tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54727118362714414472024-02-20T19:06:14.395-08:00Blogging from Alphabet Soup Speech Consultants, LLC.A blog from Alphabet Soup Speech Consultants, LLC., a unique private speech therapy practice providing services in New Jersey and New York. Alphabet Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577478066621100543noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472711836271441447.post-31510409478552424082018-08-03T13:04:00.000-07:002018-08-03T13:06:22.006-07:00Is there a way to soften that section..?Earlier this year I submitted a piece to a very well-known online site for parents. The piece was welcomed by the individual who responded to me, and upon further review, the individual asked me if "there was a way to soften that section...?"<br />
<br />
The individual was asking about a section of the article that speaks about the importance of keeping the very young "tech-free." The individual was concerned that a parent might feel judged by what I had written, even though the individual shared they understood that I was not actually judging parents through what I had written.<br />
<br />
I responded, respectfully:<br />
<br />
"I do think this is a very important issue as children become more and more immersed in screens, and I take a very firm stance on it. I wouldn't want a parent to feel judged but I would also want them to have the benefit of an honest and frank clinical opinion."<br />
<br />
The interaction ended very positively, with the individual sharing they understood and inviting me to contribute in the future if I had another idea for a post, etcetera.<br />
<br />
I can certainly understand the decision to not accept an article. My issue however was the individual's concern about the interpretation of the article and that parents might feel judged as a result. I find this concerning. How can anyone learn and grow if they never hear opinions that may be new, or different or unique or even contrary to what they believe in?<br />
<br />
In my practice, <b>I strive to support, empower, and educate parents from a place that is thoughtful and respectful. </b>I believe parents who are looking for a professional opinion want, in fact more accurately need, an <b>honest,</b> forthright opinion that is not wishy-washy or watered down. <b>The parent can then decide if that opinion resonates with them in part or in whole, or even not at all. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Honest opinions do not equal some sort of judgement. They are simply an opinion to be taken or discarded as the reader sees fit. </span></b><br />
<br />
I have chosen to publish that part of the article below. I welcome discussion in the comments!<br />
____________<br />
<b> "No screen time!</b><br />
<br />
I cannot stress this enough. Unless your baby has special needs and requires a dedicated device for communication, there is no reason why screens should be introduced before the age of at least 2, and frankly I think waiting even longer is even better. <b>Babies need the input of language from the day-to-day dynamic three-dimensional world around them, not two-dimensional screens that offer no opportunity for meaningful interaction.</b> A screen does not offer true language support – for example, words associated with colors and shapes that are learned through an app are essentially meaningless without the rich language that accompanies learning about such topics in the ‘real world.’ In their Health Initiative on Media, The American Academy of Pediatrics notes: “A child’s brain develops rapidly during these first years [under 2 years of age], and <b>young children learn best by interacting with people, not screens.” </b><br />
You’re probably thinking now, ‘but how enrich my baby’s language?’ The answer is: by <b>interacting and talking with them, reading and playing with toys with them, and involving them in the world around them</b> as you guide them gently and thoughtfully through!"Alphabet Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577478066621100543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472711836271441447.post-55549328919633037662014-04-07T09:00:00.000-07:002014-04-07T09:00:01.216-07:00Guest Post: Leslie Lindsay, Parent and Author of "Speaking of Apraxia"!!!I'm very pleased to share that Leslie Lindsay, R.N., B.S.N., author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Speaking-Apraxia-Parents-Childhood-Speech/dp/1606130617" target="_blank"><i>Speaking of Apraxia: A Parents' Guide to Childhood Apraxia of Speech</i></a>, is our guest blogger today!<br />
<br />
Leslie's book is a wonderful guide for parents to navigate the complex, and often highly confusing, world of speech therapy for CAS. It is written in a parent-friendly format, and is comprehensive yet easy to understand.<br />
<br />
Her article below is a great note to new and current speech pathologists. Please read and share!!<br />
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">SLPs:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our Children with CAS Need your TLC</span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">By Leslie Lindsay, R.N. B.S.N.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">You
won’t soon forget her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The red hair and
blue eyes the size of saucers will linger in your memory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, too will the fact that she is as fire-y
and energetic as that copper hair that cascades down her back, framing her
freckled face with possibility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">And
when you hear her speak, you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">may</i> have
an inkling that she once suffered from moderate to severe childhood apraxia of
speech (CAS), or you may be none the wiser. Although Kate is a bright,
creative, and eager soon-to-be 2<sup>nd</sup> grader, she has overcome a road
block most of us never have to deal with: a struggle to communicate
expressively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">And
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Since
you are about to embark into an exciting profession of working with children
and their families, I’d like you to have an inside view of what it’s like to
raise a child with CAS.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">We are hurting</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We feel a sense of loss in our child’s lack
of verbal communication.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are
grieving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t want this to happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heck, most of us don’t even <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know</i> what CAS is!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">We are frustrated</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t know what we are doing wrong (some
of us blame ourselves on our child’s inability to speak).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s hard to live a life where we only hear
our child(ren) point and grunt to get their needs met.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">We feel all alone</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">. It’s not every day you run
