Interview with Krista Schultz, Registered Psychologist and Autism Expert
Monday, June 25th, 2007I 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 »
I would also like to see more studies on technology and which programs are effective and which ones are not. It won’t be long before Computer-Assisted Instruction is added to the list above, I just hope that developers, and perhaps more importantly, university researchers continue to conduct the necessary research to keep improving these programs.
It is time for researchers to start thinking about solutions for schools, there is a large amount of data supporting ABA and some other approaches as well. However, I would like to see studies looking at how to develop ABA treatments further so as to be able to serve more children, perhaps in small group instruction, or utilizing technology, or simplifying procedures for less expensive staff to implement, or other creative solutions to deal with this critical issue in our education system.
Do you own an IPOD or other MP3 player or do you use 
I’m currently attending the AEN conference in San Jose, CA. The primary focus of the project is on a “National Standards Project” which will focus on the urgent need for universally accepted standards that promote evidence-based treatment approaches for autism.
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