Reply With QuoteI should add that most of the above reflects how it was in the 1990's - I'm not up to speed by any standard, nor do I want to be.
I'd be careful with this - some of the parents are right!Nigh on impossible: Convince distraught parents not to continue to 'try things that might help' or to fight LEAs to supply that which they personally believe works for Johnny.
Personally I'd rather peel my skin off and roll in salt than attempt to take on autism (again) in terms of changing something. First of all, 2 of the main players 'the guy' that heads up the TEACH programme (who's name I forget) and Lovaas who heads up the competition (the bit I worked in) hate each other and are so embroiled in disagreeing that they are no more likely to ever pull together than I would hang President Bush poster on my wall (Obama maybe...). Secondly, Simon Baron-Cohen who is another main player also happens to be both a friggin' genius and a remarkable politician. It's an almost impossible task but one that I think is in better hands than anything we could muster without a few decades research and (on my part) a personality transplant!
If I sound jaded it's because I am - not with you Pebble.
I should add that most of the above reflects how it was in the 1990's - I'm not up to speed by any standard, nor do I want to be.
I'd just like to comment on the most popular thread on this site:Originally Posted by John Jackson
Although confrontation can have an effect on others' thinking and opinions, it's really not a generally good method to apply if you want to be persuasive.
We need to start thinking differently, taking a new approach and working as a team. But I think I've been saying this for years now.......
"Non-evasive psychic surgery"
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Bindeweede started this thread 22August 2007. Gary Mannion, the subject of this thread, even joined in on the discussion for a while - but he got such a pounding that he could not take it any more......and removed himself from the scene.
What does this tell us?
What does the ongoing ridicule of Gary Mannion on "non-evasive psychic surgery" today (2009) tell us?
Everyone sure seems to have something to say about Garry Mannion.But if anyone was really serious, and sincerely believed Gary was a fraud, then why hasn't someone nabbed him by now.
Last edited by SorryImPsychic; 30th March 2009 at 12:04 PM.
Don't tase me, Bro!
Yes, but this is a forum and not really the place to be dealing with psychic frauds in any meaningful way.
People like Gary Mannion are beneath contempt and communicating with a 19-year-old twerp who claims that he can cure cancer (and that is what he was claiming) by invoking the spirit of a biblical character working through him, is not the way forward.
If anything, he didn't get the pounding he truly deserves!
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The autism example was just something off the top of my head as an issue that would be meaningful to tackle as it does have a lot of meaning for a lot of people.
As a small group, we shouldn't start thinking about altering government policy etc. We have to be realistic about what we can do and what we can achieve.
Disseminators of primary-sourced material and information might be a better idea to start. For example, last year Patricia Howlin was starting a study looking into the effectiveness of autism treatments and claimed cures. It would (if we did it) be worthwhile asking if she is making available her findings for general consumption and if so could we publish it, or if it's meant for psychology journals, could we use the primary research and turn it into a more user-friendly form for the parents of children with autism.
That's more like the aim I would start with rather than trying to aim too high too soon.
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I seem to remember the NAS http://www.nas.org.uk/ used to do something like this but I can't find anything on their current website. There's also ARC http://www.autismresearchcentre.com/arc/default.asp but again I can't find a simple guide re evaluations of interventions. I can't help but wonder if both these ommissions are either due to me being half asleep and not finding what's there or the paralysing level of politics surrounding the subject.For example, last year Patricia Howlin was starting a study looking into the effectiveness of autism treatments and claimed cures. It would (if we did it) be worthwhile asking if she is making available her findings for general consumption and if so could we publish it, or if it's meant for psychology journals, could we use the primary research and turn it into a more user-friendly form for the parents of children with autism.
Out of interest I googled Patricia Howling and found this abstract from 1998 http://journals.cambridge.org/action...line&aid=10439 (it took a while to load). While she seemed to draw no specific conclusions her use of the term 'functional analysis' leads me to think her studies focused on behavioural techniques. I could get the full article if you were interested - not for the web though. There's also this http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/j...TRY=1&SRETRY=0 which is definately behavioural approaches. Any community based intervention would face all the obstacles I remember only too well and whether they can ever really be used to evaluate a 'real', professionally run (not just dstant consultant but a qualified team) intesive early behavioural intervention is possibly doubtful.
I think the idea is excellent - for my part though, old habits die hard. I still try to understand, even to figure out if what I was part of years ago was right. I don't think there'll ever be a book or pamphlet to tell me that because i'm not sure anyone else knows either! Why not try anyway?
Someone may have beaten you to the idea:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Controversia.../dp/080584192X
I found it by looking up my old undergrad supervisor who's one of the contributors.
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