Tag Archives: Rosemary Crossley

Facing the Skeptics

Posted on November 12, 2013 by | 27 comments

It’s snowing.  In New York City.  Right now.

“Look Daddy!  It’s snowing!”  Em said this morning.

There’s nothing particularly spectacular about that comment, except to us, it’s not only spectacular, it is exciting and yet another example of how my husband and I continue to underestimate our child.  (This is less a criticism of us and more a statement of fact to illustrate a larger point.)

“Em, do you know who the president of the United States is?”

“Yes,” she spelled out.

“What is our president’s name?”  I asked.

“Barak Obama,” she spelled.

“Do you know our vice president’s name?” I asked, thinking this might be taking things too far.

“Yes,” she spelled again.

“What is the name of our vice president?” I asked.

“Biden,” she wrote matter-of-factly.

“Communication is the most essential use to which spelling should be devoted.  It should not be used as a test or an exhibition piece.  Try being confined to a sentence a week and see h ow you feel about using that sentence to answer some stupid question about whether you live in St. Nicholas.  If Rosie had spent all her time giving tests we would not have had time to use spelling for our own communication.  Crushing the personalities of speechless individuals is very easy: just make it impossible for them to communicate freely.” ~ Anne McDonald from the book Annie’s Coming Out

This is what we are striving toward.  Annie’s comment here is one I have read and reread and yet find so difficult to apply because I am in a near constant state of disbelief when it comes to all that my child is capable of.  I write often about presuming competence, I write about how we dehumanize Autistic people with the language that is commonly used to describe them.  I write about how important it is to treat all people as equal.  I talk about human rights and how the rights of those who are Autistic, particularly those who do not speak reliably or at all, are dismissed, ignored or simply not acknowledged.  And yet I underestimate my child’s ability constantly and without meaning to.

On a daily basis she writes something that blows my mind.  EVERY DAY.  Read that again.  Every.  Single. Day.  It’s like living in an alternate universe.  Every day I feel excited to know what the day will bring.  Every day when I sit down with her I am prepared to feel that mixture of excitement, surprise and overwhelming gratitude.  Every day I think, will I ever stop being surprised?  How long will it take?  I don’t know.  But here’s what I do know – everyday I am overcome with emotion, respect and profound joy in  all that is my daughter.  I am sincerely grateful to read what she tells us, and grateful to all the people who have made it possible for her to do so.  Grateful doesn’t cover the emotions, but it’s the best I can do at the moment.

Yesterday in her *RPM session (follow this link to read more about RPM, which is not the same as FC or facilitated communication, though there is some overlap in that they both presume competence and treat the person with the respect most of us take for granted) she was asked, “What else has an engine?”

Emma spelled out, “Lets say leaf blower.”

My smile was like the Cheshire Cat’s, from ear to ear.  Leaf blower?  I LOVE that!  And later she asked for a clarifying question and then wrote a wonderful answer to a question about what changed once we began using automatic train engines.

“Until I could prove that they were intelligent nobody would come and assess them.  Guilty until proved innocent.  The children were profoundly and hopelessly retarded until they could prove they were intelligent.”  ~ Rosemary Crossley from  Annie’s Coming Out

“It was simply too threatening; my discovery questioned the basic assumptions on which care was offered…”  ~ Rosemary Crossley from Annie’s Coming Out

My daughter is one of hundreds of Autistic people who are writing and typing to communicate and in doing so she is proving every day how extremely gifted she is.  We are at the very beginning with all of this.   There are others who are far ahead of us, those who have published their thoughts, with more being published all the time.  Incredibly, what Rosie experienced, those deeply held prejudices back in the 1970s, continue to flourish today, now more than thirty years later.

“This was one of our standard problems:  people who doubted the children were always so sure of themselves that they openly expressed their skepticism in front of them.  It did not occur to them that if they were wrong they were terribly rude, and that they were making it very difficult for the children to respond to them.  How do you talk to someone who tells  you that they are convinced that you cannot talk?  What are they going to ‘hear’ when you try to talk?” ~ Rosemary Crossley from Annie’s Coming Out

We are living in a time when more and more parents, educators, people who work with Autistic people and Autistic people are facing the skeptics.  We are offering continued proof of our children’s and Autistic people’s intellectual gifts, indisputable evidence of all they are capable of.   My daughter is but one of a great many.  As long as she gives me her permission, I will continue to report some of what she is saying here while hoping that one day soon she, and others like her, will no longer be placed in  the insulting position of having to prove their vast intelligence, and themselves, to anyone.

Rosemary Crossley and Anne McDonald

Unknown

27 Comments

Posted in Autism, Autism Books, Autistic Blogs

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Way We Treat Others

Posted on November 4, 2013 by | 39 comments

There is no other life than this one.  It doesn’t matter what one believes regarding death and the after life, this is the one life we have, right here, right now.  How will we live it?  What we do, what we say, how we behave in this moment is indicative of how we do anything.

I’m reading Rosemary Crossley’s first book, Annie’s Coming Out, which she wrote with Anne McDonald and was made into a movie in the 80’s, released in the US under the title, “A Test of Love.”   (As a side note, I find it interesting that the book’s title places Annie as the protagonist and yet the US film title suggests the therapist is.  By the way, I’m one of the people who believes both Anne and Rosemary were/are heroic and have nothing but tremendous respect for both.)

“Children, even children who could sit up, were generally laid down to be fed.  Their heads would rest in the nurse’s lap, and their bodies would lie across another chair placed in front of her knees.  This meant children were being fed with their heads tilted right back, a method called, for obvious reasons, ‘bird feeding’: gravity drops the food straight to the back of the throat, and there is no chance to chew.  Children were encouraged not to shut their mouths – a second mouthful immediately followed the first.  I have filmed a nurse feeding a child:  food is piling high on his face because he is unable to swallow it at the rate the nurse spoons it in.”  ~  Annie’s Coming Out by Rosemary Crossley and Anne McDonald

The above is, but one of many harrowing passages in the book describing the institution Anne McDonald was placed in when she was three years old.

“To be imprisoned inside one’s own body is dreadful.  To be confined in an institution for the profoundly retarded does not crush you in the same way; it just removes all hope.”  ~ Anne McDonald in the book Annie’s Coming Out

It is impossible to read this book and not feel horror.  Horror at our ignorance, horror that a place like St. Nicholas Hospital was more the norm than not, horror for all we didn’t understand or know, horror for our capacity as human beings to treat one another with such indifference and cruelty.  It is easy to console oneself with the thought that this happened more than thirty years ago and this sort of thing would never happen now, not here in the United States, not now.

This article in the NYTimes was written just last year, I wrote about it and other atrocities ‘here‘.

