Hi Friends!
I was just recommended this video about mirror neurons. Although we're still at the beginning stages of understanding them, there's some awesome theories and ideas regarding how they may affect individuals with symptoms of autism. Really fascinating topic to consider. Enjoy!
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/mirror-neurons.html
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
Playful Obstruction
Hi Friends!
So, I had a question about playful obstruction and I wanted to make a little comment about it. I was reading in this article by Stanley Greenspan (it's called "Strengthening Reflective Thinking, but he veers off on another topic first): http://www.icdl.com/distance/webRadio/documents/RadioShow2006020906L.pdf. Anyway, I was thinking about playful obstruction and really liked the way he explained it. Here's what he says:
"Let’s say we are using a relationship exercise where we are playing a particular game to teach the child to seek our help. So, we are deliberately putting a toy up on a shelf and then playing dumb like showing the child where it is, but how are we going to get there. So the child has to go, grab us, take us, move us to the shelf area. Here we are setting up a situation where the child is motivated to relate to us. This is a very good semi‐structured, problem solving exercise where we are not strictly following the child’s lead, we are creating a circumstance where the child needs our assistance. But, here too, while we are doing that, we will find an object that the child really wants, we won’t just take some arbitrary object that is pre‐designed. We’ll say what is the child really interested in? Is it a cookie? Is it a particular toy? And when we put it out of sight, we’ll make sure we have his attention so he sees us putting it up a little bit out of sight, but he can see a little bit of it. Then we’ll be flirting with him as we put it up there – we’re engaging. Then, as he starts making some gestures or sounds indicating that he wants it, we’ll help him along and point to it and say, “is that what you want?” or point to something else so he’ll hopefully look at the thing he wants or take our hand and move it in that direction or give us some other gesture. Then we may act deliberately confused to get more circles of communication; to get more back‐and‐forth’s. We’ll see how many we can get without frustrating him to a degree where he loses interest until we get as many circles we can as part of the continuous flow, and then help him retrieve the object either by offering to pick him up or offering to get it for him and seeing if he can make a choice. So what we are getting here is we’re using a particular exercise in relationship‐building and actually, shared social problem‐solving, but we’re creating a semi‐structured situation. We’re orchestrating. In doing so, we’re getting into this continuous flow of back‐and‐forth interaction. But also, we’re tailoring to his nervous system. If he is a hyper‐responsive child, we’re being extra soothing. If his needs are hypo‐reactive, we’re energizing up and being very energetic. And similarly, if we are imitating sounds, we’ll again be tailoring to his nervous system – being more soothing or more energizing, using more visual support or slowing down our oral or our vocal cadence to meet his individual processing profile. We’ll be making the motor part of the task simple or complex. So for example, a child with motor planning problems who can’t sequence or plan easily in the latter example of working together to find an object, we’ll be making the physical action very simple. We won’t put it on a high shelf where the child has to bring a chair over and take three steps to get us to help him get the toy. We’ll put it on a low shelf where he just has to kind of look over in that direction and gesture a little bit and we can help him. Everything is orchestrated to the child’s existing developmental level and their processing profile and we create that learning profile accordingly."
What an amazing description! Playful obstruction sounds like such a simple topic, but when you get to thinking about it, it takes a lot of thought, self-reflection and consideration for the individual child and circumstances. We have to remember the child's profile, their motivation/interest, the basic emotional landscape... it's our job to make a simple obstruction become something enticing and exciting and important to that child. So, how do you do that? You start by considering your child's interests. It is true that an interest is not always an object - it can be an idea or a thought as well. We can add simple questions or facts in a way that encourage the child to think and problem solve differently than before. Once you consider those interest, you add in an enticing problem or puzzle that allows the child to emotionally and cognitively crave involvement. They LOVE the suspense and excitement of the idea because you are there supporting them through it. By working through these situations with a child, they feel successful, excited and powerful in dealing with the world around them.
