Help for Autism -- Full-Length Expert's Interview

In this full-length expert's interview, Terry Hall, M.A., C.C.C., explains how a new approach to therapy boosts verbal skills in children with autism.

Ivanhoe Broadcast News Interview with
Terry Hall, M.A., C.C.C., Speech Language Pathologist,
JFK Partners, Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry,
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado
TOPIC: Help for Autism

What is the Denver Model?

Hall: The Denver Model is really a multi-faceted approach to develop communication skills, reciprocal social interaction skills, and various other areas of development. We work on treating the whole child and working with the parents, because they are key in helping us facilitate this whole process of intervention. One of the core premises of it is really building that relationship with another person and along with that, being able to engage socially with that other person. Social interactions are really one of the hallmark characteristics of weakness in autism, as well as the communication area. The Denver Model really focuses on building that relationship to develop those other areas of weakness for that child.

If I'm a parent who brings my child here and you say, "OK, we want to work with your child and using this model," how would this look different me as a parent than what I might have tried in the past?

Hall: One-to-one work, which is more of a direct approach that is adult-guided and is actually more manualized behavior therapy, is one aspect of it. Then another aspect is the naturalistic approach to working with the child where it's more child-driven. So what we do is we do a combination of both. It's a combination of both one-to-one teaching, which really helps the child acquire skills quickly, embedded within a normal routine so that it's more socially based and more child driven. It's a fine balance of using both sorts of methods to be able to produce the maximum progress.

Much of the work is done with the family at home, right?

Hall: Some of the work is done with families at home. It's done on a one-to-one basis at home and also in the school. We also work with consultation with the school teams there and coordinate programs between school and home.

Why do you do it at home as well?

Hall: It really helps us generalize skills. We've found that getting the parents involved in being a big part of the intervention has been a very big plus definitely to the whole approach, and parents are really the ones who spend the most time with their children. They know their children the best. We want to use that expertise as well and get them in as part of the team. It helps us to generalize skills, and it also helps us with home and daily routines that parents are faced with trying to teach their children. We find that children with autism are isolated. They tend to not be in the flow of things. This is one way for us to get them in the flow of the family, into the flow of the school, and also build skills in a one to one so those skills can be generalized to those different environments.

Is it successful?

Hall: I think it is. I've really enjoyed the whole process of working with several children over the years and figuring out what is the best mix of approaches. We've learned a lot from other programs, other researchers that have found out many things. I mean, it's incredible to think that years ago, about 50 percent of children with autism were non-verbal. Now we're finding that early intervention can make a difference for children with autism. We can say that even up to 75 percent to as high as 95 percent of children with autism become verbal before the age of 5 with the appropriate interventions.

What types of families do you usually work with?

Hall: I work with many families, and the families are great that I work with. It takes a lot of on their part -- they really have to have some commitment. The families that we tend to work with are very committed to doing the best and the most that they possibly can for their children. It is a lot of work. There's a lot of coordination that's involved of teams, of school, that sort of thing, but also it's really important for them to know what their child is doing. They are very much a part of their child's intervention program so they would be able to tell somebody what they're actually working on. They are given assignments at home. They keep data at home, so they play a really active part in the whole process. They're a big key to the child's success as well.

If I'm a parent somewhere around the country and I hear about this, what should I do next?

Hall: Right now, we hold yearly trainings. What happens is we have a weeklong intensive training of professionals. Hopefully it will be opened up to parents as well. That's one way to learn and to actually incorporate some of the strategies and different components of the approach. So, we have a five-day institute here. It has components of presentation, lecture-type of information given to the parents and then professionals in the audience. Then we also go into hands-on where they actually get to work with children and work up from beginning to implementation, treatment plans, goals and objectives, and activities, how they would like to teach it. So that's one way of learning more about it. Another way would be to contact us directly because there have been other trainings that have happened across the United States and then we can guide them to sources that are close to them.

How does the fact that they go from being non-verbal to verbal, how dramatic is that on your entire life?

Hall: It's so incredible. Communication impacts all facets of a child's life and it really is a prognostic factor for how they will be able to function as an older person, as an adult, later on in this society. It really affects their social life, their family life, also their social circle of friends, and it really impacts academics and school progress.

I bet it's rewarding to do your job every day.

Hall: It definitely is. I really enjoy what I'm doing and the children and the families that I work with. It's difficult at times. We work hard to get a little amount of progress, and then it seems all of a sudden, it just really takes off. So those are very exciting times.

Before the last couple of years, how big a challenge has autism been to try to figure out treatments?

Hall: Prior to the present, I think that there wasn't as much that people knew about autism then. Since even in the past decade, even to diagnose autism is has been more difficult. I think that we've gotten better at diagnosing autism and really looking at the treatment, looking at core areas of weakness that these people present to us, and then really focusing on those areas of treatment. Looking at communication, looking at imitation, looking at the child's ability to non-verbally as well as verbally communicate with us and also socially interact with us. So, it's been a process of the whole community of researchers really looking at and finding out more about what autism is and how to treat this disorder. We are running a research study here that we're really looking specifically at our treatment approach, the Denver Model approach, with another treatment approach called The Prompt approach, which is out of Santa Fe by Debra Hayden. Those two approaches really look at different facets of the child and emphasize different areas of treatment. We're constantly looking for something that will more effectively treat children with autism and get them to be more verbal.

END OF INTERVIEW

This information is intended for additional research purposes only. It is not to be used as a prescription or advice from Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc. or any medical professional interviewed. Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc. assumes no responsibility for the depth or accuracy of physician statements. Procedures or medicines apply to different people and medical factors; always consult your physician on medical matters.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Sarah Ellis
Director, News Media Relations
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and University of Colorado Hospital
4200 East Ninth Avenue, #A092
Denver, CO 80262
(303)-315-7470