How will we view the “treatments” commonly used with Autistic children thirty, forty years from now?  What will we think about the commonly held views regarding autism and Autistic people.  Will we look back with the same horror I feel as I read Annie’s Coming Out?

Anne McDonald and Rosemary Crossley

Anne-Mcdonald2-200x0

39 Comments

Posted in Autism, Autism "Awareness", Autism Books

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Patience

Posted on October 7, 2013 by | 22 comments

The strangest experience I’ve encountered with my daughter is seeing her work with someone like Soma Mukhopadhyay or Rosemary Crossley or Pascal Cheng or Harvey Lavoy.  I don’t know that one can ever really be prepared for the flurry of emotions that threaten to overwhelm as you sit and watch your non fluent speaking child write profoundly insightful things, show their vast intelligence and knowledge despite having had almost no formal education and what little they’ve had it was most definitely not anywhere near what they are capable of or even at age level.

To watch them so easily converse through writing, or what looks so easy as I sit witnessing…  it is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced.  The only thing I can liken it to was when I was eight years old and my older brother told me that the universe was infinite.  I remember saying that couldn’t be true, that it must end somewhere, and he looked at me and smiled.  Then he asked, “if it ends, then what’s on the other side of the “end”?  And I sat there mesmerized by this idea of infinity, trying over and over to imagine what that looked like, and my mind coming up against the impossibility of this concept, so conditioned, already at the age of eight to think of things as being limited.

So inevitably, after we return home from seeing these various people, or after they pack up their things and leave, I am filled with optimism.  After all what we’ve just witnessed  fills us with hope and the future, our child’s future is limitless.  Every time, without fail,  I am filled with astonishment that my daughter isn’t enthusiastically and cheerfully typing or writing her opinions and thoughts about things with me.  I’ve discussed this with my husband, I’ve spoken to close friends, I’ve talked to other parents and always it is variations on this story.  The incredulous parent with the child who does not seem overjoyed with the idea of continuing to do this all the time, or even any of the time.

At first I spoke of it as resistance, but that puts the onus on my child and I’ve learned to be very careful with words like that, they are far too close to the whole, “you just have to try harder” idea, which I know both for myself and for her is detrimental.  This isn’t about trying harder, this is about how difficult communication is for someone like my daughter.  Just because she can communicate through typing or pointing to words on a stencil board, does not mean it is easy or simple for her.  Just because I am filled with enthusiasm does not mean it isn’t hard work for her.  And so I have to acknowledge how hard this is.

I’ve thought of it as akin to the difficulty I have in learning a foreign language, but I’m not sure that’s really a great analogy.  To me, the idea that she can communicate in any form is just fantastic news and to my thinking why wouldn’t my child want to grab that and run with it?  And then I thought about meditation or exercise or eating foods I know are good for me and how I know my day will go better if I do these things and yet days will go by and I don’t.  Perhaps it is more like that.  Perhaps the importance I place is not the same or maybe importance isn’t even part of the equation for her.

What I’ve noticed is that I feel tremendous fear trying to replicate what I’ve witnessed.  I worry that I will do it wrong, that I will inadvertently hurt her or make a mistake that will cause her upset.  I worry that I will make what is already difficult even more so.  I am also aware of how I do not want to be disappointed.  I do not want to feel those feelings of hope and expectation dashed and the inevitable feelings that then follow, which are often doubt.  Was it all a dream?  Did it really happen?  Could it be it was just that one time?  A kind of burst of brilliance, never to be seen again?

I have had dozens of these moments over the last year.  Dozens of times when I have doubted what I just witnessed.  Dozens of times when I’ve thought – I won’t be able to do this.  I’m too invested, I’m putting too much pressure, I can’t do it, I won’t be able to, I’m not cut out for this kind of work, I don’t have the patience.  But what I see over and over is that I do and I can.  I have to go slowly, I cannot expect to get the results that people who’ve been working with non-speaking Autistic people for decades get.  I have to begin with simple options.  In supported typing they have a “ladder” of communication and new supporters must begin at the bottom rung, not because the person they are supporting isn’t capable, but be cause they are not, not yet.  With Soma’s method it is similar.  One begins with choices, and from there fill-ins and slowly, slowly as one becomes more confident, as trust is built, I will move to increasingly open-ended questions.

All of this requires patience.  Patience with myself, patience with the process, patience with my child.  Patience.  Showing up and being in this moment without expectation.  Patience with my limitations.  Patience with my inexperience.  Patience with my limited thinking that is slowly, slowly expanding to embrace the unknown.

Today Emma is sick and so is home from school.  I asked her what she wanted to discuss – poetry, a story, or Buddhism.  She wrote, “buddhism.”  The irony of her choice is not lost on me…

Buddha copy

22 Comments

Posted in Autism, Parenting, Rapid Prompting Method

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Our Amazing Adventure

Posted on September 25, 2013 by | 28 comments

Emma gave me permission to blog about some of our day yesterday.  I asked her, “Is there anything you typed that you do not want me to write about?”  She typed, “No.”  So… here goes…

We are in Texas to work with Soma Mukhopadhyay.  I’ve written about Soma many times before, ‘here‘, ‘here‘, ‘here‘ and ‘here‘.  By the way, Tito, Soma’s son (who is non-speaking and autistic) is the author of several books.  I highly recommend all of them.

Soma began the session using a stencil board and having Em point to the letter she wanted with a pencil, then took the pencil, wrote the letter down, handed the pencil back, and on they went.  By the afternoon session Em was pointing to the first letter and then the next and the next, spelling out whole words and even several words before Soma wrote all the letters down.  As the sessions are all being videotaped, the stencil board is by far the best thing to use, as it is clear when you are watching the tape, which letters Em is pointing to, where as a laminated letter board, or a keyboard would be more difficult to see as clearly.  Soma does not touch the person she is working with.  There is no physical contact of any kind, unless initiated by the other person.

Some people have accused Soma of manipulating the stencil board.  I have watched Soma work with my daughter many times, as well as with other students and beyond the natural slight movement that occurs when holding an object with one hand, I have witnessed no manipulation of any kind.  With Emma she used a full alphabet stencil board, so even if one wanted to somehow make her point to a particular letter this would be impossible without physically touching her.

They began discussing the weather and Em wrote that she likes it when it is windy.  Soma asked her to tell her anything at all about windy weather and Em wrote, “flying leaves”.  They then discussed temperature, how heat rises, the sun, and finally Soma asked her for the name of any state.  Emma wrote, “Colorado”.  Soma asked her why she chose Colorado and I smiled knowingly, believing that I knew the answer and expecting her to write something about how this is where her Granma lives and where we go to visit several times a year.  But Emma had something else in mind.  She went for the letter “b” and then wrote “Boulder”.

