Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
One of the most difficult things facing families is what to do every year when summer comes!
Here are some useful sights to help you with the process:
1) This article gives practical advice for finding a summer program.
2) This article, written by a parent, is extremely helpful and talks about the importance of keeping up home programs over the summer.
3) This blog talks about ESY (Extended School Year) and your legal rights. In fact, this whole blog is about Law & Education and it written by an experienced lawyer - it is well done - I recommend checking it out!
4) Research often shows that children with autism are likely to lose skills when there is treatment is removed - typically developing children do not show as dramatic of a drop in their abilities with breaks in education. This finding has been shown in many studies in which a treatment is shown to be effective and generalizes to the natural environment - but at follow-up - skills are no longer present. Here is an example of a study with these kinds of findings (you may have to to order the original article if you are interested in reading the whole thing).
5) Many parent organizations (e.g. FEAT), clinics (e.g. New Horizons), and even summer camps (e.g. MySummerPrograms) are also available!
6) If you are not able to obtain services for summer or if you are getting limited services and think your child would benefit from more - TeachTown: Basics is an excellent gap-filler for your home or school program. In addition, Animated Speech Company offers software programs suitable for older children needing additional help with language.
Best of luck with your summer programs and stay tuned for tips for going back to school!
Posted in TeachTown, General Thoughts, Resources | No Comments »
Monday, June 25th, 2007
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Krista Schultz, who works in Alberta, Canada with children with autism. She is an ABA and developmental specialist and a frequent user of TeachTown with her clients. I love her philosophy for teaching children and her passion for making a difference in the autism community. I also really enjoyed her responses regarding technology and her feedback on TeachTown. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!
Interview with Krista
May 2, 2007
1) Please provide us with a brief background about your education and credentials:
I am originally from Northern Alberta, Canada and received my first degree (Bachelor of Education) from the University of Alberta. During teaching and then school counseling, I worked through a Master of Science degree in Educational Psychology with a Specialization in Developmental Psychology. Since that time I have become a Registered Psychologist in the Province of Alberta and have continued to work in educational systems as well as home environments supporting children with special needs.
2) When and why did you start working with children with autism?
To be honest, it was quite unintentional. Behavior has always been my key interest and I had been working with severe behavior disorders in children and adolescents. I am an avid proponent of the position that although we live in very rural areas, we should be providing children with services and professionals to the best of our abilities. I received a call from a colleague who had a referral for an adolescent with autism and she asked if I would consult. It was then that I realized that the area of autism and the families in our communities were sadly being under represented. At that time, autism was not widely recognized. Due to many factors, media included, I find there to be far more interest from the general public on the area of autism and thankfully, more recognition from service providers and educators to broaden their own knowledge of the diagnosis.
3) What positions have you had in the past and where do you work now?
I have been a teacher of many subjects, gifted students, educable mentally handicapped and those with severe behavioral disabilities. As a Psychologist, I have a private practice and contract to school divisions, multidisciplinary teams and family agencies to provide assessment, support and programming for children with a variety of needs including those with medical conditions, FASD, severe behavioral disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorders and learning disabilities. I am also a workshop facilitator on several subjects surrounding special needs children and learning.
4) What is the best part of your job?
Watching my clients successfully meet objectives and seeing the joy on the faces of parents. AND, having clients whom other professionals cannot pick out of the classroom as the child who has the autism diagnosis!
5) What part of your job is most difficult?
Supporting families while waiting for services to be put in place.
6) What is your approach to using ABA?
I believe that ABA incorporates many different teaching methods. It is flexible and transitions between developmental stages as well as changes that a child presents during the course of their programming. It is that flexibility - and the knowledge and openness to accept and embrace those times - that allows ABA programs to meet the needs of the individual child and address behavioral teaching. Generalizing to natural settings and a comprehensive interventionist program that eventually fosters the fading of reinforcers is my key approach with my primary work being in school settings.
7) Other than ABA, what other treatment approaches do you incorporate into your practice?
