in touch - Autism Spectrum Therapies

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Newsletter
IN TOUCH
with Autism Spectrum Therapies™
AUTISM
SPECTRUM
THERAPIES
FALL
2013
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AUTISM
SPECTRUM
THERAPIES
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AUTISM
SPECTRUM
THERAPIES
AUTISM
SPECTRUM
THERAPIES
ORIGINAL LOGO
Overlapping circles represent the variety of therapies, services,
approaches to patients and families across the spectrum. The
transparency represent the multi-disciplary approach - with solutions that
cross over and effect each other.
The colors and shapes maintain a youthful, bubble-like appearance. The
palette is warm bright, energetic and cheerful. The gradated color implies
motion and activity
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AUTISM
SPECTRUM
THERAPIES
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fluid and somewhat contemporary with a stroke that is slightly related the
existing script typeface
Full name is in a clean, sans serif typeface that is less decorative to ensure
legibility - yet remains related to the new initials.
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AUTISM
SPECTRUM
THERAPIES
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AUTISM
SPECTRUM
THERAPIES
AUTISM
SPECTRUM
THERAPIES
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AUTISM
SPECTRUM
THERAPIES
Page
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CREATING A
CONNECTION
WITH AUTISM
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RACE & AUTISM
How the color of your skin and even
your address affect getting services
By Gina Chang, Ph.D., BCBA-D
INSPIRING STORIES
FROM THE FIELD
YOUR NEW AUTISM
VOCABULARY
By Ronit Molko, Ph.D., BCBA-D
Prior to my role as Senior Clinical Director of
Southern California I served in several other
positions in the LA area. Two of them truly opened
my eyes to the disparity of available autism services
based on geography and ethnicity.
Gina Chang, Ph.D., BCBA-D
When I was the Clinical Director of the Inland Empire,
I was amazed at how many parents were just grateful
to receive services. I heard story after story from
parents and our supervisors of how little was offered
in this region. These were awesome, committed,
invested parents who often just got the runaround
from their school districts and regional center.
Two years prior to that I oversaw services across the
San Fernando Valley and parts of LA. The picture
here was very different. Most parents were aware of
what was clinically appropriate and how intensive
services should be for their child. They weren’t shy
about threatening lawsuits when regional centers or
schools even hesitated to provide services.
It seemed that white families who lived farther west
in Southern California were significantly more likely
to get access to services across the board. Most
of “us” clinicians have felt this was true for many
years, and it was then confirmed by an article in the
Los Angeles Times:
Warrior Parents Fare
Best In Securing Autism
Services (December 12,
2011 by Alan Zarembo).
The article presented
data that white children
with autism were likely
to receive almost two
times the dollar amount
of services than black
Los Angeles Times: Warrior Parents Fare Best In
Securing Autism Services (December 12, 2011 by
children ($11,723 verses
Alan Zarembo).
$6,593 respectively per year).
For children of Latino decent the average dollar
amount was $7,634, 65% of what the average white
child received. Finally, Asians fared better with an
average of $11,063 per child.
white children with
autism were likely
to receive almost
two times the dollar
amount of services
then black children
These statistics are supported by 2002 research
conducted by David Mandell, Assistant Professor at
the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Medicine
which indicated that African-American children were
likely to be diagnosed 18 months later than white
children on Medicaid, and that African-American
children would get fewer services for
less amount of time. This is a critical
issue given the clear importance of
getting services as early as possible to
improve the child’s long-term prognosis.
It’s disheartening to realize
that the very heart of the
Lanterman Act and IDEA—
allowing parents to have a
critical voice in the services
RACE
AND AUTISM
BY GINA CHANG
provided to their child—has actually
increased inequality for parents who
do not know or are too overwhelmed
to have a voice for their child.
As the LA Times article points out, the process
of accessing services for a child with autism is
“in essence a negotiation” between parents and
the school system and regional center system. A
wrenching example featured is Gissell Garcia of
South Los Angeles, who was diagnosed with autism
at age three when intensive therapies could have
made a difference. But her parents, struggling
Mexican immigrants, say that neither LA Unified nor
state officials ever mentioned the possibility of such
therapies and Gissell only received speech therapy
for 30 minutes a week. “I didn’t ask for anything
more,” her mother, Yolanda Ortega, said in Spanish.
“I accepted it because I didn’t know. I thought she
would eventually talk.” Now 11, Gissell can only make
unintelligible sounds.
From my experiences this story is not the exception
but a sad and tragic reality. We won’t be able to
change it until we acknowledge it and come face to
face with the brutal facts.
