Dr. Chris’ Autism Journal

Over the Memorial Day weekend, Dr. Chris Whalen and Dr. Shannon Cernich attended the Applied Behavior Analysis International conference in Chicago.  There were many exciting presentations and new developments in the field of ABA related to autism.

Of particular interest was a poster presentation entitled “An Analysis of Instructor Errors in Discrete-Trial Teaching of Children with Autism” by Daniel Mruzek, Tristram Smith, and colleagues at the University of Rochester.  They found that the largest proportion of instructor errors when delivering discrete trial training (DTT) occurred when delivering reinforcement.

These errors were of two types:  The instructor reinforced an incorrect child response or the instructor failed to reinforce a correct child response.  For example, instructor says “Show me the big one.”   Child points at small item but instructor thinks the child pointed at big item and says, Great job!”  Or the child points at the big item but the instructor is looking at her data sheet and thinks the child did not respond and says, “Try again.”  As reinforcement (often colloquially known as reward) is what increases the rate of a response, DTT can result in the wrong responses being increased, even with a trained instructor.

This is not to suggest that DTT is a flawed methodology.  All training methods as well as life often result in the wrong responses being reinforced.  Imagine the following scenario:  You meet someone new named Shelly; you mishear her name and call her Sally.  She responds when you call her Sally and does not correct you.  Your behavior of calling her by the wrong name is reinforced.

So the point is not to end your child’s DTT program in place of some other methodology, but to make sure it is being properly supervised.  Trained, good ABA therapists will regularly make the errors describe above (they’re only human), but a good supervisor will detect and correct these errors while supervising your child’s session.

More highlights from the ABA conference will follow in future blogs, but in conclusion, Dr. Chris and Dr. Shannon gave presentations at the conference on the use of TeachTown: Basics, a computer-assisted program that delivers concepts during the computer sessions in a DTT format.  Although computerized instruction is meant to supplement human instruction, not replace it, we are proud to state that TeachTown: Basics delivers errorless reinforcement.  There are some things that computers can do better than people.  If only your computer would help you the next time your child tantrums!

     It is imperative for parents to take an active role in their child’s therapy. Lovass, a pioneer in applied behavioral analysis ( ABA ) therapy, has stressed the importance of training parents as intervention providers. By learning various intervention techniques, parents cannot only strengthen the parent-child relationship, they can also learn methods for promoting generalization, communication usage and skills, and help the child maintain general academics. Koegal and collegues have found that parents who participate in supplemental training show an increase in quality of family life, a decrease in parental stress, and become more optimistic about their ability to aid in their child’s development. Although parent training is not usually publicly funded, it is cost effective. By learning effective techniques, you can implement some of the programs for which you would normally pay an ABA tutor/therapist, thus decreasing hours of paid services. 

SpectrumCIRCLES is providing a 6 week parent training series in Bremerton , WA . The classes are from 130-330pm every Saturday starting March 1^st through April 5^th. Some of the topics that will be covered include: de-escalating tantrum behavior, potty training, starting an ABA home program, and picky eaters. Manya Vaupel, M.Ed., BCBA, the Clinical Director for SpectrumCircles and Early Intervention Program Director for Pivot Point-Family Growth Centre, Inc, will be running the parent training. If you would like more information, contact Manya at manya@spectrumcircles.com or call 206.384.3702

The winter holidays can be a difficult time for children with ASD and their families. Difficulties may arise from too much free time, changes in routine, and gift giving.

Most school-age children are off school for two to three weeks for the winter holidays, leaving six to eight hours of unstructured time for families to fill each day. You’re not alone if you dread the school holidays; past experience has taught you that a lot can go wrong in two or three weeks. If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to plan how you will structure that free time for your child with ASD. Plan activities for each day of the vacation, and create simple visual supports (e.g., print a picture of a park from the Internet if you will be taking your child to the park) to prime your child about the activities you have planned. If possible, allow your child to help decide on the activities you are planning. During the vacation, review the schedule for the day the night before and on the morning of the day to which the schedule refers. Of course, you can’t plan for everything, and you will invariably have to make changes to the schedule. Let your child know of any changes as soon as possible, and provide visual supports to make the changes concrete for your child. If your family will be traveling during the vacation, changes to the schedule such as flight delays are even more likely. Prepare your child that more than likely, there will be changes to the schedule, perhaps through the use of a social story. Don’t forget to bring an assortment of things for your child to do such as coloring, books, games, or a laptop computer.
Where your child will go and what he or she will do in a day are not the only changes that may be upsetting during the winter holidays. Many people visit with friends and relatives during this time that they rarely see during the rest of the year. These people may feel like strangers to your child, and he or she may behave accordingly. Forcing your child to hug Aunt Mary because “She came all the way from Boston to see us,” is likely to induce challenging behaviors from your child and to make Aunt Mary very uncomfortable. Aunt Mary insisting on a hug may produce similar results. Inform Aunt Mary that your child may view her as a stranger and she should not be offended before Aunt Mary arrives at your home (or you at hers). If possible, show your child pictures of friends and relatives you will visit and review the names of these people before the visit.

