Then, last year I read something in the book "Strange Son" by Portia Iverson that finally made sense to me. They did an informal study on Tito (a brilliant poet with autism) that proved to be quite interesting. They had someone sit in front of him with flashcards containing a + or a - sign. But that's not the interesting part. They also had someone stand behind him to SAY the OPPOSITE of what sign was actually being shown. When asked to say what he saw, he ALWAYS responded with what the person behind him had said it was. Thus finding out that he could NOT see and hear at the same time. (I told you I'd come back to this!) It was too difficult so he always relied on his hearing. AHA!
THAT is why C.J. puts his hand in front of his mouth to hear himself talk. THAT is why he can miraculously spot a Veggie Tale book or Toy Story toy at the END of an isle in a store and go dashing to it. HE RELIES ON HIS VISION because it is too difficult to process his auditory input. He has always done well with videos. I often said he will pay attention to anything if it is put on a T.V. screen. I can remember when he was almost 3 years old, I actually made a video using my computer displaying the alphabet and various flashcards with the label spelled out. I played it on the T.V. and voila! He is a VISUAL learner as Tito was an AUDITORY learner.
Now, that is a HUGE portal but not something that I necessarily want to continue for him. I have also read another interesting book called "Disconnected Kids" by Dr. Robert Melillo which in his theory explained that these kids have a brain imbalance. He also provides a guide on how to assess the brain to pinpoint where the weaknesses are (in C.J.'s case he has a right-brain delay) and it provides exercises to help "strengthen" the brain's weaknesses. So, although we will utilize C.J.'s amazing visual skills, we need to strengthen his auditory skills.
When asked a question about a picture of a person in his life, his responses where much easier to obtain once I added a written out "wh" with the correlated question. Here is a picture of my example.
One day my "See-Son" will indeed LISTEN to his mother.
Awesome post! This should help others autism parents understand a sense of communication with their child. Sounds like cj is on the road to learning catered to his needs. (Just as it should be with every child) build on strength to teach the weakness.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! Thank to you I am learning more about autism and what you deal day-to-day basis!
ReplyDeleteMy grandson is autistic and was diagnosed by specialist at age 18 months. We have him on video at age 1 during his 1st birthday laughing, and communications seemed normal. By the time he was 18 months old he became a different child. He was withdrawn with quirky eye movements and behaviors. He was not interested in playing with anybody and we felt as if we had lost him. We of course researched different types of autism along with interventions. The first thing the local school district offered as help was speech, and ABA which is what most schools go to for intervention to teach communication. This only confused him and frustrated him along with us. We spoke with many friends and was introduced to RDI intervention methods. ( Relationship Development Intervention) His brain delays and weak areas of developing relationships improved greatly. We did not send him to school everything was taught at home until age 4. First the parents, grand parents and anybody else who came in contact with him was taught not to hammer him with questions that he had no idea how to answer. We role played with each other example ~ peek a boo! We would play it with each other and slowly include him. The more animated and bigger the moves the more interested he became until he understood and wanted to join us. We used very little speech at first. A typical baby does not know how to speak and learns early on how to read body and facial expressions as communication. Autistic children need to be taught the basic aspects of developing communications before speech will begin. Speech will follow once the child is (engaged). For more information about RDI you can you tube Dr. Gustien. He developed and founded RDI and you can see examples from parents using RDI. It really makes sense once you understand how a child on the spectrums mind is learning. It is not easy by any means understanding autism and learning how to unlock keys to communicate. The earlier the intervention for those undeveloped parts of the brain the better the chances are your child will have. Our grand son is out going and has developed close relationships with the many people he comes in contact with. If I didn't tell you he was autistic you would never know. He is 8 years old now in second grade and in a typical classroom with out an aide. He has extra help with reading but other than that he is successful in every day life. He is amazing, very loving, and the sweetest child we could ever hope for. We are blessed and wish the same for C.J. and parents. Thanks for sharing and being such wonderful parents !
ReplyDelete