The first time I heard of training students with severe/profound disabilities in a standard GenEd class I was learning from Carol Ann Davis at the University of Washington. [http://depts.washington.edu/coe/programs/sped/profiles/davis.html]Now,Dr. Davis was not about just popping some kid in a GenEd class and then abandoning him/her with an aide. She wanted us to figure out what functional activity the student could either perform or learn while in that class. I remember being unable to imagine what she had in mind and asked if there was some school where I could go to observe such an approach. Frustrated, she said that she didn't know of any place that did it around here [that was 5 years ago]. But she pointed us to research that seemed to bear out the premise that it was an advantage to have kids with severe/profound disabilities in GenEd classes.
First of all, the most important benefit was one that was not expected. It ended up that when these kids needed to do things in the community...jobs, leisure activities...the parents of the kids in the GenEd classes were the most helpful. It ended up that parents try to help the kids that their kids know. So more kids were able to get jobs through the GenEd class inclusion due to CONNECTIONS than due to any skills they may pick-up. Now THAT'S interesting...and compelling.
A nice summary of other benefits are included in this short paper by Jennifer Katz & Pat Mirenda:
http://www.internationalsped.com/documents/Educ._Benefits(2).doc
How Do I feel about this? I'll write in later blogs under the same title.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Who is Responsible for Autism?
The November/December 2007 edition of The Skeptical Inquirer contains 3 excellent articles that talk common sense about autism. The central article, from my point of view, is by my favorite blogger who is also a professor, neurologist, podcaster, and president of the New England Skeptical Society...Steven Novella.
http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_6_31/ai_n21092937
His point is that there is strong evidence AGAINST the hypothesis that thimerosal or the vaccinations that contain them are responsible for the prevelance of autism. Of all the diseases....Autism has perhaps the most bizarre claims of etiology in the last 65 years.
I first will refer Dr. Bruno Bettleheim who, in the 70's perpetrated faked research and fraudulant cures for autism. He expounded upon Leo Kanner's 1940's idea of cool, unfeeling mothers from whom children withdraw and never return to the world. He went wild with anger over the Lovaas/UCLA methodology that ended up having about a 50% success rate in getting youngsters who were exhaustively trained into elementary schools without any labels. [Note: that was a huge step forward as all those youngsters were probably going to be labeled with autism which, at that time, was considered a form of schizophrenia.]
But, over time, the Lovaas method [called ABA after the field of Applied Behavior Analysis from which the tools and methodologies emerged] has won the day. And it was thought by one of my professors [whose expertise was autism] that parents were clamoring for an "autism" diagnosis for their children because the ABA methodology gave them extra hope that their children could be substantially helped. Many have.
With the same "timing" logic as Kanner's hypothesis, the MMR vaccination became suspect. It's not a bad reason to suspect something. But, you've got to give it up when the evidence shows no causation. And, indeed, that's what has been repeatedly shown.
The heart wrenching whining must stop before it inflicts harm upon the vaccination producing companies. This would be a great harm to all of us because it is only through overwhelming percentages of vaccinated people that regular plagues of polio, whooping cough, tetnus, mumps, rubella, and so on that we lower our exposure to these contagious germs.
Children show signs of autism from earlier ages though the behavioral reversals of the 18 month olds are usually the attention grabber that gets the motivation for finding a diagnosis.
Behavior of parents is not causal for autism. Nothing in the vaccination is causal. How many lives Bettleheim destroyed nobody knows. But his victims' stories have been documented and his tragic effect upon them is public record. It is important to keep the anti-vaccinators from destroying the lives of our families and decendants by unnecessarily exposing them to danger.
http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_6_31/ai_n21092937
His point is that there is strong evidence AGAINST the hypothesis that thimerosal or the vaccinations that contain them are responsible for the prevelance of autism. Of all the diseases....Autism has perhaps the most bizarre claims of etiology in the last 65 years.
I first will refer Dr. Bruno Bettleheim who, in the 70's perpetrated faked research and fraudulant cures for autism. He expounded upon Leo Kanner's 1940's idea of cool, unfeeling mothers from whom children withdraw and never return to the world. He went wild with anger over the Lovaas/UCLA methodology that ended up having about a 50% success rate in getting youngsters who were exhaustively trained into elementary schools without any labels. [Note: that was a huge step forward as all those youngsters were probably going to be labeled with autism which, at that time, was considered a form of schizophrenia.]
But, over time, the Lovaas method [called ABA after the field of Applied Behavior Analysis from which the tools and methodologies emerged] has won the day. And it was thought by one of my professors [whose expertise was autism] that parents were clamoring for an "autism" diagnosis for their children because the ABA methodology gave them extra hope that their children could be substantially helped. Many have.
With the same "timing" logic as Kanner's hypothesis, the MMR vaccination became suspect. It's not a bad reason to suspect something. But, you've got to give it up when the evidence shows no causation. And, indeed, that's what has been repeatedly shown.
