Other day we had one of our friends visiting us along with their two children. Mary, 1year old and Martha, 5years old. As we all sat round the dining table sipping hot tea, I gave juice to Martha. Mary was just going round the room enjoying banana chips but Martha wanted to join us in our conversation. Just to get attention, Martha was again and again trying to reach her mom who was sitting across her. As we were all busy talking, Martha tried to intrupt the conversation and tried to touch her mom. Next we saw, juice all over the table. Mother quietly rushed into the kitchen, brought a cloth and wiped the table. She neither said any angry words to Martha nor showed any expression of anger on her face. After all cleaning was done, she politely told Martha to go and sit on the sofa chair. Martha replied,"Mama, I want to be with you." Mama just took Martha in her arms.
I do not know if it was accident or intentional act of Martha but the way mama handled the whole situation was remarkable.
We all learn from our mistakes.
Rita James
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Developing A Behaviour Support Plan
A few months ago I attended a workshop in Kerala where Dr. Mythili Chari was a speaker. She spoke about how important it was to have a team of people to support a family who has a child with autism. Personally I think this is applicable to all children with special needs. Here’s some of it which I would like to share with you.
Behaviour management mean teaching the child to manage his/her behaviour. It does not mean one up man ship or having to be on top always. Somehow persons with autism have always been at the receiving end because of our own lack of awareness about the condition. Accepting the individual with autism means not sitting and judging over his/her behaviours. When we have elderly people in the family, we accept them for what they are rather than compare them for what they were. We tolerate their idiosyncrasies, ignore their persistence on trivia, and accommodate their self centeredness. We do not punish them for making unbecoming sounds, losing bowel and bladder control, spilling or breaking things or making noises that do not go well with social norms. We accept family members with allergy, asthma, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, dementia, senility, etc. but a person with autism is often punished for spinning, rocking, making noises, being hyperactive, or for not behaving socially appropriate. In short we are punishing the person for being autistic!
Dr Horner and associates from the University of Oregon were concerned with the manner in which people with challenging behaviours were treated by professionals and the community at large. He emphasized that just giving rewards or punishments did not solve behaviours, in fact according to him all the inmates of an institution had challenging behaviours which persisted over all their lives, in spite of professional attempts at modifying them. Thus positive behavioural support system was evolved.
Positive behavioural support is a set of procedures that focuses less on the manipulation of consequences, rather focuses on minimizing the reinforcement of challenging behaviours and redirect the person to more appropriate behaviours.
Philosophy behind PBS
People with challenging behaviours are individuals.
They are members of families.
Social relationships reflect the quality of life of a person’s life.
People with challenging behaviours are members of society.
People influence their circumstances that are personally meaningful.
People have the right to be treated with dignity and understanding.
How to build a comprehensive support plan?
IDENTIFY the PEOPLE who will be with the person with autism; parent, sibling, cousin, grandparents, peer in class, therapist, teachers, neighbours, etc.
IDENTIFY the SETTING; home, class, therapy centre, club, restaurant, public places, etc.
IDENTIFY the SYSTEM; policies, procedures, administrative support. What are the resources available, parents have a large compound in front of their house, and they could put some play equipments like a see-saw, swing or slide so that children from adjacent flats will come and play and thus provide social companionship to their child with autism. Or you have membership in a club where there is a swimming pool, volunteer to take another child as your guest to also provide some much needed peer company.
Collaboration and teaming ‘sum is more than parts’
Collaborators share the same dream, responsibility and challenges. The team is built on parity and each member is voluntarily teaming up to help the child. Mother or class teachers do not have more power than say the sibling or therapist. Instead of working by one self if a collaborative team is built, then energy, talents and strengths of individuals can be pooled and forge a strong partnership. For example one member could be a good communicator, another a goof organizer, a third in analytical and reasoning skills, a fourth a go getter and the fifth member good at meticulous planning and record keeping.
