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Article By: Sara Nixon Article Date: 01/15/2008 ABOVE THE STANDARD How a Specialized School Uses Unique Approaches to Reach All Learners By SARA E. NIXON Paoli, PA You see him sitting in the corner. He is in his favorite blue chair – blue, not black, brown, purple, green or orange; has to be blue- and his face is expressionless. His eyes look toward your direction but they are not wanting, desire no communication and if you were to approach him, he might recoil – if he even realizes you are there. He rocks himself at an even tempo, keeping pace with something neither you nor I can hear, feel nor comprehend. There is something inside of him, but how is it extracted? How does one navigate the murky, sometimes explosive, continents of a brain that is characterized by Autism? Now, imagine this same child sitting in the grass on a sunny autumn day, smiling, part of a small group of peers playing “Howdy Neighbor.” When it is his turn, he does not make eye contact with his partner, but he still smiles, maybe even giggles as he repeats the words “howdy neighbor.” The cheerful tones of children’s voices echo throughout the campus of the Vanguard School, and it would appear to an outsider that this is a school like any other: how incorrect they would be. The Vanguard School in Paoli, Pennsylvania is a school designed to provide an innovative, comprehensive education for children who have special learning needs. Of the 230 students who attend school here, from ages 4-21, about 60% have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders, and the remaining 40% have exceptionalities including Neurological Impairment (NI), Severe Emotional Disturbance (SED), and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), among other learning differences. Teachers and therapists use unique methods to answer the above questions, and it is with patience, creativity and behavioral approaches that success is achieved. While many public schools (even some which are Blue Ribbon) have suffered the untimely demise that is standards-based teaching, for 50 years the Vanguard School has sought to establish appropriate guidelines and measures by which to teach and assess children who come here with exceptional needs. The little boy who was rocking in the corner has come out of his private world of isolation and joined a select few members of the world outside. He might have had this opportunity to perform in public school, but here, he gets to participate in experiential learning on a campus that is rich in therapeutic nature and wildlife with a faculty that is expertly trained to accommodate his learning – not trained to force him to accommodate a standard. Although small, Vanguard has been extremely successful, yet even people who live in Chester County hear the name Vanguard and associate it with a sailing brig and institutional investments, which is not an affiliate of the school at all. To achieve this success and provide a tuition-free education for families to attend here, the school depends on private donations, an Annual Fund, Fundraising Events, grants and reimbursement from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Educational services provided by the school include Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Psychological Counseling and Speech/Language Therapies, all of which are outlined in each child’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Students also have specials like music, art, library, physical education, P.A.C.E. (Program of Adventure-based Counseling Experiences), and computers. All students can participate in the Career Development Program, which prepares them for life skills necessary to hold a job and become a contributing member of society. In the Lower School, this means going on field trips and listening to speakers in all different aspects of the job market. In the Middle and Upper School students have hands-on training opportunities both on- and off-campus. Teachers intertwine the fabrics of social learning with those of specific position skill-sets to encourage students and meet a wide range of needs simultaneously. A Vanguard Education is further enmeshed into a student’s life (for consistency and to reduce summer regression) with an Extended School Year (ESY) Program and a SUMMER MATTERS Program. ESY is provided for students who need additional support during the summer to reach a certain benchmark as indicated on their IEP or to maintain consistency for a student who might balk at a momentous change in their routine (and by “balk” I mean have severe tantrums). SUMMER MATTERS is a Program composed of experiential learning opportunities and is open to all students, including children who do not attend Vanguard. Students who attend SUMMER MATTERS can choose from a variety of social learning programs, which hone the skills of horseback riding, sailing, performing arts, wooden boat building, orienteering and adventure programs, with several others . In this instance, the Vanguard mission is still accomplished, but students have a chance to learn in an inclusive environment, the way it will be when they graduate. The administration at Vanguard has a remarkable educational vision – one that includes expanding the initiatives that are already in place and broadening scope of those initiatives, along with the general public’s impression of what it means to have autism. The little boy in the beginning of this article should be a haunting image of a former diagnosis; the little boy in the grass is the human being we’re learning to cultivate and cherish for what he can teach us. The Vanguard School Founded in 1959,The Vanguard School in Paoli, PA is a non-profit day school which takes pride is providing an innovative, comprehensive curriculum to support students with Special Needs, and encourages them to become productive, contributing members of society. Exceptionalities served at Vanguard include those on the Autism Spectrum, Neurological Impairment and Severe Emotional Disturbance. Please find us on the web at: www.vanguardschool-pa.org. .