into someone else who is also struggling with CAS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It often feels like it is “us” against “the
world.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you know of anyone else who
is open to connecting for play dates or support groups, hook us up!</span></div>
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</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">We have a lot of other concerns</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It may be that we have to take off work
early—or stop working altogether to make sure our child gets to speech
therapy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Money may be tight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our insurance may be giving us a hard
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The demands of raising a family,
running a household, and dealing with apraxia may have taken a toll on our
relationships.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">We have a full, busy life</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apraxia and speech therapy is a part of our
life, but we are many things to many people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Please respect our time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Deep down, we just want to have
a “normal” kid</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we overhear a precocious 3-year old
chatting with his mommy or daddy at the local park or coffee shop, our heart
breaks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Why can’t that be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">my</i> kid?!”</span></div>
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</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">We worry</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will this ever get better?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will my child be able to talk—when?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do I need to do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">We want to help</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let us into your speech-pathology world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You don’t have to give away all of the
secrets to the trade, but let us be your partner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">As a
professional SLP, here’s what you can do to help smooth our path:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Give us homework, tips, ideas,
and more information on childhood apraxia</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
folks may request this, others might not know what they need or want.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Feel us out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If you come across something in your professional life you think will
help, but all means, pass it on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Treat us with respect and
compassion</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We know a lot about our children and we want
to help them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">But don’t tip</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">-<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">toe around our feelings</b>. Go ahead, lay it on me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tell me that CAS is serious and complex and
can take years to remediate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tell me,
too that you will do all you can to help my child learn to speak verbally and
that we are in this together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I need
that right now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Ask us about our home life</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We may have some inside tips to help you with
our child in therapy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, she
really <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">does</i> get scared of bubbles;
please do not blow them with her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
can’t go anywhere without her favorite stuffed puppy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let her bring him to therapy and perhaps
incorporate him into your activities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">You
see, as a former R.N. who worked with children day and night in an inpatient
child psychiatry program at the Mayo Clinic, I know that children and their
families matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are not simply a
diagnosis who needs treatment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are
real people, with real feelings and real lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">It is
because of my daughter Kate that I wrote the first book designed for parents on
this complex neurologically-based motor speech disorder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>SPEAKING OF APRAXIA: A PARENT’S GUIDE TO
CHILDHOOD APRAXIA OF SPEECH<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></b>(Woodbine House, 2012) is as much
as labor of love as it is a resource to help others along their apraxia
journey. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">The
book is comprised of over 300 pages of tips, ideas, research, and more on
various topics related—not just to CAS—but other speech disorders from
suspecting a problem to getting treatment (what that treatment consists of),
school challenges, what you can do at home, family coping, child coping,
networking, advocating, and co-morbid conditions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sprinkled throughout are quotes from parents
speaking out about apraxia—what helped, what mattered, and what challenged
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Speaking
of Apraxia is a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">must-have</i> for every
practicing pediatric SLP.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Read what
others are saying: </span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">" I was so excited to open
up my </span></strong><em><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Advance</span></b></em><strong><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></strong><em><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">for SLPs</span></b></em><strong><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> magazine today and see your book
advertised! Your ‘baby’ is out there. I wish you lots and lots of success with
it!"</span></strong><strong><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></strong><strong><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">--R.W.</span></strong><strong><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">An SLP in Missouri shares this:</span></strong><strong><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> "I already have a couple of families in
mind that I am excited to tell about Speaking of Apraxia. What a great
resource!"</span></i></strong></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.65pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"I could feel
your<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> blood, sweat and tears </b>as I
flipped through the pages (wiping my eyes).<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Outstanding!
