Anxiety Intervention: That is What Summers are For!

It often amazes me how many kids I encounter with anxiety issues. On some level, anxiety is a natural part of life and helps us understand our own arousal levels, and ability for toleration. In other ways, anxiety can be all-consuming, and scary, meaning that it has essentially crossed the threshold from normal nerves to classical anxiety. I think that anxiety is a fairly normal, cue gasp, aspect of life that can be overcome and managed.

We use systematic teaching strategies.

I always hear the same story from parents, the academic year is full of anxiety; there is school, after-school programs, dance lessons, piano, Speech, ABA, OT and so on and so on until your child is just a ball of nerves ready to burst... Is it all a bit too much? Maybe. But what other option do we have, than to constantly push our kids to their maximum potential? We want gold for your kids, and so do you...that is why we give everything we have to making sure your kids meet milestones, develop self-awareness and become successful self-advocates. We want it all don't we? A happy, healthy and well adjusted kid that also does well in all arenas, from social to communication. We want the full package, we want every child to reach his or her potential, or better yet, surpass it.


So what it means, is that we as professionals, and you as parents, need to come together to understand your child's anxiety. Come together to understand how to combat and manage the anxiety, as well as using a behavioral approach to analyze the antecedents and consequences that come before and after the episode of anxiety, so that you can plan and manipulate variables as needed. By helping your child cope with anxiety, you shape the behavior needed to be able to deescalate one's own feelings of angst...what better gift is there?


Spending the time to address anxiety concerns, is crucially important for social, academic and inter-personal growth. Having the time to target anxiety in a hands-on way, is easy when you think about it....


Summer vacation is a time to recharge for students; it's a time to develop social and interpersonal skills, a time to develop hobbies and skills. Summer vacations can also be an incredible time to target the obstacles that prevent skill acquisition during the academic year, in a way that is intensive and hands-on.


Anxiety, for example, can be a difficult barrier to overcome without explicit intervention, and can hinder academic development among other skills. Overcoming anxiety will allow your child to be his or her authentic self; to experience self-love, and self-understanding, and most important self-confidence.


A successful intervention for social anxiety, would include a combination of 1:1 and group learning; it would involve a comprehensive program in which desensitization is targeted and reinforcement is used to pair social situations with reinforcement. Through a variety of presentations, students participate in both individual and group therapy, ensuring that all needs met throughout the day. Participating in a variety of activities, chosen for each unique learner's profile, kids can expect to overcome barriers, and become confidence and social learners. Most importantly, participants will return to school with strategies, and management techniques and abilities, which increase overall ability to perform independently.





P.S. Magnificent Minds offers a program like this. www.MagnificentMinds.ca for more details about our Summer Camp Program 2012


P.P.S. If you like the font used in the pic above, Google free fonts and get loads of amazing fonts for teaching purposes and making visuals :)

Autism Education Resources for You

Going through my list on online resources, refreshing my mind and seeing what new material is out there...it occurred to me that sharing these links was a great idea.

Here are some hand selected links, that I think are especially fantastic, educational gold you might even say.

www.MagnificentMinds.ca  
http://www.special-need-child-canada.com/special-needs-summer-camp-in-Toronto.html
http://www.thewatsoninstitute.org/resources.jsp?pageId=0690200091781087395692476
http://snrmag.com/
http://classroom.4teachers.org/
http://kendrik2.wordpress.com/2007/10/10/12-tips-to-setting-up-an-autism-classroom/
http://www.autismclassroom.com/
http://pecsforall.com/
http://www.cindysautisticsupport.com/
http://www.cindysautisticsupport.com/pictures.html
http://www.slatersoftware.com/Wonderful%20School%20Year.pdf
http://filefolderheaven.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=16_28
http://www.educateautism.com/behavioural-principles.html
http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/
http://www.visualaidsforlearning.com/preschool-pack-learning.htm
http://www.positivelyautism.com/free/

Any sites that you could not live with out...please comment below and share the love!