Okay, I thought.  Boulder, that’s kind of weird.  Richard’s best friend lives in Boulder, maybe she’s thinking about Steve.  Meanwhile Soma asked, “What happened there?”  And Emma wrote, “flood”.  And I sat there stunned.  You see, we are not a family that ever turns on the television unless it’s for a pre-recorded show or to watch a dvd.  We do not listen to the radio.  We no longer have the NYTimes delivered to our house as both Richard and I receive it online and read the news from our iPads.  Neither Richard nor I spoke (that we can remember) about the devastation that occurred because of the flooding in Boulder recently.  And yet, there is absolutely no doubt that others have and did discuss the floods in Emma’s presence, though it’s doubtful anyone spoke to her about them and yet here she was, writing about the floods.

The afternoon session began with Emma choosing “story” from a choice between “story” and “number”.  Soma proceeded to tell a fable about a crane and a fox who were friends.  The fox invited the crane over for dinner and prepared meat for the crane which was almost impossible for the crane to pick up with his beak and the fox watched with great delight as the meat fell from his beak over and over.  Soma talked about how the fox was having fun, but mean fun and throughout all of this asked Emma clarifying questions about various words, all of which Emma knew without hesitation.  But the fox underestimated his friend the crane, Soma continued.  She then asked Emma what she thought about the word underestimated and Emma wrote, “less expectation”.  The story continued with the crane being polite and asking the fox to come over the next day for dinner at the crane’s house where upon the crane served the fox soup in a jar that the fox could not drink, except to lick the sides.  Soma then asked Emma for the moral of the story and Emma wrote, “do unto others”.

Soma used Emma’s interest (anxiety?) about the time and how long the session was going to last, to discuss time and the calendar year and then asked Em “how would you like to be treated by others?” Emma wrote, “I want to disappear when people talk about me.”  Soma asked a clarifying question about situations that she was specifically referring to and asked if Emma felt that way when people said nice things.  Emma said, “no”.

Later, using a laminated “yes” or “no” card that Rosemary Crossley uses and gave us, I asked Em more about this.  It came out that people are “mean” to her on the school bus.  I asked her if people were mean to her at school and she wrote, “No.”

Today we go back for Emma’s next two sessions with Soma.   As they say in the 12-step rooms – more will be revealed.  I cannot write about how I feel, other than to say, Soma is doing amazing work.  She has been doing this work for close to two decades, everyday for hours at a time.  I am learning a great deal, but will I be able to replicate what she is doing?  No.  I won’t.  Not yet, anyway and I don’t expect to, but I can get better with practice and I can apply what I see Soma doing with other things I’ve learned that Emma has responded to.  But more than anything else, I can continue to stretch my limited mind and limited thinking, (my neurological deficits) and practice, continue to practice expanding my knee jerk “truths” until one day perhaps I will no longer feel incredulous at what I continue to witness, not only with Soma, but with a great many people, all of whom have devoted their lives to finding ways for people like my daughter to communicate.

“I want to disappear when people talk about me.”

*I have read this to Emma to make sure what I’ve written is okay to publish.  She has given me her permission.

Soma and Emma

Soma & Em

28 Comments

Posted in Autism, communication, Soma Mukhopadhyay

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

The Conversation That Isn’t

Posted on September 23, 2013 by | 39 comments

The biggest problem with the conversation regarding autism and Autistic people is that it is largely had without the inclusion of those who are being discussed.  When Autistic people attempt to join the conversation they are often told – the very fact you can speak removes you from the conversation because you are not representative of those who cannot and those who cannot speak are believed to have little if nothing to say.

When someone who is Autistic and does not speak, types to communicate, they are often discounted as not really being able to type, even when they are able to do so independently.  One of the many google search terms that come up repeatedly, leading people to this blog is “Carly Fleischmann fake.”  I continue to find people’s adamant disbelief, even when shown clear evidence of ability, baffling.    For those who do not know who Carly Fleischmann is, please go to her website and Facebook page.  She is a non speaking Autistic teenager who defies all the stereotypes about what it means to be non speaking and Autistic.  People insist that she is an anomaly, but go to a conference like TASH, Autcom, the ICI Conference or go to the resources page on this blog and read the many blogs and written works by non speaking Autistic people and you will quickly see that not only is Carly not a “fake” or a “hoax”, she is not an anomaly; she is in good company and one of many.

“…. a tendency among professionals to band together when their expertise is challenged and to deny resolutely the existence of evidence which, if admitted, would force a reevaluation of established practice.” ~ Speechless by Rosemary Crossley

Rosemary Crossley on the topic of IQ tests, writes, “Tests of intelligence purport to assess how well you take information in, and what you are able to do with it, on the basis of what comes out.  If nothing quantifiable comes out you are untestable.”  She then goes on to say, “What is surprising is that the results are assumed to reflect what the child and teenager are thinking and what they are able to learn, and are used as a basis of making decisions about their futures.”

So we continue to have a conversation about Autistic people, yet when those who can speak do so, they are discounted as not representative of those who cannot, and when those who cannot speak, type, they are doubted, believed to be a hoax or an anomaly and not representative of others who share their inability to speak.

Does anyone else see a problem with all of this?  Anyone?

Me and Em at the ICI Conference in July, 2013

Me & Em

39 Comments

Posted in Autism, disability, Parenting

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

The Pitfalls of Reading Out Loud

Posted on September 19, 2013 by | 89 comments

When Rosemary Crossley was here she spent several hours working with my daughter.  One of the many discoveries we made was that Emma can and does read very quickly, but if asked to read out loud, she will stumble and get so caught up in pronunciation I question whether she is able to comprehend what she’s reading at all.  I know I have trouble following the story.  Yet most schools ask children to read out loud, both as a way to assess what they are capable of, and also to make sure they are at the correct reading level.  If a child reads a first grade reader out loud with great difficulty, the impulse is to make the reading material simpler.  Except that if this is done with my daughter she will be stuck reading kindergarten and beginning level reading books for the foreseeable future.

I know Emma is able to read much more complicated texts than beginning readers.  I know this because I have seen her read with Rosemary and me very quickly.  I have witnessed her ability to read, not only faster than I can, but her ability to accurately answer multiple choice questions related to the text with ease when  given some resistance.  In other words, if she is asked to wait a beat, instead of being allowed to immediately point to an answer, her accuracy goes way up.  Without the pause she is just as likely to randomly pick any answer.  From Rosemary Crossley’s book, Speechless, “The resistance I provided slowed her down very substantially, and the quality of her output increased as her speed fell.  I gave Jan a picture of a cow and asked her to write me a sentence about it.  Instead she typed, THIS TYPING IS HARD.  I HAVE TO THINK.  That was, of course, the aim of the exercise.”