Creating conditions for change
Team members need to begin with a clear understanding of the focus on individual’s gifts and capacities. Strange as it may seem we focus so much on the negative aspects.
All members need to have a shared common dream. It is only logical to include the person too if s/he can share her or his personal dream.
Frequent brainstorming sessions meetings should be arranged. When each member leaves s/he should have a clear action plan. Every member should be aware of others’ tasks.
One member; either the parent or teacher (who usually spends a lot of time with the individual) should be the case manager.
Ground rules for team members
Pay attention to what others are saying.
Take notes.
Regular attendance (in fact if for 3 consecutive meetings one member is absent, s/he should be dropped).
Circulate any relevant information (one person can be in charge of making copies for circulation).
Meet new members of the team as a group.
Keep the members informed through email or through phone about any development.
If missing a meeting inform in advance.
Commitment.
Here’s an example by Dr. Mythili Chari
Mother and principal reported that V aggressed towards others unprovoked, pulled at hair of children, pushed others when they were coming down the stairs or threw objects out of the window on to the road. Recently he broke a teacher’s very expensive spectacles. Sending him to the principal’s room or teacher threatening to lock him up in the bathroom (though she never did lock him up) did not help. Throwing objects through the window was observed at home too. Mother usually threatened that she would tie him to the chair if he threw things but never carried out the threat.
Teacher said V was very good at studies and the problems started when he had spare time or he was directionless, e.g. during terminal examinations. It was observed that both at home and school V never got positive attention, the only attention he got was when he misbehaved. We decided the teacher should reward him with stars for good behaviour also. When he did something wrong she took away 2 stars, a sort of response cost. He was given puzzles to work on when he had free time; these puzzles were not given at other times.
I conducted a workshop the flowing week where the participants were split in 2 groups and V’s team had 7 members; one occupational therapist, 2 mothers, one retired professor of genetics, one developmental therapist, one special educator, and his mother. Though it was a mock team the brainstorming session produced a plethora of workable suggestions for the mother.
Within a month when both at home and at school mother and teacher had been consistent his behaviour very dramatically improved. V got the 2nd prize in a fancy dress competition; he also recited the school pledge and the national anthem. Yoga, Reiki and music have been added for relaxation and as a hobby.
We had better quality of life at school. He developed close friendship with another peer and she was currently teaching him to dance, he became adept at copying movements while dancing. The teacher, correspondent, principal and mother herself were pleasantly surprised by the turn of events. This academic year he is promoted to the second grade where he and 4 teachers who teach various subjects and he is doing fine.
Behaviour management mean teaching the child to manage his/her behaviour. It does not mean one up man ship or having to be on top always. Somehow persons with autism have always been at the receiving end because of our own lack of awareness about the condition. Accepting the individual with autism means not sitting and judging over his/her behaviours. When we have elderly people in the family, we accept them for what they are rather than compare them for what they were. We tolerate their idiosyncrasies, ignore their persistence on trivia, and accommodate their self centeredness. We do not punish them for making unbecoming sounds, losing bowel and bladder control, spilling or breaking things or making noises that do not go well with social norms. We accept family members with allergy, asthma, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, dementia, senility, etc. but a person with autism is often punished for spinning, rocking, making noises, being hyperactive, or for not behaving socially appropriate. In short we are punishing the person for being autistic!
Dr Horner and associates from the University of Oregon were concerned with the manner in which people with challenging behaviours were treated by professionals and the community at large. He emphasized that just giving rewards or punishments did not solve behaviours, in fact according to him all the inmates of an institution had challenging behaviours which persisted over all their lives, in spite of professional attempts at modifying them. Thus positive behavioural support system was evolved.
Positive behavioural support is a set of procedures that focuses less on the manipulation of consequences, rather focuses on minimizing the reinforcement of challenging behaviours and redirect the person to more appropriate behaviours.
Philosophy behind PBS
People with challenging behaviours are individuals.
They are members of families.