FAIR Autism Media has just published a new interview in our Educational & Sensory issues video gallery. In this May, 2007 interview, FAIR Autism Media's Sara DiFucci sits down with Laura Lum Corby, founder of the Autism Solution Center, Inc. located outside of Memphis, Tennessee. In this interview, Ms. Corby discusses educational & sensory challenges faced by autistic children and the broad, comprehensive and individualized treatment approach utilized by her center to discover and fulfill the needs of these special kids. Also discussed is her vision to provide a multi-million dollar national model for autism treatment facilities that addresses all the multi-faceted needs of those affected by autism spectrum disorders, under one roof, accessible to everyone, and at no cost. To see this video, visit http://www.autismmedia.org/media17.html.

By Kent Erdahl AUTISM: THE EPIDEMIC?Autism is now the fastest growing childhood impairment in the country, affecting one in 150 children according to the latest CDC report. One Iowa mom has made it her mission to do something about it. Life has been full of appointments for Lin Wessels and her son Sam but each one has become a little easier since doctors made a dreaded diagnosis three and a half years ago. "(The doctor) said we have your diagnosis and it is autism," Lin says. "And I was choking back the tears and I said to her, 'So now what?' And she said, 'So now you need to go out and educate yourself on your son's condition.'" Lin did just that, learning ways to work with Sam on his physical, sensory and social development. But despite Sam's progress, she grew frustrated with the lack of research and political attention paid to why autism cases are increasing. So like many other Iowans, she decided to take sam to meet some presidential candidates. "Sam posed the same question to each candidate," Lin says. "'How will you help me and all the others like me? I have autism.'" Lin is asking candidates to look into a connection between autism and a preservative in vaccines containing mercury. Sam tested positive for mercury poisoning this summer, but the connection has yet to be proven medically. "I don't believe it's the only cause of Autism I believe it's a major factor," Lin says. Because of her belief, Lin asked other parents of autistic children to send her their mercury test results in hopes of sharing them all with Senator John McCain on a trip through her hometown of Rock Rapids. "Senator McCain promised to help all those with Autism," Lin says. "He promised to help find the cause. We are holding him to his word." The day after Lin put out a request she had 30 lab results from parents across the country, and within ten days time she had 208 from 35 states. "They want their government to know this is my child and this happened to my child," Lin says. "So I became their spokesperson." On October 26th, Lin, the spokesperson, stood and asked Senator McCain for one more appointment. "Would you commit to meeting with a special task force of parents such as myself?" Lin asked. "Anywhere, any time, you name the place, we'll be there." "Yes ma'am and I will do it at your convenience either here or Washington D.C. or some other geographic location that is most convenient for the people that you want me to meet with," McCain responded. That appointment is now official, Lin Wessels and a group of parents are scheduled to meet with Senator McCain in Washington on November 20th. Seven states, including Iowa, have passed laws banning that mercury based preservative, known as thimerosal. It is not banned in Minnesota or South Dakota.

Rebecca Sperber, M.S., MFTby: Rebecca Sperber, M.S., MFT Families with autistic children face many challenges. Emotional, physical, financial, and social difficulties arise in a variety of different contexts. The stress of dealing with these challenges can be overwhelming. One way families cope with this stress is to isolate themselves from people and situations. I call this pattern of coping "Autism Isolation Syndrome". The three main components of the syndrome are: · emotional isolation from the self · physical isolation from others · social isolation The patterns' goal is to create a sense of control for parents who often feel overwhelmed. Couples often go for long periods of time without seeing their friends and avoid multi-family gatherings. A complex set of emotions explain why the isolation occurs. Conflicts like, "How will I deal with my feelings in public?", "How much should we share?", "How will I deal with people if they are judgmental or insensitive", "Will I be able to relax and have fun?" are common. Because autism, autistic behavior and how it effects each child in an individual way, is so hard to explain to people, many families opt for isolation as a way to feel more in control of the disorder and its challenges. Fatigue also becomes a problem. Intensive schedules of treatment and schooling consume many hours on a weekly basis. Sleep patterns are often erratic in an autistic child and the entire family is affected. So fatigue is often used as an "excuse" not to socialize. Many people lose sight of the importance of staying socially connected. This is partly because many of their personal feelings and needs are being over-shadowed by their love and concern for their autistic child and other children in the family. They forget their own needs to laugh, be nurtured, intellectually stimulated and self actualized. This pattern of deprivation often leads to depression and other emotional and physical problems. Addressing the issue of fatigue with a doctor may become necessary in order to regain the energy to resume a more socially active life, both as a family