Happy New Year!!
My first post for 2011.

Today I thought it would be helpful to share with you the 3 biggest messages that I took away from a brilliant presentation I recently attended, by fellow speech pathologist Michele Ricamato from Chicago… but just before I do…

I quickly wanted to let you know what I’ve been up to and why you might not have heard from me for a while. :0

Things have been crazy busy in my autism world in the past few months…

I recently completed my first series of professional development workshops for speech pathologists, working with children with autism in Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane and Melbourne, which went very well and were lots of fun. The whole production took months of preparation and organisation but it has been a fantastic experience with some great outcomes.

As you know I am very passionate about Speechies using a relationship building and developmental approach to therapy, rather than “table-top” intervention. I am happy to say that…

95% of the 500 speech pathologists who attended said that they would shift the way that they work with children with autism as a result of attending the workshop!

This pleases me greatly

As a result, this year we’re planning to run advanced workshops for speech pathologists that will build on the information and ideas presented at the first workshop and will focus heavily on the practical application of those therapy strategies. We are also considering running a series of workshops for parents as well (time permitting).

So I am really excited about the year ahead!

But now… back to my reason for writing today.

As I mentioned, Late last year I attended a wonderful course in Adelaide. Michele Ricamato, a speech pathologist from Chicago and certified DIR consultant/trainer who specialises in children with ASD, presented on two very interesting topics:

• Honouring Intentionality – The journey of supporting intention and ideation in treatment
• Let’s make meaning – Supporting Comprehension at all stages of Language Learning.

There was a lot of wonderful information covered and numerous interesting case studies.

But the 3 overriding messages that really stood out for me were:

1. The importance of TRULY CELEBRATING the child’s unique ideas. There are no RIGHT or WRONG ideas. Our ideas are NOT better than theirs.
2. When you OBSERVE what the child is ‘doing’ throughout their day you will learn what is IMPORTANT, MEANINGFUL and MOTIVATING to the child. So if the child spends their day spinning, crashing, running, lining up then this is where their thinking/processing is at. If the child wants to keep talking about fire engines or helicopter propellers then these are the ideas in their head that they want to share and learn more about.
3. To create a rich and effective learning environment we must simply IDENTIFY what the child is thinking about (what is going on in their mind) and find ways to EXPAND upon this. Remember that ‘comprehension’ is like an onion with many layers to keep unraveling! So if the child loves to think about and play with fire engines this is wonderful and there are many opportunities within play to elaborate upon the child’s concept of fire engines and what they mean. It doesn’t matter what the child’s interests are… learning opportunities can always be created from a thought or idea!

So often in therapy we like to force our OWN ideas about what is important onto the child. As speech pathologists we often are the ones that determine what concepts are important to teach the child. But if we are truly operating in the PRESENT moment, when interacting with the child, then we will certainly learn through the child what is important and meaningful to THEM.

I really loved this quote from the course…

“I believe that a life without ideas is an unfulfilled existence. Not only having ideas is important, but to express them, share them and implement them is what makes a difference in the world”

Hearing the unique thoughts, feelings and ideas of the children that I treat is such a gift and truly rewarding! I would never want to squash this in a child.

So, some food for thought…

How much do you celebrate and expand upon the unique ideas of YOUR child (or those you treat)? Please share…

Till next time
Monique

P.S: If you liked this article you can subscribe to my blog for free (top right of this page) and every time I create a new article I’ll let you know via email so you’ll never miss a thing!

Howdy all,

Well I am now the proud mother of two beautiful children. Our little boy Liam was born on the 30th of March and he has certainly been a lovely addition to our family. Though I can hardly say ‘little’ as he weighed in at 4.45 kg, which is nearly 10 pounds! Eek…poor me

Anyway we are enjoying him immensely as there is nothing quite like a cuddle form a newborn baby.

In my last blog post we looked at some of the main things to think about and some key questions that you should ask any speech pathologist before employing their services to help your child with autism.

After you’ve been working with your therapist for a few months you’ll want to know if the therapy is actually making a difference and that you child is making some real progress. This depends greatly on how good a ‘match’ your therapist (and the therapy) is for your child.

So today (as promised) I’d like to share with you some of the warning signs that may indicate that it’s time to find another speech pathologist who is ‘a better match’ for your child.
» Continue reading “Signs That Your Speech Pathologist may not be a “Good Match” for Your Child”

I’m now past my due date for our baby boy to arrive and since I’m just sitting around waiting for him to come I thought I’d quickly take a few minutes and share some more thoughts with you…

It’s very important when finding a speech pathologist for your child that you get the ‘just right fit’.

Here’s why it’s so important…

Just as there are many areas of specialty for doctors (orthopedics, pediatrics, geriatrics, cardiologists, neorologists, etc) the same applies for speech pathologists. Areas of specialty can include stuttering, articulation, literacy, hearing impairment, language disorders, voice disorders, strokes, laryngectomies etc, etc… the list is very extensive!

But the thing that completely baffles me is that some speech pathologists say that they have 5-8 or more “Areas of Specialty”! To me this suggests that they do not specialise at all, and are more of a ‘generalist’ speech pathologist (like a GP is a generalist doctor). Some therapists even say that they ‘specialise’ in autism when they may have treated only 10-20 children on the autism spectrum.
» Continue reading “What you should know before choosing a speech pathologist for your child with autism”

Howdy everyone,

I’m sorry that some of you have not heard from me for a little while. Things have been crazy busy!!!

Not only am I due to have our second child any day now but I have also been running some training workshops here in Sydney for other speech pathologists to share my knowledge and experience in working with children with autism.

I really enjoyed doing the workshops and the attendees got a lot out of them, which was great!

