My assesment with Dr Gutstein ..VERY LONG

[Guest guest]

For those of you who asked for it..here it is ...

Dr Gutstein did an assesment of my son the day after the workshop. HE was so

hands on and absolutley brilliant. He showed me that THIS piece of intervention

is SO crucial to giving our children a true and completed Quality of Life

program!. We spoke to Dr gutstein in length and he feels all of our kids benefit

from from ABA, and Speech and OT.. but to not over look this piece of our puzzle

and programming.. THis is NOT social skills or scripts as we all knew it to be..

It is the ULTIMATE in emotional programming (intervention). He also noted that

not until you do a true assement can you know if your child is a good candate

for RDI or WHICH levels to start them at. We will have this intense workshop

coming our way soon so we can have a firmer understanding of the levels..

I always thought that language was the ONLY key to have my son relating to the

world and to others. THat his language defict was THE ONLY componenet he

needed..

YEt I found out today that this is not so.. My sons world is confusing and

choatic ESPECIALLY when HE has control over it (during down time he typically

wanders around or jumps around or fleets from one activity to the next)

It is NOT That HE is fleeting. he just doesnt know WHAT to do. As ONCE it was

organized for him, he was completly overjoyed with do an activity..SEVERAL at

that, and for a LONG period of time. It was the FIRST time I saw my son NOT

having a ADHD compponent!!!!!

And WITH a LONG attention span..

It is ORGANIZATION that my son lacked AND ONCE IN PLACE set him up for a

successful EMOTIONAL development part of the assessment. Where the goal was

refrencing and attunement ..

Creating an activity, a frame work ,that HE found enjoyable . IE Running and

climbing and jumping. We set up an obstacle course. SHOWED him the

" rountine/ritual " and I heightened the atcivity by being at the END of one of

the obstacles to deliver and emotional outburts of eye gazes and facial

expressions ( " spotlighting " ) and a shared experienced of crashing together onto

the bean bags. ONCE he got this routine down, about after 5 or 6 trails Dr

gutstein suggested I Step back and and NOT be at the end of the obstacle. He DID

attempt to do the obstacle ONCE without me..and then realized (YOU COULD SEE IT

ON HIS FACE THE CONFUSION OF NOT UNDERSTADNING WHY IT WASNT AS MUCH FUN, AND HIS

DEFECIT OF NOT REALIZING THAT IT WAS ME, HIS MOM ,THAT WAS CREATING THAT " JOY "

he got from the activity. He THEN sought me to play the game. IT WAS A

TREMENDOUS breakthrough! We also altered this routine OR he would intiate a

NOVEL change in the routine WHCIH is exactly WHAT we wanted..and we stayed

ATTUNED to HIS behavior or wanting to change the routine but made sure tat WE

were STILL part of the reinfrocing value of the routine.. We also took pieces

OUT of the routine if we found it to disorganize him or break his flow

connecting with me.. It wasnt the ACTIVITY that was supopsed to be the

reinforcment..That was just the STAGE..the FRAMEWORK....it was the history we

were creating with one another of this enjoyable moment....

The eycontact and social awarenss to EVERYONE in the room was unsurmountable. We

actually were doing an activity to encourage him to have to STOP looking at us!

It was so funny! I dont think in all the years of doing ABA did I ever actually

have to say " DONt LOOK AT ME.. " It was so GREAT!

We would creep up behind my son from across the room while he was engaged in

another activity and FLIPPED him unexpanctantly upside down. UNLESS he turned

around and SAW me creeping I would retreat..In order to continue the game he had

to keep his gaze off of me .. NOW this was not a very PLEASURABLE act to the

FULLEST degree to him....it was scary YET enjoyable at the same time..sort of

like going on a rollercoaster. SO my son showed behaviors or expressions of

being very confused of this " feeling " he was having. I could see it on his

face... So we continued to DO this..and soon enough WHEN he would turn around to

REFRENCE me I would RUN back to the other side of the room. To show him that HIS

eyecontact was the POWER Of me NOT flipping him over.. SOrt of teaching him to

be WEARY or cautious or anxious or paraniod even .. SO once he realized it was

a " GAME " (after about 6 trails) you could SEE him looking back ALOT to make me

retreat back in the corner so I didnt have to sneak up on him.. He actually

showed the emotion of FRIGHT and antcipation today. The emotional expressions on

his face were ones I have NEVER seen before.. THIS

CHILD FEARS NOTHING! but to see him make that connection and that

the power of his gaze and his refrencing is what CONTROLLED my behavior AND HE

WAS REGUATING his behavior to make the game happen (or NOT happen) ..it was a

very emotional experience for all that were there in the room.To see this child

who is otherwise " unaware " or " could care less " about the world and the actions

and the poeple around him.. atleast up until today!