This idea of providing resistance is a tricky one to explain to people.  I have had some people say they just cannot understand why this would be necessary.  The only way I know of to better explain, is by comparing it to the way many, who are like my daughter, will perseverate on a word, or will rely on favorite scripts.  It is not that these scripts have no meaning, it is more that they are often difficult for others to understand.  If I hand Emma her iPad and ask her to type me a story, she will most likely write something like, “rollercoaster, kiteflyer, greenride, hurricane harbor, waterslide” which is also in keeping with what she might say out loud.

These words are powerful to her, they hold a great deal of meaning, but to most people, they are seen as gibberish.  If this then is used to assess her capabilities she will not be well served.  However if I ask her to type me a story and then hold one end of a rod while she holds the other end with her typing hand and types with one finger while I pull her hand back after each letter is typed, she might type, ““One day there was a boy called george. He had been in afight can’t tell you how he got into the fight but he was bruised all over.  He fought a lot and his teacher was very angry.  The next day he was all purple and his mother said you can’t go to school looking like that.  The very clever boy covered himself in flower and his teacher thought he was sick and sent him home.  The end.”  

Incidentally, that story is one Emma wrote when Rosemary was here working with her and is typical of the sorts of things she can and does type when given the kind of resistance I’ve described.  (You can read the entire post I wrote about her session with Rosie, ‘here‘.)  However, ask Emma to read out loud a story similar to the one she typed and she will have a great deal of trouble.  What she is capable of is far greater than what one might assume from what she verbalizes, whether that means reading out loud or with spontaneous speech.  Ask Emma to sing the lyrics of a song, in Greek no less, and she will get much of it right, but that’s a whole other post.

But how does one convince others that this is so?  Particularly when many are trained and told that reading out loud is a good indicator of ability.  There is surprisingly little written on the topic of the problems with reading out loud for those who have spoken language and word retrieval issues.  Again, in Rosemary Crossley’s book, Speechless, she writes, “her reading aloud was bedeviled by the same word-finding problems which affected her spontaneous speech, preventing her reading with any fluency.”

Obviously there needs to be more written about all of this.  The closest I have found, other than Rosemary’s book, Speechless, is a blog, The Right Side of Normal,  that concentrates on “right brained children”.  And on that blog, this post specifically, Silent Reading versus Reading Aloud, which deals with, at least some of what I’m discussing here. If others know of other resources discussing any of this, please do leave me links in the comments section.

Rosemarie Crossley

Rosie

89 Comments

Posted in Autism, Parenting, reading

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

When We Say Things We Do Not Mean

Posted on September 18, 2013 by | 44 comments

Erratic speech.  Unreliable language.  These are all words to describe what many, like my daughter, experience.   Speech that does not represent what is meant,  but that people hear and make assumptions about the person based on what has been said.  Rosemary Crossley in her book, Speechless talks about nominal aphasia – “One of the familiar aftereffects of stroke, for example, is not being able to say what you mean.”

Many years ago I became friends with a man who’d had a stroke, leaving him aphasic (meaning he was mostly unable to speak, though he understood what was being said to him.)  Every few months my then boyfriend and I would pick him up at his apartment and take him somewhere.  I don’t remember if he could type his thoughts, this was long before the advent of the iPad, and as he could not hold a writing implement, this was not something he did when we were together.  I do not remember him ever uttering a single word.  Prior to his stroke he had made a name for himself as an avant-garde theater director.  In the theater world he was thought of as a god.  After his stroke he went on to direct a number of works with many famous actors.  People were willing to believe he could not only understand what was being said, but that he had a great deal to say, even though he could not verbalize his thoughts.   His name was Joseph Chaikin.

For those who are Autistic and also have unreliable speech, people tend to take what they say at face value and believe their speech is indicative of their thinking and thought process.  Yet this could not be farther from the truth.  Many are willing to dispense with their disbelief when someone is famous and once spoke, but most are not as willing to believe when someone has word retrieval issues, that they are capable of more than what we hear them say.  “…children who have never been able to speak fluently have not had a chance to establish themselves.  They have not had the typical infant’s experience of controlling the world with their speech.” ~ Speechless by Rosemary Crossley

And as a result they also do not have the same types of interactions with others as those who have more fluent speech.

“Because our judgments of intellectual capacity, both formal and informal, are strongly tied to speech, a child who says the wrong words, who gives “silly” answers when asked questions, is likely to be seen as stupid.  A child who can never find the word he wants, or a child who cannot make his tongue do what it should, can come to associate speech with tension, embarrassment, and failure.” ~ Speechless by Rosemary Crossley.

“Children with severe speech impairments often develop behavioral problems. These may simply be a result of the frustration inherent in not being able to say what you mean, but this frustration may also be exacerbated by the reactions of the people around them.” ~ Speechless by Rosemary Crossley

One young man who had unreliable language and who Rosemary worked with typed, “I dont make sense and people think Im senseless.” Speechless by Rosemary Crossley

Typically, when someone speaks to us, we believe that what they say is what they mean to say.  We respond  accordingly.  When people tell me something Emma has said and how they don’t understand why she then became so upset because they were doing what she told them she wanted, I understand.  I understand how frustrating that must be, for her, for the other person, for everyone involved.  Emma does not have phrases like, “Oh I know the answer to that, but I can’t think of it just now” or “give me a minute, it will come to me” or “it’s on the tip of my tongue” or “I just had it, the word was right there” or “what’s the word, you know it sounds like ________?”  or “wait, I know this, I know this…” or any of the other things most of us say when we know something, but the words have momentarily escaped us.

Communication is not just speech and for some, spoken language is an unreliable method of communicating.  Finding a more reliable method then becomes essential.  For my daughter, typing is proving to be a far more reliable way to communicate.  And as it turns out, there are a great many others who are just like her.

Waiting

Related articles

44 Comments

Posted in Autism, language, Parenting

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Seeing But Unable to Believe

Posted on August 1, 2013 by | 62 comments

When some people hear that my daughter is Autistic they see a beautiful blonde haired girl with no noticeable physical impairments.  They see a pre-teen who has terrific eye contact.  They see someone who is happy and playful and who laughs often and with abandon.  They see someone who loves loud music, a good party and will grab hold of a microphone if given the opportunity.  They see someone who obviously loves to perform in front of an audience.  She doesn’t fit their concept of autism so they assume the diagnosis must be wrong.  They say things like,  “But I never would have known if you hadn’t said something.”

When it becomes clear that she cannot carry on a conversation with them, but demonstrates her intelligence by typing something with lots of insights and wisdom, they see a doting mother who is supporting her daughter’s arm or holding on to the other end of a pole and they assume it is all a manipulation.  They decide it is me who is writing these things, “putting words into her mouth”.  After all my daughter cannot carry on a conversation, how could she possibly be writing such beautiful words?  Later, when I am no longer present they might say, “Poor thing, she’s deluding herself about her daughter, of course she would, how could she not?  It would be giving up all hope to do otherwise.”

