Autism Solutions: Pathways to Progress

Autism Solutions: Pathways to Progress
The first in Profectum Foundation’s webcast series presents the recorded sessions from Profectum Foundation's inaugural regional training conference held in New York City on September 25, 2011.
The conference welcomed parents, clinicians, educators, early intervention specialists and others interested in broadening their understanding of the DIR model and the Floortime model, with other integrated treatment approaches. Lecture, dialogue, video clips, case presentations and workshops illustrated real life challenges and how parents and professionals use real world solutions to realize each child’s potential.
The morning Plenary Sessions featured acclaimed leaders in the autism treatment community, including Serena Wieder, PhD (coauthored Engaging Autism and The Child with Special Needs with Stanley Greenspan, MD) and Ricki Robinson, MD MPH (author of Autism Solutions). 14 Workshops in the afternoon featured a variety of introductory and advanced topics geared for parents and professionals, featuring nationally and internationally known clinicians and educators.
6-month subscription to all sessions from the conference is $95.  6-month subscriptions to individual sessions are $15/session.
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PLENARY SESSIONS
Welcome & Introduction to Profectum Foundation
Cuong Do
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Developing Development: Foundational Capacities for Development
Serena Wieder, PhD
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Development builds upon a structure of Foundational Capacities for Development that support relating, communicating, functioning and thinking. The building blocks of this foundation mus be tailored to individual profiles as each child develops along unique pathways and at different rates. It is important to understand the process that lead to progress and life-long learning and functioning. The spontaneous and organized experiences offered through interactive relationships as part of a comprehensive intervention program illustrated how to develop and strengthen the foundational capacities necessary to advance progress.
Pathways to Progress: Integrated Perspectives
Serena Wieder, Lynn Gonzalez, Monica G. Osgood, Tal Baz
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Case presentations of children illustrating different developmental courses and various "bumps in the road" were viewed by multidisciplinary Profectum faculty who provided in their perspectives on how they formulate the developmental challenges, view the foundational capacities, consider the rate of progress and identify the various components of intervention that best help the children realize their developmental potential.
Behavior as Communications: What is the child really telling you?
Ricki G. Robinson, MD, MPH
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Part of seeking real world solutions to real problems is how we think about the child and the questions we ask to determine what the treatment should look like for that child and family. The team treatment wheel, with the child and family at the center was discussed to illustrate this formulation. One of the more difficult issues facing parent and team members are the behaviors their child may have. These behaviors, such as social withdrawal, aggression, bolting and extreme irritability may come in patterns, some persisting over time, some changing as the individual grows and develops. Using these behaviors as a communication that there could be a disturbance in the external or internal environment for a child allows the team to problem solve and work out whatever issues are stimulating this response. This approach of "getting behind" the child's behavior to understand the derailed comprehension and communication related to deficits in Foundational Capacities for Development and the anxiety that this causes was demonstrated through real case presentations.
WORKSHOP SESSIONS I
A. DIR/Floortime Model Functional Emotional Development Levels 1-4
Lisa deFaria, LCSW & Griff Doyle, PhD
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This Part 1 workshop introduced parents and professionals to the Floortime model, the developmentally based interactive "play" therapy approach pioneered by Drs. Stanley Greenspan and Serena Wieder. The Floortime model interventions strengthen and expand the parent:child relationship and the ability to "get and stay connected" by targeting challenges that derail relational capacities, communication and sustained emotional connections with caregivers. Presenters reviewed the six core DIR model Functional Social-Emotional Capacities and explored the impact of individual differences in developing competence in these critical capacities. Part 1 of this workshop concentrated on the DIR model Levels I-III, creating opportunities to develop the ability to attend and focus, to engage warmly and trustingly with others across a range of emotions, and to communicate intentionally with both simple and complex gestures needed for social problem solving. Through video clips and discussion, specific Floortime model strategies for working with avoidant, passive, aimless, reactive and other profiles were highlighted.   Emphasis was placed on the importance of multidisciplinary team to promotes skills of optimal regulation and availability, intentionality, joint attention, emotional sharing and communication, so vital for deeper parent-child bonding. (For parents and professionals. Followed by the Floortime Model, Part 2, which focused on problem solving, creating symbolic ideas and abstract thinking.)
B. The Paths to Language: Knowing When To Teach What
Sima Gerber, PhD, CCC
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The question of what to teach when to children with challenges in the development of speech, language, and/or communication can be complicated. However, with an understanding of how development typically proceeds, parents and professionals can determine what aspect of language acquisition should take center stage at a particular point in the child's development and when to move on to other capacities. The best way to facilitate the child's development of language, which is a symbolic system for communicating ideas and feelings, is knowing where the child is relative to engagement ¤ intention ¤ meaning ¤ comprehension ¤ production. Participates were given a list of questions to guide their thinking about each child and help them determine intervention priorities.
C. Sensory Integration and Individual Differences: Synchrony of the Sensory, Emotional, Social Triad
Rosemary White, OTR/L
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This workshop provided a view into treatment of children who experience challenges in relating and communicating from the perspective of an Occupational Therapist as interactions are tailored to support the child's individual sensory processing and motor planning profile. This session reviewed the development of treatment as it has changed from a primary focus on sensory processing to integrating this into the flow of a session to support emotional and social development of the child.
D. Emotional Development and Symbolic Thinking
Serena Wieder, PhD, Ron Balamuth, PhD and Rebecca Shahmoon Shanok, LCSW, PhD
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Every child on the autism spectrum, just like every other child, has an emotional life and experiences a widening range of emotions as s/he develops, represented by various symbols used in play, conversations, drama, and arts. But climbing the symbolic ladder to abstract levels, as well as the full range of emotions and reflective function requires the integration of auditory/language and visual spatial knowledge and sequencing, the integration of affects and theory of mind. How perceptions turn into symbols, how the common symbols of childhood in play stories, books, dramas and ideas reflect the emotional levels of children, and the experiences which promote symbolic development were discussed.
E. Education: Using an Integrated Approach in Pre-school and Elementary School Programs
Monica G. Osgood