Re: ABA and TEACCH and some other stuff....

[Guest guest]

I really couldn't agree with you more. You are accurate

in your description of what happens to parents early on

in most school settings. In our district Duval County,

ville, Florida the district is so determined to

continue doing as it always has that it actually hired

legal experts to defend the nothing programs (you

couldn't even call it TEACCH) and to train the staff.

The entity who does this is called the " Autism

Consortium " out of Nova University in South Florida.

They were advertised in the National Autism Society

pretty much as " one stop shopping " for school districts

in trouble. Our School board wasted no time in approving

them for the training of teachers and paraprofessional

staff. The School Board never included any person/parent

of the community in the decision. We have the finest

private school of Autism here in here too. It is called

the Jericho School and my daughter goes there

compliments of the Duval County School Board. This

happened because our county has such a high regard for

TEACCH. Our school board member who has the only kid

with Autism to have ever graduated with a regular

diploma would have you to believe that she has been

involved with the Autism Consortium and that they have

been actively involved with the CARD here. They have not

ever done anything here until they were called as legal

defense. When I found out this out I was not surprised,

because the CARD here has had its hands tied for lack of

no real administrator for nearly the last 2 years. I

think the National Autism Society should take a very

close look a the National Academies Paper on " Educating

Children with Autism " and make this their philosphical

basis. " Children should be taught to speak..... page 221

of this publication and they should adhere to the

recommendations set forth in this government document.

Also if one were to look at the " No Child Left Behind

Act of 2001, they would realize that these school

systems could be indeed held accountable. An

interpretation of the impact of the " No Child Left

Behind Act of 2001 on children with disabilities

published by RMC corporation: Title I: Improving the

Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged By ph

DiSciullo, JD is very clear in its statements about the

progress of children and clearly states that

adminstrators could ultimately lose their jobs when

improvemnts are not made. I for one will be happy not to

have to see public school presentations like " Solving

Behaviour Problems in Autism: Improving Communication

with Visual Strategies by Hodgdon, who presents

nothing in proving the effectiveness of using this

strategy, no studies, no videos of it being used. I

think that if people will look closely at the National

Academies paper and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001

we could with the help of a few smart lawyers start

getting these stupid school districts on board with as

the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 parents site

Department of Education says to ultilize " teaching

strategies proven to work " we could probably get rid of

TEACCH altogether and in fact stengthen the basis of

what makes ABA or for my daughter, Verbal Behavior so

life giving for a child with Autism. Sorry to be so

Long, lyn Popp

> The national sociey of autism here in America endorses a policy of " options "

> (meaning choices) wherein each parent of a child with autism is to choose the

> correct methodology for their child given that our children can be so

different

> in their strengths and deficiencies. I think that even though a lot of autism

> societies say that they are only offering choices many do indeed have their

> preferences and in a sort of casual way, make their preferences known.

> Unfortunately, often their preference is not ABA. It's really a shame to ask

a

> parent that is new to all this to make these kinds of choices at such an early

> stage. Perhaps your autism society offers what mine does: county or regional

> contacts who can advise such parents in an informal way? Perhaps that would

be

> something you could suggest....

> If I had to go into a lengthy comparison of ABA and TEACHH it would be too

> long for me to take the time...suffice it to say that I had a certified

teacher > in the public school system once say to me: " TEACCH is valued because

it is

> easy and cheap to implement in the classroom. " Notice that she did not say

that

> TEACCH is better for the child. The main difference is that ABA and good

> teaching techniques aspire to actually teach our children while TEACCH just

says

> here he is, what can we do with him with the strengths he has, and then go

about

> their busywork. Please, no flames, I am doing my best to answer a question

> honestly. in TN

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