“In our field, assumptions about labeled people are so deeply rooted that we tend to think they are facts.  They are not – they are only shared beliefs.” ~ Autism: Sensory-Movement Differences and Diversity by Martha R. Leary and Anne M. Donnellan

I explain that my daughter is typing these things, but needs support to do so, without that support, which is in the form of resistance, she will impulsively revert to her favorite scripts, and they think to themselves – that doesn’t make sense.  How is that possible?  She can type independently now, why don’t they just leave her alone and let her type what she wants?  If she can’t type these things independently, it must not be coming from her.  Her mom must be writing those things for her daughter.

I then talk about how my daughter is doing math, multiplication and division (in her head) without any formal training and they think – well, that simply isn’t  possible.  That can’t be.  They look to see if my daughter is somehow being manipulated, prompted, even though she is not being touched.  When I state that my daughter is reading faster than I can, they wonder – but how can she really know that for sure?  When Emma then obviously passes reading comprehension multiple choice tests, they think – well, but it’s just a coincidence, after all it IS multiple choice, that’s much easier than if she had to write an essay.  Those who do believe, assume she must be the exception.  They say things like, “But my child/the child I work with can’t possibly do that. You’re so lucky.  Your daughter is very, very special.”  They place my child into a little file in their mind.  A file entitled –  anomaly.

“When you have enough exceptions you have to start questioning the legitimacy of the rule, the assumptions, and the paradigm.” ~ Speechless by Rosemary Crossley.

I have interviewed  a great many non-speaking Autistic people and published our conversations here and on the Huffington Post.  I have an entire page on this blog devoted to Resources, the first list is of all the blogs and writings of non-speaking Autistics that I know of, but there are a great many more that I do not know about.  Even so, people will write about how those non-speakers didn’t really write their own words or, conversely, they say –  isn’t it wonderful that these individuals are so amazing and an inspiration, but they are exceptional, they are not like my non-speaking child, or the children I teach, or the children I work with or…  Perhaps they are right, but what if they are wrong?

I would rather have my daughter surrounded by people who believe her capable than around those who do not.

Ariane Zurcher, Amy Sequenzia and Ibby Grace at the ICI Conference ~ A conference dedicated to accommodating those who do not speak

Me, Amy & Ib

Related articles

62 Comments

Posted in Autism, Parenting, presume competence

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

A Conversation with Tracy Thresher

Posted on July 30, 2013 by | 23 comments

One of the things I love about having a blog are the conversations I get to have with people I would not feel courageous enough to approach and/or get to know.  Tracy Thresher is one of those people.  Tracy Thresher and Larry Bissonnette are the stars of Wretches and Jabberers, the documentary by Oscar Award winning and two-time Academy award-nominated filmmaker Gerardine Wurtzburg.  Wretches and Jabberers follows two non-speaking Autistic men, (Tracy and Larry) as they travel the world, reaching out to other non-speaking Autistic people in an attempt to change public perceptions surrounding intelligence and autism.

“Leading man, Tracy” as he often jokingly refers to himself, is a terrific public speaker.  I have seen him speak through typing many times now and each and every time I am riveted.  It isn’t just the poetic way Tracy puts words together, it is his humanity, his humor, generosity, and ultimately, his tremendous compassion for this world and the people who inhabit it, that makes people sit up and listen to every word he taps out one painstaking letter at a time.

The following is a dialogue Tracy and I have been having for about seven months now.  It has taken so long because of our schedules, but also because I could not stop asking more questions.  Every time Tracy answered one question, I would have about ten more.  Tracy was not only patient with me, but his kindness infiltrates his every response.  As this conversation could go on and on, as far as I’m concerned, I thought I better post what we’ve been discussing thus far.

AZ:  Tracy, how would you describe the documentary, Wretches and Jabberers that stars you and Larry Bissonnette?

TT:  Our film catapulted me to realize my dream of traveling the world to educate, learn and change old attitudes of discrimination toward people of varying abilities. The Larry and Tracy duo illustrates how intelligence is often worked out in a much different way. Our journey takes us to places of enlightenment and our humanity, humor and intelligence comes shining through our typing. Our mission to spread the reality of our amazing intelligence through our typing is our way of promoting the Presumption of Competence dispelling myths. Our story is one that is a road trip for two friends who are in Larry’s words “more like you than not”.

AZ:  “More like you than not” is such a wonderful description.  So much of the literature surrounding autism is about the “deficits” of Autistic neurology compared to non Autistic neurology. Can you talk about the assets and the similarities?

TT:  In my way of thinking, my experience initially was uncontrollable anger for the life I had trying to break through the misunderstanding in school. Kids can be brutally honest, reflecting the language that was the accepted norm in my childhood. Labeling kids is crippling. MR (mental retardation) on a diagnostic chart equates to NOT a candidate for the honor roll. Now I am able to communicate the reality of autism. I met Monk Hogen during the filming of “Wretches and Jabberers”, shining his wisdom on my autism. My true desire and purpose in life is breaking the walls of injustice down and my autism is the gift God gave me. I now focus on how I am connecting with all kinds of people through my work on the road. The high I feel in my own community is so wonderful, knowing that people want to know me. The man I am today is because my autism is the gift I was given to be a leader to anyone who has ever felt less than human based on their appearance. Martin Luther King knew that hurt and he took it to the mountain of peace. My mind is more like a Mensa candidate than I can type. My life is a testimony to the lesson of humanity. Like Larry typed “More like you than not” is the guiding principle to inclusion.

The anger on stage during my presentation in Japan was related to the lost opportunities in my education. I kept shouting out my automatics like “Look at me now! The kid you told one another to keep in isolation now is mentoring students which is healing salve to old wounds of injustice.” The other anger in Sri Lanka is more about the heat in the way it took my overly heated mix of perspiration soaking my clothing to extreme discomfort. Also, the popular foods in their culture are not in my comfort zone. Finland washed my anger, turning my heart to love of the climate. The cuisine helped too. Primarily, beautiful lands of countryside put my spirit at ease. Henna melted years of lost hope by crumbling away the feelings of isolating my heart to love.

People in the world often fear the paradox that autism usually presents. Larry and I mostly felt gracious vibes in our travels but the camera crew likely alters reality. To reflect on the cultural attitudes, the typing of my international friends is the true compass pointing to injustice.

AZ:  For children who may be trying to cope with similar frustrations and anger, what do you suggest to them and their parents, teachers and therapists?

