EBD Blog

In “Failing Sam,” Jessica Shyu—who taught special education for two years at an American Indian reservation school in New Mexico—makes an important point about what we provide educationally for students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. Teachers may become lulled by having a quiet, disruption-free classroom and overlook the need to provide beneficial instruction. She recalls a particularly challenging student named “Sam.”

His reputation preceded him. A week before he even arrived at school, the teachers were eagerly sharing horror stories they’d heard about the 12-year-old. It was a mix of rumor and truth. They told me about his alcohol problem. They told me about how he doused his cousin with gasoline and lit her on fire. They told me I would be lucky to get him to sit down and not hurt anyone.

Continue reading ‘Teaching them matters’

Writing for the New York Times, Melissa Fay Greene provides a sympathetic view of the variation on D.I.R.-Floortime (D.I.R. stands for “developmental, individual-difference, relationship-based) methods employed by The Community School of Decatur (GA, US). In “Reaching an Autistic Teenager,” Ms. Greene describes several youths behavior and progress at the school, which was started by a parent of one of the students.
Continue reading ‘Greene on Floortime’

According to correspondent Julio C. Abreu (Senior Director for Government Affairs at Mental Health America), negotiators for the US House and Senate are near or have reached a compromise that reconciles H.R. 1424 (“No Discrimination in Health Insurance Act of 2008″) and S. 558 (“Mental Health Parity Act of 2007″). These two bills are different versions of similar legislation that will require private health insurance plans to cover mental health (and other) services, just as they cover other conditions. This is, excuse me, HUGE for families of children and youths with emotional and behavioral disorders. I hope that the mental health community, including Mental Health America, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and the Alliance for Children and Families, springs into action and endorses resolution of this long-festering problem.
Continue reading ‘Legislation to cheer’

If you are a person who might have thought “facilitated communication” was too far out, think again. This one will probably make you shake your head in disbelief.

School officials called Colleen Leduc and asked that she go to the school of her daughter Victoria, an 11-year old who has Autism. When she got there, they told Ms. Leduc that they had allegations that Victoria was being sexually abused. Of course, the school officials had performed their legal duty and notified child protective services.

How did they come by such startling knowledge? Leduc was incredulous as they poured out their story.

“The teacher looked and me and said: ‘We have to tell you something. The educational assistant who works with Victoria went to see a psychic last night, and the psychic asked the educational assistant at that particular time if she works with a little girl by the name of “V.” And she said ‘yes, I do.’ And she said, ‘well, you need to know that that child is being sexually abused by a man between the ages of 23 and 26.’”

What’ll folks come up with next?

Of course, you should read the entire story here or here (thanks, Mark), or track the coverage here. Flashes of the electrons to PZ Myers (Pharyngula), Janice Liedl, and BoingBoing.

I’m pleased to add a link to the Web Resources section of EBD Blog that points to the Web site for Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI). MDRI is devoted to ensuring that people with disabilities can participate in society, regardless of the country in which they live. Among other things, MDRI has influenced laws and governmental agencies to promote the human rights of individuals with disabilities.

MDRI documents conditions, publishes reports on human rights enforcement, and promotes international oversight of the rights of people with mental disabilities. Drawing on the skills and experience of attorneys, mental health professionals, human rights advocates, people with mental disabilities and their family members, MDRI trains and supports advocates seeking legal and service system reform and assists governments to develop laws and policies to promote community integration and human rights enforcement for people with mental disabilities. The organization is forging new alliances throughout the world to challenge the discrimination and abuse faced by people with mental disabilities, as well as working with locally based advocates to create new advocacy projects and to promote citizen participation and human rights for children and adults.

Individuals with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders should enjoy the same basic human rights as anyone else. From this perspective, it is easy to see why EBD Blog endorses the efforts of MDRI. To save readers the need to locate the link in the side bar, here’s a jump to MDRI’s home page.

Nope, not an experiment about how to get kids to clean their rooms, but a proposal to study the effects of a hypoallergenic environment on the behavior of children with Autism. According to an article by Timothy McNulty entitled “Doctor plans novel treatment for autism,” that’s the idea. Writing in the 11 May 2008 issue of the Pittsburgh (PA, US) Post-Gazette, Mr. McNulty reported that a physician named Scott Faber in the Pittsburgh area plans to create an environment that will be free of toxins and examine the effects of living in such an environment on children with Autism.
Continue reading ‘Clean room study’

Over on Teachers At Risk (great title!), Elona Hartjes has a post about her reaction to a popular press discussion about the prevalence of mental illness among school children.

Twenty percent of kids sitting in classrooms today are mentally ill. That’s shocking. What’s even more shocking is that only 1/5 of that twenty percent are getting treatment.

I could hardly believe my ears tonight when I heard that statistic on TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin. Next week, May 3 – May 10, 2008 , is Children’s Mental Health Week and I suppose that’s why the program, “Kids aren’t right” aired tonight.

Continue reading ‘Prevalence of EBD’

April is Autism Awareness month. It’s a good time to stop and reflect on how much we have learned from systematic and dogged research over the time since I first became aware of Autism. In the mid 1960s, I was already working with some children who had received that diagnosis, but knowledge about it was limited; when I asked my psych 101 professor about Autism, all I got was a blank look. I was fortunate to be in the neighborhood of UCLA, so our work with the children we had was influenced by behavior analysis.
Continue reading ‘Autism Awareness’

Dick Whelan, who is one of the foundational folks in providing special education for students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, is going to be honored at this year’s meeting of the Council for Exceptional Children. I don’t usually quote e-mail messages from others without their permission, but I’m doing it here. Thanks to Chris Walter-Thomas for this:
Continue reading ‘Dick Whelan’

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Here in central Virginia, we are fortunate to have many marvelous neighbors and entertainment activities. In a nifty coincidence, two of those are connected. The Virginia Institute of Autism (VIA) is taking advantage of author Jeffrey Cohen visiting C’ville for the Virginia Festival of the Book at the end of March 2008. As illustrated at the right, VIA is hosting a special reception for Mr. Cohen’s visit and invites folks to attend.

