children learn to allow others to do for them rather than becoming competent in doing things for themselves. The author, Chick Moorman, talked about how the words we use with our children can either foster growth and competence or create a sense of helplessness and entitlement. He uses the term “parent talk” to describe language that empowers and builds competence in children rather than creating helpless attitudes and behavior. While his work focuses on children in general, the concepts can certainly be applied to children on the spectrum – and are very compatible with what we work to accomplish through remediation!

Examples of Parent Talk:
“Let me demonstrate for you.”
“I’ll get started an you can do the rest.”
“Sounds like you have a problem. What have you thought of so far?”

Examples of talk that leads to learned helplessness:
“Let me get that for you.”
“It was raining so I put your bike in the garage.”
“It’s late so I’ll let it go this time.”

Take a few moments to consider what message your language is sending. Are you using parent talk that builds competence and encourages responsibility and independence or are your words creating an attitude of helplessness in your children? True apprentices are not helpless, they are constantly learning through your guidance! If you’d like to look at more information on this subject, including an interesting learned helplessness quiz, check out this link:
http://www.thomashaller.com/PAhelplessness.html

Until next week,
Nicole

Better late than never

I usually post on Fridays first thing in the morning. Well, today (actually this whole week) has been a blur. I was sick early in the week so the end of the week was catching up on everything. We are also in the middle of a lot of big projects right now and I wanted to get something emailed out before the weekend so I was frantically finishing that up today. Needless to say, I had not a moment to spare today to blog. So, now I'm home and relaxed and think that a quote for the weekend should be about relaxation. So, here you go - ENJOY!

"Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer." - William S. Burroughs