Episode 6: Small Steps, Huge Gains

•  Dogs Proven Therapeutic for Children with Autism (Feb 15, Michelle Gonzalez, autismkey.com)
• Man's best friend calms stressed out children with autism spectrum disorder.
• USA Today article claims that, "The study measured the salivary levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, in 42 children with autism at three different times: before and during the introduction of a service dog to their family, and after a short period during which the dog was removed from their family …  The researchers concluded ‘that the introduction of service dogs translated into reducing cortisol levels and the number of disruptive behavioral incidents in children with ASD.’"
• Connecting with others requires the opportunity to connect.  Dogs are often unwaveringly positive, loving, and loyal.  They're perfect creatures for children in the process of developing empathy, mutuality, and interpersonal responsibility.
• Man's best friend can also be non-biological.
• iPad helps toddler with autism communicate (Feb 18, Caroline Cornish, WLBZ2, Portland Maine)
• Jeremiah Gould's is a 2 1/2-year-old with autism who is non-verbal and uses pictures to indicate what he wants.
• iPad apps are often superfluous, but some offer insight into how some ABA learning techniques may become automated.
• Jeremiah's speech pathologist reports that she's seen increases in his appropriate pointing behavior and word recognition.  Though he is not yet mimicking sounds, his receptive language skills are much more developed than previously believed.  His skills are being more accurately assessed and developed thanks to the iPad.
• Palm Beach School for Autism Implements Apple iPads in Curriculum (Feb. 17, PRLog.org)
• "The Apple iPad fosters improvement across a wide area of skills such as visual and auditory memory, independent functioning, social/emotional, receptive/expressive language, pragmatic/social language and cognitive skills,” said Paula Perretz, speech and language pathologist.  “Children with autism have different styles of learning, and the iPad addresses both auditory and visual learning styles. The iPad has apps which help increase desire and motivation to learn, attention to task, short and long term memory, and enables the interaction and development of communication as it is truly a revolutionary high tech dynamic display AAC device.” 
• Saline: Taylor Parrish finds his voice using technology (Feb. 15, April Scarlett, heritage.com)
• Taylor Parrish, a young man with autism, had yet to prove his knowledge or comprehension because his assessors rely on verbal expression of knowledge.
• Thanks to the iPad, Taylor can now express his knowledge using the speakers of his handy device.
• All of the information that was drilled into him day in and day out like colors, shapes, names, etc. was long-since instilled in Taylor's memory.  He simply could not easily express the fact that he knew all these things and would like to move on to more stimulating information, please.
• Study to Tackle Autism and Driving (Feb 18, Shaun Heasley, disabilityscoop.com)
• Simulators may be used to train individuals with autism to drive
• driving is a right of passage for many young adults and this sense of independence is also sought after by individuals with autism.
• One of my old clients was obsessed with the idea of driving because, for him, it represented the ultimate expression of true independence.
• This study, financed by a $100,000 grant by the Department of Defence, uses proven methods of ABA, particularly video modeling and repeated trials.
• Be it man's best friend or newest technology, there are limitless opportunities out there for individuals with autism to prove their limitless capacities.  Be it a capacity for empathy or memory, it is our own limitations as parents and professionals to recognize what has been there the whole time that has been stunting the development of individuals with autism.  
• Let's stop getting in our own way.  If you'd like to contribute to the development of applications that maximize the use of technological advances then please donate to the renaissanceinstitute.org.