and as an individual. EMOTIONS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO ISOLATION Many parents experience overwhelming feelings of grief, anger, sadness, guilt, and even shame in the early stages of the isolation syndrome. Emotional isolation usually starts within the home itself, and between family members themselves. Concerns about having "wrong" feelings or burdening other family members with feelings arise. Individuals can decide to deal with many of their feelings by themselves. This suppression is normal on an occasional basis but becomes unhealthy as a pattern. It keeps family members from getting the support and nurturing they need from each other and can lead to depression and depletion. The suppression of emotions can also facilitate denial. Denial can be a coping mechanism which helps people function during difficult times. It can keep feelings contained to a manageable level, which allows for success in seeking and securing proper medical and education intervention for their autistic child. At the same time it can block powerful feelings and the awareness of the need to talk and to get support. The focus becomes about doing what has to be done to deal with the demands of daily situations in the family, and it becomes too threatening to feel. Lost in the frenzy of trying to follow professional advice to help the child, one can lose a sense of their own feelings and needs. In the breakdown of emotional communication, exhaustion can occur ("isolation syndrome" stage 1), judgment can be lost, and the likelihood of inappropriate decisions regarding treatment strategies for the child can increase. BREAKING THROUGH STAGE 1 - ISOLATION WITHIN YOUR FAMILY Talking about sadness is essential in helping families break the pattern of emotional isolation from each other. Feeling sad about your child's autism is normal. There are things you imagine that he/she will never experience such as a career, a relationship, security or happiness in their lives. Before treatment and education begins to yield progress for your child, it is understandable to feel more loss than gain, more despair than comfort. Families who fail to vent this emotion become less intimate in general and more isolated from each other. It is as if each person in the family represents a trigger for raw emotion, and it is scary to go into the feelings. To avoid the discomfort of emoting, excessive time is spent talking about autism schools and programs instead of broader issues pertaining to the lives and feelings of the entire family. One method for breaking through this emotional isolation is to schedule a family meeting and have what I call "an open book session". This involves everyone in the family revealing feelings and being open to each other. Asking questions like "Why do you feel sad about Johnny having autism?" "Did you cry this week about anything that we have been dealing with?" "What do you think we are missing out on? Are you angry, and if so what are you angry about?" Questions specifically about sadness and anger can open up communication and put feelings back into the vocabulary of the family. If the family gets used to "venting" in a structured way about issues pertaining to their autistic family member, they can feel a release that allows them to access their individual desires to focus on themselves and the parts of their life that are not consumed with dealing with issues related to autism. Discussing guilt within the family is crucial. Many people feel guilty about their feelings. They feel guilty about their sadness as they perceive it to imply pity and the diminishment of the value of their autistic child. They feel guilty about their anger, in the realization that their child's problems are a result of a disability that is not their fault. Parents struggle with questions about their responsibility in the appearance of the disorder. "Is there something I did or did not do to cause this?" is a common conflict. If

Public health authorities have identified an enormous increase in the incidence of childhood autism. In California, the number of kids receiving state services for autistic disorders has nearly quadrupled since 1987. (1) A recent news report on National Public Radio noted 775 news cases, a 33% increase over the previous quarter in which only 550 new cases were identified. This brain development disorder results in a lack of normal language skills and inability to form human bonds of affection with parents and other people. The majority of its victims are boys. Many also suffer from epilepsy. The physical, mental, emotional and social disabilities combined are so sever that most autistic children end up in institutions by the age of 13. This is a tragedy for the child and its parents, a loss to society and an economic burden of great proportion. Autism is now thought to affect one person in 500, making it more common than Downs syndrome or childhood cancer. According to Dr Marie Bristol Power from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, it is a not a rare disorder but a "pressing public-health problem". (1) Neither the cause of this disorder nor the reason for its exponential increase is well understood by researchers at this time. However there is data associating autistic disorders with the use of an artificial hormone (Pitocin) which is given to pregnant women to induce or speed up labor (1, 2). Pitocin is a synthetic exogenous source of the natural hormone oxytocin which stimulates the gravid uterus to contract. It was developed as a drug by the Parke-Davis pharmaceutical company in 1953 and put into general use in 1955. It comes from the pituitary glands of cattle and includes acetic acid for pH