One of the main aims of running the workshops was to help shift the way that speech pathologists work with children on the autism spectrum. I figured that if I can help fellow speech pathologists work more effectively with these kids then I will indirectly be helping many more families because they will have greater access to speech pathologists who are trained with the unique knowledge and skills that are needed for treating children with autism.

The title of the workshop is “Effective Speech Pathology… what works and what doesn’t”. Some of the key messages that I shared were:

1. It IS possible to treat the social part of the triad of impairment
2. When we use a developmental approach to treatment we are treating the core deficits of autism
3. We must get to know the ‘individual differences’ of the child if we are to achieve greater therapy outcomes
4. Parent training and empowerment is an essential part of effective treatment
5. Practical and meaningful speech pathology is a must

I then went on to practically explain how I carry out ‘effective therapy’ with the families I treat, using lots of client examples and video footage etc.

In a nutshell….
As speech pathologists I strongly believe that we need to be carrying out a ‘relationship building’ and ‘developmental style’ of therapy rather than sitting these children down at a table, drilling them with specific, isolated skills that are often not meaningful or motivating for the child.

After specialising in the treatment of autism for over 12 years and consulting to many different programs, I’ve treated enough clients and seen the case history of enough families to know that this structured style of teaching does not address the core deficits of autism or lay the foundations for even more effective learning.

I am a very open-minded therapist and certainly not ‘stuck in my ways‘ but I still continue to practice a relationship building style of therapy today for one very simply reason… because I find it get results.

My plan now (after our baby is born!), is to travel around the other capital cities of Australia to carry out the workshops there, then head overseas to do the same. Towards the end of the year I’ll be running more advanced training days for speech pathologists to increase their skills even further.

So along with continuing to manage Connect Therapy and creating more Training Resources I’m very excited to now be training other therapists in autism as I know that it will reach so many more families and quite possibly indirectly assist each one of you in your journey as well as other families that will follow in your footsteps!

So that’s what I’ve been up to… how about you guys?
How effective have you found Speech Therapy to be in your child’s treatment? What type of therapy approach has worked for you? I’d love to hear your experiences from a parent’s perspective.

Please leave your comments in the boxes provided below.

best wishes
Monique

Wow! Only 4 more sleeps until Christmas!

I thought I’d squeeze in one more autism tip to help get you through the holiday period.

This week’s video is about getting the most out of your interactions with your child with autism while reading picture books with them. And because this is an activity that almost all children and parents enjoy doing together quite frequently, I’m sure you’ll find this one very helpful.

Take a look…

Duration – about 10 min

» Continue reading “Maximising Learning and Connection with Picture Books – Part1″

Often toy libraries can be a very underutilised service in many communities… but they have a lot to offer, particularly for children with autism, aspergers or pdd-nos.

Many families say “We have so many toys at home…the last thing we need is more toys”

But let me give you a little bit of food for thought….

I saw a boy named Oli on the weekend for a session who will be going to a mainstream school next year.

He is doing really well with his play and interactions at home with his parents and his brother. This family have done an incredible job at building their relationship with Oli, helping him realise that they are heaps of fun to be around and can add so much value to his life. In fact, when I recently analysed some video footage of Oli playing with his family at home it really was not apparent that he had autism!

Yet aside from all of his wonderful progress at home his parents report that he is having significant trouble forming relationships with his peers. » Continue reading “Don’t forget about toy libraries!”

This week’s video tip is self explanatory really.

Again, this is another strategy I use regularly with my private clients that can work quite nicely.

Particularly suitable for higher functioning children with autism (typically 3-6 years old) who are up to the stage where they ‘get’ the basic meaning of situations, but who are then challenged by real life situations where they are required to interpret the complex feelings and thoughts of other people through their words, facial expressions, gestures and tone of voice, then put all of that information together to really understand a deeper meaning of a particular situation.

If this sounds like your child, then you could really benefit from this. » Continue reading “How to Improve Your Child’s Comprehension using their favourite DVDs”

Hi everyone,

I have to say I’m finding video to be a great way of explaining all of the concepts and techniques that I have to share with you and also for bringing to life many of the examples that will help with applying these tips to your own situation. So I hope you’re enjoying them too!

This week’s tip focuses on how you can improve your child’s articulation and speech clarity skills using a technique called Video Modeling. There are many ways to improve articulation, but Video Modeling is one technique that I’ve found to be very effective over the years with the children I treat. » Continue reading “Improving Speech and Language in Children with Autism using Video Modeling”

Last week I promised to do Part 2 of Why Play is SO Important for Children with Autism. (If you missed Part 1 you can find it here).

But the thing is, we decided to try video blogging, which I’m really excited about! However it took us much longer than expected to get Part 2 ready.

So anyway, I’m sorry it’s late, but here it is as promised…

Part 2 in shiny new video format!

The first video below looks at the importance of stage 3 of play development – Imaginary Play, while the second video gives you some great tips on how to use Imaginary Play to help your child (or those children that you treat).

Stage 3 – What is Imaginary Play? (18 min)

» Continue reading "Part 2 – Why ‘Play’ is SO Important for Children With Autism"

One thing that you need to understand is how important PLAY is for the thinking, language, emotional, problem solving and creative skills development of children with autism. So many people underestimate the importance of PLAY.

Ok. So how does play develop and what should your child be able to do in play?

Stage 1

From birth to 18 months of life, much of your child’s play will revolve around Sensory Play.

This means feeling different textures, learning about how their body feels when it is moved in different ways, listening to interesting noises like birds tweeting, the clock ticking and how different people’s voices sound different and can make interesting noises etc, etc. Their sensory play will continue to develop and become more complex during the first 18 months. » Continue reading “Part 1 – Why ‘Play’ is SO Important for Children with Autism”