Social relationships reflect the quality of life of a person’s life.
People with challenging behaviours are members of society.
People influence their circumstances that are personally meaningful.
People have the right to be treated with dignity and understanding.
How to build a comprehensive support plan?
IDENTIFY the PEOPLE who will be with the person with autism; parent, sibling, cousin, grandparents, peer in class, therapist, teachers, neighbours, etc.
IDENTIFY the SETTING; home, class, therapy centre, club, restaurant, public places, etc.
IDENTIFY the SYSTEM; policies, procedures, administrative support. What are the resources available, parents have a large compound in front of their house, and they could put some play equipments like a see-saw, swing or slide so that children from adjacent flats will come and play and thus provide social companionship to their child with autism. Or you have membership in a club where there is a swimming pool, volunteer to take another child as your guest to also provide some much needed peer company.
Collaboration and teaming ‘sum is more than parts’
Collaborators share the same dream, responsibility and challenges. The team is built on parity and each member is voluntarily teaming up to help the child. Mother or class teachers do not have more power than say the sibling or therapist. Instead of working by one self if a collaborative team is built, then energy, talents and strengths of individuals can be pooled and forge a strong partnership. For example one member could be a good communicator, another a goof organizer, a third in analytical and reasoning skills, a fourth a go getter and the fifth member good at meticulous planning and record keeping.
Creating conditions for change
Team members need to begin with a clear understanding of the focus on individual’s gifts and capacities. Strange as it may seem we focus so much on the negative aspects.
All members need to have a shared common dream. It is only logical to include the person too if s/he can share her or his personal dream.
Frequent brainstorming sessions meetings should be arranged. When each member leaves s/he should have a clear action plan. Every member should be aware of others’ tasks.
One member; either the parent or teacher (who usually spends a lot of time with the individual) should be the case manager.
Ground rules for team members
Pay attention to what others are saying.
Take notes.
Regular attendance (in fact if for 3 consecutive meetings one member is absent, s/he should be dropped).
Circulate any relevant information (one person can be in charge of making copies for circulation).
Meet new members of the team as a group.
Keep the members informed through email or through phone about any development.
If missing a meeting inform in advance.
Commitment.
Here’s an example by Dr. Mythili Chari
Mother and principal reported that V aggressed towards others unprovoked, pulled at hair of children, pushed others when they were coming down the stairs or threw objects out of the window on to the road. Recently he broke a teacher’s very expensive spectacles. Sending him to the principal’s room or teacher threatening to lock him up in the bathroom (though she never did lock him up) did not help. Throwing objects through the window was observed at home too. Mother usually threatened that she would tie him to the chair if he threw things but never carried out the threat.
Teacher said V was very good at studies and the problems started when he had spare time or he was directionless, e.g. during terminal examinations. It was observed that both at home and school V never got positive attention, the only attention he got was when he misbehaved. We decided the teacher should reward him with stars for good behaviour also. When he did something wrong she took away 2 stars, a sort of response cost. He was given puzzles to work on when he had free time; these puzzles were not given at other times.
I conducted a workshop the flowing week where the participants were split in 2 groups and V’s team had 7 members; one occupational therapist, 2 mothers, one retired professor of genetics, one developmental therapist, one special educator, and his mother. Though it was a mock team the brainstorming session produced a plethora of workable suggestions for the mother.
Within a month when both at home and at school mother and teacher had been consistent his behaviour very dramatically improved. V got the 2nd prize in a fancy dress competition; he also recited the school pledge and the national anthem. Yoga, Reiki and music have been added for relaxation and as a hobby.
We had better quality of life at school. He developed close friendship with another peer and she was currently teaching him to dance, he became adept at copying movements while dancing. The teacher, correspondent, principal and mother herself were pleasantly surprised by the turn of events. This academic year he is promoted to the second grade where he and 4 teachers who teach various subjects and he is doing fine.
Compiled by Deepika Jacobs
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