TT:  This is my mission to show kids and their supports that putting communication to the top of their list of priorities is vitally cleansing to the mind. Releasing deep thoughts is the key to alleviating anxiety. Frustration leads the body to unproductive anger. Being able to show intelligent thought is the path to happier futures and true quality of life, leading to purpose. That is what I sought and found with typing.

AZ:  Was there anything others might have done to help when you were overwhelmed with anger?

TT:  Harvey and I have trust in our partnership. I need his firm yet kind support to stay on course with managing my autism. Harvey and I work well together. Typing is my outlet and open communication is the key.  Long term shared goals helps to keep me on track. Harvey’s commitment to my communication is the big time dosing of calm energy that I need. The commitment to presuming competence is the major breeze of refreshing air to cooling anger.

AZ:  You communicate by typing, but need someone to support your typing.  Why is it necessary to have someone physically supporting you? 

TT:  Impulse to type out my most irritating automatics like going to radio stations or wcax news gets looping in my mind. Having good facilitators is helping me to slow my typing to think and connect to my inner thoughts. I also need high goal of working on fading physical support to be more independent and type with lessening support. Building trust is critical to fading.

AZ: What issues and resources do you feel are most important for a parent to be aware of when encouraging their child to self-advocate?

TT:  I look up to pioneers in the FC world like Annie McDonald for her courage in the looking with the harshest disbelief on her typing. Rosie Crossley I also find gave me hope with her tell-it-like-she- sees-it firm approach. On a daily basis, the man of firm guidance is Harvey Lavoy. Harvey is my guru of staying focused. I would say he is my mentor of communication.

AZ:  When and how did you begin typing?

TT:  I was one lucky man to meet Alan Kurtz in 1990. Alan was motivated to unlock my wisdom. He treated me to intelligent conversation. Alan picked up on my eyes grazing on morsels of typing in magazines and the local paper.  I was one of the first people in my Green Mountains of Vermont to be treated to this life changing mode of communication. I was 23. Alan unlocked years of pent up chaotic thoughts. My intelligence was masked by autistic looping of hurtful labeling.

Early Supports:

I had my job coach Donna. Donna was kind and gentle. I liked her. Her support for typing limited me to Kinney’s work. It takes time to build foundations of trust and to build connections. Alan presumed my competence. The feeling of being spoken to in an intelligent manner was exhilarating. My inner thoughts hid in my mind looking for light like trees needing to flourish. My true communication jumping out on thin strips of paper was like first steps, shaky building of freeing my mind.

AZ:  Did you know you could write, but had nothing you could write on or with?

TT:  I could put letters together in my mind to make them join to form words. It was my life to play with vocabulary in lonely times. I did not think too much about how I could put my thoughts out on paper. The labeling I heard made for pesky lapping up of my hope for sharing my thoughts.

AZ:  How hard was it to start typing?

TT:  The torch of my fiery need to have a communication partner passed from Alan to Harvey Lavoy. Looking into my dark deep chaos was like unlocking madness. I held many hard grudges toward a label of retardation. The looping replay was non-stop with no way to talk or vent to Mom or a friend. Using miserable behavior is release of the locking in of intelligence. I had lots of my pre-scripted looping thoughts coming through my typing; things like radio and my local news station WCAX. My inner thoughts got masked in too much of holding on to my autism. I did not know the term proprioception then. Lack of knowledge of my own body ticked me off. My movement looked like no control in the beginning. Harvey had many arm wrestling contests with me. Ha-ha.

AZ:  Was it frustrating?

TT:  Oh big time ticked off was my typing in my starting out with Harvey. I had my liking of typing with my days with Alan. Mighty communication got put to the derailed track when Alan moved to Maine. Harvey took my brutal frustration in stride. I was brewing with lots of anger. I worried I would lose my life line of typing.

AZ:  Did you immediately feel motivated and liberated?

TT:  I did feel the tangled web of thoughts trying to be set free. My body was like a tight coil pulling so anxiously; did not easily break free to allow for liberation. Harvey motivated me by talking to me about self-advocacy. I began to hope life would be mine to choose. Emerging from despair is hard work. The power of typing took my mind to freeing the grip of autism but it took lots of grueling typing sessions.

AZ:  Were you resistant to typing at first?

TT:  My body took over my logical mind many times. I often ran from the typing space out to the parking space trying to regulate. It did not help to be gulping Mountain Dew. My impulsive habits with food led me to not think with clarity. I needed much support from Harvey to stay in my typing space.

AZ:  If yes, did anything help with the resistance?

TT:  Placing high expectations on me truly is my need. Harvey looked me in the eye to insist that I decide my purpose in life. To be in control I needed to make big changes in my life. I had terrible grating on Mom’s nerves yelling to be rid of. Holistic life of Buddhism is my goal but I easily revert to junk food at times. Harvey leads me to mindfulness by pointing out hard truths to help me make thoughtful choices.

AZ:  What did it feel like to be able to communicate in a way that people seemed to finally understand?  Was it at all scary?

TT:  Typing lifted my label of retard. Scary, it was not. More like “Take that!”  I had begun my journey to change perceptions. It was like the locking in of my voice was over. I was giddy with hope.

AZ:  Lots of people who watched Wretches and Jabberers have asked about your living situation.  Do you mind answering the question so many continue to ask – What is your living situation right now?

TT:  My Mom and Dad live near my week day home provider. I have my Wednesday family dinners. My mom is very involved in my life. I made the choice to leave my parents’ home to embark on my journey toward having a life of my own. It has been arduous at times but I have learned hard lessons toward life of my own making. Right now I live in one place Monday through Friday. I spend weekends with my family or with my weekend provider. I am working with my team on finding a place of my own.

In addition Tracy sent me a word document which he said I could share with all of you:

Many people have tried to help with my residential situation. I would like to clarify my search is plagued with difficulties of lack of knowledge in the way I would like to be supported. My family is my greatest place of stability but my idea of independence is having my own home to hang my hat, to set up in the way I choose. Mom has been there my entire life to help me on my path to being the independent thinker I want to be.

It is my time to search for the place I want to live that is both independent oriented but gives me the right thinking type of support I need. By that I mean it is necessary for me to have physical cues to get my body moving not bossy final answers made by others. My dream is to be in my own place where I make choices of the groceries I wish to buy; the decorative theme is of my choosing; the communication is open; the weekends’ activities fill my desire for exercise.

The most important thing is the commitment to learning how to support my typing. I have to let it be known that my family would never turn me from their home; this is my desire in my search for being in control of my life that I want to make for myself. I know my fans mean well to help in my residential search. For me it is more than a hook to hang my hat on; it is being in peace in my way of living where I make the house rules in cooperation with my like minded roommate.

For more on this blog about Tracy and Larry click ‘here‘, ‘here‘, ‘here‘ and ‘here‘.

