A thought on tongue tied kids who REALLY WANT something...

[Guest guest]

I don't remember which list posted this thread, so sorry for the cross

posting. But someone a few days ago mentioned that the more their child

wanted something, the harder it became for them to ask. I wonder if you

will try prompting them musically. For example, if your child really wanted

a cookie, you dance around singing, " Cookie, cookie, I want a cookie " to

some simple tune (say, the simple musical taunt " Na, Na, Na, Na, you can't

catch me!). Of course, you aren't to taunt him with the cookie. Just use

the tune. It might actually help to reduce tension for him if you were

actually dancing around rather than staring him in the face. My guess is

that if you gave the response a musical cadence, it would be easier for him

or her to produce, much like song is easier to produce for stutterers.

Would you please try this for a week and post back to the list if there was

any improvement or not?

The whole vocal production effort--dyspraxia thing is way too ignored in the

treatment of autism. I have found an alarming number of kids are diagnosed

with autism and dyspraxia. I think the dyspraxia part is very

under-diagnosed and under-treated in general. Are there many families on

this list whose children have both diagnoses? Are there specific therapies

that seem to help with the dyspraxia? I can't imagine the mental agony of a

child desperate to speak, but can't coordinate the facial musculature. So

sad. Anyhow, please try the music. I know that making up songs to

encourage memory recall got me through medical school. Call it musical

fluency trials if you want. I would love to find a more useful

application.

t Burk

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[Guest guest]

t,

I can whole heartedly back up what you say. My son learned his

alphabet because we SANG the song to him.

Whenever we have had problems with something, we sing it, or do it to

some kind of catchy (fun!) rhythm.

I remember trying to teach him how to say " elephant " . Until I put it

to a rhythm ( " elephant, elephant, BIG GRAY elephant " ) he didn't get

it. Same thing with the problem of running words together.

As for the dyspraxia issue, I also agree with your belief that it is

under diagnosed, and under treated.

Here's my take on this ...

It seems that those professionals (dare I call them young?) who have

just entered the field of ABA are much more willing to hear the word

dyspraxia, than those who have (shall we say) " been around for a

while " .

I have contemplated this observation for a while, and come to the

following hypothesis: That is, I believe we have a new form of autism

that has presented itself in the last 10 years or so, which is very

different from what people used to think of as autism. Consequently,

those professionals who had already been working in the field way

before the explosion of cases of autism, probably were not exposed to

the kinds of cases we have today. Yet, they have had success in the

past using JUST BEHAVIORAL principles, and because they were

successful, they see no need to do anything differently.

Unfortunately, what happens is that because of this, many give up on

kids who could make great progress if ADDITIONAL methodologies were

used IN CONJUNCTION WITH the ABA.

I firmly believe that Kenny's autism was caused by the vaccinations he

had adverse reactions to. He very definitely lost his motor skills

after these events. (And I have some great video to prove it.) As we

have chelated the heavy metals out of him, his motor skills have

improved. While I'd like to say he improved because of all those

years of 42-hour weeks of ABA, how do you explain that in 5 years he

couldn't even cut a straight line, but that after the third cycle of

chelation, he cut out a circle by himself PERFECTLY?

I don't want to offend the behaviorists on this list, but I'm sorry,

IT WAS NOT BEHAVIOR THAT WAS HOLDING HIM BACK from acquiring this

basic skill.

Having said that, I also have to say that Kenny has made more progress

in the past two years with a VB program than he made in the previous 5

years. THE TREATMENTS MUST GO HAND IN HAND FOR THE CHILD TO IMPROVE.

We always need to remember that if the child is not learning, it's our

fault, not theirs. We owe it to them to keep looking for ways to help

them, and to keep our minds open.

(Cary, NC)

persistentC@...

President, The Mariposa School for Children with Autism

http://www.rtphome.org/mariposa/

[ ] A thought on tongue tied kids who REALLY WANT

something...

>

>

> I don't remember which list posted this thread, so sorry for the

cross

> posting. But someone a few days ago mentioned that the more their

child

> wanted something, the harder it became for them to ask. I wonder if

you

> will try prompting them musically. For example, if your child

really wanted

> a cookie, you dance around singing, " Cookie, cookie, I want a

cookie " to

> some simple tune (say, the simple musical taunt " Na, Na, Na, Na, you

can't

> catch me!). Of course, you aren't to taunt him with the cookie.

Just use

> the tune. It might actually help to reduce tension for him if you

were

> actually dancing around rather than staring him in the face. My

guess is

> that if you gave the response a musical cadence, it would be easier

for him

> or her to produce, much like song is easier to produce for

stutterers.