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>I just shook my head in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">amazement...</b>I am in awe and I am still<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> kind of speechless...really! </b>This book
will be just one of your legacies<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">...well
done!!"</b></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--T.K.P., CCC-SLP in Minnesota</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And remember, our
kids need <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your </i>special touch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For without the “magic” of dedicated SLPs,
our children with apraxia wouldn’t be able to make the gains they do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Leslie Lindsay is former child/adolescent
psych R.N. at the Mayo Clinic-Rochester. She is the mother of two school-aged
daughters and a basset hound, named Sally. Lindsay and her family reside in the
Chicago suburbs where she writes full-time. She is the author of two times
award-finalist <i>S<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Speaking-Apraxia-Parents-Childhood-Speech/dp/1606130617" target="_blank">peaking of Apraxia: A Parent's Guide to Childhood Apraxia of Speech</a></i></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">(</span><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";">Woodbine House, March 2012).
Read more on her blog, where she writes about apraxia, parenting, & education, speakingofapraxia.com</span><a href="http://www.speakingofapraxia.com/"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";"></span></a><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif";"> </span></div>
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<br />
<br />Alphabet Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577478066621100543noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472711836271441447.post-89161762465846847292013-11-08T08:01:00.000-08:002013-11-08T08:01:31.087-08:00ABA: No Honesty AllowedRecently Ariane Zurcher, the eloquent blogger of <a href="http://www.emmashopebook.com/" target="_blank">Emma's Hope Book</a>, posted an exceptional, and apparently highly controversial piece on ABA; and more specifically, the experiences of someone with Autism who endured ABA: <a href="http://emmashopebook.com/2013/11/05/more-on-aba/" target="_blank">"More on ABA"</a><br />
<br />
Note that Ariane shared she had shut down the comments section to her first post on ABA some years back, because she continued to receive hostile responses.<br />
<br />
Many responded to this second post with support, but many also responded saying that Ariane was spouting falsehoods, and that she had no idea what she was talking about.<br />
<br />
Ariane quoted from a young man named <a href="http://idoinautismland.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Ido</a>, who shares his experience growing up with Autism and ABA in his book: <i>Ido in Autismland: Climbing out of Autism's Silent Prison</i>. He shares first hand accounts of what it was like to endure what others called "therapy." He details the lack of respect, the isolation, and the misery that was his when subjected to the harsh, thoughtless, and harmful therapy he had for so long. He details that no-one presumed he was competent and that he was left trapped inside himself, subject to the torment of a way of thinking that was by no means therapeutic. <br />
<br />
And yet people are commenting on Ariane's piece in the harshest of ways. They are saying that what Ariane is saying (Ido's words) is false.<br />
<br />
This is a theme I hear over and over again. If an Autistic person is recounting something that doesn't sit well with the "professionals", he must be wrong. If he is behaving in a way that others find inappropriate (because he is frustrated and cannot communicate), he must be non-compliant and acting out. His Autism must be skewing what he is saying and/or doing. His Autism makes him not understand what's "really" happening. He doesn't have the capacity to "get it."<br />
<br />
So they discount what another human being is sharing. They laugh and pat
them on the head and walk away, or they get mad and tell them they
mustn't do that anymore, or they punish them. This happens all the time
to younger children who fight and fight against sitting in a chair for 2
hours, or who refuse to "work" for that piece of candy. We hear they
are "non-compliant" and "being difficult." We hear they need behavior
modification, stricter rules, and more therapy.<br />
<br />
But Ido, and others like him, know what ABA really is. They've experienced it first hand. They're not just sitting making checkmarks and doling out bits of snacks. They're on the receiving end. And now that experience is being shared. <br />
<br />