Anyway, thought it was a great thought and figured I'd share :)
So, I had a question about playful obstruction and I wanted to make a little comment about it. I was reading in this article by Stanley Greenspan (it's called "Strengthening Reflective Thinking, but he veers off on another topic first): http://www.icdl.com/distance/webRadio/documents/RadioShow2006020906L.pdf. Anyway, I was thinking about playful obstruction and really liked the way he explained it. Here's what he says:
"Let’s say we are using a relationship exercise where we are playing a particular game to teach the child to seek our help. So, we are deliberately putting a toy up on a shelf and then playing dumb like showing the child where it is, but how are we going to get there. So the child has to go, grab us, take us, move us to the shelf area. Here we are setting up a situation where the child is motivated to relate to us. This is a very good semi‐structured, problem solving exercise where we are not strictly following the child’s lead, we are creating a circumstance where the child needs our assistance. But, here too, while we are doing that, we will find an object that the child really wants, we won’t just take some arbitrary object that is pre‐designed. We’ll say what is the child really interested in? Is it a cookie? Is it a particular toy? And when we put it out of sight, we’ll make sure we have his attention so he sees us putting it up a little bit out of sight, but he can see a little bit of it. Then we’ll be flirting with him as we put it up there – we’re engaging. Then, as he starts making some gestures or sounds indicating that he wants it, we’ll help him along and point to it and say, “is that what you want?” or point to something else so he’ll hopefully look at the thing he wants or take our hand and move it in that direction or give us some other gesture. Then we may act deliberately confused to get more circles of communication; to get more back‐and‐forth’s. We’ll see how many we can get without frustrating him to a degree where he loses interest until we get as many circles we can as part of the continuous flow, and then help him retrieve the object either by offering to pick him up or offering to get it for him and seeing if he can make a choice. So what we are getting here is we’re using a particular exercise in relationship‐building and actually, shared social problem‐solving, but we’re creating a semi‐structured situation. We’re orchestrating. In doing so, we’re getting into this continuous flow of back‐and‐forth interaction. But also, we’re tailoring to his nervous system. If he is a hyper‐responsive child, we’re being extra soothing. If his needs are hypo‐reactive, we’re energizing up and being very energetic. And similarly, if we are imitating sounds, we’ll again be tailoring to his nervous system – being more soothing or more energizing, using more visual support or slowing down our oral or our vocal cadence to meet his individual processing profile. We’ll be making the motor part of the task simple or complex. So for example, a child with motor planning problems who can’t sequence or plan easily in the latter example of working together to find an object, we’ll be making the physical action very simple. We won’t put it on a high shelf where the child has to bring a chair over and take three steps to get us to help him get the toy. We’ll put it on a low shelf where he just has to kind of look over in that direction and gesture a little bit and we can help him. Everything is orchestrated to the child’s existing developmental level and their processing profile and we create that learning profile accordingly."
What an amazing description! Playful obstruction sounds like such a simple topic, but when you get to thinking about it, it takes a lot of thought, self-reflection and consideration for the individual child and circumstances. We have to remember the child's profile, their motivation/interest, the basic emotional landscape... it's our job to make a simple obstruction become something enticing and exciting and important to that child. So, how do you do that? You start by considering your child's interests. It is true that an interest is not always an object - it can be an idea or a thought as well. We can add simple questions or facts in a way that encourage the child to think and problem solve differently than before. Once you consider those interest, you add in an enticing problem or puzzle that allows the child to emotionally and cognitively crave involvement. They LOVE the suspense and excitement of the idea because you are there supporting them through it. By working through these situations with a child, they feel successful, excited and powerful in dealing with the world around them.
Anyway, thought it was a great thought and figured I'd share :)
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
DIR/Floortime Article
A nice article about DIR/Floortime at home.
http://www.todaysparent.com/health/mental-health/autism-dirfloortime
Enjoy!
Stephanie
http://www.todaysparent.com/health/mental-health/autism-dirfloortime
Enjoy!
Stephanie
Monday, September 24, 2012
Challenging Behaviors
Found a great little link about behaviors that we often see with kids with autism. I loved the way it broke things down and made me think a little harder about the "whys" of the things I see in kids. And it had some pretty good suggestions of things to try. Anyway, it's worth looking at anyway :)
http://www.autism.org.uk/living-with-autism/understanding-behaviour/challenging-behaviour/challenging-behaviour-in-children-with-an-asd.aspx
http://www.autism.org.uk/living-with-autism/understanding-behaviour/challenging-behaviour/challenging-behaviour-in-children-with-an-asd.aspx
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
The Danger of Technology
Someone shared this article with me and it was really fascinating to me, mainly because it makes so much sense. When I think about healthy development, I think about how important it is to have real life, face-to-face social interactions in order to continuing growing and learning. Technology is not bad, but it is important for us to regulate and recognize how it affects us. Are we still getting our play time with our kids or are we constantly being distracted by the phone, the computer, the tv? Are we getting long strings of imaginative play and pleasurable interactions with our kids (30-60 minutes or more a day?). Are we outside running around with them, enjoying the physical and imaginable activities that they love? Are we present with them and are they present with us? And if not, how do we change it so that both parties are more available and more capable of real-life, face-to-face, developmentally encouraging interactions?
