RHUBARB

The ISADD Newsletter

October 2014. Edition 65
Editor: Daryl Cooper
Publishers: Linda Thomas, Audree Poff
EARLY REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
EDITORIAL
Early this month as part of its Mental as week
- the ABC screened an Australian Story about a
young man, Jack, with Autism who is currently
graduating from High School.
Obviously, I am biased, but I had hoped that the
story would have done more to show that
ABAbased intervention was the key that
unlocked the world for Jack; but that fact was
only mentioned in passing: I feel that the lay
viewer would have been left with the impression
that the type of therapy was unimportant. With so
many therapies on offer, I think it is vitally
important that the message gets out to parents,
and indeed, the general public, that ABA is still
the only therapy with sound scientific evidence of
efficacy.
While I am pleased that Australian Story chose
to do an episode where the story involved
Autism, I was disappointed in the way the story
was told: told differently, it could have achieved
so much more.
Daryl Cooper
Editor

The ABIA (Autism Behavioural Intervention Association)

third biennial conference at Monash University,
Caufield Campus in Melbourne on Saturday
April 18th 2015 has now started accepting
registrations.
There are
registration.

significant

savings

for

early

For further conference information please

contact:
info@abia.net.au | 03 9830 0677
CONGRATULATIONS
To Tasmanian Case Manager/Coordinator
Krystal Bassano on the latest addition to her
family: Daddy Christopher, Mummy Krystal and
sister, Sage welcomed the safe arrival, via
Caesarean section, of their baby girl Sidney
Violet May Bassano (weight 8 pounds 11) on
September 9th.
CONGRATULATIONS
To Perth Case Manager Simone Heavy on her
marriage in September. We wish her and
husband Damiano all the very best for a long and
happy life together.
A SHORT GOODBYE
Perth psychologist Amanda di Russo is leaving
us at Christmastime and will be on maternity
leave. Baby is due on 8th January and we wish
Amanda, Michael and baby a safe delivery.

Home schooling is also recommended where the

child is learning effectively but where social skills
are poor and the child is fragile and highly
anxious, not coping with the stresses of school
schedules and peers. These children are usually
older and at risk of nervous breakdowns.
Withdrawal or partial withdrawal from school is
recommended, together with good tuition and
counselling. The peer group can be particularly
difficult in early adolescence, at a time when our
child may be at his/her most vulnerable. Often
special school is suggested, but that also
includes a dilution of the academic content and
thus a reduction of later options.

EDUCATION SECTION
AND OFF TO SCHOOL THEY GO BUT
WHICH SCHOOL??
As the year is coming to an end and 2015 is on
the horizon, many parents will be faced with this
decision. It is not an easy decision, and it must
be made with only the childs best interest in
mind. There will be good arguments given for
and against every choice you consider, and as a
parent it is your job to weigh them all up. Firstly
you need to look at all the possible options,
some easier to reach than others. Here is a list of
the potential options, not all of which are suitable
for your child, but you should be aware of them,
and there are variants within each option.

Repeating a year is best in the kindergarten

setting, and possibly suits most of our
preschoolers. Kindergartens and pre-primaries
are great places to learn the social the skills
required for group membership. In the first year
most of our beginners are busy learning to play,
learning to cope with a new environment and its
routines and learning to comply with teachers. It
is in the second year, that with extra confidence
they tend to get involved in cooperative play and
in communication with peers. If these children
move directly to grade 1, where both time and
activities are more structured, this opportunity is
often lost. Repeating a year is often against the
school policy which suggests that a child needs
to stay with his/her age group. Parents have the
right to argue for their childs needs, and we all
know that children with ASD just take longer to
develop, longer to achieve confidence. However,
I do not agree with the old philosophy that
children should be kept down in a grade till they
learn all the skills expected in that grade level.
Once we have given our child the opportunity to
gain confidence and a little more maturity, we
need to allow him/her to proceed with that peer
group.

Home schooling,
Repeating a year,
Inclusion without support
Inclusion with an aide
Special Unit
Special school

Home schooling: we will look at this first as it is

what you have already been doing if you were
using a home based ABA program. It certainly
allows for the most efficient way of teaching
skills, particularly academics. It does not allow
for opportunity to socialise with peers and as the
child grows older, places a heavier burden on
parents to supply appropriate materials to ensure
the child can keep pace with his/her age group.
Home schooling can be most successful for the
potentially bright child who is behind with
language as it gives more opportunity to catch up
before joining peers in primary school. It is,
however, essential to find alternative social
exposure to learn necessary skills. It is also
essential to guarantee that the child is getting
optimal input, using the best of ABA strategies,
and not just waiting for the child to develop.