IPAD for behaviour therapy

A magician never reveals her secret, but lucky for you I am not a magician, I am a therapist...so here goes. For my birthday (mid Feb) I got an IPAD. I know all the ABA Therapists out there are gasping in excitement,, like I was upon discovery of the gift, so for this post I will sing my praises to Apple...here goes. 
It may be old news that Apple is producing IPAD APPS that support language and focus in our kids, but until I had used it first hand, I could not have fathomed the results. I work with mostly early-learners; that means that whether old or young most of my clients are developing the foundational learning skills, which need to be targeted to ensure successful overall skill development. To say these skills are critically important would be an understatement. Again, this may be old news to some of you but bear with me as I get the ball rolling....
So my clients are always seeking early-learner profile goals, like for-example joint-attention (the ability to focus on the same thing, or subject, as somebody else), eye-contact (self-explanatory), following simple directions (come, sit, wait, say hi),  prolonged focus and increased attention-span, and willingness to accept feedback. Many early-learners on the spectrum struggle to reach these skills in a natural way, so we need to design systematic ways to teach them. Enter IPAD.

ABA has a bad reputation for being the jellybean science for exactly this reason. In the past, therapists were forced to motivate behaviour with reinforcement like edibles (jellybeans, m and ms, skittles, popcorn, chips, gummies) in order to create a motivating learning environment; of course, the principle of reinforcement is bang on, but the delivery is a bit flawed because it is hard to fade systematically, short of simply increasing the mean length of an interval, and it is not natural and not likely to occur as a natural consequence in the real world. My client is not likely going to have a teacher or a boss in the future that is going to say Nice work Jimmy, here is a bag of jellybeans for your hard work. (Unless you work for me, that is.)
*Disclaimer* There is a time and place for edibles, I am not knocking them and I use them occasionally on an a case by case basis, but...not as the universal way to motivate learning and never without a plan to fade it and pair with social reinforcement. Also, I use edibles freely as reinforcement with my staff and I do not think there is anything wrong with that :)
Bottom line is, in order to get away from the unnatural schedules of reinforcement, or modes of delivery (i.e. popping a jellybean into the child's mouth) we have to write programs that are intrinsically motivating for our clients. Enter IPAD.
The IPAD is just one way I have discovered that a teacher or therapist can capture a room, even when the room is full of early-learners AND competing stimuli. I use my IPAD to run manding sessions, receptive language targets, tacting sessions, vocal imitation programs, direct-instruction, verbal behaviour, speech, phonics, numeracy and so much more; I use it in a group, in one to one, with my pinky, with my thumb..in a house..with a mouse...you get it. 
The number of educational programs available is vast, and many are available for limited use without purchase. The number of sensory apps has impressed me, and the prolonged interest in the IPAD as a result, and as a reinforcer, is far beyond anything else available to me in-centre. It is rare that a single-reinforcer will serve as the motivating for an entire sessions, switching reinforcement helps keep things fresh, but with one IPAD I can not only switch the stimuli and reinforcement, and save time, energy and resources creating materials. Did I mention that voice-output systems are obsolete with the number of free assistance communication programs available in the App Store. I mean, they really thought of everything here.


To be continued...............

"I do, You do, We do" Direct Instruction...Educational Gold.

Direct Instruction

CJs SkatePark....Epic.

Friday was my second visit to Etobicoke's finest, CJ's SkatePark. If you didn't catch my first post, written about their Saturday Spec. Ed Skate Program, you can see it Here to get caught up.

Now that we're all caught up...

CJ's is a not for profit project created by a couple of die-hard skateboarders, who--I have been told, if you know anything about "old school skateboarding" are some well known names. The space used to be one small room, but since a recent move and renovation, calls 60 Horner Avenue home (a huge industrial space). The space is nothing short of expansive and immaculate. They really thought of everything when they made this space; meeting the needs of advanced skateboarders, and special needs kids alike...no small feat for a not for profit. Did I mention they have a "surgically clean air machine"?

So the guy making it all happen is Jay, and working with him is a team of incredibly and dare I say...also "die-hard" and maybe even "old school" skateboarders; in the mix are some instructors, who are lucky enough to spend full-time hours employed by this unbelievable place.

Not only is every single person there incredibly friendly and helpful, but they made my students feel like...the "regular kids" they are. Unlike any other field trip I have been on in the history of my teaching career, there was no gawking, no smirks, no inadvertent stares; we were embraced with open arms and encouraged to try everything at our own space. I made one request, "do you think we could lose the music, it's a bit echo-y in here and might be distracting and over stimulating"; before I even finished the explanation, the music was off and calm was restored.

Ok you get it, they are AWESOME...but what did we do?

When we arrived they greeted each kids, and provided us with helmets, knee-pads, wrist-pads and elbow pads. We got suited-up in their lounge area (an incredible space with couches, a big screen tv, and tons of colouring supplies..which we love..); we met our instructors and headed into the largest skate-park I have ever seen.