> Would you please try this for a week and post back to the list if

there was

> any improvement or not?

>

> The whole vocal production effort--dyspraxia thing is way too

ignored in the

> treatment of autism. I have found an alarming number of kids are

diagnosed

> with autism and dyspraxia. I think the dyspraxia part is very

> under-diagnosed and under-treated in general. Are there many

families on

> this list whose children have both diagnoses? Are there specific

therapies

> that seem to help with the dyspraxia? I can't imagine the mental

agony of a

> child desperate to speak, but can't coordinate the facial

musculature. So

> sad. Anyhow, please try the music. I know that making up songs to

> encourage memory recall got me through medical school. Call it

musical

> fluency trials if you want. I would love to find a more useful

> application.

>

> t Burk

>

> _________________________________________________________________

> Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device:

http://mobile.msn.com

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

and list,

I'd like to comment on this:

>I have contemplated this observation for a while, and come to the

>following hypothesis: That is, I believe we have a new form of autism

>that has presented itself in the last 10 years or so, which is very

>different from what people used to think of as autism. Consequently,

>those professionals who had already been working in the field way

>before the explosion of cases of autism, probably were not exposed to

>the kinds of cases we have today. Yet, they have had success in the

>past using JUST BEHAVIORAL principles, and because they were

>successful, they see no need to do anything differently.

>Unfortunately, what happens is that because of this, many give up on

>kids who could make great progress if ADDITIONAL methodologies were

>used IN CONJUNCTION WITH the ABA.

this could make sense when I consider that my children were definitely NOT

affected by vaccinations. Ethan was diagnosed before he had a single one.

And there is a genetic link to autism and schizophrenia in my family. AND

my kids are not at all dyspraxic. So maybe they have more classic autism as

far as etiology is considered.

Even if you consider the lack of dyspraxia in my children, I believe that

music has helped them with language processing and recall. In other words,

for MY kids, I think the " dyspraxia " is more central nervous system

processing disorder than a true motor dyspraxia. Some people might scoff

at the terms auditory processing problems, or dyspraxia, or an unnamed CNS

disorder of language retrieval. But scoffing at something doesn't make it

go away. And it makes the " scoffer " look ridiculous to parents who are

dealing with those very issues, no matter how many initials are after their

names.

t Burk

_________________________________________________________________

Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com

[Guest guest]

Hi I am a mom willing to relocate for my child but It

seems to me from all the home programs I have seen

these tutors are getting younger and younger and so

much firing and hiring goes on its crazy is there a

school or place anywhere with lets say mature

women/men who have experience with the children rather

than just out of high school kids that may not show up

tommorrow, home programs are great but I have yet to

see a mature person as a tutor, this make one consider

public or private school.

--- t Burk <pentaburks@...> wrote:

> and list,

>

> I'd like to comment on this:

>

> >I have contemplated this observation for a while,

> and come to the

> >following hypothesis: That is, I believe we have a

> new form of autism

> >that has presented itself in the last 10 years or

> so, which is very

> >different from what people used to think of as

> autism. Consequently,

> >those professionals who had already been working in

> the field way

> >before the explosion of cases of autism, probably

> were not exposed to

> >the kinds of cases we have today. Yet, they have

> had success in the

> >past using JUST BEHAVIORAL principles, and because

> they were

> >successful, they see no need to do anything

> differently.

> >Unfortunately, what happens is that because of

> this, many give up on

> >kids who could make great progress if ADDITIONAL

> methodologies were

> >used IN CONJUNCTION WITH the ABA.

>

> this could make sense when I consider that my

> children were definitely NOT

> affected by vaccinations. Ethan was diagnosed

> before he had a single one.

> And there is a genetic link to autism and

> schizophrenia in my family. AND

> my kids are not at all dyspraxic. So maybe they

> have more classic autism as

> far as etiology is considered.

>

> Even if you consider the lack of dyspraxia in my

> children, I believe that

> music has helped them with language processing and

> recall. In other words,

> for MY kids, I think the " dyspraxia " is more central

> nervous system

> processing disorder than a true motor dyspraxia.

> Some people might scoff

> at the terms auditory processing problems, or

> dyspraxia, or an unnamed CNS

> disorder of language retrieval. But scoffing at

> something doesn't make it

> go away. And it makes the " scoffer " look

> ridiculous to parents who are

> dealing with those very issues, no matter how many

> initials are after their

> names.

>

> t Burk

>

>

_________________________________________________________________

> Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger:

> http://messenger.msn.com

>

>

>

__________________________________________________