Dr. Atherton Talks Anthropomorphism and More - Part 1

Laura picks up telling us about dyslexia.  She talks about things we look at as children get into late kindergarten or into first grade.  She says that looking at what they can write can tell us a lot.  She gives us information about decoding and encoding and that those are different skills.  Students can be able to do one and have difficulty with the other.  Have a listen.  We hope you gather new information.  Thank you for listening.  We will be taking a summer break.  We will be back in August.

Laura Dowdy Northcutt is back, but this time she is talking with Susan and Cissy about dyslexia.  Laura is the director of Responsive Services for a Houston area school district and guides the dyslexia services.  Things are ever changing with dyslexia and you are bound to learn some new things through this conversation.  We appreciate you listening.  stay for the question at the end and be sure to come back for part 2 next week.

Susan and Cissy continue their conversation with David Hays. In this episode, David gives tips about how to remain calm and safe when interacting with a child who is not emotionally regulated. He also talks about helping children (and adults) become more regulated. Have a listen about how visual supports can help students understand the natural consequences to their behavior! His experience with a broad range of ages and a broad range of challenging behaviors makes for a great talk.  Be sure to stay for the question at the end.  We appreciate you listening.

David Hays has been a friend and colleague for decades. Although a bit of a winding road, his career started as a camp counselor before he found his way to special education. He then taught children with significant behavior support needs and retired as an assistant director to a large school district. In this conversation, David talks about the importance of remaining calm, gentle, kind, respectful, and receptive.  What a difference that can make when a student is in crisis! Have a listen and come back next week for the rest of the conversation. Thank you! 

Educators or therapists may be the expert on math, reading, strategies, etc., but parents are the experts on their child.  Cissy shares a story about a really fun student with an expert parent.  She learned as much from the parent as she did the student.  She and Susan talk about another student and the idea of keeping your word when you tell a student that you are going to give them a reward for a specific behavior.  Some of the things they talk about have complex explanations from the ABA view, but are things that parents can do with their children even if they do not know the technical terms.  Thank you for listening.

Susan and Cissy continue their conversation with Mary Fitzgerald.  She gives great advice like watching peers of the same age as the individuals you are working with to see what makes for fun social activities.  Uno can be fun, but if no one in their school is doing that, we should do something else.  They also talk about the impact inclusion has had such that individuals with special needs participate regularly in activities in their school and community.  She also talks about the importance "consent for touch".  Asking for permission to provide physical support teaches that others should ask as well and that we all have the right to say "no".

Mary Fitzgerald is a master educator.  She has worked with school districts, educational service centers, and with business partners for many years making education better for many, many students.  In this conversation, she emphasizes the importance of presuming competence with students as we interact with them and around them.  In this first half of the conversation, she talks about a student who had been hitting peers who were interacting with her.  Presuming that she could participate in a conversation with her peers about this made a big difference.  She has many stories to illustrate such a difference it can make to remember that everyone should be treated with respect.  Have a listen and come back for the rest of the conversation next week.  Thank you!

The conversation continues with Dr. Gray Atherton as she moves into a discussion of video games.  She talks about finding ways to incorporate similarities to video games in activities, but make the activities involve others and social interaction.  It could be games that create a "battle" with figurines or something like paintball.  She suggests trying to channel their interests into something that creates opportunities to interact with others.  Many of these activities are things that people who are neurotypical enjoy.  Her discussion of research around these things is very encouraging.  Thank you for listening.  Hope you got the answer for the question.

Dr. Gray Atherton received her Ph.D. at the University of Houston, but is working at Edge Hill University in England now.  She is a professor and researcher interested  in many areas related to autism.  One especially interesting topic is anthropomorphism.  A simple explanation of this is when someone implies human characteristics to nonhuman things such as cartoons or animals.  She talks about how to use this idea to teach social skills like understanding what others may be thinking.  She also talks about using individuals passions to teach them skills and consider them as we think about future work for individuals with autism.  Susan and Cissy hope you enjoy this first half of the conversation and come back next week for the rest of it.

Susan and Cissy talk all the time about how behavioral concepts are involved in everything we do.  It is even involved when we make decisions about how to help ourselves with medical issues like hip pain.  Susan shares about the journey to getting a hip replacement.  From the way the doctor talks with her to the way she prepares herself for the surgery and even to the necessary things after the surgery, behavioral concepts can be seen.  Have a listen.  Let us know what you think about the question.  Thank you for listening.  Please come back next week!