Twiter Notes From Autism Webinar on Multi-Treatments

I belong to the Spectrum Gold Club through www.momsfightingautism.com at the cost of $14.95 per month via paypal. Through the club I get advanced notice of the free webinars, that are moderated by author Chantal Sicile-Kira and transcripts from the webinars at a later date.

This webinar took place on Monday April 20, 2009 with Jonathan Alderson in Canada as the guest. He specializes in merging best-practice strategies and techniques into cohesive customizes Multi-Treatment Interventions. His website is Intensive Multi-Treatment Intervention.

The following are the tweets I posted on my twitter page that I was able to gather. My son was in the kitchen at the same time so it was hard to get all the information.

After the introduction Jonathan gave some background information on himself. He went on to mention the principles for choosing a treatment plan.

1st principle to choose treatment program is to start with idea that dx of autism is multifaceted and multi factorial, not just 1 modality

physical health of child needs to be a priority

child has bowel issues, distended stomach, diet intervention working in conjunction with medical Drs within 2-4 months kid did play therapy

principle # 3 each indiv treatment/strategy (slp, ot, music) chosen & brought into an indication that are pre conditioned and timing

try behavior or swimming with other programs you are doing, ask W questions to therapists - what is this specifically for?

be wary if they say the product helps everything, which symptoms does it address and doesn't address, when (HBOT) is best time/age?

don't start HBOT first, do other Biomedical treatments first, this one company turned parents away, principle - which area does it work on

multi treatment does not mean doing them all at the same time or at once, review program that is happening already, might be able eliminate

service providers need to talk to one another, tell a parent if the treatment is not the right one, maybe try this one first

where do all the treatments fit in the map, now taking questions that were sent in, first from Puerto Rico asking about RDI and floortime

both programs fit under a play based model plus social and maybe even use pieces of both to address social dev and social communication

can start with play therapy and move on to behavioral therapy, might have better eye contact spontaneously,now structured adult led learning

son is 6 & does not speak, speech therapy is useless, what can I do. He says consider physical help, high # of kids have chronic ear infect

it is possible that certain sounds they are sensitive too, only one example, not for all nonverbal children, a health concern related?

go beyond hearing tests, speech therapy is low frequency & he says not enough, make sure the SLPs are teaching parents techniques to do home

parent needs to be included or switch therapists with someone who includes you the parent,also make language and talking a game rather than

an exercise that is controlled, be playful with words, mom pours juice, next time sing orange song in a playful way, make language engaging

the child may tug on parent to let them know they want song to sing again, also Chantal says might be motor problem, they need alternative

means of communication, many scared that they will not learn to speak if have a device to communicate, this is not true, will help speech

the focus could than be on the inappropriate behaviors instead of teaching to communicate, don't isolate out language, look at bigger picture

question now on stimming 4 yr old with classic autism likes air conditioners and fans, some say stop them from self stimulating, he is not

investigate - maybe biochemical - beta carotene someone named Mary M published papers on - peripheral vision, hand clapping

Dr in NY Kaplan specializes in vision a therapy not the colored ones but this is lenses that are designed to help depth perception

I typed biochemical, mistake he said bio medical both times

I just submitted a question about my sons vocal tics - burping and then asked about brushing protocol

other callers said the other kid could have yeast over growth

learn how to ask questions if the therapist cannot answer maybe find another one his website is www.imti.ca

next question about B12 shots, he is not a med Dr - personal opinion says there is good research on the B12 shot comparing to creams/spray

he has started four DAN conferences, last one in San Diego, he started long time ago, in Washington, NJ he was invited to Physician training

what does he think of the gfcf diet - what to do and when, specifically to eliminate the proteins in wheat and milk, families in conj w/Dr

a peptide test will tell them if the child needs those eliminated, determine if child needs it or not, dont jump in, others say just try it

at least close to a yr to get results, cannot determine in a few months, make sure full range of nutrition they are getting, SDC appropriate

gfcf does not address a yeast issue where SDC is, Chantal gets responses on trying the gfcf diet for a few months, at least 8 months

gfcf does not address a yeast issue where SDC is, Chantal gets responses on trying the gfcf diet for a few months, at least 8 months

autism can be co morbid with other disorders, can have aspergers and depression

In this brief presentation he will share his insights into how to effectively combine treatments

paying specific attention to phases of development, the order and timing of treatments.