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2048363,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2048363,00.html
Friday, August 31, 2012
Brains and Autism
This is an interesting article that will help those working with autism better understand the way our brains work differently. Enjoy!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129379866&ft=1&f=100
Temple Grandin: The World Needs All Kinds of Minds
So, for those of you who work with kids with Autism or other Special Needs, this is a fantastic insight to the way they may be viewing the world. This is a clip from a woman who has Autism named Temple Grandin and she does a fantastic job explaining the way unique thinking and perspective in the world can result in some amazing products. It's a great reminder to me that even when the world is different than I see it to someone else, it can all result in wonderful things if I'm patient, perceptive and willing to merge my ideas with those of another. Enjoy!
Multi Sensory Integration
Thought this was a fun and interesting little article about how kids with autism may process sensory information. Enjoy!
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100819173840.htm
Anxiety
Check out this awesome site on childhood anxiety! Very informative...
http://www.childanxiety.net/Fears_Phobias_Anxiety.htm
Climbing the Symbolic Ladder
This, my friends, is one of the most wonderful things I have EVER read. It applies to all kiddos anywhere. I LOVE the way it helps me know, concretely, things that I can do in thinking about helping symbolic development as well as why it is so important. It's a pdf, so even if you don't have time to read it now, go and save it, print it out and put it in your car to read pieces when you can...
ENJOY!
http://hss.state.ak.us/ocs/ECCS/pdf/ClimbingtheSymbolicLadder.pdf
7 Easy Ways to Help a Family Diagnosed With Autism
I thought this article was phenomenal. So many things we can do to support and love each other in ways that are effective and wonderful. Spread the word!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elaine-hall/living-with-autism-7-easy_b_681033.html
The Race
"Quit, give up, you're beaten"
They shout at you and plead
"There's just too much against you
This time you can't succeed".
And as I start to hang my head
In front of failures face
My downward fall is broken by
The memory of a race
And hope refills my weakened will
As I recall that scene
Or just the thought of that short race
Rejuvenates my being
Childrens race, young boys
Young men, how I remember well
Excitement sure, but also fear
It wasn't hard to tell
They all lined up so full of hope
Each thought to win that race
Or tie for first, or if not that
At least take second place
The fathers watched from off the side
Each cheering for his son
And each boy hoped to show his dad
That he could be the one
The whistle blew and off they went
Young hearts and hopes afire
To win and be the hero there
Was each young boys desire
And one boy in particular
Whose dad was in the crowd
Was running near the lead and thought
"My dad will be so proud"
But as they speeded down the field
Across a shallow dip
The little boy who thought to win
Lost his step and slipped
Trying hard to catch himself
With hands flew out to brace
And amid the laughter of the crowd
He fell flat on his face
But as he fell his dad stood up
And showed his anxious face
Which to the boy so clearly said
"Get up and win the race"
He quickly rose, no damage done
Behind a bit that's all
And ran with all his night and mind
To make up for the fall
So anxious to restore himself
To catch up and to win
His mind went faster than his legs
He slipped and fell again
He wised then that he had quit before
With only one disgrace
"I'm hopeless as a runner now
I shouldn't try to race"
But in the laughing crowd he searched
And found his fathers face
That steady look which said again
"Get up and win the race"
So up he jumped to try again
Ten yards behind the last
If I'm going to gain those yards he though
I've got to move real fast
Exerting everything he had
He regained eight or ten
But trying hard to catch the lead
He slipped and fell again
Defeat, he lay there silently
A tear dropped from his eye
There's no sense running anymore
Three strikes, I'm out, why try?
The will to rise had disappeared
All hope had fled away
So far behind so error prone
A loser all the way
"I've lost, so what", he thought
I'll live with my disgrace
But then he thought about his dad
Whom soon he'd have to face
"Get up" the echo sounded low
"Get up" and take your place
You were not meant for failure here
"Get up", and win the race
With borrowed will "Get up" it said
"You haven't lost at all"
For winning is no more than this
To rise each time you fall
So up he rose to run once more
And with a new commit
He resolved, that win or lose
At least he shouldn't quit
So far behind the others now
The most he'd ever been
Still he'd give it all he had
And run as though to win
Three times he'd fallen, stumbling
Three times he'd rose again
Too far behind to hope to win
He still ran to the end
They cheered the winning runner
As he crossed the line first place
Head high and proud and happy
No falling, no disgrace
But when the fallen youngster
Crossed the line, last place
The crowd gave him the greater cheer
For finishing the race
And even though he came in last
With head bent low, unproud
You would have thought he'd won the race
To listen to the crowd
And to his dad he sadly said
"I didn't do too well"
"To me you won", his father said
"You rose each time you fell"
by D. H. Groberg
A Stinging Realization
This little true story was written by a parent at Clear Horizons Academy and to me illustrates many wonderful points in working with our kiddos. Thank you for sharing with us!
