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| SHERI McWHIRTER, The Telegraph | January 05, 2003 |
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http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=6599033&BRD=1719&PAG=461&dept_id=25271&rfi=6
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New approaches used to deal with autism |
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| When
children scream, cry and throw a tantrum in public places, most people eye
the parents and walk away, wondering about what parents are lacking these
days. Carol and Jim Wilkerson of Edwardsville knew they weren’t bad parents, but with their twin boys thrown out of multiple day care facilities when they were toddlers because of repeated behavior problems, they were at a loss as to why. They decided that the attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder category that the boys were placed in didn’t fit, and they wanted to know why. After taking their boys to a pediatric research hospital in Atlanta, where they formerly lived, they learned that Matt and Eric, now 13, have Asperger Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism. It was a new diagnosis for a specific type of a pervasive developmental delay in the mid-1990s, when the twins were some of the first diagnosed cases in the Southeast. "We knew we had a problem, and until then, it was just bad kids, bad parents. So we were so relieved to find out that there is a name for this, and we can now focus on therapies," Carol Wilkerson said. Many types of autism are generally first recognizable in children between 2 and 3 years. The conditions involve impaired social development, delayed and deviant language development and an insistence on sameness, patterns, abnormal preoccupations or resistance to change. It is estimated that nearly 400,000 people in the United States have some form of autism, including Asperger Syndrome. When the developmental disability the boys have first was labeled in 1994 and the conditions became better understood nationwide, just the opposite typically happened in social settings for the Wilkersons. "People were going to label our kids no matter what we did, so if we had a medical explanation, people could more easily understand. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that easily in the boys’ social settings," Carol v said. "They are still not perfectly comfortable at school, but they misunderstand and misinterpret so many things, so going to school can be much more stressful." Not always do the boys misunderstand conversations with other students; sometimes they understand all too well. She said that while some youngsters can be cruel, others often try to be overly nice in a superficial way, mostly because they don’t understand how to communicate with the boys in the first place because of a fear of the disabled. Their mother said those awkward attempts at friendliness are transparent to Matt and Eric. "They treat me differently, and I don’t know why," Eric said. "I don’t hate having it. I just get frustrated." Carol Wilkerson said that between the cruelty of some middle-school students and the well-intentioned patronization of others, it’s difficult for the boys to make many friends. "That’s why it’s a blessing that we have the two of them, because they’ve always got somebody to relate to," she said. However, a special social skills class at Edwardsville Middle School has been developed for the Asperger Syndrome population, she said, a suggestion she made after moving to the district. "The schools here are great. Our big concern was having a good setting for the boys in school. We wanted them to have the attention they need," she said. Matt and Eric are well-informed about their syndrome. Matt said he knows what makes him different than most other children. "It’s something that makes my brain work differently," Matt said. Carol Madison, executive director of the Illinois Center for Autism in Fairview Heights, recently told the Madison County Mental Health Board that there has been a significant increase in the number of autism cases in recent years and that those cases are becoming more severe. At the mental health treatment and educational agency, dozens of autistic children and a few adults learn to manage their conditions and lead productive lives, which is often a rocky, uphill road, Madison said. For 25 years, the non-for-profit center has been the only facility in the state specifically for children with autism. All of the students came to the center after a failure to function properly in public schools. "We often see biting, kicking, scratching, pulling hair -- if you can believe it, we’ve seen it," Madison said. In each classroom, several students work with two teachers or speech therapists, all the while with a one-way mirror and an emergency alarm button on the wall in case of violent outbursts. When a teenage boy loses his temper in a math class and lunges at one of the teachers in the room, the other teacher pushes the alarm, and four people come in to hold down the emotional student. After several minutes, the boy is calm enough to be released, and the class can resume. "The thing is that none of these behaviors are any different than the behaviors of so-called ‘normal’ children. The difference is that the behavior interferes with the learning at all levels," Madison said. "Doctors are identifying it more, now that they know what it is." Because of the short attention spans of the autistic children, classes are kept to 30 minutes. This schedule also allows for many subjects to be covered, including speech therapy, art, computer training, math, social studies, language arts and social skills training throughout the five hours per day the clients spend at the center. "The parents of these children have a special place in heaven," Madison said. The center’s primary goal is to prevent unnecessary institutionalization of people with autism and to help people with autism achieve their highest level of independence within their home, school and community. A variety of services are provided, including behavior modification therapy, speech and language therapy, parent and family support services, individual vocational and job skill training, and individualized education programs. For more information about the Illinois Center for Autism, call (618) 398-7500 or visit www.illinoiscenterforautism.org on the Internet. sherimcwhirter@hotmail.com |
| ©The Telegraph 2003 |
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