adjustment and .5 percent chloretone as a preservative. The lead story in the July 31, 2000 issue Newsweek magazine was devoted to exploring this growing health problem. The Newsweek reporter, Geoffrey Cowley, interviewed Dr Eric Hollander of New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine, a physician who specializes in treating autistic kids. Dr Hollander reported that several years ago he noticed that 60% of the autistic patients in his clinic had been exposed to this drug as a fetus. Material published by the World Health Organization also notes an association between the use of Pitocin and autistic disorders (2). In spontaneous labors the mother's pituitary gland makes an endogenous (i.e. internal) oxytocin that triggers the physiological onset and progress of labor. The hormone oxytocin is also produced during breastfeeding (causing the let-down of breast milk) and it accompanies sexual orgasm. For this reason it is referred to as the "love hormone" by obstetrician Christianne Northrop, MD as each of these biological events are associated with experiences of great emotional bonding and include meaningful social interaction between the individuals involved. Since autistic disorders produce an inability to make or maintain affectionate bonds or have normal social relationships, one cannot help but wonder if perhaps there is an causal relationship between these disorders and exogenous sources of an artificial form of oxytocin. Perhaps flooding the immature body of the fetus (especially boy babies) with this gender-specific synthetic hormone from animals somehow interferes with the eventual function of these psychological systems. It is an intriguing question. However, Pitocin is not the only drug received by women whose labors are being induced or augmented. The use of Pitocin requires that the mother also be given IV fluids, have continuous electric fetal monitoring in place and remain sedentary in her hospital bed while connected to this equipment. Pitocin-induced uterine contrations and enforced maternal immobility makes labor more painful, so much so that under these circumstances most laboring women also receive narcotic pain relievers and/or epidural anesthesia. The use of these drugs and anesthetics is also associated with an increase in operative deliveries (vacuum extraction or forceps). It is possible that the causative agent or trigger event for autism is a particular combination of drugs or certain physical problems or propensity for either the mother or baby, in combination with certain drugs, rather than a simple direct effect of Pitocin per se. The use of Pitocin to induce or augment labors and concomitant use of epidural anesthesia has been steadily climbing for the last 20 years - about the same period that the increase in autism has been reported. Estimates of the use of Pitocin in laboring women over the last 2 decades range from 12% to 60%. However, a 1992 survey by a medical anthropologist at the University of Texas found that 81% of women in US hospital receive Pitocin to either induce or augment labor. Epidural use is as high as 95% in many urban hospitals. When one factors in a Cesarean rate of 23% (acknowledging some overlap), the proportions of these facts is staggering as virtually 100% of medically-managed births are subjected to a high level of pharmaceutical interventions that have never been approved for use in fetuses. It certainly seems prudent to research the possible association with pharmaceutically-augmented labors in an attempt to discover the cause of the rising tide of autistic disorders. It may be necessary to amend our current obstetrical practices to prevent an epidemic of this expensive and emotionally-crippling disorder. Existing data on babies born at home under the care of midwives as a control group in Autism research For research purposes it seems only logical to utilize the subset of healthy childbearing women who received physiological management of the intrapartum and experienced no medical treatments during the labor and birth (i.e. - no Pitocin or other labor-inducing drugs, no narcotic pain medications, no general or regional anesthetics and no operative deliveries, etc) as a control to determine if intrapartum medical treatments are causative or contributory to the development or exacerbating of autism disorders. In the early 1990s the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) embarked on a retrospective statistical study of domiciliary birth outcomes. More recently they have been conducting a prospective study by enrolling

This week I learned how a student that transferred from my class in February was doing in his new school. This young man was a student of mine for more than five years. When he came he was extremely violent. He constantly threatened to kill people and to hurt them. Each year as he grew the threats seemed more plausible. When he started to tower over me I worked on making him understand that he could no longer threaten people. If he were to hit someone no matter how justified, it would appear that he was the aggressor and the police would side with the smaller person. He began to take this to heart and stopped making threats. He stopped using vulgar language. When he started at our school his temper tantrums were the things of legend. When angered he would hit then run away. He carried grudges forever. The concept of time passing is hard for students diagnosed with autism to handle. Every slight took place earlier in the day or yesterday, even though years may have passed since it actually occurred. I had to work on his understanding of the passage of time. Students with autism remember all of the bad things that happen to them. With the inability to understand that time passes they build up a tendency to react even though nothing really happened. I had to work on the fact that more good things happened to him than bad things. Earlier this year he made the transition to regular high school as a junior. Since he has been there he has attended the Prom with a date and as of his last report card he is getting all A's and B's. The success of his transition belongs to him and his parents. When he decided he wanted to attend regular school, he started making the changes that were necessary for him to go. This change would not have been possible without the determination of the student and the support of his parents. - Ken Brzezinski