We transitioned well into the space, and started by sliding down the ramps on our knees; this helped our kids learn to brace for a fall if they happen to lose their balance on the board; it also helped prepare the kids for the feeling of motion. Once the little ramp was mastered, we moved to a bigger one, and a bigger one, and finally climbed a long staircase up to the 20 foot ramp. When we got to the top, our instructors set up foam blocks for the kids to crash-into as they slide down the huge slide. Once we got comfortable with the feeling of motion, they gave us skateboards!

There were no words for how much fun the kids had. We took a lunch break and then headed to play in the massive foam block pit. The foam block pit is exactly what it sounds like; a huge pool filled with foam blocks for the kids to run, crash and crawl through. If you think our small ball tent at school is a hit, times that by a million and that was the enjoyment that came from this foam pit. Just to clarify here....

This is our Fitness and Coordination teacher, and skateboarder, Andy falling into the foam pit after skateboarding down a 20 foot ramp and flipping into the blocks...Best...Gym Teacher....Ever...

After the foam pit, which we had to literally bargain with our kids to get them out of....we went to try skateboarding in "the bowl"; the bowl is mostly flat, with small ramps along the outside making a bowl shape.  Our kids slide down the bowl, and practiced managing balance on the board in various ways. Their staff were so patient, and so invested in our kids. They needed very little guidance, and were more than willing to engage in a child-centered way (i.e. following the lead of our kids).

The best part is, if we go back again we will have the same instructors that our kids now know and love. Thank you Phil and Greg for your effort and enthusiasm!  At CJ's they have really thought of everything, which leads me to believe that are some people on the inside of CJ's who really understand the nature and needs of kids with various ASDs and other communicative and/or social needs...for that, the whole community thanks-you.

All in all, a fun time was had by all and our kids left begging for us to take them back...and we have already booked our next visit.

Think Think Think--Notes on Think Time

Working every day with kids, specifically those with co-morbid diagnoses from SPD to PDD, I appreciate more than ever the importance of understanding each child's need for think-time. Let's start by decoding the term--think time, to me, it  is the time between issuing a demand and receiving and/or prompting a response.


Think-time varies per person and I would say it is safe to assume that kids in general, have a longer think time than adults who are essentially, better trained. Think-time is the amount of time it takes for each individual to consider a demand and act accordingly; "I say give me 5" you consider the phrase, and offer your hand.


Think of learning a new language; though you speak your native tongue fluently and can easily respond to questions in English, when someone asks you a question in French, it is natural to require a bit more think-time to decode each message. If I said "Donner moi cinque" it might take you a bit longer to figure out that I am asking for a high 5.


It brings me right back to grade 8, my friends and I used to talk so quickly at a speed faster than light; there is no way an ESL student, for example, would be able to keep up....


So what's the point of mentioning this? All too frequently I see teachers, therapists, special education professionals and so on... requiring an immediate response from their spectrum kids; it puts A LOT of pressure on the child, which when verbal behaviour is already not preferred for the child, is a recipe for performance anxiety. I am all for increasing response time, but let's do it by increasing fluency not by demanding a lesser think-time. Let's shape the behaviour and the think-time, and start by acknowledging where the child is starting from (in terms of the think-time needed for various tasks when  variables are introduced into the mix...like a class of kids, the fluorescent lights, the smell of the play doh, the colour of the bulletin board). I am frustrated by seeing therapists/teachers fail to provide a sufficient think time to account for the fact that verbal language is not the native tongue of many of our selectively verbal kids (not to mention if the child is Apraxic).


Maybe it is that teachers/therapists put too much pressure on themselves; they internalize a child not responding to their demand as a poor performance on their part and over compensate by coming down a little strong; they want to dig their heels in, and require a demand so they prompt it. Sometimes, the patience card is the best; dig your heels in by not giving up, not by prompting. When all else fails, wait it out; I cannot say enough how detrimental poor prompting procedures can be; give the kid a minute to think, and stop staring at him you're making him nervous! ;)   I have seen and intervened on meltdowns resulting from insufficient think-time and over prompting and it is soooo preventable. Make it happen :)


Don't get me wrong I am ABA-ALL-THE-WAY and I think prompting is essential for errorrless learning, however, you must be skilled and you must account for ALL the variables including THINK-TIME!


In the words of one of my students,
"Peeez Out"