My treatment practices in my work with autism have largely been guided by the science of ABA and the writings of Lovaas, Fenske, etc.
8) Do you find that many children you work with benefit from using visual strategies?
Absolutely. Given the difficulties with self regulation and auditory “overload”, many of the children I work with can build increased independent and functional skills from incorporating the visual modality.
9) How do you think that computers can help children with autism?
Computers are tools in our society. Working with children with autism and using computers allows behavioral teaching and independence with skill building. While the face to face, social component of interactions is certainly important, there are many aspects of teaching that can be completed by the use of computers.
10) Do you think computers can help parents, in what way?
Often the parents with whom I consult are eager, interested and motivated but they are not therapists or teachers. They are not autism specialists or experts. Having the technology and support of a good program that is effectively addressing the unique needs of their child(ren) with autism is empowering and motivating. It also allows parents to be parents and not have the worry of appropriate programming or seeking out multidisciplinary teams to do, essentially, similar work. Given our shortage of professionals in many areas and the factor of rural living, computers also “shrink” and sometimes eliminate barriers to effective programming.
11) How can computers help schools?
In our province, technology in schools is priority and for children with autism we find that while teachers want to offer similar experiences, they are often at a loss to make these times meaningful and functional. In several situations this year, I have been exploring the use of TeachTown in a variety of settings in schools. Again, non-expert facilitation and the preparation time that computers offer teaching professionals has been invaluable.
12) How do you use computers in your position and how can other clinicians benefit from technology?
I have been far more open to using technology and computers as tools for increasing functionality, independence and skillstreaming. We are fortunate in this day and age that assistive technology devices and technology such as TeachTown has vastly reduced barriers that would have otherwise made appropriate and beneficial teaching very difficult or unrealistic.
13) What aspects of TeachTown: Basics are most helpful for you?
The non-expert model has been very motivating for those unfamiliar with autism. The ease of setting the program up and moving parents and para-professionals through the trials has been excellent. As an educational psychologist working with Individual Program Plans, the data, ease of collection and simplicity of results (graphs, etc.) have provided solid evidence of progress for clients. Teachers have been thrilled with the explanations of objectives for sessions as it has allowed more meaningful short and long term goals to be added into the child’s program plan.
14) If you were on the design team at TeachTown, what would you do next to improve or enhance TeachTown: Basics?
Expand the developmental levels to promote additional training for older children!
15) What future directions should TeachTown take for developing other products?
I would like to see TeachTown work with assistive technology professionals to address the needs of children with autism who may present with additional impairments such as hearing impairments, visual problems or severe fine motor skill deficits.
Posted in TeachTown, General Thoughts, Thoughts on Autism, Technology | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007
In a new book from Wiley Publishers called Universal Usability: Designing Computer Interfaces for Diverse Populations (click on this link to order the book) by Jonathon Lazar, TeachTown has a chapter written by myself, Dr. Lars Liden (our CTO), Dr. Brooke Ingersoll (now with Michigan State University), and Sven Liden. In Chapter 9, TeachTown highlights the development process and research for producing TeachTown: Basics. The chapter briefly reviews the literature on treatments for autism and computer-assisted interventions, it also emphasizes the importance of using evidence-based practices and implications of computer instruction is discussed along with future research directions of TeachTown and other technology-based autism companies.
ABSTRACT FROM CHAPTER 9
(Whalen, Liden, Ingersoll, & Liden)
EVIDENCE-BASED COMPUTER-ASSISTED INSTRUCTION FOR AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS
Current trends in treatment and education for children focus on the importance of using evidence-based practices (e.g. Reichart, 2001). Because of the numerous treatment and education options available for children with autism, many of which are not supported by research, the use of evidence-based practices is particularly important (Perry & Condillac, 2003) and many schools are mandating these practices. With recent advances 
in computer technology, there has been a strong interest in the use of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) in the treatment and education of children (Parkin, 2006). Due to the unique characteristics and learning styles of children with autism, the interest and need for CAI is especially strong (e.g. Goldsmith & LeBlanc, 2004). In this chapter, evidence-based practices for autism, particularly Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), will be reviewed as well as the research on technology and computers for this population. The importance of developing evidence-based technology for children with autism and other special needs will be discussed along with the implications for designers and researchers.
