Cross post: CT-FEAT Newsletter

[Guest guest]

Hi Folks,

Just wanted to share with you the recent cover article of the CT-FEAT

organizations Summer Newsletter '08.  It is an independent review of my book

which most of you are familiar with called " Educate Toward Recovery: Turning the

Tables on Autism. "   I am very excited to have such a great review from such a

well respected group.  I am particularly proud that they specifically mentioned

the value of my discussion and analysis of Control in the importance of our

ABA/VB programming for kids with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Feel free to take a

look at the article reprinted below or go to the CT-FEAT website for the full

Newsletter at www.ctfeat.org.

Thanks for your time,

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1

BOOK REVIEWE

TDUCATE TOWARD RECOVERY:URNING THE TABLES ON AUTISMby Schramm, MA,

BCBA(Reviewed by Buckenheimer)Every once in awhile a book comes along

that is so relevant to effective autism treatment, and so specific

in the niche it fills within the scope of autism resources available to parents

and teachers, that it makes the

CT FEAT " Must Have " list. Educate Toward Recovery: Turning the Tables on Autism,

by

Schramm, is one. In that respect it reminds me of other books that changed the

course of autism

therapy, such as O. Ivar Lovaas’ The Me Book and Maurice’s Behavioral

Intervention for Young

Children with Autism. Applied behavior analysis (ABA) in autism treatment has

changed quite a bit since those books were pub-lished. Early ABA protocols

developed by Lovaas and others provided the framework of education and

treatment programs for countless children. More recently, intervention

strategies developed by

Partington and Mark Sundberg (Teaching Lan-guage to Children with Autism

or Other Developmental

Disabilities, 1998) and based on the specific principles of verbal behavior,

have been acknowledged as highly

effective in teaching language to children with autism and related disabilities.

Educate Toward Recovery reflects the evolution of effective, research-based

autism intervention. It is a

clearly written training manual aimed at helping parents and teachers understand

and use ABA/VB in

their child’s home and school environments. The book is also recommended reading

for related service

providers, care takers, family members and others who wish to understand the

" why " and " how " of

productively interacting with a child with autism, and for anyone out there who

still thinks that ABA is all

about discrete trial training.social interactions — toward recovery from

impaired social relatedness — and gives us

excellent advice on how to effectively do that. The author, a Board Certified

Behavior

Analyst and a certified special education teacher, believes that " certain

procedures

common in traditional ABA programs might be teaching a child discrete skills but

not

necessarily teaching him in the direction of recovery. "

" Recovery is the term for a child who was once labeled as autistic by the

medical community and is now no

longer deemed autistic because of a lack of those same diagnosable

behaviors. This does not mean that this child is somehow a better

or more complete person than he was before the label was removed. It also does

not mean that the cause of the autism has been mysteriously

eradicated. It merely means that as a team of caring sup-porters, we have found

a way to educate this child to the point that the doctors have

stopped calling him names. "

This book outlines in simple terms why the principles of ABA and Verbal Behavior

offer

the best ways to address systematically the four deficit learning categories

common to

children with autism: behavior, general learning skills, communication, and

social

interaction. With regard to social interaction, the author also recognizes the

benefits that

Relationship Development Intervention® techniques and goals can play in a

child’s ABA/VB program. He

makes a clear case for why relationship intervention should be a part of a

comprehensive ABA/VB program

rather than a solo intervention, and he discusses how to draw from each of the

tools with which to address

your child’s individual learning needs. " If you are to teach toward recovery,

you must teach to all of these

deficits in any proportion they present themselves in the case of your specific

child. "

The all important chapters on understanding the purpose of behavior and

increasing positive behavior

choices while decreasing problematic behaviors are wonderful tools for

sustaining a proactive approach.

The focus is on teaching the child to make good choices, rather than only

behaving positively when the

reinforcer is good enough and readily available. Rein-forcement is mostly to be

seen as a free flow of positive

items and experiences moving in both directions between you and your child. My

favorite chapter was on " Teaching the Control

Child . " Functional Behavior Analysis always deems behavior originates from one

of three different areas:

attention, escape, or self stimulation. The " control " child is the one whose

behavior seems to have no rea-son

except to make you miserable. These are the kids

or whatever) that cannot be interfered with. Does your child say words many

times until you give in and repeat

them back to him? Does your child need to keep things in a specific order or put

things into a line and get upset when you

interfere? There are many descriptions here on the subtle and not so subtle ways

" control " children work. Many times,

parents give in with these kids just to maintain the status quo. Or excuses are

made, such as " lining things up makes

him feel safe, " or " he’ll only eat one food because of sensory issues. " The

chapter ends with the seven rules for interacting

with a " control " child. There are also some very specific chapters on teaching,

such as toilet training, errorless learning, and teaching

functional speech through verbal behavior.

Other chapters include discussions of ABA and VB within public schools, the

ethics of ABA, and " How to Become Your Child’s True Expert. " In Educating Toward

Recovery, the difficult and tedious language and acronyms of the ABA and VB

world are dispensed with. The latest research and most effective teaching

methods possible are here for all to see, for the price of a very worthwhile

book. It is available online at www.lulu.com/knospe-ABA. The soft cover book is

available in English, Spanish and German, and costs

around $44 plus shipping. Editor’s Note: Readers can find a copy of the article

ABA, VB, and RDI

web site, www.ctfeat.org. (Click on " About Us, " then " Newsletters. " ) Mr. Schramm

offers several helpful articles for free downloading at his web site as well.

An extensive review of Teaching Language to Chil-dren with Autism or Other

Developmental Disabili-ties,

by Partington and Mark Sundberg , written by speech and language

pathologist Mariele Keonig,

was published in a previous issue of the CT FEAT Newsletter (Fall 1999), and is

also available in the news-letter

archives at www.ctfeat.org. Mr. Schramm suggests that our overarching goal is to

keep our children moving toward improvedwho may have elaborate routines (for

sleeping, eating,® : What’s a Parent to Do?, written by Schramm and

origionally published in the Spring 2007 issue of the CT FEAT Newsletter, at the

CT FEAT¤ 

 CONNECTICUT FAMILIES FOR EFFECTIVE AUTISM TREATMENT NEWSLETTER SUMMER

2008_________________________________

Schramm, MA, BCBA

Author of Educate Toward Recovery:

Turning the Tables on Autism

www.lulu.com/knospe-aba

www.knospe-aba.com

_________________________________

" There is no greater testament to character than

the selfless act designed to go unnoticed "