A Behaviorist's Utopia

Okay, let's admit that there are days when our kids have behavioral issues. Even on their best days they are one "sensory attack" from having problems. That is the nature of their disability. But to understand what provokes their behaviors you have to be a mind reader. Even if you watch them like a hawk you are bound to miss that critical moment that starts the meltdown.

Another blogger friend is in the midst of dealing with behavior issues. Her son is a good boy but he is acting out at school. The school just keeps removing him from the room. She gets a nice little slip saying what he did wrong but no explanation about why he acting up? Ultimately, he is doing fine at home. Definitely, not so fine at school. So what is setting him off? Is it a peer? Is it something with the teacher? Is it because of communication issues? Is it a compulsive behavior? Is it due to escape or avoidance? Is it attention seeking? How is she to know? She isn't there! The only people who can know are in the classroom and they aren't figuring it out.

Truthfully, she is in the midst of what I fear happening for us next year. I worry about sensory overload and a teacher that doesn't know how to help JP regulate. I worry about a teacher (like we had 2 years ago) that doesn't get autism and assumes that his behaviors are him being bad rather than him trying to cope. I fear a teacher that doesn't realize that we have to help him cope with these situations and learn how to react appropriately. I fear a teacher that has such low expectations that she assumes he can't learn how to react in that environment. I fear a school district that thinks it is easier to remove him than to roll up their sleeves and figure out what he needs in order to succeed.

Well, I was trying to urge this mom to push for a behavioral assessment. I think they have gone down the path and she seems in the know. I think she is at her wits end. But her situation has made me think back to this awesome presentation I heard last month at our State Autism Conference. So instead of leaving the "comment from hell" on her site I just decided to throw a blog posting out here.

The presenter was James Ball. He is a board certified Behavior Analyst and is a private consultant working with children on the autism spectrum. He is from New Jersey. He was a fascinating speaker and I have to admit that I wasn't that gung ho about sitting through an ABA presentation. I am not an ABA fan in its strictest sense. I didn't have high expectations.

But I was thoroughly surprised with his presentation. He was a very good speaker. Truthfully, what surprised me most was that he seemed to mirror my thoughts toward therapy for our children. He expressed that we need to adjust the therapy so that it works for our child! Most ABA types have the reputation of declaring it to be ABA or the highway! He urged us to recognize that the premise of ABA and discrete trials can be done in any context. On the floor while playing with their train set or in the shopping cart at Walmart. ABA does not have to be about a sterile table environment. It is about breaking the task down and teaching it. It is about understanding the behavior and helping improve the appropriateness of it.

As a side note, I also need to share a jaw dropping experience. He was talking about behaviors and behavioral assessments and giving all the "mainstream behaviorist" talk when all of a sudden he said something that blew me away! "When you have a child exhibiting behaviors you need to make sure there aren't any medical issues at play. Kids get out of balance with yeast issues or urinary tract infections and they might very well be in pain. It does them no good to try to "train" them to behave if you don't first help them get rid of the pain!" He said that 3 years ago he would have blown off biomedicals as hocus pocus but he has seen it transform a child enough times to make a believer of him. Now he went on to explain that biomedicals don't cure the child but it makes them more receptive to the learning environment and of course they need done through a physician. I didn't go to this presentation looking for validation that we are doing the right things but I left feeling at peace with our diverse therapy options!

Back on track to my discussion. He spoke about a product called, B.I. Capture. This looked amazing. It is still in the pilot phase (I believe) but I want it in my schools...now! Here is a link to a news story that summarized it pretty well.

http://www.talkautism.com/Components/Video/Video.aspx?v=82

I know that our teachers are overwhelmed with a room full of kids. They can't see every thing that transpires in the classroom. And expecting them to answer why our children act out is a lot like asking them to read tea leaves. However, this application allows them to click a button at the time of the event and the TiVo camera in the room captures the moments preceding and following the outburst. The data is then sent of to a behavioral specialist who can then look at the entire scenario and make a determination as to what may have caused it. Then they can formulate a plan to fix the situation and help the child!

I think this is huge! Like I said, I want it in our classroom. Please let me know if anyone out there is using this product! I imagine it'll be used in those autism schools where the professionals already "understand" autism. I just think it would be SO INCREDIBLY helpful for those of us out here in schools where are teachers are not autism experts. This would make it so much easier for our schools to seek "professional" help rather than try to wing it themselves. I can only imagine how much our kids would benefit!