Tracy – 1991
Early shot Tracy

Tracy at the ICI Conference – July 2013
Tracy @ICIConference

23 Comments

Posted in Autism, supported typing, Wretches and Jabberers

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Snowball Effect

Posted on July 26, 2013 by | 20 comments

The snowball effect began with, what I now think of as, a leap of faith.  Richard and I leapt into that great abyss better known as the unknown.  It turns out this was actually not true, it would be more accurate to say we chose to neither believe nor disbelieve, but instead began to examine all we were being told.  Perhaps it’s better to say that instead of leaping into we jumped out of.  From there it was more of a hop to begin presuming competence.  However, as a commenter on this blog said, “presuming competence isn’t enough.” And knowing what we now know, I have to agree.  It’s the starting point.  It’s like that initial leaping off point, it’s just the beginning.

At the moment we are experiencing something akin to being in free fall.  It’s the feeling of discovery, limitlessness, surprise, and pure ecstasy that comes with being present without expectation or preconceived ideas about what should or will happen.  Our perspective continues to change as we move along.  Like any great adventure, the path is at times rocky, but the triumphs are exquisite.  As we move deeper into this process it becomes easier and more familiar to be solidly in the discomfort of the unknown.  There is bliss in that.  True bliss.

Last fall I wrote a post about how I was worried Emma was not comprehending a story that had been sent home in her back pack from school.  It was a simple story, perhaps 1st grade level reading with some questions that she seemed unable to answer.  In the post I write how I am trying to find ways to help her reading comprehension.  I talk about presuming competence.  What I am struck by now is not Emma’s level of supposed incomprehension, but by my own.  I reread all the comments just now and am amazed, amazed that though I thought I was presuming competence, I was only able to go so far with my presumptions and, as it turns out, wasn’t going far enough.  I could only presume as much as my limited thinking would allow me.  The idea that she was not only comprehending this story, but was so far beyond it, was not something I was capable of fully understanding, let alone considering.  I was much more stuck, as it turns out, than my daughter was.

Now jump forward to yesterday afternoon, almost nine months after I wrote the post I refer to in the above paragraph.  Emma chose to talk about adjectives.  We watched the BrainPop movie about adjectives and then she took the quiz.  I copied what Rosie had done, asked her to read the questions silently to herself while using a laminated card to direct her visually and then quickly guided her to read each of the four multiple choice answers.  She only hesitated once, on a question about a possessive adjective, but otherwise breezed through the quiz with 90% accuracy.  Not only was Emma reading faster than I was able to, but she was accurately answering the questions faster than I could read them, let alone answer them.

The snowball effect:  “The basic workings of a literal snowball effect can be illustrated by taking one’s average baseball-sized snowball and dropping it down the side of a snowy hill. As it descends it gathers more snow and whatever leaves, sticks, etc. are in its way. The snowball accumulates not only size, but speed.” ~ From the Urban Dictionary

Self Portrait

photo

20 Comments

Posted in Autism, Parenting, presume competence

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Emma’s Story

Posted on July 23, 2013 by | 51 comments

Emma told me I could post her story on here this morning.  This is a story she wrote yesterday with Rosie (Rosemary Crossley).  Rosie developed a technique more than thirty years ago to help people with a variety of issues, specifically those that make speaking difficult or impossible .  Em held onto a tube with one hand while Rosie held the other end as Emma typed.  Rosie began yesterday’s session by asking Emma to write a story that began with either, “once upon a time” or “one day.”  I was standing near Emma, with Richard, Joe and Em’s teacher, Katie, all watching as she typed the following.

“One day there was a boy called george. He had been in afight can’t tell you how he got into the fight but he was bruised all over.  He fought a lot and his teacher was very angry.  The next day he was all purple and his mother said you can’t go to school looking like that.  The very clever boy covered himself in flower and his teacher thought he was sick and sent him home.  The end.” 

Not sure I can actually continue writing here…  but I’m going to try… *Breathe*

I have read this story more than a dozen times already.  I know I’m totally biased, but I’m just going to say it – what an incredible story!  There are so many layers to it.  This story that Emma wrote with great concentration, with little pause is the first story she’s ever written.  She was focused and when asked about the word “flower” she verbally said “powder” in explanation.  Rosie explained that flower/flour are words that sound alike but are different in meaning.  Rosie explained that the powder kind is spelled “flour.”

But there’s more…  A little later Rosie brought out a math app called Math Magic where Emma proceeded to zip through addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  None of this is particularly noteworthy, except that Emma has never been formerly taught division.  She was choosing the correct answers from a field of four.  A sample equation is:  “56 ÷ 8” and the multiple choices available were: 2, 9, 7, 6.  Emma chose the correct answers independently.    Allow me to say that again.  Division.  Emma chose the answers independently.

It was at this point that I felt so many things all at once it was almost impossible to speak.  But more than anything I kept thinking about how we continue to underestimate our daughter.  I had no idea she could do division.  Not only can she do division, she can do it quickly.  There’s another app Rosie recommended – Brain Pop and Brain Pop Jr. which Emma also did as we watched.  Not only did she listen to the short lesson, but then read all the questions silently, read the multiple choice answers and chose the correct answers.  It seems verbal speech is tricky, particularly when she is expected to answer questions verbally.  When asked to read silently and then identify the correct written statement by pointing to it, Emma did beautifully… about Ellis Island, no less!  The only interaction Rosie provided with both the math and Brain Bop was to use a laminated card that she silently moved across the words as Emma read and she did not allow Emma to point to any answer until she’d finished reading all the choices.

I cannot imagine how awful it must be to be so capable and yet treated as though you were not.  I imagine it must feel like being “bruised all over.” I imagine it must feel like you “fought a lot”.  My wish for my daughter is that she may continue to do all that she is doing, while we provide her with every opportunity to flourish and continue to show the world how very “clever” she is.  The only limitations are the ones we provide.

I am incredibly grateful to all who believe in her, all who have helped and who continue to help us so that we can be better parents to our daughter.  The list continues to grow…

Rosemary Crossley

Rosemary Crossley

51 Comments

Posted in Autism, facilitated communication, supported typing

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

The ICI Conference – Day 2

Posted on July 17, 2013 by | 8 comments

Anne DonnallanDr. Anne Donnellan, Professor in the School of Leadership and Education Sciences at the University of San Diego gave the keynote address yesterday morning.  She said,  “I’m very happy to say, when it’s true – I don’t know.”  This sentence should be framed and placed inside of every doctor’s, educator’s and professional’s office.  In fact, this should be in every human being’s home, office, place of work, car… well, you get the idea.  Anne went on to say, “If you don’t know the answer, if you’re not sure, what are you going to say?”  She waited for those in the audience who speak to shout, “I don’t know!”  I have pages of notes from Anne’s speech which centered on how autism is mischaracterized as a communication, behavioral and social deficit, yet the massive sensory-movement issues that most Autistics experience is completely ignored.  Early in her presentation she said, “We didn’t notice people with autism have bodies.”  And a little later she said, “We tend to invent knowledge.”  I will be reading Anne’s book, Autism: Sensory-Movement Differences and Diversity by Martha R. Leary and Anne M. Donnellan.