Posted in TeachTown, Books, Resources | No Comments »
Saturday, April 28th, 2007
With the success of our first program, TeachTown: Basics, we were getting very antsy to start our next product to help school-age children with autism. We are thrilled to announce that we have received a Department of Education Stepping Stones Technology grant to develop our next product and to do the initial research to help make this product effective, appropriate, and of the highest quality. Stayed tuned for further updates about this upcoming product, we are anticipating using the new program with children starting in 2008!
To read more about our exciting news, check out the press release at: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=69034
Continue checking back to this site and the TeachTown website for announcements and opportunities to participate in our research and development process.
Posted in TeachTown, Research, Autism in the News, Media | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, April 11th, 2007
We are very excited to announce that 
Dr. Laurie Stephens from The HELP Group Center in the Los Angeles, California region (this picture is from the HELP Group and Dr. Stephens is the one on the bottom far right) has recently agreed to join TeachTown’s Scientific Advisory Board!
The TeachTown Scientific Advisory Board also includes Dr. Laura Schreibman from UC San Diego, Dr. Connie Kasari from UCLA, Dr. Ilene Schwartz from University of Washington, Dr. Geraldine Dawson from University of Washington, Dr. William Frea & Dr. Ronit Molko from Autism Spectrum Disorders, Dr. Aubyn Stahmer from San Diego Children’s Hospital, Dr. Gary Stobbe from ASTAR, and Dr. Brooke Ingersoll from Lewis and Clark College.
Dr. Stephens is Director of Autism Spectrum Disorders Programs and Director of The Help Group Center for Autism Spectrum Disorder, an outpatient program that provides diagnostic and therapeutic services for children. She is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Behavior at UCLA. Dr. Stephens oversees the 
Young Learners Preschool for Autism and has been instrumental in creating integrated and comprehensive education and social skills programs within the Help Group’s specialized day schools for children in the autistic spectrum. She established an intensive social skills summer camp program for children with Asperger’s Disorder, which has an international reach with campers coming from the United Kingdom, El Salvador, Japan, Korea, Mexico and other countries. Dr. Stephens is also the Editor of The Help Group’s Professional Newsletter, the HelpLine.
Before joining The Help Group, Dr. Stephens was a Clinical Instructor of Psychiatry, Director of Child Services and an attending psychologist at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. Dr. Stephens received her BA in Experimental Psychology from the UC San Diego, and her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from SUNY Stony Brook. She has worked in the field of autism for more t
han 20 years, focusing on the early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders, designing and implementing educational, behavioral and social programming for children of all ages, and as a consultant to numerous school districts on the East Coast. She co-founded the Early Diagnosis Center for Autism in Suffolk County, New York. Dr. Stephens has published and lectured extensively, and appeared as an expert in autism on several news, radio and TV programs. She has served as the autism consultant to TV shows. Recently, Dr. Stephens traveled to Japan to lecture to 300 educators on the best practices in education for students with Asperger’s Disorder. She also served as Program Chair of the Help Group/Semel Institute on Asperger’s Disorder, a four day intensive workshop for educators and clinicians. Her research interests include the differential diagnosis of high-functioning autism and Asperger’s Disorder, and the development of theory of mind skills in this population.
Founded in 1975, The Help Group is the largest, most innovative and compre
hensive nonprofit organization of its kind in the United States serving children with special needs related to autism, Asperger’s disorder, learning disabilities, ADHD, mental retardation, abuse and emotional problems. The Help Group’s six specialized day schools offer pre-K through high school programs for more than 1,200 students. The Help Group’s wide range of mental health and therapy services, child abuse, foster family and residential programs extend its each to more than 5,000 children and their families each year. With over 800 staff members, The Help Group’s state-of-the-art schools and programs are located on four major campuses in the Los Angeles area.
Posted in TeachTown | 1 Comment »
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