I'm interested in coming up with a procedure for vetting therapists - whether for diagnosis, individual issues, marriage counseling, family therapy, group counseling, whatever - to see how competent they are at recognizing when behavior arises from ASD (that is to say, they recognize ASD "in real life", not just when comparing a person's presenting complaint to the diagnostic checklist), instead of assuming NT motivations, and to see how many myths they believe.
I'd like this to be a place to chime in things we can put on the lists.
Some possible categories:
-Autism Myths
-Autism-Empathy (how good they are at sussing out the motivation/inciting environmental factor for various scenarios involving autistic people)
-Social/Medical Model Questionnaire (a questionnaire to determine what aspects of autism the therapist deems problematic and needing change from within mostly or entirely versus the aspects/situations that social accommodations are more appropriate - in other words, how much they see as reasonable meeting halfway)
-Emotional Communication (maybe less of a questionnaire and more of a guideline for a discussion between therapist and potential client, to hash out ways in which the autistic person's nonverbal communication differs, and how to respond to situations where the therapist assumes an emotion based off nonverbal cue that is not in fact what the client is feeling.
These are just some ideas.
Ideally, I would like there to be a therapist registry (maybe through ASAN?), indicating that they do not endorse autism myths and that they are not of the mind that autism / autistic people are always 100% responsible for emotional or relationship problems. Something like LGBT-friendly therapist lists, but more about autism literacy and attitudes toward neurodivergent folks. At some point it would be great to have expert input on any questionnaire that comes out of this.
I think a Social/Medical Model questionnaire would be useful in identifying a therapist for a situation - someone whose stims really interfere with their lives would benefit from a therapist who reminds them every time they stim and work on reducing stims, whereas for other people they are harmless and don't need or want a therapist telling them to stop stimming. Also, it would show if either the therapist or the client is completely unwilling to commit to being flexible (either a therapist thinking the autistic person needs to change every aspect of their autism to fit social norms, or an autistic person unwilling to work on modifying autistic behaviors even when it would be prudent to for respecting others or achieving set goals).
Any input on how to go about starting something like this, or suggestions for things the lists/questionnaires should cover, are welcome.
Autism Myths
-Several well-designed studies have demonstrated there is no causative connection between vaccines and autism
-Autism is not caused by a "refrigerator mother". Its etiology is largely genetic and the vast majority of autistic people / people with autism are born with it
-Autistic people feel emotions. They often process emotions differently from neurotypicals, and frequently display emotions differently, however.
-Autistic people care about others. When an autistic person appears indifferent to the emotions of others, it is usually because they are unaware of them.
-So-called "Bio-medical therapies" promoted by DAN and other alternative medicine practitioners such as lupron, MMS, hyperbaric oxygen, and chelation have no good evidence backing them up and therefore have no place outside of clinical trials once prior plausibility is established. Autism is biomedical, but it is a condition of the brain, not the gut.
-Behavioral therapies should use positive and negative reinforcement, not aversive punishment (such as electric shocks used at the JRC). This stance is based on evidence of efficacy and ethics.
Autism-Empathy Test:
The beginning instructions could say that Sally and Mike both have ASD whenever they appear in a question, and to rate from 1 to 4 (highest to lowest) the likelihood of each answer.
##. Sally normally does the grocery shopping as fast as possible. One day her spouse went shopping with her, and after half an hour she refused to respond to her spouse's questions about what kind of bread she wanted and covered her ears and closed her eyes, ignoring her spouse's question of whether she wanted to go wait in the car. Which is most likely?
A) Sally was upset that he didn't remember the kind of bread she always gets.
B) Sally was in sensory overload.
C) Sally was being stubborn so she'd get her way.
D) Sally was having a migraine.
(This example is pretty bad, but that's the idea.)
Emotional Communication:
Example: When NT people (_______), that typically means they feel (________). When I (______), that typically means I feel (__________).
07 Aug 2012, 10:02 pm
