Often organisations and professionals that work with your child with autism may pride themselves on the fact that they work collaboratively and holistically with the other service providers in your child’s team.

Though I must admit that this statement confuses me a little and I will tell you why…

I think that when most professionals say this they mean that they ‘discuss’ their therapy goals with the other professionals or therapists who are working with your child.

This might sound ideal but unless all the team members are actually implementing the treatment goals in the SAME way, the child’s program will not be consistent and can often be very confusing for the child.

What you need to keep consistent in your child’s program is the ‘therapy style’ or the way that you and your therapists interact with your child when you are working on these goals.

Generally, the ‘therapy style’ should not change, no matter what goal you are targeting (i.e. a behavioural versus a relationship building style). Otherwise, each of your child’s team members will have a different way of interpreting how the therapy goals should be implemented.

Example:

Lets say that the treatment goal is to increase the range of foods that your child enjoys eating. This goal is very general and can be approached in so many different ways.

If we are using more of a Behavioural treatment approach, then you might expect the child to try a little bit of a new food and then be rewarded by a treat, or a more motivating food item.

If we are using more of a ‘Relationship Building and Developmental approach then we understand that there might be some sensory issues and or social/emotional issues that are underpinning this challenge. Therefore we might first spend time treating the sensory processing issues as well as building up the positive memories associated with mealtimes to reduce some of the child’s anxiety.

So it’s absolutely crucial for everyone in the team to be aligned with not only the ‘goals’ but HOW the goals will be implemented, right down to the interactional style! Otherwise the team won’t be working collaboratively or holistically.

However this is not always possible, because all professionals have their own way of working and therefore may not always agree on the ‘best’ approach.


Therefore I’ve put together some important things that you should think about when working with your child’s team or when seeking the right professionals to help your child…

1. It is important to surround yourself with a team of professionals that are closely aligned with their delivery of therapy and have a similar treatment approach. Often it is useful to find a team that regularly works together with clients.
2. Parents and carers are always at the center of their child’s program. They are the only ones who have regular contact with every member of the team. Because of this you are in a unique position to act as the coordinator of your child’s program. So it is really important to know as much as you can about what is happening in their program so you can share the information around the team and ensure that each of the professionals is using a similar therapy style and striving for the same developmental goals. The benefits of being able to take on this role will be invaluable to your child’s progress.
3. Not only is it important that the team of professionals are working together, but that any other significant people in your child’s life are also involved in the training (e.g. grandparents, aunties, uncles, siblings etc). For example, on Tuesday night one of my clients asked me to do a training session with the grandparents because they spend a lot of time with Christopher. The grandparents found this so useful that at the end of the evening they asked me when the next session would be! So don’t underestimate how much other people would like to get involved in your child’s program.
4. Video cameras are a great way of trying to get consistency in your child’s program. Many of my clients videotape me during our sessions because at the end of the session I express my thoughts to the camera so that other family members and professionals can hear about what I am targeting in therapy, and more importantly HOW I am doing it. This can be a great way to help everyone work more collaboratively.

So the question I’d put to you is…

Is your team really working collaboratively??

I’d love to hear your answers. Please leave your comments below.

Happy Connecting!
Monique

Related posts:

1. Full Marks for Fabulous Teachers
2. What makes your child tick?
3. Nutty therapy idea that worked!
   Help improve the attention span of your child with autism

In my last post I spoke about improving your child’s social skills, and how preparing your child with autism for successful play interactions with other kids is a step by step process.

As mentioned, your child will need to become competent at playing and interacting with YOU (their primary caregiver) before they have the necessary skills to be able to do this successfully with their peers. This is mainly because ‘typically’ developing children are not very patient and will not wait around if your child does not have the skills to participate in the game or activity that they want to play.

Step 1

Therefore, step one is to make sure that you equip your child with these necessary skills by teaching them how to interact well with YOU first. You can get more help learning these skills with the ‘7 steps to Unlocking Your Child’s Social Skills‘ audio which I use regularly with all of my clients.

