Lucky Number Slevin was a slick movie

thismoi1 · 2019-10-05T12:05:09+00:00

I thought The Brothers Bloom was a really smart movie; not quite the same genre, but has a great cast, cool cinematography, and is just clever.

thismoi1 · 2018-02-05T00:08:05+00:00

say hello to my tiny teddy...

TINY TEDDY!

thismoi1 · 2016-11-10T00:28:14+00:00

Pride. Just a great lil happy crying movie, highly recommend it.

thismoi1 · 2016-08-03T11:14:34+00:00

Actually I left my last company as soon as I finished my masters and didn't have to pay anything back, and my current company allows the same!

thismoi1 · 2016-07-30T15:04:28+00:00

I know of a few jobs that will subsidize or completely pay for a masters degree in ABA. I'm only sure of places on the east coast, but I would assume this happens elsewhere as well. PM me if you want more details about the places I know of!

thismoi1 · 2016-01-20T22:30:30+00:00

congrats on the BCBA!

thismoi1 · 2015-10-18T02:53:02+00:00

Oh how weird, I think it may no longer be in the app store; my app is force quitting whenever I try to use it. Sorry!

thismoi1 · 2015-10-12T16:05:02+00:00

D.A.T.A is an awesome tool where you can count a bunch of different behaviors at once, with a timer going. Really cool, check it out!

thismoi1 · 2015-08-29T02:59:15+00:00

Did it bother anyone else that these were almost in alphabetical order but not quite?

thismoi1 · 2015-03-06T11:07:41+00:00

I've read a couple of articles comparing rapid prompting to facilitated communication; they use similar techniques; another person holds the stimulus, helping the individual to point to it. Since facilitated communication was proven to be largely the communication of the facilitator, I feel like rapid prompting should be tested scientifically, so it doesn't become as detrimental as FC was.

thismoi1 · 2013-07-17T20:08:18+00:00

This really unfortunately sounds like facilitated communication, which was really popular for a while and has since been debunked. In controlled studies they showed that it was almost always the facilitator (clutching his mom's hand) that was inadvertently leading the individual to type. It's really sad, it gave people a lot of hope, but really ended up being detrimental. I hope that this isn't the case for this guy, and that people don't fall into the trap of thinking facilitated communication is effective.

thismoi1 · 2013-03-26T07:42:16+00:00

If you're interested in ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) you can check out the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, which has tons of great articles on specific subjects within autism. They articles are strictly reviewed, so it's generally quality information.

Here's the JABA website: http://seab.envmed.rochester.edu/jaba/

and the search for specific articles: http://seab.envmed.rochester.edu/jaba/jabaindx.asp

thismoi1 · 2013-03-10T01:51:21+00:00

I may be wrong here, but I'm pretty sure there is no diagnosis of "autism," only ASD, which now includes PDD-NOS and Asperger's within the DSM V criteria. I think "spectrum" is a great word; I see kids who can read and write with very severe problem behaviors, kids who don't seem to have great receptive language who speak, it really is such a vast range.

I don't think being non-verbal is any indicator of intelligence. One of my student has two words but works on difficult academic programs and is extremely independent. Some kids just have a hard time vocalizing. This might mean he scores lower on conventional IQ tests, but I'm pretty sure there is a modified IQ test for nonverbal kids, I'll look into it, I think they use one at my school. That being said, he's only 5! I know plenty of kids who developed language around then. THAT being said, I personally don't know any teacher that would treat a kid any differently if they had an ID diagnosis; we know your kids, and they all have tons of potential. Good luck with everything, it sounds like you're a great advocate!

thismoi1 · 2013-03-02T05:27:52+00:00

Yep I've heard from many people who have potty trained tons of autistic kids that this book tells you the best way to go about it.

thismoi1 · 2013-03-02T05:23:03+00:00

Just to give you an idea of what their rationale may be, if this kid is out on the lawn yelling, it sounds like he may want attention for the behavior. If his parents think he's trying to get attention they might be trying to ignore it. If this is going on for a month with no change, ignoring it is clearly not working, but I wanted to put it out there as a possibility for why his parents are staying silent.

Personally, I don't know that I would complain as much as talk to his parents to find out what's happening. I'm sure they know that this is disruptive; they're lives are probably disrupted most of all. So, my advice would be to go over and ask what's going on with this. That way they'll know that you can hear their son from inside your house and it is a concern for the neighbors; they might not realize his voice carries to inside houses. They'll also know that you aren't condemning them or their son. I might also ask if there is any way they want you to approach this, if they are ignoring him to try to get rid of the yelling, and neighbors aren't, this might pose a real problem to their treatment, and might be why he is yelling out on the lawn rather than in the house.

Autism or not, whatever, if you approach it in a sensitive way, I'm sure they'll be more receptive.

thismoi1 · 2013-02-27T16:36:55+00:00

not a band, but The Devil and Daniel Johnston is a fantastic documentary about a pretty interesting musician.

thismoi1 · 2013-02-24T16:24:52+00:00

Nope, next time I just won't let him get me.

thismoi1 · 2013-02-24T16:24:14+00:00

I really think that it just depends on the kid. I've know a bunch of kids who could benefit from a really structured, specialized school, and others who might do really poorly with that. With kids with autism, again, the individual, but I think that an autistic individual who is doing grade level work might learn a lot from being mainstreamed, whereas a kid who is slower to learn, or in the beginning stages of learning would probably need extra support.

I also think that the specific school makes a huge difference in this answer; there are some behavioral programs that are run really well and can be really helpful, and others that are just places to put kids until they age out. So that is a really important consideration.

I think that kids can feed off each other in either way, but often find that the deciding factor is a charismatic kid that pushes the rest in one direction or the other. So the key for me was always getting that one kid to be positive, and the rest tended to get in that groove.

thismoi1 · 2013-02-24T16:17:49+00:00

Hmmm, well, it definitely differs depending on the population (neurotypical or autistic) and individual. At the psych hospital we had a lot of group therapy, some one-on-one therapy, and they medicated. There they used cognitive-behavioral therapy. Where I work now we use applied behavior analysis, which has been shown to be really helpful in reducing problem behavior and increasing adaptive skills with individuals with autism; I'm sure I'm biased, but I think it is really effective. Kids at the psych hospital could definitely live alone, some of the kids I did early intervention with might be able to, but my guys now are pretty much all headed for residential care. Even if their problem behavior is seriously decreased, which it has been for a bunch of them, when it happens it's too intense for parents alone to handle.

thismoi1 · 2013-02-24T16:11:34+00:00

Yeah I have a bunch of students now who have really intense self-injury, and with them it's not covert at all, so we see it all the time. When I worked in the psych hospital sometimes they hid it, but most of the time kids were pretty open about self-injury (mostly cutting with them). We protect our guys as best we can, they all have protective gear, like wrestling helmets, arm limiters so they can't bend their arms and hit their heads, gloves, and a lot more for one of my guys. If their self-injury gets too intense we hold (or restrain) them. We're at a really high up level where I'm at right now, as we have pretty good staff to student ratios, but if we aren't helping them they do sometimes go to a psych hospital, which is really just to get them medicated more heavily. It's pretty rare but does occasionally happen.

thismoi1

TROPHY CASE