Sibling-mediated social interaction intervention

Sibling-mediated social interaction intervention for young children with autism.

Topics in Early Childhood Special Education

| June 22, 2006 | Tsao, Ling-Ling; Odom, Samuel L.

Several researchers have advocated peer-mediated social interventions as an effective approach for children with autism (Harrower & Dunlap, 2001; McConnell, 2002). In this type of intervention, typically developing peers have been regarded as the most powerful agents of behavioral change in social settings (Utley, Mortweet, & Greenwood, 1997), so classroom teachers often have selected socially competent classmates as social interveners for children with disabilities. These nondisabled peers are taught simple behavioral strategies that elicit or support the interactions of children with disabilities, such as asking a child to play, sharing a toy, or suggesting play activities (Brown, Odom, & Conroy, 2001; English, Goldstein, Shafer, & Kaczmarek, 1997; Kohler & Strain, 1999; Odom & Strain, 1986). After the training sessions, researchers have one or more trained peers act as the social interaction agents for the study participants with disabilities. These peers model, reinforce, and/or prompt appropriate social behaviors in classroom settings (Goldstein, Kaczmarek, Pennington, & Shafer, 1992; Strain & Odom, 1986). Peer-mediated interventions have produced positive effects for children with disabilities in classroom settings (Odom et al., 2003). It may be possible to extend this intervention approach to the home by placing siblings in the roles filled by peers in classroom-based peer-mediated interventions.

Several researchers have examined the feasibility of using typically developing siblings to promote the skills, development, and participation of children with autism, with siblings most often filling a "teacher" role. Cash and Evans (1975) first investigated the possibility of using young children as behavior modifiers for their young siblings with disabilities. The researchers taught three sisters how to teach their younger siblings with disabilities to complete an experimental task (i.e., dropping chips into holes). Building on this research, Colletti and Harris (1977) trained an older sister to modify the behaviors of her younger sibling with autism through delivering contingent reinforcement for increased bead stringing. The results of these fairly basic research studies indicated that siblings might be effective in helping children with autism learn functional skills in natural settings.

the study addressed the following research questions:

1. Would the sibling-mediated social intervention change the typically developing children's social behaviors when playing with their siblings with ASD?

2. Would the sibling-mediated social intervention produce increases in the social interactions of the children with ASD?

3. Would the sibling-mediated intervention have a collateral effect on joint attention (a behavior category of child orientation) between children with ASD and their siblings?

4. If the intervention produced an increase in overall interactions, would the increased interactions generalize to a setting outside of the home?

5. Were the outcomes of the intervention socially valid?

more....

Music Therapy aids Social Interaction

Sensory stimulation aids Social Interaction is a hunch that I am working and do not yet have concrete proof of. So I was looking to see if any studies suggest that its possible....

Introduction

Music therapy uses live music making and composition techniques to encourage children, adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders to engage in spontaneous and creative musical activities.

The therapist and client use a variety of percussion or tuned instruments, or voice, to develop shared and interactive musical activities.

The individual with autism does not need musical skills to benefit from music therapy but the music therapist does need a high level of musical and therapeutic skill.

Supporters of music therapy believe that it can be used to develop social engagement, joint attention, communication abilities, while also addressing emotional needs and quality of life.

Aims

According to the National Autistic Society

‘Music therapy aims to encourage increased self-awareness/self-other awareness, leading to more overt social interactions. The therapy stimulates and develops the communicative use of voice and pre-verbal dialogue with another, establishing meaning and relationship to underpin language development. The client may also benefit from increased tolerance of sound, tolerance of and capacity for two-way communication, the opportunity to exercise joint attention, and other emotional needs met in the therapeutic process.’ (National Autistic Society, 2005)

Claims

There have been a number of claims for the use of music therapy with individuals with autism. For example, Wigram, Gold and Oldfield have claimed the following benefits for music therapy.

In the area of Social development:

• Motivated interaction
• Shared and understood experiences
• Relationship building skills
• Tolerance of change
• Entrained responses
• Flexibility

In the area of Emotional needs:

• Developed and Increased sense of self
• Empathic synchronicity – shared emotions
• Containment of emotional expression
• Emergence of insight and self-esteem    

For more....

Working with Asha, Bangalore

Asha - Academy for Severe Handicaps and Autism is a day school at Basavesvaranagar, Bangalore. I will be working with a group of students from Asha through the course of this project.

Today was my first visit to the school. The school has an eclectic approach and the children go through a variety of activities through the day to acquire various skills. I saw the children engage in fine motor activities- beading, lacing, clips; gross motor activities- Yoga; Communication- Pictures, Text, Cards; self help skills- buttoning shirt and Occupational Therapy(SI). In my next visit I will observe a Computer class, Social skills and Art therapy.

Sensory Stuff

Sensory Spaces and Products from the Sensory Impact website.

Tablelit Toy Concept

Tabelit is a learning toy concept that will help people with learning disability to paint by pushing buttons with different coloring facility, allowing expressing their creativity. It has been designed with five different layers and features two mini speakers to produce quality sounds. The left sidebar includes an illuminating touch strip, on which the user can slide their finger to select a color that will come across the switches.
more...