Step 2

Once your child has mastered the skills from step one you can move onto step two, and begin increasing the amount that you expose them to peer interactions.

Please remember that to begin with your child’s abilities with their peers will not be as advanced as they are with you. It is important that you learn how to support your child through their play with peers so that you give them every chance of success by ensuring that they have a positive experience.

Here are 5 key strategies I use with my clients on a daily basis to help them build successful interactions with peers…

1. To begin with I very much encourage my clients to be involved in the play with peers. I get them to use the strategies that I have taught them on how to ‘increase the emotional connection’ in play with their child. By doing this, parents become a very fun and effective player, and the other children tend to gravitate towards you of their own accord without you forcing them to be involved. This is a very natural way and one of the best methods of getting other children also involved in the play.




2. Where possible, to begin with, parents should try and create play situations where there is only one or two other children involved, because otherwise it becomes too overwhelming for your child. Once they feel comfortable with small play groups then the number of peers can be increased.




3. Your number one priority to begin with is to get an ‘emotional connection’ going between your child and the other kids, where they are sharing smiles and laughter with them. Please note that you are not just interested in your child having a fun time but rather that they are sharing this great time with the other child. Sharing face to face smiling at one another is a great example of this. It is through this emotional connection that your child will increase their desire to interact with the other kids, see the value that they add to their life and then eventually become curious to learn from them….which is what you want!




4. The most successful way of initiating interaction with peers is by you starting to play in a really fun way with YOUR child with what THEY are interested in (ie: the way that you do when you are playing one-on-one with them). If it looks like fun then the other child will be curious and will want to join in the action. Then just like magic you have another child joining in!




5. When you are playing you should direct your attention and ‘sharing’ of smiles and laughter a lot of the time towards the other children. The reason for this is because hopefully YOUR child will naturally be drawn to look at YOU because of the work you have done following my strategies from step one. Then when your child looks at your face and you are directing your attention towards the other child this will naturally direct your child’s eye gaze towards their peer. Remember that your number one priority to begin with is to get your child sharing more emotion and fun with their peer.



So these are just a few key tips to get you started. As your child gets better and better at sharing emotions with other children you can slowly withdraw more and more from the interaction.

The key to making this work really well is the ‘emotional connection’ your child creates with their peers and not just playing alongside them! Sure it is important for your child to have time in their day to also explore their environment independently but they also need some adult support when working on developing their socialisation skills with other kids.

Have a great day
Monique Simpson

Related posts:

1. “My child wants to socialise with other kids but doesn’t know how”
2. Full Marks for Fabulous Teachers
3. What makes your child tick?

Today I experienced something at a client’s preschool which certainly added an extra spring to my step for the rest of the day…

It gives me such a buzz when I attend goal setting meetings at preschools and schools and the teachers truly celebrate the positive contribution that the child, diagnosed with autism, makes to the classroom.

This got me thinking…

‘Why are particular schools and preschools SO much better than others, for kids with ASD?’

Here are some of my initial thoughts that became very evident from my meeting today.

I highly value…

1. Teachers that are open, full of energy and excited to trial new suggestions.
2. Teachers that are creative and think of ways to incorporate the ideas with the rest of the class… because there are always other kids that can also benefit from the suggestions!
3. Teachers that are naturally inclined to find the positive in what the child has done and can readily see the good as well as the improvements (no matter how big or small)
4. Teachers that are open to trying something new and are happy to get in there and give it a go!
5. When parents, teachers and therapists can all agree on the type of intervention approach that is best for the child. Eg: today we were all celebrating Tom’s great social skills with his ‘typical’ peers which have come about because the whole team has worked so hard on building the fundamental sensory, social and communication skills that are necessary before peer relationships can successfully develop. Now Tom is reaping the benefits of this hard work!

It really makes such a difference when there is an open and respectful relationship between the parents, teachers and therapists, so that everyone is working positively together to make a REAL difference for the child!

Needless to say, I had a great day today

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Best wishes
Monique

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