Tag Archives: communication
New iPhone app aims at helping children with autism
When your child is diagnosed with autism, a million questions begin running through your mind. “How do I help him/her?” “How do I find a doctor that I know is qualified” “How am I going to pay for this?” “How can I effectively help my child in their development?” Many of these answers are dependent a variety of different factors and the nature of your specific situation.
Nowadays, whenever a “how-to” question is posed, typically one of two answers are given; A) ‘Google That’ or B) ‘There’s an app for that.”. The latter of course is referring to Apple’s revolutionary iPhone and iPod, both of which feature download-able applications (“apps”). There are apps available that assist you in a variety of tasks ranging from getting a cocktail recipe to ordering movie ticks and booking a hotel room. Even more impressive is the possibility that there will soon be an app available targeted to help children with autism.
Lisa Domican lives in Dublin, Ireland and is the mother of two children with Autism; Liam (11) and Grace (9). With both Liam and Grace, Lisa has practiced Picture Exchange Communication, also known as PECS which is an alternative form of communication that enables children to use pictures instead of words to create sentences and communicate.
“You are constantly having to replace loose cards and make new ones,” said Ms Domican. So out of that came the idea to develop an iPhone application that would make the process more efficient. Coincidentally, the application was created under the name “Grace”, her 9 year old daughter.
“With the iPhone, the screen looks like a Pecs book. It’s ok to have a four-year-old walking around with a Pecs book; it’s not ok for a 10 or 12-year-old. They’re very personal to the kids; it’s…
Neurotherapy as a Treatment For Autism
Canadian neurotherapist Paul Swingle will be the first to admit that his methods of treatment for Autism are often criticized. Many claim that there are no dependable studies that prove his neurotherapy sessions work. Melanie Lewis of Harrogate, England is a firm believer in Swingle’s treatment and she says her son is proof of its effectiveness.
When Melanie’s son, Martin was three years old, she and her husband began to worry about him. His speech was delayed, he lacked coordination and was unable to focus on any one thing for too long. He soon began to have seizures and visited doctor after doctor who would simply give him more medication and send them on their way.
At 8 1/2 years old, Martin began having a different kind of seizure. Melanie took him to several different doctors and neurologists who gave negative prognosis and their answers were to up his dosages on his medication. Melanie says, “It was a time of fairly major disillusionment in the medical system.”
Melanie, a doctor and her husband, previously a doctor, now a lawyer have always taken a “proactive” approach to their son’s condition. They tried everything from modifying his diet to horse-back riding to having him take Ritalin and anti-seizure medication. None of these things seemed to help, at least not dramatically.
It was across the world that Melanie would soon locate Paul Swingle, a psychologist from Vancouver. She says she was browsing around the internet and came across Swingle’s website. The neurotherapy that he specializes in made sense to Melanie and this convinced her to fly halfway across the world to try to find a successful treatment for her son.
Having surfaced in the 70′s, neurotherapy was introduced to treat a variety of disorder’s including attention deficit disorder, autism, epilepsy and addiction. It…
Drama Therapy Opens Up New Alternatives to Autism Therapies
Drama Therapy is generally defined as the use of drama and theater processes to
achieve therapeutic goals. The technique is often used in schools, hospitals, correctional facilities and the mental health field to achieve behavior change, personal growth and improved emotional stability. Though this not a new method of therapy, it has more recently been used to help those with Autism.
Many people with Autism are in fact verbal, however they are unable to successfully communicate socially. Incorporating theater processes enables the participants practice social skills, learn improvisation and memorize lines to recite with increased emotional awareness. In addition and even more importantly, it gives the participators the opportunity to become an actor, preform a show and get applause for their efforts and in turn get a feeling of social acceptance and achievement.
Cindy Schneider is the author of the book Acting Antics: A Theatrical Approach to Teaching Social Understanding to Kids and Teens with Asperger Syndrome. In the book, Schneider discusses in depth the benefits of using Drama Therapy for those with Autism. She offers classes to both adults and children with a variety of diagnoses including Asperger’s Syndrome, high-functioning Autism and non-verbal Autism. According to her findings, participants may gain:
- self-confidence not only in performing, but in interactions
- improved self-esteem; pride in their accomplishments
- improved recognition of emotions in others
- improved identification and labeling of own emotions
- new leisure time activity in a group where they can be successful
- new awareness of volume levels and beginning modulation of level
- new skills for functioning as part of a group
- new skills for following directions
- improved ability to interact with peers
- increased self-confidence through success
The organizers of a Drama Therapy Company are usually educated in the Psychology field as well as in Theater…
Facilitated Communication – A Controversy
A few weeks ago, we took a look at Carly, a young girl who has Autism. She is 
non-verbal however she independently communicates via keyboard to her family, friends, Twitter Followers and Facebook Friends. She often fields questions from followers and she answers them herself. Once in a while her father has been known to send out a message just making a general request. Recently, for example, Carly’s father sent a message out kindly asking that people use Twitter to communicate with Carly as opposed ro Facebook. This was simply because Carly prefers Twitter over Facebook. Other than these once-in-a-while instances, Carly communicates everything herself with near no assistance.
As common as individual communication methods have become, there are still some non-verbal people who are unable to successfully use a keyboard. Hand-eye coordination is required to be able to utilize the keyboard method and many people lack this skill, especially if they have Autism. There are alternative methods of communication that have opened the doors of possibility for those who are non-verbal and lack the hand-eye coordination to successfully use a keyboard. One method in particular is known as Facilitated Communication or FC. In this method, specifically targeted to those who cannot type, there are two people involved; the communicator, (whom is often autistic, deaf, mute, etc) and the Facilitator. The facilitator is responsible for conveying the message of the communicator by assisting them in finding the right key, easing their hand to the desired letter, or pressing they key down that the communicator indicates.
Despite the numerous success stories that have come from this method, it is still under much controversy and has been for years. In 1977, Rosemary Crossley claimed to have successfully used facilitated communication with a group…
The Voice of Autism
Every time I watch the scene from Rain Man when Dustin Hoffmann’s Autistic character, Raymond has a meltdown, I cannot help but to feel sorry for his new-found brother and caretaker, Charlie (played by Tom Cruise). As Charlie stands by and watches his brother have a meltdown in a crowded airport, he looks helpless, confused and scared.
We often sympathize with the parents and guardians of autistic children and people because its difficult to imagine being in the overwhelming position of caretaker. We put focus on advocates of Autism, giving them thanks for raising awareness and funding for the cause. We praise the doctors and researchers who are studying this neurological disorder in hopes to find new causes, links and treatments that can help us to better understand Autism. We often wonder how all of these life-changing individuals get through each and every stressful day.
Parents. Caregivers. Advocates. Doctors. Researchers.
We’re forgetting someone. Actually, we’re forgetting thousands of people; those who are living with Autism. Of course, I say this more figuratively than literally as we all know that the people who are suffering from this disorder are never forgotten. However, they are often overlooked on the list of people who we wonder “how they have the strength to do it.”
In the years that Autism has been under the microscope, we’ve discovered how it affects the brain, what types of medications help to treat it, what types of things are linked to it, etc. It’s generally known what the symptoms are and what they look like as these are things that can be researched and proven. There are some things that you unfortunately cannot put under a microscope, particularly emotions and feelings. So, we’re left with the often unanswered question: What does it feel like to be autistic?
14 year old Carly Fleischmann was once assumed to be mentally retarded because she…
Recent Comments