GRASP is good advocacy program, 50% of the board are on the spectrum, also cognitive therapy is good to learn from #asd #autism

Brenda Smith Myles book and Chantal 's book on life skills are both recommended, she touted her own book, but it is good I have it

a teen with aspergers needs to have fun social experiences need a balance not only interact with just therapists #aspergers #asd

Chantal talking about her son who is 20 and he wants to have more friends and a girl friend, he is practicing at various locales, beach

next question about natural healing - oil of oregano, he runs a program with families following DAN protocol

dont do protocols under your own direction, find someone with state certification need right dose, etc.

they have not asked my question, this one is 12 yr old boy with PDD-NOS, tested for mercury levels, he has high levels,

now on vaccine schedule he said the Mom should go to a DAN conference, now about chelation - he has worked with kids with IV chelation

kids had other therapies so not scientific studies to see if was specific to chelation when memory improved

can adults benefit with auditory and music therapy, what about HBOT for adults, maybe higher functioning, they need to be participating

include the adults in the decision process for their own therapies, caregivers supporting the person, helpers believe help is possible, be +

auditory therapy - analyze what can help for them her son Jeremy has written a lot down and is publishing it,. he started vision therapy 19

the treatment map evolves with each new strength, clear up one issue like hyperactivity use play therapy first, by third phase better

isolate on other distractions to get their language

in the first instance make trial in ABA make more varied, opposite of how ABA is applied, a bit of reconstruction of ABA model,

don't prescribe the interactions, in a strict ABA each therapist is strict to give same verbal inst, he allows therapists to instruct dif way

kids can function in this way, all with autism dont need instruction the same way, change up where therapists sits or change their tone

Chantal says generalization to start with changing one thing at a time, good at ABA change tone but not stimuli, keep same tone & then chng

use puppets to practice scripts, play around and testing boundaries

get a session of therapy recorded and try to implement it, not an extra burden for parent to become therapist, use strategies at home

treatment effect speeds up as consistency across the environment and teach other therapists to do it too, ABA and speech, etc connect

a conduit for generalizing therapists, next question from CAIRO asking about homeschooling and HBOT for autistic infant at 2 yrs old

HBOT are used throughout North America in hospitals, for an infant need to speak to a Dr, not going to do an opinion

lets list what are your financial resources, family support, time, professional, do an inventory to see if comfortable to do homeschool

socializing is to be placed with other children and adults, research child can benefit from socializing in peer groups and play,

low eye contact, close to no language, more intensive adult led program best to begin with

toileting methods with severely autistic children, his method is - consider biomedical, autism correlated with gut issues, if kid has gut

seal up the gut issues of constip, diar, etc before trying toileting, kid could be in pain, no tug of war or effort until gut is resolved

if child is fairly regular, make toilet/washroom a place where the child has control - not an area to forced to sit on toilet -user friendly

keep consistent - associate bathroom with diaper changes 99% of time get them into the bathroom and do it beside toilet, yoga mat to use

keep all the supplies stocked in the bathroom, diapers, wipes, step one, two is how you respond & react with facial expressions, attitude

parents in gest and fun and the parents make comments about the diaper, the msg child gets that this is something they are not happy about

the presentation is to take off diaper, look at child even if not looking back, and voice is calm, enthusiastic, you did a ---- this is good

give the message that he did the pppp and the attitude is really important, empty contents into the toilet, make association - visual behav

pretend if not able to get into toilet and verbalize, once they are wiped, clothes on and they get to flush, he encourages use tp so kid

can see the process of taking the toilet paper off the roll and putting in toilet, than use the wipes to clean them up better,no force flush

empower the child to take control of their own body, encourage rather than force

child might not be ready due to hypotonia, an accessory is a foot stool for child to have feet flat and supported, can relax muscles

some books say take kids once an hr, he says no get more blanks and false negatives, no person on the planet goes once an hour

kids have a hard time feeling their body, this girl sets an alarm to remind herself to go to bathroom every few hrs when out in public

adults have told Chantal that they cannot tell the difference between a full stomach and having to go to the bathroom, timer helps them

if your child holds bowel movements until they come home - theory is that school overwhelmed they are more comfortable at home, so can go

some children with sensory issues modify bathroom with a rug - could have auditory challenges, bathrooms are super echoy & the flush

if a kid talks softly, covers ears often than use the rug and do not have them flush, paent can flush for them, tiles and seats cold, warmup

best way to find therapists in your area - he says parents ahead of you are beating the path, dont recreate the wheel with research

save parents hours of finding stuff, local support groups, list at ARI of DAN Dr's, the list is for Canada and other countries, TACA

TACA has real time chat now, local ASA chapters (I always say this)

they never did my question about brushing protocol

interview the professional - open to work with team members, do not engage in contract with someone not willing to engage with others

are they personable to you, your the child's advocate, how do they respond to you, parent friendly therapist