STORIES
FROM THE
FIELD
AST MAKES A DIFFERENCE ONE CHILD AT A TIME.
Our staff is in the field every day, dedicated to one thing-seeing their kids
accomplish their goals. Our Behavior Interventionists(BI) and Supervisors go the
extra mile for their families because they know what they do makes a difference.
We want to share a few inspiring stories from the field.
For over a year, this child made minimal
progress towards many of his goals. When
receptive identification of body parts was
targeted, he continued to make minimal
progress towards this goal.
of the gang sitting “quietly” (his word) The
Scooby helicopter and car are ready in case
the carnivores come and try to get in. I was
amazed at the detail and the imagination as
he explained it all to me.
The behavioral team began targeting body
parts while tickling him (e.g. I’m going to
tickle your….Show me your tummy!). The child
not only began receptively identifying his body
parts, but began expressively labeling them as
well. His attention has increased dramatically
and he has for the first time begun imitating
words and making non-modeled requests.
I am sending this because, until now, this is
something we have not seen from our son. He has excellent play alone skills and his
imagination is amazing.
At a recent IEP, the teacher proposed having
him recognize his name in array of 4 other
names as an annual goal. His mother proudly
told the IEP team that not only could her son
recognize his name, but he could spell it as
well. The behavioral team at home had begun
utilizing a token economy system in which
each token was a letter in his name. When
given various tokens, he could put them in
appropriate order and has begun to sound
them out.
Angela Pao, M.A., BCBA
Program Supervisor This child was recently introduced to
Scooby-do and pals. He loves them and is
glued to each episode. (I’m still back with
Sesame St. and Teletubbies) Yesterday, after
therapy, he built a Scooby town on his own.
The lone purple block is the TV set. The
friendly dinosaurs are in front and the rest
This would not have been possible without
the care, love and dedication that you have all
given to him.
Also new! He put on swim goggles and it
opened a new world in the pool. He swims and
now even dives for toys! Buddy still drags him
around the pool but now they also race for
the dog toys! And, at long last, he can pedal!
Training wheels, yes, but he is pedaling and
wear a helmet. As you may recall, he will
not wear hats of any kind, so putting on the
helmet is a big deal!
His teacher tells me he is the most well
liked kid in class, blending in to any of the
groupings easily. We began with a new therapist this week,
Brad. They hit it off right away.
AST Parent
When we first started intervention with this
child he engaged in numerous maladaptive
behaviors that made it merely impossible
to teach him replacement behaviors, let
alone teach him any skills. He engaged in
head banging at a rate of 6 times per hour.
His sitting and attending goal started at 30
seconds. His only word approximation was
“mo” for “more.” Mom could not get him to
follow any instructions that she gave him. It
took him almost a year to meet the sitting
and attending goal for 15 minutes, but he
finally did it! He was slow to master goals
at first, only meeting 2 goals during the first
progress reporting period. He is now learning
at a much faster rate and met 16 goals during
the latest reporting period. His head banging
is at near zero levels. His newly acquired
communication skills have allowed him to
communicate his basic needs and wants to his
family decreasing his overall behaviors. One
of the things that mom and dad expressed
to us during the first day of intervention was
their sadness at not ever hearing him call
them mom or dad. We are happy to report that
he now calls them “mama” and “papa” and
is able to expressively identify other family
members. When he started intervention
with us, his grandparents were visiting from
Mexico. A year later they returned, remarking
on what a different child he is now. With tears
in their eyes they thanked us and hugged us
for making such an impactful difference in
their grandchild’s life. The interventionist
Dulce Casillas has worked hard to teach
parents the behavioral strategies to make
Anthony successful and always expresses the
importance of continuing with the strategies
outside of session to ensure that he will
continue to be successful.
Artemisa Torres, M.S., BCBA
WHAT IS YOUR MOMENT?
The greatest achievements for your family often come in simple, unexpected
moments. A child sharing a hug, sleeping through the night or expressing their
needs... these are just some of the moments that can be great triumphs for a
child with autism. We celebrate your family’s winning moments.
In April, AST invited families to share their winning
moments with us. We received beautiful stories from all
over the country. The 5 moments below were shared on
our Facebook page and read on Autism Spectrum Radio.
We also sent an iPad mini to each of the families to support
continued success with learning, communication and play.
What is Your Moment? Tell us at
moreinfo@autismtherapies.com
Lluvia C.