Many people exchange gifts during the winter holidays. This can be a source of great disappointment for family and friends of a child with ASD. As a behavior therapist, I once special ordered a beach magnet set for a child I worked with one-on-one, three hours a day, five days a week. I was sure he would love it. I imagined all the exciting language he would produce when we played with those magnets. I heard in my mind spontaneous comments he would make and squeals of delight he would emit. As you probably guessed, the boy opened the magnet set, said nothing, put it down, and picked up another toy. I tried to engage him with the magnets through my enthusiasm. Nothing worked. I have heard similar stories from parents and educators time and again. Even when the child showed intense interest in a toy when it belonged to someone else or requested the toy, the same toy is often of little interest to the child when received as a holiday gift.  As a parent, there is nothing you can do to prevent this. If you have a neurotypical child, you may have complained that he or she only played with a new toy for a day and lost interest. This is part of being a parent, but it is especially disheartening when your child is on the Autism Spectrum, has limited interests, and you worked so hard to find that special gift. Remember that your effort is special regardless of the immediate reaction to the gift. And time may reward your effort. I heard that the beach magnet set became a preferred toy for the boy I worked with over a year later.

The day started out a little foggy and crisp as crowds of volunteers made their way to the Dempsey Center located below the University of Washington’s main campus. Many of the walkers arrived at the center around 9am, as the sun began to slowly emerge from the clouds. Individuals were greeted with fresh bagels and bottled water prior to entering the Dempsey Center. Once inside, the walkers and teams registered, received their T-shirts and were free to peruse the resources and enjoy the entertainment. A stage located at the center of the field featured a rock band, a high school cheer and dance squad, and several speakers with their own inspirational words and anecdotes. The indoor track and field at the Dempsey Center was lined with booths from different organizations and companies devoted to autism research, programs, and interventions. Parents traveled up and down the track collecting countless literature, brochures, and even some samples from the different organizations supporting the cause. Not only was the morning insightful and fun for the parents, the kids had a great time as well getting their face painted, sliding down the gigantic blow up slide, bouncing inside the bounce house, blowing bubbles, and enjoying the ARC’s sensory station.

After the opening ceremony, walkers filed out of the center in clusters, while others chose to linger behind and take full advantage of the resources available. A caravan of families, parents with strollers, and individuals besieged the bike riders on the Burke Gilman Trail as they traveled from Dempsey Center to the main campus. The campus proved to be a gorgeous choice for the walk. The participants walked under a canopy of fiery fall leaves and were met halfway through the walk by a mariachi band. In addition to the park-like setting, the walk route was littered with signs filled with information regarding autism and how prevalent it has become within the last few years. With the growing numbers of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, the importance to make people aware continues to increase, which is why supporting events such as the Annual Autism Speaks walk is crucial!

Pictures of the event can be found on the Alison Jensen Photography website: Alison Jensen Photography

For more information about the walk, check out the Autism Speaks website: Autism Speaks

Seattle, WA – TeachTown, a privately held autism research and technology company, was named a winner of the 2007 Tibbetts Awards for excellence in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programs. Individuals and companies selected for these national awards are recognized as having provided outstanding SBIR leadership.

Teach Town, founded in 2003, provides an education and language learning platform as well as services specifically designed and developed for children with autism and other cognitive impairments. It was conceptualized by Chief Scientist Dr. Christina Whalen, licensed psychologist, and certified behavior analyst, and developed with Eric Dallaire, and Lars Liden, Ph.D., cognitive and neural systems. Dr. Whalen will accept the award on October 10, 2007 in Washington, DC, and attend the congressional reception on Capitol Hill.

With recent increases in autism prevalence, estimates are now 1 out of 150 births, “We have a rapidly growing school-age autism population that is severely under-served.” says Dr. Chris Whalen, “Our goal is to provide affordable, available, and effective treatment.”

TeachTown received an SBIR (Department of Education) grant in 2004 to develop its first product TeachTown Basics, which was released to the market in March 2006. They also received a “Stepping Stone” grant in June 2007. The company has built up a science advisory board which includes some of the most prominent autism researchers in the US. The results of the first Teach Town: Basics study was published in the Journal of Speech and Language Pathology and Applied Behavior Analysis in March 2006.

SBIR support for product development and research has allowed Teach Town to become the only evidenced based autism treatment technology solution available which provides online synchronization and communication of the child’s activities and progress data. This addresses the main area of pain for service providers and parents which is the ability to; track, report and communicate on a child’s progress. The program includes both on and off computer activities using scientifically-based treatment approaches which are needed to be successful in teaching children with autism. TeachTown allows service providers to serve more children at one time and exceeds mandated education data reporting requirements in all 50 states.

TeachTown is now embarking on a 2 year project and will conduct research studies which will include children with autism or Asperger’s Syndrome, parents, and professionals from the autism community. This research will guide the development of a new education and treatment program targeted at grade levels 2^nd – 5^th. This innovative treatment will build on the success of TeachTown: Basics, which is now helping hundreds of younger children and being adopted by major school districts across the U.S.

Christina Whalen, PhD, BCBA

(206) 336-5585

chris@teachtown.com

About Teach Town

www.teachtown.com

TeachTown is a privately held company based in Seattle with offices in San Francisco, and is funded by the Washington Research Foundation and private investors led by Richard Fade, founder of the Autism Treatment Network.

For more information about the Tibbetts Award Click Here