Inclusion without support is possible for the

few who have started intervention very early,
have achieved good command of language, are
compliant and can monitor their moods, and
above all, are socially confident. For them a
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dedicated aide will be a hindrance and in some

instances, there is no need to tell the school
what the original diagnosis once was. To
succeed they need to be indistinguishable.
However, they do need watching, particularly
during adolescence to ensure their stress coping
is fine. Please do not make the error of sending
your child off without support in the hope that he
may just make it, because it is nicer to avoid a
label which you see as stigmatising. Failure will
be more stigmatising and your child should not
be set up to fail if that is at all likely.

assume that support will always be positive. Too

often the well intentioned but untrained
classroom aide will segregate the child from
his/her peers, teach dependency and prompt
bound behaviours and undo much that has been
achieved. Parents need to be vigilant, recruit the
help of the Case Manager to communicate with
the school, offer training and support for the aide,
and if all fails and several IEP meetings have not
brought necessary solutions, consider a different
setting.
Thankfully these negative situations are
becoming rarer as schools and their staffs are
becoming more aware of the needs our children
bring, and our ability to help them meet those
needs with consultancy. Above all it is essential
to communicate and be clear as to what your
expectations are, and what the child can
achieve. If the child cannot cope with grade
levels then individual targets and a modified
curriculum is needed, but inclusion assumes that
the child is accepted and involved socially. There
is a lot a good teacher can achieve by
encouraging peers to be involved in including our
child and so contributing to his/her social
development

In such cases, support from the home program is

best faded gradually to just casual monitoring
and keeping in touch, but ready to provide what
is needed before the child gets stressed. It is
also important with these children to make sure
they are aware of support and know when to ask
for help early. It is best to tell them, in a very
positive way, why they have needed therapy in
the past, and to get them to take over the task of
setting new learning objectives for themselves. It
always surprises me how much insight they have
into their difficulties and how willing they are to
take on responsibility for their own development.
A warning for parents; remember that the
difference between learning in a supportive oneto-one session at home and learning in a group
of noisy peers in an environment which is full of
distraction and demands can be quite daunting.
Parents should expect the childs skill levels and
confidence to drop, and hence continuing of
home program will still be needed to ensure
academics and language skills do not fall behind
while the child focuses on the social challenges
at school. This is why I tend to recommend that a
child have a grasp of reading and maths skills
before starting school. They are so much easier
to teach individually.

Special units, where they exist, can be very

helpful in providing integration which is limited to
the childs ability to cope with it productively,
while also providing a program more suited to
the childs ability level. They can provide a safe
place and a smaller group to retreat to when the
open classroom or playground becomes too
stressful. In particular they are very effective in
high schools where our children may show ability
in only few of the curriculum subjects and may
need a modified approach in others. Also they
help support our children through the rough time
of early adolescence when being different can be
very painful in the playground. They tend to be
more realistic and practical in their learning
targets and they prepare for adulthood by
providing necessary skills and work experience.
A supportive and protective unit can help
maintain our gifted students, educating them

Inclusion with support is the option that

probably will suit most of our children. This will
assist them in bridging the gap between ongoing
individual support and classroom learning.
However, here everything will depend on the
quality of the support the school provides. Do not
3

through to year 12, where they can be noted by

peers for their achievements rather than their
differences. Too often, unsupported, competent
students with ASD end up leaving school early
as they cannot cope with the cumulative stresses
of growing academic demands and social
rejection.

special school may be the best option. They are

geared to teaching life skills, they will provide an
accepting peer group and I have seen many a
child removed from a negative integration
situation blossom and relax, and begin to make
gains again.
So, parents, I urge you to check your options,
discuss with your Case Manager, list the current
aims you have for your child and check out your
chances for achieving these aims. In choosing
schools do some visits, ask around, look at the
kids, assess the level of interest staff is showing
in your child; ask if they will cooperate with you
and the home program. Will there be regular
IEPs? Above all choose carefully and be ready to
accept that you are making a decision for this
year and the next year maybe, but that your
childs needs may change and then so will your
choice.

Special schools are necessary and serve an

essential function, but children should not be
placed there on the basis of their diagnosis or
label, but on their current needs. Before you
decide on a special school suggested to you, go
and look at it personally. You may be impressed
with the computers, but remember that your child
will be learning from modelling, and it is people
not hardware who will influence your child. You
may be impressed with the teacher-pupil ratio,
but remember that that is because the pupils all
will need much more attention. Individual aide
time is usually not available in special schools or
units. Have a look at what the students at your
childs level are actually learning, what are the
expectations placed on them, what are they
achieving. Will your child fit in, be happy, meet
your goals for him/her? This may depend on your
childs age.