It was late in the afternoon on Mother's Day and I had happily accepted my husband and son's offer to take some time to relax and read. I was deep into my book when I heard a mumbled conversation grow louder and clearer.
"What should we do?" " I know, I have an idea." I could hear some noises in the kitchen and then I heard my husband describe to my son how he intended to capture the yellow jacket, that had somehow gotten into our living room, with a cooking pot and cover it with a book so that he could proceed to let it go outside. A few silent seconds went by and then I heard screaming.
"No." "Why did you kill him?" "I love all animals even the ones with stingers and I will never ever ever forgive you." My husband had accidentally put the book down over the yellow jacket and its broken body lay squirming in the pot. "I will never forgive you - I love all animals..."
Because my son processes the goings-on around him verbally, he continued to scream out these words over and over.
At this point I had already been present for a few minutes and my son started to regulate enough to go on. In a sweet sobbing voice he said: "But you didn't even listen to my idea." In unison, my husband and I asked him what his idea was and what he shared was one of the most beautiful ideas I've ever heard.
"My idea was to pick a flower so that the bee would land on it because bees like nectar."
So often - in situations that aren't nearly as intense - we as adults problem-solve in such an efficient manner that we don't even take time to listen to our children's ideas.
Later, my son started to talk about an ant that he too had killed just the day before. "My finger was too heavy and it died." He said that later he had said a little prayer for the ant. As he processed his own guilt for having squished the tiny ant, he was able to apply these feelings to the guilt my husband felt. And then it hit me, my son was beginning to demonstrate "Theory of Mind," or the ability to begin to apply his own feelings to another person, to empathize.
And so, I too, will say a little prayer for the yellow jacket that lost its life on Mother's Day - and, in honor of that life, I will try to keep in mind that sometimes the simple beauty of a flower can not only preserve, but change a life.
It was late in the afternoon on Mother's Day and I had happily accepted my husband and son's offer to take some time to relax and read. I was deep into my book when I heard a mumbled conversation grow louder and clearer.
"What should we do?" " I know, I have an idea." I could hear some noises in the kitchen and then I heard my husband describe to my son how he intended to capture the yellow jacket, that had somehow gotten into our living room, with a cooking pot and cover it with a book so that he could proceed to let it go outside. A few silent seconds went by and then I heard screaming.
"No." "Why did you kill him?" "I love all animals even the ones with stingers and I will never ever ever forgive you." My husband had accidentally put the book down over the yellow jacket and its broken body lay squirming in the pot. "I will never forgive you - I love all animals..."
Because my son processes the goings-on around him verbally, he continued to scream out these words over and over.
At this point I had already been present for a few minutes and my son started to regulate enough to go on. In a sweet sobbing voice he said: "But you didn't even listen to my idea." In unison, my husband and I asked him what his idea was and what he shared was one of the most beautiful ideas I've ever heard.
"My idea was to pick a flower so that the bee would land on it because bees like nectar."
So often - in situations that aren't nearly as intense - we as adults problem-solve in such an efficient manner that we don't even take time to listen to our children's ideas.
Later, my son started to talk about an ant that he too had killed just the day before. "My finger was too heavy and it died." He said that later he had said a little prayer for the ant. As he processed his own guilt for having squished the tiny ant, he was able to apply these feelings to the guilt my husband felt. And then it hit me, my son was beginning to demonstrate "Theory of Mind," or the ability to begin to apply his own feelings to another person, to empathize.
And so, I too, will say a little prayer for the yellow jacket that lost its life on Mother's Day - and, in honor of that life, I will try to keep in mind that sometimes the simple beauty of a flower can not only preserve, but change a life.
Stanley Greenspan and CNN
LOVED this clip! Some GOOD training that has concrete ideas on how to work with some of our kiddos. Enjoy!
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/05/10/stanley.greenspan.autism/
The Peripheral Side-Ways Stare
Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. The "I'm only gonna look at you out of the side of my eye and it's gonna have to count today, 'cause straight on makes me run away" look. It's that cock my head, close one eye and see from the sideways peripheral view what I'm looking at today. I just learned why that is. Ready?"They may also help us understand why many children with ASD use peripheral vision (they don't look directly at caregivers but seem to look from the side) rather than central vision to scan their environments.The neuroanatomy of the visual tracks is such that peripheral vision requires only one hemisphere [of the brain], the left or right one, to function. Central vision, however, requires that both hemispheres function together (because some of the pathways cross over and others do not)" (The First Idea, by Stanley Greenspan, page 308).
I just that was so cool! Enjoy!
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