Dr. Chris’ Autism Journal

Last week, the Simons Foundation website published an article about using digital tools to help children and teens with autism. The article features a plethora of examples of current high tech products and their positive effect within the autism community. Some of the products mentioned in the article, such as TeachTown: Basics or the Behavioral Image (BI) Capture system, were specifically designed to be used with the special needs community. The article also reports that some autistic teens are benefiting from products not specifically designed for the special needs market, such as the SymTrend, a PDA designed to help teens track their school performance, or SecondLife, a web-based virtual reality game.

The whole article can be found here.

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

It’s time again for Autism Speaks’ annual “Walk Now for Autism” fundraiser in Seattle, WA. In addition to raising money for autism research, the fundraiser’s purpose is to increase awareness about the growing number of individuals being diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The walk in Seattle is taking place on Saturday, October 13th. If you can’t make it to this event, sign up to join one of the many walks taking place in various locations across the country, as well as in Canada and the United Kingdom.

Hosting these events is Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest non-profit organization devoted to helping the autistic community. In 2006 alone, Autism Speaks raised over $33 million dollars and committed $25 million to scientific research that helped fund multiple projects, including innovative research studies that could potentially advance autism treatment and therapies.

The “Walk Now for Autism” fundraiser is Autism Speaks’ signature fundraising and awareness event. Families and friends of those affected with Autism Spectrum Disorders are the primary participants, in addition to numerous volunteers that make this event possible. It’s not necessary to have a child with autism or work for an autism research organization to join the fun. Everyone is welcome to participate in the walk or even create their own fundraising team. Help spread autism awareness, while raising money for further research.

For more information, check out the following links:

Click Here for a list of locations and dates for the various walks!

Click Here ^{to join TEACHTOWN’s team for the Seattle Walk on October 13th}

^{Click Here to obtain details for the upcoming Seattle Walk}

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.