Engaging Autism: Helping Children Relate, Communicate and Think with the DIR Floortime Approach
Organisation
Da Capo Press Ltd
Author
Greenspan, S.I. & Weider, S.
Detailed Description
The success of Dr. Stanley Greenspan's unique approach to autism and ASD (autistic spectrum disorders) is known to grateful parents and to professionals throughout the world. Now his highly effective and influential program is presented in one clear and accessible volume. A number of innovative, exciting features distinguish Greenspan's approach to autism:his program has demonstrated that children with signs of autism or autistic spectrum disorders do not have a fixed, limited potential, but in many cases can join their peers and lead full, healthy lives, emotionally and intellectually.
Committee on Auditory Integration Training and Facilitated Communication
Detailed Description
Facilitated communication (FC) is a technique in which physical, communication, and emotional support is provided by a facilitator to an individual with a communication disorder (communicator). With assistance, the communicator points to symbols such as letters, pictures and/or objects. ASHA established an Ad Hoc Committee on Auditory Integration Training and Facilitated Communication in 1992. A subcommittee on facilitated communication was charged with preparing a technical report on facilitated communication as an intervention for persons with autism and other severe communication disorders. The primary purpose of this report is to define and describe facilitated communication, present current research findings in facilitated communciation, and offer suggestions for its use in clinical practice
Facilitated Communication (FC) began in Australia in the 1970s. Rosemary Crossley, an aide at an institution for people with severe multiple disabilities, encouraged a young woman who had cerebral palsy to communicate by acting as her facilitator (Crossley and MacDonald 1980).The facilitator normally supports a client's hand, wrist or arm while that person uses a communicator to spell out words, phrases or sentences.
The idea is never to guide the person to a selection. In facilitation a parent, friend, teacher, speech language clinician or other communication partner provides physical and emotional support as the person with a communication disability tries to point in order to communicate. The method can involve pointing at pictures or letters. The physical support may include: assistance in isolating the index finger; stabilizing the arm to overcome tremor; backward resistance on the arm to slow the pace of pointing or to overcome impulsiveness; a touch of the forearm, elbow, or shoulder to help the person initiate typing; or pulling back on the arm or wrist to help the person not strike a target repetitively. Emotional support involves providing encouragement but not direction.
Dept. of Psychology, Willamette University, Salem, Oregon
Author
Edelson, M.G.
Detailed Description
Many persons with autism have deficits in social cognition, the ability to think in ways necessary for appropriate social interaction. For example, theory of mind describes the difficulty autistic individuals have in assuming the perspective of another person. This can be addressed by a technique which is used to help individuals with autism 'read' and understand social situations. This technique, called 'Social Stories,' presents appropriate social behaviors in the form of a story. It was developed by Carol Gray and seeks to include answers to questions that autistic persons may need to know to interact appropriately with others (for example, answers to who, what, when, where, and why in social situations).