My son is about to be 10 and is still in a pull-up. We have
been with AST for about 5 years now and toileting has been
a major problem from the beginning. Just getting him
near a bathroom was a full blown tantrum lasting up to 4560 minutes! Last week, we were at our local Target doing
our groceries and our son says “toilet toilet”. My husband
immediately took him to the restroom inside the Target and
after a couple minutes I hear him yell “GOOD JOB BABY!
GOOD JOB!” They come out of the restroom and my husband
has tears in his eyes and tells me that he went “poo” in the
toilet! Needless to say that we were over the moon! All of
those years of hard work had finally paid off! The best part
about the whole thing was the look of pride on my sons face ...
I will never forget that.
Tanika G.
My son, Landon is 5 years old and has a very limited
vocabulary. A couple of weeks ago as I was putting him on the
bus for school he got to the top step, turns to me and says
“bye Mommy”. Tears immediately came to my eyes as I looked
at his driver. I quickly blinked them away, looked at him and
said “bye baby, have a good day”. As they pulled away the
tears welled again just as they are now. That is my moment.
Janis C.
When working with my 4 year old to trace his name he always
just scribbled. So you can imagine my total amazement when
one day he took a marker and proceeded to print the ENTIRE
alphabet, in order. As if to say, enough tracing, I know how to
write it already!
Brian W.
The signs were there all along, but we attributed them to my
son being born 7 weeks early at 3 lbs. 7 oz. We thought the
delays, the sensory issues, and the language problems, were
all due to his being born premature. The most obvious sign
looking back was that he never looked us in the eye for more
than a glance even as an infant. We look back at our photos
now and he was never looking at the camera! My “moment” is
something I will forever remember. He was about three and a
half, about a year after he was diagnosed with autism. My son
grabbed my face with both hands, drew me in close, stared
deeply into my eyes, and yelled “Daaaadddyyyyyy” with a smile
in his eyes that matched the beaming of both my face and his.
Laura B.
As a mom of a child on the autism spectrum, I find myself
soaking up every little detail of his life. The good and the
not so good. My son is now 8 and is pretty much non verbal.
We rely on his facial expressions and body language to
communicate and connect with him. His eyes are full of
wonder and his smile will melt your heart. Just recently his
therapist reported to us that he has made great progress
using an app program to communicate at school. As they told
me all the details I felt so proud of my child, but I have yet to
see him communicate this way since the iPad is used only
during his therapy sessions and shared among other students
as well. One night at dinner he was eating fries and just like
nothing he picked up a packet of ketchup and handed it to
me and very clearly said “open!” I looked up at him and he
was looking right back at me with perfect eye contact! That
moment was an unforgettable one and I quickly made sure I
wrote it down, date and all so I would always remember how
exciting it was and to remind me of all the progress he has
made on his not so good days. Moments like this are what
keeps me going and never give up.
THE
BLOG
POST
Sound daunting? It is. There is no way around it, this
journey through autism is full of challenges but is also
full of triumphs. The good news is that today we have
a lot more options for how we connect with resources,
information and each other. With the internet, many
families can gain access to information across the country
or in their own backyard. The next word to add to your
new autism vocabulary is DISCERNMENT. Parents can
easily go from uninformed to overwhelmed. Discernment
and trusting your best judgment for your child’s plan is
essential.
Which leads us back to one of my
favorite words, COMMUNITY. I
encourage you to utilize the gained
knowledge of others. Let people
By Ronit Molko, Ph.D., BCBA-D
support you and don’t be afraid to
ask for help. Nurturing relationships
When a family receives a diagnosis
within the autism community and
of autism, their vocabulary begins to building awareness outside of the
change. Suddenly there is an array
autism community will benefit you,
of clinical terms, abbreviations and
your child and those you bring into
acronyms to become familiar with.
your circle.
Assessments, IEPs, ABA (…which
may be provided by a BCBA), OT and
SLP and the list goes on. One of the
most important words parents need
to understand is ADVOCACY. And it
is not enough to know it, you have to
practice it.
Your New Autism
Vocabulary blog.
As parents, you are THE advocate for your child. Your
child’s diagnosis is the starting point in your education to
become an expert in the needs, rights and options for your
child. We often say in our company, “there is no ‘one size
fits all’ when it comes to treating a child with autism.” This
puts the parents in the position to help navigate, choose and
if necessary fight for the course of their child’s treatment
and education.
Ronit Molko, Ph.D, BCBA-D is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and licensed clinical psychologist
specializing in the treatment of children with autism. She has a Master’s degree in Applied
Developmental Psychology and a Doctorate degree in Human Development and Family Life. In early
2000, she co-founded Autism Spectrum Therapies (AST). Her current work within AST focuses on
the development of innovative programs and new service offerings for children and adults with
autism and other developmental needs as well as infants at risk for developmental delays.
