Final Course Reflection

For my final course reflection I thought I would discuss something that has irritated me since beginning to work with children on the spectrum. Within the Autism community there is a subculture of people who believe autism can be cured. Two of the most popular of these organizations are Cure Autism Now and Defeat Autism Now. While I certainly understand parents' with children on the spectrum need to "fix" their children, it is not a disease. DSM-IV-TR defines Autism and Asperger's as a qualitative impairment. A disease is a sickness. Cancer is a disease. Obviously, there are many people who would disagree with me. I understand that there are differences in brain scans and other "medical" differences in children with Autism. I understand the need for proper diagnosis and treatment. Simon Baron-Cohen takes it once step further and says that Asperger's should not even be considered a disability. It should be considered a difference. (Baron-Cohen, 2002)

We have all met someone who was a little "socially off". I recently went to an asthma specialist that never looked me in the eye once during the twenty minutes he was in the exam room. Richard G. of Great Britain stated on his website, "Only a person's close friends or relatives, or doctors, are likely to be able to judge whether he or she can be diagnosed with autism or Asperger's syndrome. But it is illuminating to learn of people with similar characteristics to ourselves, especially when those people are successful or well-known." (Richard G, 2002) Do you think that we should have "cured" Einstein, Beethoven or Alexander Graham Bell? What are the implications for literature if Jane Austin, Emily Dickinson, and Franz Kafka had "recovered"? People with Autism and Asperger's have made significant improvements and contributions to the world. Certainly, you would not have considered Thomas Jefferson and Henry Ford to have had a disease.

Can you imagine the emotional fallout in saying that Autism is a disease? According to recent studies, as many as 1 in 166 children could be diagnosed with Autism. Are you going to be responsible for telling those children they have a "disease" that causes them to have deficits in the way their brain processes information? I am not. We all have deficits. Yes, every single one of us. Some have more than others. President Bush, I am talking to you. In a country where a C average student with an obvious deficit in communication can grow up to be president based solely on his family's financial success and political influence, you would think people would be more tolerant of other people's idiosyncrasies.

Children with Autism are children first. Why should we condemn them to a lifetime of feeling inferior just because they do not fit into the "norm" of what we think people should act like. Why should we consider it a deficit to not have a drive to be social? There are many of us that would rather be by ourselves than with others. My idea of a perfect afternoon would be gardening for hours on end without being disturbed by man or beast. Why should it be considered a disability to have narrow interests? I heard a friend say that children with autism are masters of nothing important. Who makes the decision about what is important and what is not? My brother hunts, a lot. Ideally, he would hunt everyday during every season. Does he hunt out of necessity? No, he is a statistician executive for a major pharmaceutical company. Does his obsession with hunting make him weird? A little bit. Does it mean he has a disability? Decidedly not. Should there be a committee to decide what is important to the human race? If you are thinking "yes, that is a GREAT idea" please take this opportunity to leave my blog. What ever happened to allowing people to be individuals?

What children on the spectrum need, instead of doomsday predictions and focusing on what they can't do, is support of what they can do. You can use that to build their skills. "Any focus on intervention must begin with a acknowledgement of the strengths, potential, and significant contributions already made by people with Asperger's Syndrome. (Baker & Welkowitz, 2005) An Asperger's diagnosis is not a death sentence. Might it make life more difficult? Of course. With the right interventions, the quality of life for these children as they grow into adults can be just like everyone else's. Will their lives be perfect? Not a chance. But then again, is your life perfect?


See you next time,
Sara

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text revision). Washington, D.C.: Author.

Baker, L. & Welkowitz, L.A. (eds.) Asperger's Syndrome: Intervening in Clinics, Schools, and Communities (Erlbaum Assoc, 2005), p.2.

Baron-Cohen, S. (2002). Is asperger's syndrome necessarily viewed as a disability? Focus on Autism and Other developmental Disabilities, 17 (3), 186-191.

G, Richard, (2002). Famous People with Autistic Traits. Retrieved January 7, 2007, from Richard G. Web site: http://www.geocities.com/richardg_uk/famousac.html

Why does co-morbidity sound so.............morbid?

