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

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.