It was SAD to see the defict that he ACTUALLY has to be TAUGHT this.. but very

encouraging that with some of this type of intervention ... it is SO possible..

Dr gutstein had said with my son it would be about 6 weeks of intensive (about 2

hrs a day) and we would then move up the levels and be at points where we only

have to maintain and upkeep these activites sevaral times aweek. Definitaly a

DOABLE amount of time.. I woud just make it a point to do THESE types of

activites rather than watching a video together or playing on the computer

together (which I thought were his ONLY 2 tools he found fun and motivating)

I have come to the realization (through his assesment of my son) that my son

benefits MUCH so through creating FRAMEWORKS in his activites. This INCLUDES

even during independent play and his regular ABA Sessions. Dr Gutstein was kind

enough to work on ANOTHER skill..that of independent play. (where he suggested

that the LEARNING to play the game would be done durng our ABA sessions..once we

HAD the activites we knew were reinfrocing and he was COMPETENT at we would put

them into his indpendent play)

INSTEAD of now thinking of him as an UNDERMOTIVATED, FLEETING and UNRELATED

learner, Dr Gutstein had my son playing on the floor independently for 35

minutes straight with NO external reinforcments.

I was SPELL BOUND. And it was so simple. HE gave him the limits (ie: a large

carpet to play on) and staged the activites one at a time in a simplistic

organized way. My son NEEDS organization. He is NOT and undermotivated child, he

is extremly disorganized and confused .. ONCE these frameworks were set up

and simplified, he HAD NO problem following along and completing and

independently doing one activity to the next. When he DID want to flee because

he was getting frustrated with an activity, we did a " functional analysis " and

saw WHAT was triggering the frustration and brought him BACK (used extinction of

his off task behavior) back onto the designated area (the boundaries set by us)

and made the task more ORGANIZED and simplified (ie: adjusted the trains in an

organized and neat fashion so it didnt LOOK over stimulating and sort of CUED

him on WHAT could be EXPANDED come next..) .. I have always thought of my son ,

when it came to social engaing or staying on task for a long time , as an

impossible chore. I saw for myself..that my son DOES have the capabilty.. it is

just a matter of HOW we teach it to him and how it is presented..

In the beginning of the assesment I KNEW my son would be out of sorts. I was

ASSURED that he WOULD NOT React or be as easily engaeble as the children on the

videos gutstein shows on his videos. And there was SOME resistance at first..

but we didnt lift the demand of HIM enaging with me.. Setting the limits.. and

shoing him that THIS is what we were working on...

We continued on, and ignored his resistance to some degree..and showed him that

THIS CAN BE reinforcing to you.. just give me a chance to show you .. AND Once

he realized that the interaction was internally reinfrocing to him.. that he

began to actually show signs of JOY and excitment and I WAS THE ONE who was

giving it to him..

he was BACK FOR MORE AND MORE..

We also did another activity where Dr gutstein took my son out of the room and I

hid.. My son came back into the room and Dr gutstein prompted him to look for

me.. He searched the room and when he found me.. he seemed to show signs of

" COOL "

Then we took him out agian, I hid in a different spot..and he WENT right back to

the spot he found me the FIRST time.. and looked distressed when I wasnt there..

then he found me finally, again, signs of excitment (NOT to the LEVEL that at

typical child would show..but definitly a look of satisfaction) THEN I hid

again.. and when he came in the third time.. it took him longer to find me (I

was under a blanket) and when he finally figured I was under there he called me

" MOMMY " and RIPPED the blanket off my head and showed me a face of like " I dont

like this game.. Im scared when I cant see you "

SO this was a big moment for me as well..

again ALL Subjectable observations by ME his mom in regards to his facial

feedback.. but I can tell you I have treid this " peek a boo or hide and seek

game before " and he typiclaly could care less if I stayed hidden over a week.

BUT Once we made him aware of the IMPORTANCE of ME and he had a momentary breif

HISTORY of how much fun I AM or the " feeling of joy " I gave him, I suddenly

became a valuable sought after asset for him..and he didnt like when I wasnt in

his view or immediate access.

So it was a great day.. Email me if you have any other questions!

We will have Either Dr Gutstein or one of his associates BACK to do an intensive

4 day workshop to get a clearer idea of WHICH levels of RDI Our children are at

(so that we can assess them oursleves). Typically one parent and child.and it is

only 6 families that can attend this intense workshop..EMail me with your

interest. We will keep you posted! "

My regards