The bulk of the day was spent supporting Em in her typing.   (I dreamt last night Em had taken over Emma’s Hope Book Face Book page!) Our session with Rosemary Crossley was terrific, with a young woman who is aiding Rosie, and all of twenty years old, came over and expertly supported Em in her typing.  Em proceeded to inform us that “math is not my favorite subject in school” and “The subject I like is english.”  Which… yeah…  because excuse, me young lady, but there’s this blog with YOUR name on it, all set to go!  Trying hard to contain my excitement.  Em then typed, “I am very creative.”  And in answer to my question about whether she’d like to maybe write something for the blog at some point, she typed, “I would like that.”  Yet as I write this, I paused just now and asked her if she’d like to write  something now, to which she gave me a resounding “NO!”  But she did say that she didn’t mind if I quoted her in the sentences above.  This is a work in progress for both of us!

Emily and Mark UtterAfter lunch Em and I watched a wonderful documentary by Mark Utter called, “I am in here.”  Before the movie began Mark typed, “i am totally happy you all are moving with me down this fine river.”  Mark is wonderful, and I have to say, he is one of my new favorite friends, even though we have exchanged few words.  I intend to devote a post to his creative and moving movie about what daily life is like for him and how he would respond to people were he able to talk.  Mark is one of a number of people we have met that I hope to stay in touch with.

PascalLater Em and I met with another family who also live in New York City hoping to have a conversation between Em and a non-speaking teen.  Pascal agreed to help facilitate, but as it turned out, I was able to work with Em pretty well with only a few pointers from Pascal.  It was a great day, though it’s really hard work for Em.  Later she typed with Pascal, “Much of my work with people is patterns and things like spelling is like that…”  And then she added, “And I love to work with Pascal.”
This photograph of Pascal was taken by Emma.

I must end this post now, but not before saying, these conferences are profound.  They are profound because of how they are completely unlike the world we live in.  They include, embrace and celebrate difference.  Every person is treated with respect.  People are allowed to be, without judgment.  It is bittersweet to be here, because this afternoon we will have to leave and return to the world that is not even remotely like this tiny piece, of what can only be described as, paradise.

8 Comments

Posted in Autism, ICI Conference, Parenting

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Live From The ICI Conference In Syracuse!

Posted on July 16, 2013 by | 14 comments

IbYesterday began with Ibby, as any proper day should.  Ib, assistant professor, blogger, activist, advocate and all around amazing human being, gave the keynote opening day address at the Institute on Communication and Inclusion here in Syracuse.  The room was packed.  Everywhere you looked people milled about from all over the country, ranging in age from under ten years to over seventy.  Some sat in wheelchairs, others moved their bodies back and forth, from side to side, some quickly in staccato gestures, others more slowly and rhythmically. Verbal utterances were not cause for stares or frowns, this was not a “quiet room” but a room filled with the sound of human beings in all their vibrant diversity, being themselves without censorship, without admonishment.  You can’t go to a conference like this and not get swept up in the beauty of unedited human beings being.

Ib & SteveJust prior to Ibby’s address I met the wonderfully talented, Stephen Kuusisto of the blog Planet of the Blind. Steve is a poet, author, professor, disability advocate and Fulbright Scholar.  Douglas Biklen, Dean of the School of Education at Syracuse University introduced us. This is Doug’s final conference as acting Dean and so I am particularly grateful to be here before he leaves.

This photo of Ibby and Steve Kuusisto was taken during Amy Sequenzia, Ibby and my presentation, “Blogging to Communicate.”

RosieAfter the keynote, we went to our “Hands-On Skill Building Workshop” with Rosemary Crossley.  Rosie is the one who developed facilitated typing more than 30 years ago in Australia, so I was very eager to meet her, finally.  Rosie went around the room and asked people to introduce themselves.  When she came to Emma, Em sat up and said loudly, “I don’t want to type!  My name is Emma.” To which Rosie said, “Oh! Hello Emma, how old are you?”  Em responded with, “I’m nine.” (Em is actually eleven, but tells people she’s nine, when asked.)  “Have you ever been to Australia?” Rosie asked.  “Yes!” Em answered. This time, however Rosie had a small machine that she held with a “yes” and “no” button on it and a laminated square with the words “yes” and “no”.  “Have you been to Australia?” she asked again.  This time Em, without hesitation pressed the “no” button.  A little later Rosie came and sat next to Emma and asked, “What’s your favorite color?”  While supporting Emma’s elbow, lightly with one hand, Em typed, “Pink.  What’s yours?” Then Em astonished me by continuing to type, “I hate yellow.”  Hate?  Seriously?  I hate yellow too, but really, I had no idea my daughter hated anything, much less a color!  Presume competence.  I’m going to reread that post I wrote…

RalphLater in the day Ralph Savarese and Steve Kuusisto presented on “Autism, the Brain and Poetic Creativity”  where they led participants in a poetry writing workshop.  After which Emma typed to Pascal, “really am telling my sameness self that its good to find different ways to that things and watching Ralph is fun.”  So there you go, Ralph.  A solid endorsement from Em.

Amy Sequenzia gave a personal and moving presentation about blogging and why she blogs, followed by me and then Ib who also spoke about why blogging is such a terrific platform, not least of all because it is interactive and immediate.  Ib then opened our presentation up for questions and comments and then…

Ib, Amy & Ariane

well, and then Em indicated that she’d like to say a few words, so Ib introduced her and Em took over, beginning with – “Ladies and Gentleman…” and ending with a list of all the various doctors, therapists, and people we once took her to see, followed by a list of all the people who now help us.  “Now we have Pascal and Harvey and Ibby and Ibbia (because Ibby has been given her own country, apparently) and Soma…”   Take it away Em!

It's the Em show

*I have to interrupt this post as I have to get to Anne Donnellan’s keynote starting in 30 minutes.  Peyton and Dianne Goddard sent me a copy of Anne’s book two weeks ago and I’ve been carrying it with me ever since.  So when I ran into Anne yesterday I pulled it out and showed it to her.  She is lovely and I cannot wait to hear her.  More to come!

One last photo though before I leave you…

Me with Amy and Ib – you guys rock!

Me, Amy & Ib

 

14 Comments

Posted in Autism, ICI Conference, Syracuse University

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,