Wow, wow and wow!

[lovelyboy]

I went to a GREAT workshop during the last 2 days....given by Dr Peter Vermeulen from Belgium!
He does research on Autism and published several books....
Ok....the new buzz that REALY MADE SENSE is his research and theory on Context Blindness in people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)!
So he told us....and it makes sense, that yes mind blindness does exist, but that thats not really what causes social inappropriate behaviour, rather that they found that people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) has Context Blindness. Roughly this means that a person with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) can not read info from the environment to create a context to help him understand for example facial expressions, emotions...and so forth.
He went on telling about research that showed that social skill training doesn't really improve sosial skills within the person with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), because the contexts where these skills needs to be applied is changing all the time....and because people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) struggles with transfering info into new situations, cant adjust and apply the learned skills...
He also spoke about the ineffectiveness of teaching for example identification of emotions through pictures....because for example....crying can be because of sadness or happiness!!!! And what is social inappropriate behaviour!!!??? Because the appropriateness depends on the context....That we rather need to explain and teach these kids how to interpret contexts.....exct!
And because context cant be understood...people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) struggles with predicting the outcome or what will happen in a given situation and this increases their anxiety....this then can lead to anger, crying, exct!
The penny really dropped for me!
He published a book called "Autism as context blindness".... I am really going to order it for me!

 

[TerryJ2]

Sounds good. I'll look it up.

 

[TeDo]

I'm going to look it up too. Thank you soooo much for sharing.

 

[Tiapet]

This sounds so good. Exactly what the kids need. To bad everyone working with these kids don't have or get access to this. I know for my 2, one who may very well have it and another who I really do suspect has issues, don't get clues at all and it has caused many many problems!

 

[TeDo]

I'm going to get the book and read it. If it's as good as I think it is, I will insist that anyone wanting to teach difficult child 1 social skills read it first. THEN they will know what needs to be done and they can figure out a way to do it. I'm hoping it says what I think it does.

 

[lovelyboy]

TeDo....this guy was so entertaining.....they run a training centre in Belgium that helps adult Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) people with transitioning and helping them with life skills....He has done this since I think the 70's or 80's? The other thing that was interesting is that more recent studies on Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) showed that there isnt SO MUCH difference between the results of NT and high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) people on tests like mind blindness......reading facial expressions.....and the rest that focus on consious brain activities!!!! The test in the past that concluded this theory was apparently done on classic autistic children who ussually ALSO have cognitive impairment!....So then they thought ok...so is it the lower IQ or Autism causing these results!!!???
So now they do the tests with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) people with normal IQ!
Then they found that it must be something else causing the social anxiety and behaviour.....then research on reading context started...They found that NT peoples brains read clues UNCONSIOUSLY within the first 380 milli seconds ....And that Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) brains takes much longer or dont register some info at all!!!!
He doesnt really believe in traditional social skill training with giving info, roleplay exct at all!!!!! Because what you teach a person in one situation will differ in a next situation, context......He went on asking us....So...What is this so called social inappropriate behaviour?! Because it all depends on the context!
Whats nice on the one hand is that we as parents can help them with these skills of reading and understanding the context and shape behaviour every day.....The negative is.....We are going to get so tired!!!!!
He went on telling us that we as adults and NT needs to try and understand the Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) persons reality or context from WITHIN! When we see THEIR behaviour in context, we can try and figure out why they behave the way they do....give them more info, explain the context, give them different scripts of behaviour and try and help them.
BUT he also said that if the person is to anxious already....when they start showing repetitive behavior or asking questions over and over again.....they wont be able to register new info....Then they first have to go through the emotions.....

 

[TeDo]

That's exactly what has made the difference in our house. I have learned to "think" like difficult child 1. It's been hard and I sometimes am incorrect but for the most part, I can figure out where he's coming from and can then explain things so he understands. It has made a HUGE difference. The problem for us has been trying to explain it to other people, even educators. The ones I had to deal with were the most difficult people.....talk about "stuck" thinking.....yea, that's THEM.

 

[Allan-Matlem]

Thanks for sharing, I have been reading various articles etc about contextual blindness , which also includes perspective taking, consequential thinking etc This reaffirms why CPS - collaborative problem solving and RDI - relationship development intervention using guided participation to help kids solve problems and navigate the world in the context of concerns and problems . This kind of thinking helps kid see the bigger picture

AllanKatz-parentingislearning

 

[Ktllc]

Very interesting. It kind of make sense what he said about the emotional cards. I had tried it with V and it is so hard (even for me to be honest) because it is out of context. I actually gave up. And then you add the fact that V's facial expressions don't always match the context (ie: smiles when anxious or in trouble) and then NOTHING makes sense.
I always say I have to explain the obvious (obvious for me lol) and I guess it is what this researcher is saying: explain the context.
Thanks for sharing Lovely. And I would trust info coming from Belgium: this country is up-to-date with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) finding/research.

 

[TerryJ2]

All very interesting ... but sadly, I think I will have to hire someone to work with-my difficult child because he loves arguing with-me so much, I cannot seem to teach him anything any more. I like these ideas, though.