Mr. Cohen, who writes the Double Feature and Aaron Tucker mysteries, is also the author of The Asperger Parent: How to Raise a Child With Asperger Syndrome and Maintain Your Sense of Humor, and Guns A’ Blazing: How Parents of Children on the Autism Spectrum and Schools Can Work Together—Without a Shot Being Fired.

As you’ll learn if you read the invitation, there’s a special treat at this reception: The fabulous Hamiltons’ will be serving desert. Yummm!

Here’s a link to the Virginia Festival of the Book Web site and another to the program information about Mr. Cohen’s presentation based on one of his books about Autism. In addition, readers can learn more about VIA via the VIA Web site more about Mr. Cohen’s books on Austim-Aspergers at his Web site.

At Translating Autism N. L. Lopez-Duran posted a note explaining why he retracted a statement about evidence failing to support a link between vaccination and Autism. In the note, Professor Lopez-Duran explained that he didn’t want to taint his blog with hints of advocacy, hoping to preserve it as a source of information that parents, educators, and clinicians would find useful.

Specifically, I stated that what I believe doesn’t really matter, because “beliefs” rapidly turn into blind faith, even amongst scientists. Instead, good science only occurs when positions are flexible and reflective only of the status of the research (data) at any given time. Second, the addition of that particular disclaimer went beyond a discussion of the results and possible interpretation of the data presented in that particular study. This departed significantly from the spirit of the Translating Research Project…. I’m committed to preserving the spirit and purpose of this blog: To review the latest findings in the nature, causes, and treatments of autism spectrum disorders and translate these findings into information that is useful to parents, educators, and clinicians; and I seek to do this while distancing myself, and all blogs belonging to the Translating Research Project, from any advocacy position.

Continue reading ‘Blind faith’

In “Juvenile prison system needs reform, lawyers say: Advocates urge a judge to appoint a receiver to take over a system they say remains broken despite long-standing promises to fix it,” Michael Rothfeld reports that lawyers told a judge that long-standing problems with prisons for California youth apparently have failed and more drastic action is needed. Published in the Los Angeles (CA, US) Times 18 February 2008, Mr. Rothfeld’s report includes specific concerns about students with disabilities, many of whom are likely to have Emotional and Behavioral Disorders.

Mr Rothfeld’s article includes some recognition of these problems:

* Students do not attend classes the required four hours a day; they often are removed from classrooms for misbehaving, for work assignments or for counseling. At one prison school, 347 classes were canceled between August and October last year because there were not enough substitute teachers.

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* A plan to accommodate youths with disabilities suffered from a lack of leadership and funding. Staffers never received disability sensitivity training, and working groups that were to integrate programs for the disabled with other services were never convened. In two facilities, accessible visiting areas for the disabled were supposed to be in place in 2006, but were not.

Although many people probably have little sympathy for juveniles who have been convicted of crimes and incarcerated, education—especially those with disabilities—is fundamental to any reasoned hope of their rehabilitation. Furthermore, students with disabilities, including those in prisons, are legally guaranteed a free and appropriate public education. So, all of our usual concerns should apply to these schooling situations.

Having observed education services in one such institution, I have heightened concern about problems in juvenile justice system. I saw many failures to provide appropriate services. To be sure, some of them were linked to failure to adopt the kinds of methods discussed on Teach Effectively, but others were simple and clear failures to meet the letter and spirit of laws such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

• Link to Mr. Rothfeld ’s article.
• Some of the other materials available regarding this case: Second (June 2006) and Fifth Report of Special Master(October 2007; Donna Brorby, Special Master and Cathleen Beltz, Monitor).
• National Center on Education and Juvenile Justice
• Some academic references:
  • Howell, K. W., & Wolford, B. I. (2002). Corrections and juvenile justice: Current education practice for youth with learning and other disabilities. Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency. Available on-line at http://www.edjj.org.
  • Leone, P. E., Zaremba, B. A., Chapin, M. S., & Isili, C. (1995). Understanding the overrepresentation of youths with disabilities in juvenile detention. District of Columbia Law Review, 3, 389-401.
  • Malmgren, K., & Leone, P. E. (2000). Effects of a short-term auxiliary reading program on the reading skills of incarcerated youth. Education and Treatment of Children, 23, 239-247.
  • Murphy, D. M. (1986). The prevalence of handicapping conditions among juvenile delinquents. RASE: Remedial & Special Education, 7(3), 7-17.
  • Quinn, M. M., Rutherford, R. B., Leone, P. E., Osher, D. M., & Poirier, J. M. (2005). Youth with disabilities in Juvenile Corrections: A national survey. Exceptional Children, 71, 339-345.
  • Snowling, M. J., Adams, J. W., & Bowyer-Crane, C. (2000). Levels of literacy among juvenile offenders: The incidence of specific reading difficulties. Criminal Behaviour & Mental Health, 10, 229-241.
  • Robinson, T. R, & Rapport, M. J. K. (1999). Providing special education in the juvenile justice system. RASE: Remedial & Special Education, 20(1), 19-26.
  • Tulman, J. B. (2003). Disability and delinquency: How failures to identify, accommodate, and serve youth with education-related disabilities leads to their disproportionate representation in the delinquency system. Whittier Journal of Child And Family Advocacy, 3(1), 3-76.