New Favorite TV show --The Big Bang Theory

A friend and colleague of mine steered me to a TV show, The Big Bang Theory.  I don't watch much television in general, but this particular sitcom seems to have as its star a young man, Sheldon, who fits the image of a brilliant man with Aspergers.    Since I work with younger versions of this character, and try to teach some of the same skills this guy is lacking, the humor presented hits home.    This is funny!

Here is a part of an episode where Sheldon has created a schema for making a friend.  See for yourself!

 

Click here to watch

I feel that Sheldon actually is a success---he has a great job, has a circle of friends, a nice place to live, and many interests (maybe not shared interests, but interests all the same)  He has the ability to reflect on his behavior and attempt to make changes.  I hope the same for the kids at my school. 

The episode here was real for me.  I have piles of speech therapy materials which all attempt to teach friendship skills.  It's often elusive and difficult to concretely explain. Friendship and conversational skills all require on-the-spot flexibility that this character does not possess.  Sheldon and others like him will struggle, but he's on the right track! At least he's aware he needs to learn.

Video Self Modeling

To a non-teacher, the term "Video Self Modeling" might conjure up images of very vain people recording themselves and then watching the video again....and again. 

This is not what I'm writing about today.




Here is Wikipedia's definition:
  In video self-modeling (VSM), individuals observe themselves performing a behavior successfully on video, and then imitate the targeted behavior. Video modeling has been used to teach many skills, including social skills, communication, and athletic performance; it has shown promise as an intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

A couple of years ago, a teacher and I worked with a group of children with autism on specific social skills needed to function in a classroom.  These included sitting in a chair correctly, raising a hand to get called on, and saying "Thank You" when given something.  We actually worked on many other skills, but these were a few that we could teach through video self-modeling.  We had them practice the skill in controlled settings, we recorded them with a digital videocamera, and then I took the raw footage home and edited it painstakingly though Pinnacle Studio. Here's a screenshot of how many cuts and edits needed to be done.  We added captions and music, burned DVDs as each chapter was added, and the kids loved it.  We had requests from the kids to watch it weekly!

Pinnacle Studio screenshot

This past year, several of the children have gone on to be successfully mainstreamed in the regular education classroom.  I've seen them apply these same skills independently.  I'd like to say the teacher and I helped to develop these skills. (By the way, the teacher, Lindsay Bedford, was wonderful!) 

Screenshot from video---kids practicing raising hands to be called on.

The reason I'm bringing this up now, two years later, is that I have a couple of these same children along with others in a new social skills group with a different teacher.  I dug up this old video, showed it in class, and all of the children loved it--they were reading the captions aloud and wanted to make a new video.   So it looks like I'll have to dust off the digital videocamera!  I can think of many places to record them practicing their skills all over the school.


Here is a YouTube video explaining more in depth as to what Video Self-Modeling is all about.

Look for more updates as the year progresses!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day tomorrow to all the dads I know-- especially to my husband and his wonderful dad!  

It's a little hard to write much more than this--thinking of Father's Day sends me down a twisted path of memories, some sweet, and others a bit painful.   I didn't actually grow up in the stereotypical household of the "Leave It to Beaver" era. (Who did?)  Life had many bumps (some would say mountains) including the early death of a mother, difficulties with older siblings, many relocations, parental job loss, the list can go on.

Reflecting back on my dad, and knowing what I know now about autism, I'm nearly 100% certain that he was an individual with Asperger's Syndrome, which caused many of the family dynamic difficulties, and the problems with coping with life's bumps.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with this term, individuals with Aspergers often have high intelligence, but many problems with pragmatic language and social skills.  My  personal belief is that high functioning autism and Aspergers describe the same disorder--others may disagree, but the impact on a family and the children is huge regardless of the terminology.

     My father was highly intelligent.  He was also a World War II veteran.  He had a Masters Degree in metallurgical engineering from Penn State.  He married twice (first wife, my mother, died) and had five children.  He loved classical music and opera, played the piano, and the clarinet. He worked in the steel industry as a metallurgist. He enjoyed gardening, biking, hiking, and Scrabble.  With a profile like this, you would think that we would have all grown up like the Brady Bunch---minor squabbles at most.  The problem with Aspergers is that although the person may have a highly developed vocabulary, the ability to carry on a conversation with one's wife and children, communicate feelings, read other's nonverbal cues, and talk about a topic of another's choosing are all impaired.  Blurting out odd things in public places was a bit embarrassing to his kids (like me), and talking about the same odd thing over and over again was very common (e.g. 'core wash' which was something he was working on in his work--few people really cared much about it or understood it).  He had difficulties holding onto jobs, resulting in disruptive relocations every few years.  As I'm thinking back now, I could add tenfold to this list of his difficulties.  No one, however, really understood the cause of his social issues, but he, along with the family, was frustrated.  As I grew up, I purposefully distanced myself from both him and everyone else in the family, partially due to all of this. Oh, the guilt I feel now! 

        I have a wish-- I would love to go back in time with the knowledge and empathy I feel I now possess, and talk to my dad.  I'm not sure what we would talk about, but I would hope that I could look past the symptoms of the disorder, and talk to him more as the intelligent, nice person that he was.  That's all.


P.S.  I'm not really one to write this type of thing, but I guess Father's Day just brought it all out.   Happier writing will come next time!