Article By: Tabi Cooper Article Date: 02/23/2008 When I think about my special friend, I think about my friend Greg.He always been there for me and he is the first one that I contact when I need someone to talk to or to tell him some news, either by phone, Facebook, MySpace, or occasionally by AIM. I first met Greg in college at a diversity event at our residence hall. He was putting on a disability awareness simulation of a person reciting the color of what the color words are, not the color word itself, and I had no problems with it. For example, if the word yellow is in blue, the person says blue, not yellow. He mentioned that there are people that have a hard time with it, since both parts used different parts of the brain. During our conservation, he and I mentioned about our two disabilities, he with dyslexia and me with autism. Greg was the first person that I told that I am autistic during the first meeting and before then, I did not tell anyone during the first meeting. He did invite me to come to the next Students for Disability Awareness meeting, in which I attended and later became the public relations chair. If it was not for Greg, I would not even been involved with SDA. Ever since that day, he and I became good friends. I do not know if I will call him my best friend, but he is a special friend to me. Through Greg, I got to know many of his Sigma Chi brothers and I became friends with them. I even presented my autism program to their chapter and afterwords, Greg gave me a tour of the house. Whenever I wrote a note on Facebook or gave something to Sigma Chi, Greg shared it to them during their chapter. I also mailed them some pictures that I took to them and I am pretty sure that Greg will share them to his Sigma Chi brothers. I even made him a collage of the pictures that I have of him, including the one in a John Trovola pose while he was wearing a 1970s era suit. When I told him that I was graduating from college, he was upset. He asked me, "Why do you have to graduate?" When I asked him why he was upset, he said, "I need to find a new PR chair." I guess that he felt that way because SDA is losing a valuable member of their executive board. In my memory book that I passed around just before graduation, he wrote in there, "It has been an honor working with you on SDA and having a great friend like you. Congratulations on graduating and I hope for nothing but the best for the future." After the college graduation ceremony, he was the first person that I called and told him that I am finally graduated and to tell the guys thanks for the support. Greg always been there for me, ever since the first meeting. He and I accepted each other, I have no problems with him being dyslexic and he has no problems with me being autistic. Greg is an important person in my life and the most special friend that I could ever ask for.

Observations based on a typical day in the life of someone who was diagnosed as having strong autistic tendencies as a two and a half year old toddler. I am awakened at 6:30 a.m. by a bluejay who has decided that it is time for everyone else to wake up too. It hurts. It feels like his beak is scraping against my eardrum. I close the window for another 30 minutes of sleep. Another area of sound sensitivities shows up when I listen to recorded music. It doesn't have to be loud, but if there is any harmonic distortion, my ears hurt. Imagine a small radio playing at full volume and you'll have an extreme example of harmonic distortion. In most stereo equipment this is often unnoticeable by most people. I have sensitivities to sounds. When I was in grade school, my classmates used to call my name as softly as they could and see if I could still hear them. I could hear them from across the room and often even into an adjacent classroom. I remember one time a teacher doing a similar thing. He stood behind me and barely whispered my name. I sensed his presence and looked around. The whole class, teacher included, had a good laugh. During the 1970's, as a holdover from the fears of the cold war, a siren would sound at noon every Friday causing many dogs to howl in unison with it. One day I copied that sound as it went off. I became aware of this when I suddenly noticed the whole class laughing. Needless to say I was quite embarrassed and was made sure that I didn't forget that day for a long time. Time to get up. My wife and I arise and do the usual morning activities of preparing for the day and eating breakfast. Time to shave… no, I don't shave. Feels like a power sander scraping across my skin. I've had a beard almost from when I needed to shave. Using a razor hurt terribly. My parents asked me why I didn't want to shave my face as it was a male-type ritual. I told them it hurt. They said "Don't be ridiculous." An electric shaver is tolerable if I don't use it often and on only the small portions of my face that I don't want the beard to cover. I look for the day's clothes to wear. It doesn't really