BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Autism Spectrum Disorders The Supernanny Tackles Autism

In an hour show everything is made to be fast and easy. I thought it was amazing that these parents never read a book on the topic of autism and expected someone to come into their house and tell them about their son.

The kid did not show many signs of autism - just the screaming and spinning, never any stims like hand flapping or lining things up or watching videos, etc etc.

The whole language emphasis was strange to me. I guess the kid was not non verbal and had some speech, but hard to know since they all ignored him and had him eat at the other end of the table.

I would not say that kid was severely on the spectrum. My son is nine and severe and that intervention would not have worked on him at this point in time. I do think that the floor time will help with his anxiety.

I also watched that show, and I was appalled at how the mom commented that she didn't know what to do about her son going out the front door.........uh HELLO, how about putting a lock up high that he can't reach and/or operate?! I had locks high up on all my exit doors even before my son was diagnosed, because I knew he figured out the deadbolt and didn't want a 2 year old getting out by himself!

As far as making the speech seem easy, I do think that the footage was probably edited that way. There is no telling how long they spent having him throw tantrums on the swing and with the cookies etc before he finally spoke. And then again, he may have just been "ready", too! He seemed a lot like my son, and Austin only had a couple of words (mama, daddy, not used exclusively, and ah-bum which he used for everything else!) up until he was around three. We had tried off and on to require him to ask for things in order to get them, but it didn't work for a long time and we'd give up. Then one day, it WORKED! So we started doing it more often, then we started requiring him to use "I want..." in front of the word, and now we're throwing "please" into the mix. But I am convinced this kid was NOT talking until he was ready.......we had heard him say random words before, so I knew it was in there somewhere, but he just needed it to be the right time to come out! Heck the kid said "animal crackers" plain as day when he was about 18 months old, and NEVER said it again.
But I will say, he had about a year of speech before he turned three and then has had it in preschool since then, and I don't think it really did a darn bit of good until HE decided he was ready to speak, darn stubborn kids! <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Oh, and as far as it seeming easy........uh YEAH, I agree! I find it challenging enough and I don't have a set of four year old twins (thank heavens, I'd have to be committed, not enough patience!!!!)

~Niki
[color:"red"] [/color] [color:"red"] [/color]

[color:"red"] [/color] I agree.....it was sad that the parents seemed to be completely clueless about what to do with their son! They never mentioned how long ago he had been diagnosed, but they didn't really seem to know that much about the disorder and certainly weren't handling things well. Especially when you consider how well he seemed to do once they did make an effort to bring him into things...he seemed to me to have a lot less issues than some of the children I've come in contact with that have autism, so it's sad to think that they were on track to do NOTHING for him and just let him stay trapped alone in a world where he didn't even seem to get the idea of using speech as communication! [color:"red"] [/color]

~Niki

[quote}But I am convinced this kid was NOT talking until he was ready.......we had heard him say random words before, so I knew it was in there somewhere, but he just needed it to be the right time to come out! Heck the kid said "animal crackers" plain as day when he was about 18 months old, and NEVER said it again.[/quote]

That's the way Michael was. He said nonsense words until 3 yrs old, then all of a sudden started putting sentences together! It was almost like he didn't want to say anything, unless he could say it the "perfect" way. "Diddum-diddum" was his word for evrything. (You know I actually miss that word sometimes, sounds crazy doesn't it?) <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Hi everyone!
I watched the show this weekend and, like you, was floored at the parents' attitude. The child sat alone, he walked out the door, etc. BUT, did you notice that the mom never hugged the kids before the nanny walked in? What is that? I know the media edits things to look a certain way, but come on! Well, the show made everything look easy. But, I do have a great comment...that's unrelated to the show. My son now says 'juice' and 'coke.' This is amazing because I haven't been able to get him to say anything in years! I'm thrilled!

Talk to you all soon. Bye!
Angie

SORRY THAT i'M JUST COMMENTING NOW AS i AM NEW, bUT i DID SEE SHOW. I was appalled as well. My son is 6 and had early intervention since he was 6 months old as he had brain abnormalities as well. He is still non-verbal. He has used PECS and now uses a dynamyte to communicate. He uses one sound "ma" for everything. He may not talk with his brain abnormalies as he has a fluid sac in the left portion of the brain where language comes from. But they also said at birth that he may not talk, may have cp, may not walk, and may have eating issues as the result of a T.E. fistula repair. He is walking-understands language-doesn't have cp-and doesn't have eating or weight issues...so we still have LOTS of hope he will talk. We do use MANDING with him...requiring sounds-sign to get what he wants as well as his device and this seems to be working well...It is a new tool being used at my sons previous autism school.(UCP IN UTICA NY} If you can you should get ahold of anything you can from Thomas M. Caffrey on teaching verbal behavior....he is spectacular!!!! www.verbalbehaviornetwork.com

HI Karen ~

Thanks for joining the forum and posting here about your impressions of the show. I am going to check out the site you listed.

About the Dynamyte - did the school district loan this to you or did you get it through insurance? I have a yahoo group called MakingPECSCards - feel free to join it as we are starting up another Round robin in sharing cards to members through the mail in a package.

I would love to hear more about your experience with the communication system and also verbal behavior.

I will start new threads so the subjects would be easier to locate and feel free to visit the chat room on Sundays at 1pm PST, which is 4 pm EST.