In our last class, Introduction to Counseling with Larry Welkowitz, at Antioch New England University New England, we talked quite a bit about comorbidity. If you are asking yourself if that has anything to do with dying, it doesn't. Comorbidity is the presence of more than one mental disorder occurring in an individual at the same time. Could they have come up with a more positive name?! Surprisingly enough comorbidity is common, and not in just in the Autism Spectrum Disorders communities. It is rare for someone to walk into a counselors office and have one lone diagnosis. Human beings are complex. It would be silly to assume that all of our problems would fit neatly inside a box. As Americans, we really like things to be neat and tidy. Unfortunately, as we learn as we grow more mature, none of us fit into that tiny box.
We also heard from Kathleen Seidel who is the parent of a child on the spectrum. She has done much work researching the effectiveness and roots of many of the "hot" treatments in Autism and Aspergers. Her website, Neurodiversity.com, is a wealth of information and is certainly worth a look. I have always been skeptical of any program that offers a "cure" for Autism. It is easy for me to be skeptical. I am not a parent, let alone a parent with a child with autism searching desperately for some way to reach my child. I understand the need for parents to find something that works, but I do also urge caution. Autism is the "it" disability and just like everything else in America, people will exploit it to make a buck. Kathleen Seidel offers a critical look to these treatments.
Finally, we heard from Andy Sylvia who recently ran for State Representative in New Hampshire. Andy is the only candidate in politics who was "out" with his Asperger's diagnosis. He lost. That is not a commentary on who he is or what he stands for. What an absolutely fine young man. I was enthralled by his description of his childhood, adolescence and now adulthood. I was intrigued that his high school experience sounding much like mine. I wish he could know that most people in high school feel like outcasts, that experience is not because of Aspergers.

See you next time,
Sara

All Day Alone on a Bus?

Last week in Hartford, Connecticut an atrocity was perpetrated on a four year old autistic preschool student. According to the Hartford Courant article, All Day Alone on Bus, the nonverbal preschool student was one of four special education students being dropped off at Burr Elementary School in Hartford. He fail to exit the bus and was consequently left alone in the bus yard from the time the morning run ended until the driver re boarded the bus to begin his/her afternoon run at 2pm.
What a disgraceful reflection on the bus company, monitor service, Burr Elementary School and the state of special education in inner city schools. I work in a suburban school system in Connecticut and can tell you that this would never happen there. The bus monitor and the driver of the bus were consequently fired. But as far as I can tell, the school received a slap on the wrist. They are now required to call and find out why a child is not in school. Something teachers and office staff of suburban schools have been required to do for a very long time. I know inner city schools are over crowded and under staffed, but to mishandle a situation of this magnitude is inexcusable. The child is non-verbal. Can you imagine how devastated a typical 4 year old would be in that situation? I cannot even fathom how scared that child must have been and what kind of trauma the incident caused to that child.

Nature vs. Nurture

A question came up during our last class, Introduction to Counseling Interventions with Larry Welkowitz that I have been pondering since leaving Keene on November 19. Do we teach our kids with Autism and Asperger's to conform to society or do we teach society to accept them with all of their quirks, gifts and intelligence? I have seen both attempted with some success. I have not been in this field long enough to observe what happens when these children grow up into adults and face "the real world". It seem like it is a catch-22. If you do not teach them to fit in with "typicals" they face a lifetime of lonliness and social isolation. The moment they are out of your safe cocoon of acceptance they will be smacked in the face with the cruelty of the "real world". If you do teach these children to conform, will they lose some of the magic that makes them who they are? Why should these kids conform to what society views as "normal"? Could we possibly teach society to value what the children and adults with Asperger's and Autism have to offer? In a society that still ostracises people for looking different, I am not so sure that society could accept people who act differently. How sad for the rest of the world. These are the people that have made significant contributions to medicine, science and technology. Without them, the rest of the "real world" would still be drawing pictures in caves.

See you next time,
Sara

Who am I?

Hi there!
My name is Sara and I live in Connecticut. I am an ABA Therapist. Prior to my current position, I was a Special Education Teacher's Assistant in the same school district that I work in now. I worked in a K-2 elementary school. Prior to that I was a Child Development Specialist at a residential facility for behaviorally challenged children ages 5 - 15 .

I am enrolled as a student at Antioch University New England in their Autism Spectrum Disorders Program. I am enrolled in a class called Introduction to Counseling Interventions taught by Larry Welkowitz. This blog is a requirement for the class. It is my first experience with blogging. So far, so good.

I first became interested in children with autism when I began to work as a Special Ed. Teacher's Asst. My first "one-to-one" was with a child with (unofficially) High Functioning Autism. I was fascinated by the fact that he was so intelligent but the way the information got into his brain was so incredibly different than other students. Since then, I have met several wonderful children ranging in severity. Each child presents their own set of strengths and weaknesses. I have enjoyed working with each of them. Each of them have taught me more than any undergraduate college course I had ever taken. They ignited a fire in me to find more information about Autism so that I could do the best I possibly could for them.

See you next time,
Sara