ASC Object Permanence A different Perspective By Dr

ASC & Object Permanence: A different Perspective By Dr. Wenn B. Lawson

Research: one way of uncovering appropriate resources But, what if our thinking gets in the way? ASC & NT? Sheep and goats are both grazers but are also very different. Knowing what’s different about their needs informs us how to work with them. It’s the same for research.

What to expect from this talk: One important area of research: A discussion on object Permanence and how it might apply more broadly in autism spectrum conditions (ASC). Are we listening to families concerns? An area for future research?

Object permanence is a child’s ability to understand that objects still exist even when they can’t be seen.

Anger, sadness & other behaviours are an ‘expression’ of an individual's current emotion. This may not always be ‘intentional behaviour’ but rather, a ‘biological response’ to the neurochemical change in the brain due to a change in the environment.

(e. g. Mother tells child she is going outside to feed the chooks; Mother leaves child to feed chooks; Child appears to be OK. Mother returns after a short time in the garden feeding chooks to find child sobbing and saying ‘where were you I couldn’t see you; I thought you had left me’).

Often, an expression of negative emotion is due to a lack of cognitive ability to logically reason through the change in the environment and adapt as necessary.

Object permanence is the result of: knowing that an object still exists, even if it is hidden. It requires the ability to form a mental representation (i. e. a schema) of the object (e. g. Mc. Leod, S. A. (2010). Sensorimotor Stage. Retrieved from: http: //www. simplypsychology. org /sensorimotor. html.

Holly, aged 3. 10 yrs came to stay with us, her grand-parents. Holly was playing hide-go-seek with her 6. 6 yrs old sister. As soon as there were no signs that AJ (her sister) was around, Holly began to scream intensely with utter conviction that AJ was gone.

We watched Holly (who is autistic) repeat this experience over and over again. It was very upsetting for us and awful for her. Holly is very verbally able and very intelligent. Her IQ isn’t the issue here but how she learns is.

Cognitive abilities develop naturally, but in many cases, not fully. This is why there is so much variation in learning styles. Some areas of the brain are more or less developed than others causing apparent strengths and weakness in visual learning, auditory learning, or kinaesthetic learning, for example.

In regards to strategies, the picture system, visual schedule, etc. may be useful in providing accommodation for transition between activities. However, it might not change the individual's understanding as to why the change is happening.

In ASC the way to change an individual's understanding is to intentionally change the brain by creating new neural connections through using focussed attention/interest to capture attention and lead or assist an individual towards an understanding (this means building concepts in a fuller way using story in a format that works for that child; via Disney characters; Lego models; video games (such as SIMMS); comic strip stories based upon super heroes;

In NT cognition, multi-tasking comes naturally. The ability to notice, hold on to information and recall it is more available. In ASC single mindedness/single focus/single processing tends to occur over and above multi-focus. However, particularly in ASC, when an activity, thought, process is attached to an area of interest it triggers GAMMA and enables processing to occur with more ease (attention is captured, interest is held, learning/cognition takes place).

Excess GAMMA in ASC Anchored GAMMA in GAMMANT

Uni-sensory & Multi -sensory connections allow for different concepts/experienc es/memories and will lead to different behavioural outcomes.

If circumstances an individual finds themselves in present as overwhelming (all attack at once) and their brain works with processing things one at a time; the very mechanism for building understanding is immobilised. They succumb to the belief that they are not valuable, important, capable, loved etc. and negative behaviour follows.

RESOURCES http: //raisingchildren. net. au/articles/auti sm_spectrum_disorder_attention. html Ross Green www. livesinthebalance. org https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=uo. X BFOZml 80 www. wendylawson. com http: //www. questia. com/library/journal /1 G 1 -331005412/teaching-objectpermanence-an-action-research-study