For all parents considering/doing autism therapy for child

Post Reply New Topic

momsparky - it's different than that though. In this case it is something that will be perceived as directly influencing the quality of the work, and depending on the person doing the perceiving, it may be seen as a positive or a negative. To stick with the gay metaphor, it would be like applying for a job, but you're not sure whether it's as a fashion designer (i.e. being gay is likely to help get the job) or military contractor (i.e. it's likely to hurt).

I agree with this. I was trying to figure out concrete examples for how to do this, but I think I know what this might look like, and I've done it similarly before in another interview. This also confirms that I shouldn't talk on panels in conferences nor openly disclose in a professional setting. I have been doing that for the past little while because I was trying to figure out the whole professional/personal boundary and I feel it's probably the right thing to do. People I go with sometimes disclose me, though. It's very frustrating; they don't really get why not disclosing matters to me so much. It's because of what they said that I began to consider openly disclosing, but I was still on the fence about it so that's why I threw it out here.

But I think this is going to happen anyway... some parents won't like that I'm on the spectrum. They will not hire me. But it doesn't really matter because they're only a proportion of parents out there. I'll be truthful and open in the interview (except for mentioning the label) and if they don't like me, I'll know right away, move on, and avoid unnecessary troubles later on with a family that is clearly incompatible with my practices.

"obliviousness to some social cues and an inability to form a social-emotional dynamic with you "

This would be the part that would give me pause on hiring. How well are you going to work with my child, who can be difficult on the best of days when you have no emotional attachment to temper reactions to him? The phrasing here, may be more about an inability to carry on a conversation, but it makes me think you are meaning that you are not going to care. If I leave an interview with a person who will be with my child a lot thinking that he is going to approach my child from a distant and completely non-emotionally involved position, then I am not going to hire. I want to have the feeling that this person is going to care about my child, not be just a remote task master.

I may be interpreting this statement completely wrong, but overall, I think the level of empathy that I felt the interviewee could have for my child would be more important to me than the person's education. Then the next consideration would be whether I felt this person had the skills that my child needs to learn. If my child needs to learn to carry on a two way conversation, and the person cannot do that, then they are not qualified.

Totally unrelated, but quirk of my particular kid is that any therapist that wanted to get a good rapport with him, to get solid work out of him would probably have to be female. He pretty much won't interact with men at all.

Lol I'm not emotionless and I do bond with my clients. However, in order for me to be able to bond with someone, they have to have a certain way of communicating with me. Notice that I said social and not nonverbal cues. I am very good at nonverbal cues. I can pick up on minute nonverbal signals with my clients, especially the less verbally communicative ones. I cannot pick up on nonverbals, though, while people talk, especially when the language is vague, which takes even longer to process. I struggle with complex language and I am mono track when it comes to sensory processing. It's very difficult to explain and I was hoping I wouldn't have to...

I am an extremely empathetic and emotionally sensitive person when I am interacting with someone on the same wavelength. I have gotten into amazing nonverbal dynamics with my clients and I'm actually kind of addicted to those experiences. I feel that wanting to experience this connection more and the pleasure of drawing people out is what makes me so passionate about this work in the first place.

Autistic patterns aren't social patterns, but they are patterns that are very familiar to me. When i practice, sometimes I merge my own instincts/self-knowledge and awareness with my knowledge of other autistic patterns i've observed through experience. Again, difficult to explain. And it worked because I actually have a client who begs for me to work with him all the time (I sub for another worker when he can't make it). In sum, I haven't had issues forming bonds with my clients so far at all.

I can hold a reciprocal conversation, but only when the language is concrete enough. If it's complex in terms of language, it needs to stay on one topic. Also, any other sensory triggers really interfere with my ability to comprehend what is being conveyed. But it'd be pretty hard to get to this level in life if I couldn't have a reciprocal conversation with anyone...

^ I think I would have to explain the above, then, but I don't see how I could do that without having to disclose the diagnosis explicitly.

I've noticed people like Donna Williams and Temple Grandin get a lot of parents asking them for advice. My guess is the neurodiversity supporter would be more of a sticking point for many parents than the ASD diagnosis.

