It has been awhile since my last
post. It was a deliberate
choice. Breaking down the steady barrage of autism reports can be an
arduous task. In addition,
other catastrophic events—like a superstorm—push other things further on the
back burner. But we’ve been
plowing through the school year with a lot of success so far.
According to the social skills group
teacher, our son has made some dramatic strides since last year. He interacts better with other group
members. Last year, the
group was composed of students, whom my son described as “bad kids” (i.e.
talked in class, yelled at or was aggressive towards teacher). So the lessons addressed issues such
as “teeth are not for biting” or “hands are not for hitting.” Since our son never had a problem with
aggression, we called an IEP meeting to address these concerns and broaden the
topics covered during the sessions.
At first, there was limited
adjustment: For instance, this year,
the first class dealt with feelings (e.g. Are
you happy/sad/angry?). Still, many sessions address aggression issues. Preferably, my husband and I would like more
focus on areas such as initiating conversation, role-playing, social scripts
and perspective-taking. In addition, the teacher mentioned that he constantly
prods our son with questions compared with the other children who “volunteer”
information.
Also, I question the credentials of this
teacher and whether he has any specialization in autism (my guess, probably
not). During the recent IEP
meeting, a school psychologist mentioned that our son was the only student
within the general education population diagnosed with ASD. Other students with autism, many of
whom fall on the severe end of the spectrum, are annexed into another building
for children with special- needs.
So I realize that we will need
additional therapy to meet our son’s social skills demands. I wish that his school offered a parent education/training program for improving social communication for
high-functioning adolescents with ASD. In
fact, some research has shown that training parents as “co-therapists” is effective at improving behavior and increasing language skills for children with autism.
However, very few schools offer this
type of program. Many parent
training/education programs focus on early
intervention with young children (under age 5) and take place in the homes of
individual families.
What’s more, other studies examining
parent programs have reported positive changes in
parent-child interactions. And solid evidence has shown that
parents enrolled in these programs report less
stress and greater self-efficacy (the belief about one’s ability to act in different situations).
For instance, in a 2006 study published in the Journal
of Positive Behavior Interventions, investigators followed eight students,
ages 3 to 4, diagnosed with autism and their families. The children were enrolled in early
childhood special education classrooms that were part of the Oregon Statewide
Regional Program Autism Training Sites. The
classrooms used techniques based on applied
behavior analysis such as pivotal
response training.
In addition, the children’s parents
participated in weekly sessions where they were taught these strategies for
improving communication during daily activities. After nine weeks, parents reported improvement
and increased knowledge of their child’s social communication skills.
But while several studies have shown benefits
for parent training/education programs, there are some drawbacks to consider.
Some limitations with this type of intervention include inconsistent professional
support and inaccurate skill application by parents.