Meeting with Dr. Seshadri and Dr.Golhar

As mentioned in my Brief through the course I will discuss my progress with Specialists in the feild. On thursday I met with Dr. Shekhar Seshadri and Dr. Tejas Golhar ( both are members of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NIMHANS).

They suggested...
I read 'The Me Book', Autism: Explaining the Enigma and theory of mind. Also look up Behavior Therapy - Shaping and Successive approximation.

Considering using PECS in the toy. But in a more grounded contextual way, relating to daily activities and their environment. Made me wonder if its possible to combine PECS and Snoezelen. Hmmm..

I had a question," If the core of Snoezelen is that it is Non-directive and about choice and the power that comes with it then does adding interaction take away or lose the concept; cause now there is a sort of goal or aim?"
The Ans: that a purist approach would say that it should be left completely non-directive. But this would a marriage of two approaches. With Snoezelen children enjoy sensory stimulation (unprocessed stimulation). While interacting they absorbed stimulation is integrated and given direction as there is a goal (processed stimulation). And it is important for autistic children to acquire life skills through adaptive responses.

It might be a good idea to consider creating two products. As there is a great deal of variation between Mild and Severe Autism. Maybe the one would be more sensory and aimed at acquiring life skills (for severe autism) and the other could have levels of interaction and maybe use PECS (mild autism).

Another question,"What are the emotional and social needs of children with Autism? Do like interacting(participation) with people or prefer just having them around(presence)?
Ans: It varies according to the child. There are some children who enjoy the warmth of human touch but cannot relate to the another person and still others who would want to interact but cannot bare to much contact. There is a difference between the willingness to interact and the inability to do so. The willingness to interact is not affected by the severity of autism.

I have more or less decided to work with 3 sensory channels- Sight, Sound, Touch. They said that stimulation should contribute towards acquiring Adaptive Skills. That I should plot sight, sound, touch on the x-axis and adaptive skills on the y-axis and plot targets accordingly. I need to look up the Catherine Morris Checklist.
A hierarchy of Adaptive skills goes as follows:
1. 7 Activities of Daily Living
2. Basic Concept Development
3. Communication of Needs and Experiences
4. Pre Academic

Using toys to trigger Speech

Parents use Puppets as intermediaries to talk and play with their child.
They say initially she would respond to the puppets and prefer to speak
to them or even to the T.V.

So here is something that suggests that toys and play help bridge a gap
and trigger interaction...

Carly speaks out about Autism

Review 1 : Summary

Yashas

July 8, 2010

Says I need to look at what is available in the market.

Visit Sophias Spastics Society.

Observe how children play with Tech Toys

Look at the CARS scale and figure what target group im addressing.

Break down the project into smaller parts.

Spend 3-4 weeks in research.

Said I should not limit myself by the chosen tools- arduino.

Identify my resources in terms of people – children, parents in the city.

 

Geetu

July 12, 2010

Wants me to think about how stimulation can happen without electronics.

What is a home-grown version of Snoezelen?

Feels that the core Snoezelen lies in choice through action. Choice gives you power and control.

Said I should speak to Kalpana for process psychology, Sister Naina (Sophias) who does NAET (allaergy elimination and has worked with autistic children), Gauri who does some alternative stuff with autistic children.

Raised an important question, “What is the difference between ‘Presence’ and ‘Partcipation’? Do autisic children just like having other children / people around or do they actually enjoy being involved, participating with others?

Does the absence of on stimuli enhance the reception of others? Eg. Does eating in a dark restaurant enhance the smell and taste?

 

Koshy

July 13, 2010

Told me to look at The one Key Computer, Zacs Browser and SKID (Technology designed for people with special Needs)

Read up on Piaget, Skinner for the fundamentals

Told me to, “concentrate on three things essentially- how to make their(autistic children) lives easier(more comfortable), happier (play), more enriched(learn through games?)

Think about how to trigger interactivity.

I had come up with a ‘See Saw’( its more fun if more than one person play) as the kind of interaction I’m aiming at. He said thinking of it as a ‘Roundabout’ would be better (many people at once as well as alone is possible)

To think of electronic toys in different way in terms of interaction, sensory stimulation and integration.

 

 

Ways of Thinking

An excerpt from Temple Grandin on Autism

All minds of the autism spectrum are detail-oriented, but how they specialize varies. By questioning many people both on and off the spectrum, I have learned that there are three different types of specialized thinking:

1. Visual thinking - Thinking in Pictures, like mine
2. Music and Math thinking
3. Verbal logic thinking

Since autism is so variable, there may be mixtures of the different types. The importance of understanding these three ways of thinking comes into play when trying to teach children with ASDs. Strategies that build on the child's area of strength and appeal to their thinking patterns will be most effective. This is most likely to become evident between the ages of five and eight. In children younger than five, it is often difficult to identify their strengths yet, unless savant skills are unfolding.