Since that experience doesn't sync with what ABA "therapists" (and others in the Autism industry) want to hear, then apparently it must not be true. In fact it must be an outright lie.<br />
<br />
And because to think that it's anything other than a lie is simply too much for many practitioners to realize, it simply isn't acknowledged. Or it's refuted. With anger and hostility. These individuals choose not to listen, not to step outside their own head, and they choose to not move away from their ego long enough to see that what's being provided is offering more harm than good.<br />
<br />
To shut out the voices of hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people who are coming forward to share their experiences with ABA and other forms of harsh therapy, is not only a terrible disservice, it is a blatant lack of equality and lack of respect. It is selfish, narrow-minded, and cruel. It is by no means therapeutic. <br />
<br />
Who's to say that someone's judgement, of their OWN situation, is wrong? Who is anyone else to judge someone else's judgement? To say that their personal experience isn't accurate?<br />
<br />
Ariane: "If you are an ABA therapist, it is your obligation to, at the very
least, read what those who are autistic and were given ABA as children
are saying about it." <a href="http://emmashopebook.com/2013/11/05/more-on-aba/" target="_blank">"More on ABA"</a><br />
<br />
and Ido's mom in the introduction to his book:<br />
"The ideas in this book challenge many assumptions long held by professionals working with autistic people. In our own experience, Ido broke free in spite of, not because of, the mainstream thinking today. If we had continued to rely on the specialists and educators who dominated Ido's early years, if he had not been able to find a way to show me that he could read and write, and if I had not finally trusted my own eyes and impressions, Ido would still be stuck as he was, locked internally, underestimated, and hopeless. It is time for our understanding of autism to undergo yet another paradigm shift, , and Ido, along with other non-verbal autistic communicators, is a pivotal guide." Page 37<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ido-Autismland-Climbing-Autisms-Silent/dp/0988324709" target="_blank">Ido in Autismland: Climbing out of Autism's Silent Prison</a></i><br />
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<br />Alphabet Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577478066621100543noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472711836271441447.post-19978142613453170842013-10-14T12:53:00.002-07:002013-10-14T12:53:48.974-07:00Promises from a Speech PathlogistPromises from a Speech Pathologist:<br />
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I will not say "use your words."<br />
There are lots of ways to communicate.<br />
<br />
I will not tell you to have quiet hands, a quiet mouth, or a quiet body.<br />
Please feel free to move them all as you feel necessary.<br />
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I will not speak about you as though you are not there.<br />
I know you understand everything, even if you do not use verbal speech.<br />
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I will not scold you if you put blocks on your head instead of in a neat stack on the table.<br />
You can do anything you want with toys (as long as you are safe).<br />
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I will not assume you don't feel.<br />
Everyone feels. And we all express our feelings differently.<br />
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I will not tell you you need to earn a token so you can have a cookie.<br />
You are not a trained pet that has to sit before getting their treat.<br />
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I will not drag you by the arm when you're hesitant to leave or enter.<br />
You are a person just like everyone else, and deserve explanations and options just like everyone else.<br />
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I will not tell you to "relax" and "stop it" when you are getting upset. <br />
You have a right to feel as you wish, just like everyone does.<br />
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I will not, however, miss the signs of your anger/frustration, and ignore them until they become a bigger expression.<br />
Everyone needs a little help sometimes to negotiate their frustration.<br />
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I will not insist you sit down to learn or play.<br />
Who says sitting down makes you learn more?<br />
Standing or rocking or bouncing (or all three!) are ok with me.<br />
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I embrace you for who you are. I applaud your uniqueness and your differences. I respect you and see you as a whole, capable, intelligent being. I presume competence. And I celebrate your remarkable soul. Alphabet Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02577478066621100543noreply@blogger.com2