TEMPLE GRANDIN:
Author, Educator, Autism
Advocate and Ambassador
I recently got to speak on the phone with Temple
Grandin...twice. Yes, I’m bragging. Please indulge
my enthusiasm, it was a bit of rock star moment
for me. Like many people in our community, I’m a
huge fan of Ms. Grandin. She not only symbolizes
the potential for each of our children, but she also
informs and inspires crowds (often standing room
only) when she speaks on the subject of autism.
with Temple (notice how I slipped that in), she
stated, “The happiest time in my life was when I was
building something,” her voice full of enthusiasm and
appreciation. In her latest book, The Autistic Brain,
Temple reminds us to take time to recognize and
develop the interests of our kids and foster their unique
contributions.
Temple Grandin, the movie, depicts some of the
prevalent challenges faced by the families of children
with autism while also illuminating the fierce courage
and heart-melting triumphs that are the hallmark of so
many of these families’ experiences. These moments
are portrayed honestly and honorably, much like the
subject herself. Though we still have a very long way to
go in creating autism awareness, it is exciting that more
people may begin to associate the word autism with
Temple Grandin rather than Rain Man.
“We have got to work on keeping these
children engaged with the world.”
In recent years, Temple has spoken passionately about
the need for parents to encourage participation in
subjects and activities that may lead to contributing
something of value to society. In my recent conversation
Here are a few more of our favorite quotes from Temple:
“I cannot emphasize enough the
importance of a good teacher.”
“I’m a visual thinker, not a languagebased thinker. My brain is like Google
Images.”
“Autism is part of who I am.”
We are proud to have Temple Grandin as a guest
on Autism Spectrum Radio on November 12.
ON THE AIR WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM RADIO
Tune in to Autism Spectrum Radio for a weekly conversation on topics that matter most to you.
Each week our warm and friendly host Rob Haupt is joined by extraordinary guests including
some of the most prominent specialists in the field of autism. Topics range from navigating a
new diagnosis to advocating for your child’s rights and planning for the future. Our show airs
on the internet every Tuesday at 11am on VoiceAmerica.com. You can access our entire library
of past shows anytime on the AST Radio Show page at www.autismtherapies.com
Here is a sampling of some of our most popular shows:
July 2, 2013
April 30, 2013
-A Friend’s and Relative’s Guide to Supporting the
Family with Autism with guest Ann Palmer.
-Optimistic Parenting. With our guest author and
professor of psychology, V. Mark Durand.
May 28, 2013
March 26, 2013
-Advocating For Your Child’s Needs with guest
Kim McClain.
-The Important Role of Social Skills at each stage
of development with guest Dr. Gina Chang.
May 14, 2013
March 19, 2013
-Author Nancy Burrows joins us to discuss the
latest Chicken Soup for The Soul book written for
families with autism.
-Early Intervention and Early Childhood Education
with author and speaker Dr. Robin McWilliam.
OUR MISSION
We see a world where
individuals with autism
and other developmental
disabilities, dream and
achieve their full potential.
AUTISM SPECTRUM THERAPIES
Corporate Headquarters
6059 Bristol Parkway, Suite 100
Culver City, CA 90230
E-mail: moreinfo@autismtherapies.com
Phone: (866) AST-1520
GO
ORIGINAL LOGO
LOGO REVISION
Color modification
www.autismtherapies.com
R3 Logo, Version 1
Palette from Press Kit/R2v8
Added new Orange to Fuscia blend
Darkened Purple to Blue blend
color palette
Round 3: v1 (from previous round)
AUTISM
SPECTRUM
THERAPIES
R4 Logo, Version 1
Palette from Press Kit/R2v8
Modified Orange to Fuscia blend
sion 1
Press Kit/R2v8
Orange to Fuscia blend
rple to Blue blend
AUTISM
SPECTRUM
THERAPIES
R4 Logo, Version 2
Palette from Press Kit/R2v8
Modified Orange to Fuscia blend
Added transparency to the purple gradient circle
ORIGINAL LOGO
AUTISM
SPECTRUM
THERAPIES
AUTISM
SPECTRUM
THERAPIES
Overlapping circles represent the variety of therapies, services,
approaches to patients and families across the spectrum. The
transparency represent the multi-disciplary approach - with solutions that
We believe in evidence-based
practices with a familyfocused approach to ensure
the best possible results.
To make this happen, AST
provides families with the
information they need, the
community they want and the
quality services they deserve.