VISUAL THINKERS

These children often love art and building blocks, such as Legos. They get easily immersed in projects. Math concepts such as adding and subtracting need to be taught starting with concrete objects the child can touch. Drawing and other art skills should be encouraged. If a child only draws one thing, such as airplanes, encourage him to draw other related objects, such as the airport runways, or the hangers, or cars going to the airport. Broadening emerging skills helps the child to be more flexible in his thinking patterns. Keep in mind that verbal responses can take longer to form, as each request has to be translated from words to pictures before it can be processed, and then the response needs to be translated from pictures into words before it is spoken.

MUSIC AND MATH THINKERS

Patterns instead of pictures dominate the thinking processes of these children. Both music and math is a world of patterns, and children who think this way can have strong associative abilities. They like finding relationships between numbers or musical notes; some children may have savant-type calculation skills or be able to play a piece of music after hearing it just once. Musical talent often emerges without formal instruction. Many of these children can teach themselves if keyboards and other instruments are available.

VERBAL LOGIC THINKERS

These children love lists and numbers. Often they will memorize bus timetables and events in history. Interest areas often include history, geography, weather and sports statistics. Parents and teachers can use these interests and talents as motivation for learning less-interesting parts of academics. Some verbal logic thinkers are whizzes at learning many different foreign languages.



The thinking patterns of individuals with ASD are markedly different from the way in which 'normal' people think. Because of this, too much emphasis is placed on what they 'can't do.' While impairments and challenges do exist, greater progress can be made teaching these individuals when parents and teachers work on building the child's strengths and teach in a manner that is aligned with their basic pattern of thinking.

DIY toys

Picture Puzzle 

This is something I tried while playing with Vihaan. He is a 6 year old with mild autism. He loves drawing and draws very well.

I did one version which were cut-outs of greeting card paper. I made houses, roads, trees and people. And later on his request a plane and a dog. He added a traffic signal. 

He found this fun cause he could move the pieces around. And add to the existing pieces.

He asked if he could play with the 'puzzle'(its the name he gave it) again and so I made another version and added a little complexity to it.

I made many more pieces - animals, vegetables, fish, a pond, sun, moon and stars etc..

I made these out of white chart paper and added simple details like faces.

Sensory Play

There are many household objects that can be used in sensory play. 

Torches (visual) 

Food grains in a shaker (tactile, sound, smell)

Balloons and Streamers

Water

The Sensory Processing Disorder website has comprehensive list of activities.

Thinking in Pictures

Temple Grandin  is a Doctor of Animal Science and professor at Colorado State University, bestselling author, and consultant to the livestock industry in animal behavior. As a person with high-functioning autism, Grandin is also widely noted for her work in autism advocacy and is the inventor of the hug machine designed to calm hypersensitive persons.

Chapter 1: Autism and Visual Thought
Dr. Temple Grandin

I THINK IN PICTURES. Words are like a second language to me. I translate both spoken and written words into full-color movies, complete with sound, which run like a VCR tape in my head. When somebody speaks to me, his words are instantly translated into pictures. Language-based thinkers often find this phenomenon difficult to understand, but in my job as an equipment designer for the livestock industry, visual thinking is a tremendous advantage.

Visual thinking has enabled me to build entire systems in my imagination. During my career I have designed all kinds of equipment, ranging from corrals for handling cattle on ranches to systems for handling cattle and hogs during veterinary procedures and slaughter. I have worked for many major livestock companies. In fact, one third of the cattle and hogs in the United States are handled in equipment I have designed. Some of the people I've worked for don't even know that their systems were designed by someone with autism. I value my ability to think visually, and I would never want to lose it.

One of the most profound mysteries of autism has been the remarkable ability of most autistic people to excel at visual spatial skills while performing so poorly at verbal skills. When I was a child and a teenager, I thought everybody thought in pictures. I had no idea that my thought processes were different. In fact, I did not realize the full extent of the differences until very recently. At meetings and at work I started asking other people detailed questions about how they accessed information from their memories. From their answers I learned that my visualization skills far exceeded those of most other people.

for more...

Sensory toys

This is some stuff thats out in the market

Mike Ayres Design
Mike Ayres is a professional designer with 30 years experience in creating equipment and environments for people with special needs. He was instrumental in introducing the Dutch concept of ‘Snoezelen’ into Britain in the 1980's.
The Sensory Trolley
A complete sensory resource or room – on a shopping trolley (albeit a specially made one). You just wheel it into a room, put the brakes on, plug it into one 13 amp socket and it’s ready to use. It comes complete with Switch2 control, switches, sound systemand any other equipment you want.




Sense Toys
Musical Inchworm
This colourful quality velour fabric squishy worm is suitable from birth. Encourages pulling, squeezing and hugging and emits squeak sounds. crinkles and jingles.

Colour Storm Ball
This unusual ball is both like a snow globe and a bouncy ball. It contains multi-coloured beads suspended in clear liquid which move around as the ball is rolled or bounced.

Focus Toys
Squishy Mesh Ball

Play Comparison

Play Comparison

Play Sessions

Play Session Documentation