Personally, I would ease them into your neurodiversity viewpoint, instead of making a point of it straight off. Don't automatically rule out someone who expresses curebie attitudes - most parents you'll meet aren't die-hard curebie or neurodiversity types, but rather people who have never really been exposed to neurodiversity attitudes.

And a lot of it could just be phrased in terms of practicality, rather than ideology. For example saying: 'For a lot of kids, hand-flapping helps them self-regulate, so trying to suppress that behaviour can cause other problems' or 'I'd rather focus on getting him able to communicate with you first, that seems like a bigger priority'.

In my (admittedly limited) experience with providing therapy to autistic kids, most parents don't object if you give them a clear practical reason for a certain approach.

I would hire you, except that my guy doesn't need ABA. I know exactly what you mean by being good with nonverbal cues but not social cues. I am this way, and I am NT. I see it in my son as well, much more extreme.

Love the thread. For me, I would prefer that you disclose. Other parents would be turned away, but I would much prefer the explanation for your more distant approach to me, the client's parent. If you didn't disclose, you'd lose me as a client, when I would actually prefer you over an NT. I don't think it is unprofessional to disclose, because ASD is unlike anything else, even ADD. I wouldn't disclose ADD because the client's parent may think you might forget an appointment.

I think the proof is in the pudding. I would ask for references of parents that have used her and get their feedback to how effective her methods have been. Only then will you be able to get a fuller picture of the quality of her skills as a therapist. If she can't provide you with a list of names/clients, then I would seriously consider finding someone who has a proven track record. Any professional, even an NT one, comes with their own set of strengths and limitations. Some therapists work better with more severely autistic children while others might work best with younger children who are not as severely impaired.

I hired an Aspie once for a "mother's helper" position. I didn't consider her for full-time nanny position because she was a bit young and didn't have any full-time nanny experience, yet had babysitting experience and had worked at a school for autistic kids but from what I gathered she ran into some social/interpersonal/political issues. Nannying is more involved and takes on more responsibilities than traditional babysitting, so I told her that I needed someone who specifically had nannying experience because there is a smaller learning curve. I felt a comraderie with her and really wanted to give her an opportunity to give her some work. To make a long story short, it didn't work out. My 5-yo PDD-NOS son became more and more agitated with her. I am not sure the cause of it, but in retrospect I don't think she had the sensitivity and flexibility required to deal with my son, who can be quite volatile, and who needs someone who knows when to step back from the situation to let him cool off. Many kids on the spectrum do not have the same low frustration tolerance that my son has, so given another child, she might have been wonderful with, I don't know. It is hard enough for me as his mother to manage his frustrations, but she sent him off into a real tizzy. Granted, there have been NT babysitters who were lazy and uninvolved and quite frankly I don't hire them back either. I do admire her for trying though, and I know she really did try hard to do a good job. If there was something else I could hire her for that was more task-oriented I would probably keep her in mind for that.

An ABA therapist is very results oriented in a narrow space of time, so maybe the Aspie focus could be a good thing in that type of structured setting. So, I would say call up people who have used the therapist and find out how their child responded to her. That is the best indicator of hireability.

Oops, I only now realize that the person posting is the therapist. Had to read the subsequent posts to realize that. I think it is a good idea to start out in a center-based setting or get referred out by an agency. Usually you will get the assignments through the agency and you don't have to worry about marketing yourself once your name is on their roster. That eliminates having to subject yourself to the scrutiny of parental interviews, and you can probably get independent casework after you have developed a track record to stand behind you.

What "qualities" a parent "chooses" in a therapist and what a therapist chooses to disclose are not necessarily mutual.
There is no legal requirement to disclose anything to a parent if you have had a police check to confirm you are not a paedophile or have a criminal background.

In my experience I advertised for a ABA therapist some three years ago on our state autism webpage and received only one reply from a qualified ABA therapist. The woman in question was a psych graduate. She seemed uninterested in my daughter and went through the motions as if she got into ABA therapy to earn money while she looks for a "real" job. After politely informing the girl we no longer required her services my wife and I both trained as ABA therapists ourselves.

Problem solved...