Jura Tender

It is my experience that it is best to give every

child the option of inclusion as it provides best
opportunity for learning social skills naturally.
This is best achieved at kindergarten and early
grade levels, where the peer group is accepting
and supportive, and even if our child does not
cope with the language levels and early
academic skills, he/she is learning to be part of a
group, to follow group rules and feel comfortable
with peers. This is all essential for later coping in
the wider community. However, with many
children, where skill levels have not been
attained, a time comes where inclusion is no
longer happening and the child is segregated
within the integrated classroom. The child is no
longer gaining from the experience and may
even find it damaging. This is when decisions will
need to be made, and for the child who is
functioning at the intellectually impaired level a

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NEWS

Speech Pathologist and Case Manager Bec
Robinson will be presenting a paper based on
her honours thesis at the Australian Linguistic
Society annual conference in December. Her
paper is titled: Perception of intervocalic
consonants in first language by speakers of an
Australian Aboriginal language and speakers of
Standard Australian English. While the subject
of her research has nothing to do with her work
as a Case Manager, try reading aloud her paper
title ten times, and afterwards you will probably
need Speech Therapy!

ANY COMMENT ON The Code?

NEW PARENT SUPPORT PROGRAM FOR

W.A.

Have any readers been following the ABC-TVs

drama/thriller serial, The Code on Sunday
evenings? One of the main characters is an IT
whizz who has Aspergers/High Functioning
Autism. The show has had high praise from
critics, (and I concur) but I have yet to see any
comments in the media regarding how well
accurately, realistically the character with an
ASD is portrayed. Perhaps we are becoming
accustomed to seeing characters with High
Functioning Autism on our TVs; Doc Martin and
Big Bang Theory are examples that immediately
spring to mind, and weve had characters with an
ASD in movies since Rain Man. So maybe noone is commenting because we dont find seeing
a leading character with an ASD remarkable any
more. (And maybe that is a good thing).

Developmental Disability WA, an advocacy

group, is introducing a Family Mentoring
program, Side By Side, for families who are
experiencing challenging behaviours.
The program uses a Family Partner, someone
who has previously experienced what the family
is experiencing, to provide support to the family.
We will have more information in the next
Rhubarb, but if you are interested in this, please
give
Bronwyn
Pike
at
Developmental
DisabilityWa a call on 0414 813 489

ISADDs POP UP RESTAURANT

During the last two sets of school holidays, our
BUDDY group really outdid themselves with an
A-class pop up restaurant. The aim of the group
was to promote self-help skills in the kitchen with
food preparation, cooking and presentation. An
added task was to design and create their own
restaurant which they did beautifully, working out
the delegation of jobs amongst themselves.
Knowing that many members of the group have
had limitations in their diet or restricted range in
foods, it was encouraging to see the boys eager
to try a range of new ingredients including radish,
balsamic vinegar and goats cheese. They are all
proving to be budding foodies and will continue
to get together each school holidays.
A special mention and thanks to Cooper and
Jaimee, who kindly offered their time to act as
the group mentors and helpers behind the
scenes.

HUMOUR SECTION
A story doing the rounds at the moment
concerns a young man who goes to visit his
elderly Uncle, a real bushie living by himself in
a remote rural area. The area is so remote that
there is no electricity supply to the old mans
property, so the only heat is from an old wood
stove, and cold showers are the order of the day.
Having arrived in time for dinner, the young man
is helping his uncle set the table when he notices
a smear on one of the dinner plates. This plate
seems to be dirty he says to his uncle, who
replies, This is the bush, and its as clean as
cold water can get it.
Thus reassured about the cleanliness of the
plate, the young man happily eats his dinner.
Their meal over, the uncle announces that it is
time to clean up. He gives a whistle, and a large
dog appears in the room. Come on, Cold Water,
time to clean the plates!

ANGOVE STREET FESTIVAL

On Sunday 26th Angove Street came alive with
over 100 stalls and entertainment in celebration
of the annual Angove Street Festival. ISADD
were kindly invited to participate and we took the
opportunity to not only promote intervention, but
to also educate and celebrate ASD. We were
lucky to have the help of Rhona and Ethan
Sinclair who set up a Lego centre within our stall.
It was certainly the place to be for young and old,
who couldnt help themselves as they walked
passed our display. We had our psychs available
to answer questions and there was certainly a lot
of interest in our service. Special thanks to Henry
Mills for his artwork to help promote ISADD.
Apologies for the lack of advertising for this
event, it crept up very quickly; however, we will
definitely be back next year!