Autism & Real Inclusion: Conor Counts the Days (40) to School

My son does not receive what many would consider an inclusive education. Those who subscribe to the philosophy that all children benefit from learning in a mainstream classroom  would be horrified to learn that my son receives his individualized, ABA based instruction outside the classroom in individual environments in the local high school.  He also begins and ends his day and spends time in a resource center with other children with challenges and interacts with other students to the best of his limited abilities in the common areas.

When Conor began school he started in the mainstream classroom and came home each day with bite marks on his hands and wrists.  That self injurious behavior declined substantially and has been almost non existent in the years between then and his first year in high school last year. For Conor the individualized learning area working with an autism trained education assistant and interacting with other students in the resource center and in other common areas of the school represent real, evidence based inclusion.  This is the inclusion that works for my son and the evidence is crystal clear.  

It would be nice if the ideologues who insist that all children must be educated in the mainstream classroom would break free of their ideological chains and look at the evidence. Some children require individualized learning environments for all or part of their day.  When learning is provided based on what works best for the child that is real inclusive education.  

Summer is tough for Conor.  He looks forward to going back to school, to Leo Hayes High School, and talks about school on a frequent basis.  One of the things we do to provide encouragement is to just ask him each day "how many days until school".  Conor provides the answer and in doing so feels better by knowing he will be going back sooner with each passing day.  Today Conor's answer was "40 days until school". I am sure he felt better than yesterday when the answer was 41.  Conor loves school, he loves a real, evidence based learning experience.  

To paraphrase one of autistic children's greatest friends, Dr. O. Ivar Lovaas, Conor is being taught in the way he can learn and part of the proof is in his eagerness to get back to school.  The way Conor learns is in an evidence based inclusive education that accommodates his learning needs and autism based challenges. 

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Evidence Based Autism Treatment: What the New York Times Didn't Say About Dr. O. Ivar Lovaas

The New York Times has now published an  obituary on the passing of Dr. O. Ivar Lovaas.  It is generally a fair commentary if understated in describing his positive  impact on the lives of autistic children.  The NYT summary of Lovaas therapy doesn't  really seem to get it though, doesn't  really seem to understand  why so many people, parents and authorities, seek  Lovaas ABA therapy for autistic children despite the cost:

Though Lovaas therapy can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year, parents of autistic children clamored for it. In 1995, Dr. Lovaas founded the Lovaas Institute, based in Los Angeles, which trains teachers in his method. Today, thousands of children throughout the United States and abroad are receiving Lovaas therapy.

The NYT fails to demonstrate that it  fully understands why  the Lovaas method  is so widely sought and applied by parents and others interested in actually helping autistic children .... the evidence base in support of its effectiveness. The NYT makes no mention of the  numerous credible health authorities, including the office of the US Surgeon General, that  reviewed hundreds of ABA studies and concluded that it is the only evidence based effective intervention for helping autistic children.  

Dr. Lovaas more than anyone else advanced the evidence based approach to helping autistic children that has made ABA the intervention that so many parents "clamor" for as the NYT puts it somewhat condescendingly.  The evidence in support of the Lovaas ABA method is what persuaded so many parents that it was the treatment on which to wager their children's precious early development time.  The evidence in support of  ABA is what assisted parents in Canada and the US in advocating for the provision of treatment for their autistic children.  

The New York Times can not bring itself to say outright what many parents  and public health authorities  know ... that Dr. Lovaas  was one of the very few who have actually helped autistic children. 

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