Newsgroups: bit.listserv.autism
Date:         Fri, 6 Nov 1992 09:12:20 EST
              <AUTISM@SJUVM.BITNET>
From:         Lisa S Lewis <LISAS@PUCC.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: Alex at kindergarten

On Fri, 6 Nov 1992 08:50:20 EST <RJKOPP@SUVM> said:
>   You recommended that when Dan gets his aide that he insist they be
>trained in Autism.  In our School District (Syracuse City in New York
>State like Dan's) our Aides are required to have 6 credit hours of
>College work, it doesn't have to be in Special Ed or even Education.
>They may receive other training after they are hired (although I have
>not found this information).  If they are I'm quite sure it probably
>is a brief training (something like a workshop or seminar, If it's
>more than that I would be surprised, someone please inform me if you
>know otherwise.  Quite often it happens that the person may be studying

>....  I have seen some
>situations that I'm sure that this was not the case, and the aides were
>clueless, relying on motherly instict or common sense, which can be OK
>but alittle more is needed.
>   I would be interested in knowing if this is a Statewide policy, The

>State Law certainly can't be any more help than that, otherwise Syracuse
>couldn't use the above as their policy.  I also am wondering what the
>other States require in relation to training and what they do for additional
>more specific training.

Ray,
I am not sure what the state (New Jersey) requires in terms of training for
aides, but I suspect that it is minimal.  Often, aides *are* relying on no
more than common sense, and as far as I am concerned common sense and exper-
ience with non-autistic children doesn't clue a person in as to how to deal
with someone who has autism.

My point is that, because it may not be required, it's up to the parents to
demonstrate that an aide who isn't trained properly will probably be no help
to the child.  It's also to the teacher's benefit that the aide be well-
trained and monitored, or he/she will end up being more trouble than help
in the classroom.

I realize that I am in an enviable position:  a) I have an extremely
supportive district and child study team; and b) We live within fifty miles of
*three* excellent schools (The Eden Institute, Princeton Child Development
Institute and Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center.)  Around here,
because of that proximity, it is not hard to get training for an aide.  Most
people that I know of who are using aides have them trained and monitored by
Eden personnel. The training consists of teaching the aide what autism IS
(as well as what it isn't) and then going through the most useful ways to
deal with behaviors, and how to facilatate social interaction, etc.) The train-
ing also means that the aide has someone to call as problems crop up.

Our four year old doesn't have an aide now, because he's at Douglass, in a
class of six children (with a teacher, three full time teaching assistants,
a speech therapist and graduate student "home programmers.")  However, I can
see that this may come up for us in a few years.  Sam's placement at Douglass
is expected to be of two years duration, so these are important issues for us
too.

I'm sure that everyone else has pressed this point too, but it was extremely
effective to point out (as we searched for a placement) that spending money
NOW would be likely to save money in the long run.  We come from a very small
district and Sam's is the first such placement that anyone can remember. They
certainly are not used to spending this much money (tuition and bus, as well
as sensory integration OT therapy 1X/week) on a single child.  They are looking
at Sam as "precedent setting" (good thing he doesn't know how much pressure
he's under!) and the goal is to get him into the mainstream (or at least grad-
ually move him to less restrictive environments until he can be in a regular
classroom.) I have also done a lot of research on the efficacy of therapies
I wanted in the IEP prior to the meeting, and have presented the CST members
with articles (when appropriate.)  I have tried to do this in a non-alienating
way; I do not want to be adversarial, as these are the people who can help
my son. But I also realize that the tendency is to "do it cheap" in every
school district.

I realize that for different children the goals and issues may not be the same,
but I still think it's critical to get both an aide (if needed) and some
training written into the IEP. The other thing that I find a lot of parents
don't realize is that they can simply refuse to sign an IEP that they don't
feel answers all their child's needs.

Well, this is way beyond simply answering Ray's points, but I agree with the
posters that I'd like to see more of these topics being addressed on this
list.

Lisa

P.S. After a parent meething this week, a neurologist spoke about recent
advances and therapies.  I'm sorry to say that there's very little to report.
Certainly nothing that hasn't been discussed here.

When asked about auditory training, she remarked that although there have been
only anecdotal reports, she didn't believe it would "do any harm."  Of course,
that's not too encouraging, especially given the waiting lists and the $1300
price tag on the procedure!
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