The heart wrenching whining must stop before it inflicts harm upon the vaccination producing companies. This would be a great harm to all of us because it is only through overwhelming percentages of vaccinated people that regular plagues of polio, whooping cough, tetnus, mumps, rubella, and so on that we lower our exposure to these contagious germs.
Children show signs of autism from earlier ages though the behavioral reversals of the 18 month olds are usually the attention grabber that gets the motivation for finding a diagnosis.
Behavior of parents is not causal for autism. Nothing in the vaccination is causal. How many lives Bettleheim destroyed nobody knows. But his victims' stories have been documented and his tragic effect upon them is public record. It is important to keep the anti-vaccinators from destroying the lives of our families and decendants by unnecessarily exposing them to danger.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Gotcha [thanks to Richard Wiseman]
This post was prompted by the following video link.
Please watch it before reading:
http://www.quirkology.com/USA/Video_ColourChangingTrick.shtml
This video demonstrates the reality of people overlooking environmental changes...even changes that we would consider fairly obvious.
One of the favorite games that is played in the US these days is "Gotcha!". The place where "Gotcha!" is most valued is in the legal system. Side "A" tries to impress some monied party that Side "B" didn't notice something and therefore "B" should pay "A" money. Often, side 'B' pays because either they can't prove the negative...that something WASN'T overlooked...or the effort to fight a suit will take significantly more resources than proving that oversight did not rise to the level of endangerment or negligence.
In Wiseman's video, we see a demonstration of how we overlook matters while focusing on an involved but different targets. A good ambulance-chasing lawyer would impress these obvious oversights on his/her potential client & will probably sell a case to the client. Whether or not a judge would buy the ambulance-chaser's argument would be a matter of chance. Most of us, judges included, do not understand how easily we're fooled...especially by unethical lawyers.
I think this video would be a good "required watch" for any judge or jury member.
Please watch it before reading:
http://www.quirkology.com/USA/Video_ColourChangingTrick.shtml
This video demonstrates the reality of people overlooking environmental changes...even changes that we would consider fairly obvious.
One of the favorite games that is played in the US these days is "Gotcha!". The place where "Gotcha!" is most valued is in the legal system. Side "A" tries to impress some monied party that Side "B" didn't notice something and therefore "B" should pay "A" money. Often, side 'B' pays because either they can't prove the negative...that something WASN'T overlooked...or the effort to fight a suit will take significantly more resources than proving that oversight did not rise to the level of endangerment or negligence.
In Wiseman's video, we see a demonstration of how we overlook matters while focusing on an involved but different targets. A good ambulance-chasing lawyer would impress these obvious oversights on his/her potential client & will probably sell a case to the client. Whether or not a judge would buy the ambulance-chaser's argument would be a matter of chance. Most of us, judges included, do not understand how easily we're fooled...especially by unethical lawyers.
I think this video would be a good "required watch" for any judge or jury member.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Coddle Model Part I: Nursing versus Teaching
There are far too few great nurses. But, I need to say, I have met some of these fabulous nurses. They have worked for students who are medically fragile. I'll tell you what a great nurse can do. She [they've all been female so far] can figure out, ahead of the event, what will cause any level of discomfort or disequalibrium to her patient. She then arranges the environment or environmental conditions so that the predicted event is avoided by her patient. The result? The patient is not disrupted from his/her state of being. No stress is placed upon him/her. The environment has been arranged so the patient warmly purrs across smooth interactions and transitions. Desires are filled before a lack of anything is noticed. Routines are run. Roles are played.
There are far too few great teachers. But, I need to say, I have met some of these fabulous teachers. I'll tell you what a great teacher can do. S/he can figure out, ahead of the event, what will cause any level of discomfort or disequalibrium in his/her student. S/he then arranges the environment or environmental conditions so that the predicted event takes place and impacts his/her student. The student becomes aware of a desire to overcome an obstacle. S/he either uses a tool that the teacher has taught or uses critical thought to solve the conundrum. By the end of the experience, the student is no longer the same. S/he has learned something.
Great nursing cancels great teaching. They are reciprocols. In the classroom, nursing is sometimes absolutely necessary. In those cases, the health of the child takes precedence over the learning rate. And, in those cases, the nurse takes [justifiable] professional pride that her patient has avoided any stressors & will be able to save his/her energy to fight off health concerns that will come up in seconds, minutes, or hours.
The student is a recipient of the coddle model [named by the great Conan Thornhill presently of Kentwood High in Kent, Washington]. Under the coddle model, an unstressed & coddled student can expect to have few, if any, challenges. Think about how damaging this is to the learning process. There is, really, no reason to learn anything. The student learns that there is always someone around dedicated to making his/her life smooth & eliminating stressors wherever possible.
