Dr. Chris’ Autism Journal

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 than 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 comprehensive 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.

It seems like every week I am reading an article about another school district struggling to keep up with the expenses of educating children with autism and how instead of adding resources, they keep getting taken away!

In South Carolina, $1.4 million were taken away from the already struggling programs.  This means that children might not get the needed treatment that they need, such as ABA.  More than $700,000 is being dedicated to serving the children with autism, which will cover ABA for only 30 students.  It seems to me that solutions must be found which can spread the limited amounts of money further, how can schools serve more children with the same amount of money while still providing the quality treatment that is needed?

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.

In addition, I would like to see more funding and grants for school programs and more education for school staff to more effectively educate children with autism spectrum disorders.  This could be done easily through online learning programs or local conferences for educators.  In addition, more funding and research is needed for how to effectively and efficiently educate school staff so that they are empowered and motivated.

The other important thing that is needed for school systems is training and accountability for student outcome.  Researchers should consider designing assessments that are feasible and easy for schools to implement, and standards should be set for what exactly schools are expected to measure and report.  While some school districts require teachers to use standardized measures of assessment, these measures are often not appropriate or informative for measuring the progress of children with autism spectrum disorders.  If measurements are required, they should be scientifically validated for the autism population.  In addition, managable and efficient tools need to be developed and available to teachers to make data collection accurate and consistent.

Some states are taking measures to address these important issues, such as California and the Blue Ribbon Commission.  I recently served on the task force for education for this group, and was pleased to see that I am not alone in these concerns and that there are initiatives out there that are working toward solutions.  I will post updates on this Commission as they are available.  Please post other initiatives or solutions that you think are helpful! 

When looking for a behavioral consultant, it is really important that you look at the qualifications of that person, particularly at the supervision level.

The California Association of Behavior Analysis provides a useful article about how to find a behavioral consultant: http://www.calaba.org/AAMR-BehConsultantsFlyer.pdf.

Here is another excellent article about finding a behavioral consultant from Community Gateway: http://communitygateway.org/faq/behavioral.htm

The Behavior Analyst Certification Board is the first organization to provide national certification credentials for behavioral consultants.  When you see BCBA or BCABA after someone’s name, this assures you that the person has completed the required number of hours, supervision, education, and passing the national board exam.  If you would like to know if someone has these credentials, you can look them up on the BACB site!  This is a great place to start looking for someone to help you with a home program that lives in your state. 

The California Children and Families Commission is one of the few government programs which focuses on the treatment of children with ASD who have a diagnosis today - most government resources focus on research for a cause and a cure and although that is very important, it is also important to have programs to help the children currently diagnosed, and I am always excited to learn more about these programs. I recently learned about this program and wanted to share it with all of you.
The First 5 California Mission:

Current research in brain development clearly indicates that the emotional, physical and intellectual environment that a child is exposed to in the early years of life has a profound impact on how the brain is organized. The experiences a child has with respect to parents and caregivers significantly influence how a child will function in school and later in life.

The California Children and Families Act of 1998 is designed to provide, on a community-by-community basis, all children prenatal to five years of age with a comprehensive, integrated system of early childhood development services. Through the integration of health care, quality child care, parent education and effective intervention programs for families at risk, children and their parents and caregivers will be provided with the tools necessary to foster secure, healthy and loving attachments. These attachments will lay the emotional, physical and intellectual foundation for every child to enter school ready to learn and develop the potential to become productive, well-adjusted members of society.
The First 5 California Special Needs Project works with families, caregivers, child care providers – including Head Start and State Preschool programs, educators, health, mental health, and social services providers – to support young children with a broad spectrum of special needs in the context of and as an integral part of the First 5 School Readiness Initiative community approach.
Special Needs Project emphasis areas include:

1. Universal access to screening for early identification/diagnosis and referrals for physical and developmental issues (including social/emotional/behavioral) 2. Improved access to and utilization of services and supports through coordination and reallocation of existing resources and building of new supplemental resources.

3. Inclusion of young children with disabilities and other special needs in appropriate typical preschools, child care and development and other community settings with provision of necessary supports to help the child succeed in these environments. 4. Evaluation to identify effective practices and to improve programs.

They also have the Map to Inclusive Child Care Project. The Map Project works under the umbrella of the California Institute on Human Services (CIHS) at Sonoma State University and is funded by the California Department of Education’s Child Development Division. This project seeks to expand opportunities for children with disabilities and special needs in child care and development programs. The project is committed to improving the delivery of quality child care services to children with disabilities and other special needs in inclusive settings. This is accomplished by bringing together key stakeholders who have an interest in and have impact on quality child care programs that include children with disabilities and other special needs.

They have a book available to help parents who have children with difficult behaviors called Children with Challenging Behavior, it is a PDF, you can just print it out for your home or office.

Also interesting is their SCHOOL READINESS program whose goal is to implement programs that improve the transition from early care settings to elementary school and increase the schools’ and communities’ capacity to promote the sucesss of young children. You might also like to check out the POWER OF PRESCHOOL program, which is a high-quality, free, voluntary, part-day preschool program for all four year-olds (or three- and four-year olds). The program will assist children in becoming personally, socially, and physically competent, effective learners, and ready to transition into kindergarten.

I appreciate that they are also taking the time to collect data to assess the effectiveness of these programs.

I will be giving 2 talks at the end of this month in Southern California, sponsored by Autism Spectrum Therapies, a Southern California company that offers some of the best treatment services out there for children with autism (also has a very impressive staff!). Demonstrations of TeachTown: Basics will be shown as well as a discussion about the importance of evidence-based practices, research, and how computers might be able to help improve existing treatment programs.

LOS ANGELES
DATE: Tuesday, June 27
TIME: 7:00 — 9:00 p.m.
PLACE:Ayres Hotel, 14400 Hindry Avenue, Hawthorne
(405 Freeway @ Rosecrans Avenue)

ORANGE COUNTY
DATE: Wednesday, June 28
TIME: 7:00 — 9:00 p.m.
PLACE: Embassy Suites, 1325 East Dyer Road, Santa Ana
(55 Freeway @ Dyer Road)

Space is Limited — RSVP’s are required — (866) AST-1520