I have a saying: "My students may be retarded but they aren't stupid". That is to say, they use the knowledge & experiences they have to determine what is in their best interests. Then they act in what they believe to be their best interests. These students have learned that they will not often be faced with challenges and added stressors from their environment. So they learn that they don't need to learn.
Life is good. Don't rock the boat.
The End
.......or is it?
There are far too few great teachers. But, I need to say, I have met some of these fabulous teachers. I'll tell you what a great teacher can do. S/he can figure out, ahead of the event, what will cause any level of discomfort or disequalibrium in his/her student. S/he then arranges the environment or environmental conditions so that the predicted event takes place and impacts his/her student. The student becomes aware of a desire to overcome an obstacle. S/he either uses a tool that the teacher has taught or uses critical thought to solve the conundrum. By the end of the experience, the student is no longer the same. S/he has learned something.
Great nursing cancels great teaching. They are reciprocols. In the classroom, nursing is sometimes absolutely necessary. In those cases, the health of the child takes precedence over the learning rate. And, in those cases, the nurse takes [justifiable] professional pride that her patient has avoided any stressors & will be able to save his/her energy to fight off health concerns that will come up in seconds, minutes, or hours.
The student is a recipient of the coddle model [named by the great Conan Thornhill presently of Kentwood High in Kent, Washington]. Under the coddle model, an unstressed & coddled student can expect to have few, if any, challenges. Think about how damaging this is to the learning process. There is, really, no reason to learn anything. The student learns that there is always someone around dedicated to making his/her life smooth & eliminating stressors wherever possible.
I have a saying: "My students may be retarded but they aren't stupid". That is to say, they use the knowledge & experiences they have to determine what is in their best interests. Then they act in what they believe to be their best interests. These students have learned that they will not often be faced with challenges and added stressors from their environment. So they learn that they don't need to learn.
Life is good. Don't rock the boat.
The End
.......or is it?
Monday, November 19, 2007
On Being Compassionate & Insensitive
When people find out that I work with students who have severe/profound disabilities, a common response is to tell me that I must be very patient. Sometimes I am patient and sometimes I'm not. But, for me, patience is not a key to interactions with my students.
If you have compassion, you don't need patience. But the compassion cannot be confused with "coddling". & the best way to avoid coddling is to cultivate a certain quality of insensitivity.
Every teacher needs to understand what his/her student lacks in order to make an appropriate intervention. One needs to combine his/her compassion....the emotion that moves one to accept the student and help the student benefit him/herself...with an insensitivity that will allow a student to reach the motivating state of disequalibrium. Upon reaching disequalibrium, the student is motivated to learn specific skills to "right" him/herself. Self-correction for regaining equalibrium comes through the learned intervention.
So, I think, good teaching, at least for students with significant disabilities, is about balancing compassion and insensitivity for the benefit of the student.
What do you think?
If you have compassion, you don't need patience. But the compassion cannot be confused with "coddling". & the best way to avoid coddling is to cultivate a certain quality of insensitivity.
Every teacher needs to understand what his/her student lacks in order to make an appropriate intervention. One needs to combine his/her compassion....the emotion that moves one to accept the student and help the student benefit him/herself...with an insensitivity that will allow a student to reach the motivating state of disequalibrium. Upon reaching disequalibrium, the student is motivated to learn specific skills to "right" him/herself. Self-correction for regaining equalibrium comes through the learned intervention.
So, I think, good teaching, at least for students with significant disabilities, is about balancing compassion and insensitivity for the benefit of the student.
What do you think?
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Critical Thought & Good Teaching
This is my first attempt at web logging. The intention of this particular blog is to develop my skills as a blogger and, in doing so:
-- promote critical thought
and
-- promote good teaching practices.
I intend my themes to start out broad in scope and narrow over the first year.
With your criticism, I will become a better blogger and communicator. So, please respond.
PRINCIPLES OF YOUR RESPONSES:
Since I do not know how quickly I will be able to edit your posts, I ask you to follow these rules:
1] Do not defame anybody.
2] Do not publicize anybody's personal problems or what would be perceived as "negative" traits about named people.
3] Curse words: Forget about it.
4] You must have a very high level of justification for what may appear as an ad hominem and that justification must accompany the statement. You must show that the messenger affects his/her message.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Gary Goldwater
-- promote critical thought
and
-- promote good teaching practices.
I intend my themes to start out broad in scope and narrow over the first year.
With your criticism, I will become a better blogger and communicator. So, please respond.
PRINCIPLES OF YOUR RESPONSES:
Since I do not know how quickly I will be able to edit your posts, I ask you to follow these rules:
1] Do not defame anybody.
2] Do not publicize anybody's personal problems or what would be perceived as "negative" traits about named people.
3] Curse words: Forget about it.
4] You must have a very high level of justification for what may appear as an ad hominem and that justification must accompany the statement. You must show that the messenger affects his/her message.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Gary Goldwater
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)