matter what they are as long as the socks don't have a hole in them or the fabric doesn't appear to be weak and I can see my toes or heel through the sock. There is something profoundly upsetting about wearing such socks and I don't even like to see holes or weak areas on other peoples' socks. If I avert my eyes when putting on such socks it may be possible to tolerate them… as long as I can't feel where the holes are… which is usually not the case. Holes in an undershirt are only slightly more tolerable while holes in pants and other outerwear are not a problem. That new shirt, that was received as a gift must wait until it is washed before it is worn, as newly purchased clothes have a disagreeable smell. I get on my bicycle and ride to work. Even though I got my driver's license and a car when I was sixteen years old, I still prefer to ride my bicycle everywhere I go. Is this a stim? I don't know. I still like spinning objects and a bicycle has many rotating parts. Sometimes my wife will drop me off with my bicycle at the college where I teach but I will always ride home. I call riding the bicycle to work the lazy man's way. It takes 20 minutes by bicycle, the same amount of time by car and about an hour by public transportation. I avoid public transportation whenever possible. It is jam-packed with people like sardines, usually too hot, and quite smelly. At Work I lock up my bicycle, walk to my desk, change my shoes and pull on a sweater-vest Mr. Rogers style. I get to school about 2 hours before my first class. This gives me time to get oriented, work on projects and visit with other faculty members and deans. I call my friend the Art professor. We exchange ritualistic greetings in Russian and agree to meet for tea at my office. We discuss our students. We both enjoy imitations and I am good at it so we spend the next half an hour imitating people we know in common. The overpowering smell of perfume wafts from the office below. Eyes watering, we decide to go to her office. The Art professor is a special friend. We have exchanged histories and we enjoy looking into each other's world. She is my age, within a few months. Unlike me, she appears to have had a fairly normal childhood. She enlightens me about all the "normal" childhood things that were done when we were younger. She then goes to class and I go to visit the Dean of Business, whom I call my adopted dean. He is probably the most honest and straightforward man on the campus. Whether he knows it or not, I have designated him my mentor. I am very poor at reading subtle social situations. Office politics is full of that. This man helps me decode what is going on and how to act… or not act. The Dean of Business doesn't know my history and it wouldn't make sense to lay it all out for him. I suspect he sees me as a hard working, interesting person who has much to offer to the college. He probably senses that I am "different" in some ways but that is about where it ends. Before I got to know and trust this man the way I do, we had a falling out. I had approached him during

Anyone who works with children with autism, learning disabilities, or mental retardation has observed the child who craves being held tightly, the child with high pain tolerance, the child with tactile defensiveness, the child who is clumsy, and the child who cannot tolerate tags on the inside of her shirt. Sensory integration (SI) dysfunction appears to be a productive explanation for these problems (American Occupational Therapy Association, 1997; Case-Smith & Bryon, 1999). Moreover, SI therapy seems a logical approach to addressing these issues. Background of Sensory Integration Therapy Sensory integration is a normal developmental process involving the ability of the central nervous system (CNS) to organize sensory feedback from the body and the environment in order to make successful adaptive responses (Ermer & Dunn, 1998). The basic tenets of SI are: 1) the CNS is plastic; 2) SI matures along a predictable developmental sequence; 3) SI therapy attempts to revisit and restructure the development of sensory integration in cases where the normal developmental progression has been disrupted; 4) SI therapy links an adaptive response to sensory input; and 5) children have an inner drive to integrate information (Bundy, Lane, Fisher, & Murray, 2002). Among the therapeutic techniques are deep brushing; swings for vestibular input; textures; bounce pads; scooter boards; weighted vests and other clothing; ramps; and generally increasing or decreasing sensory diet, depending on the needs of the child. When Jean Ayres (1979) first developed SI she proposed that, by revisiting the developmental process of integrating information from the senses into an organized whole through a carefully controlled sensory diet, learning disabilities and other developmental disabilities could be cured (Carte, Morrison, Sublett, Uemura, & Setrakian, 1984; Kranowitz, Szlut, Balzer-Martin, Haber & Sava, 2001). Evidence Belies Appeal of SI There is one small problem. The problem is that it does not work. There is no evidence that SI therapy is or has ever been an effective treatment for children with learning disabilities, autism, or any other developmental disability. This is not one of those common cases where there is not enough information upon which to effectively evaluate the treatment. In fact, there are plenty of quality outcome studies (41 as of this writing). There is no study that uses a quality research design (e.g., random assignment of subjects, matched control groups, consideration of the effects of maturation, evaluators blind to treatment condition) that finds SI therapy to be effective in reducing any problem behaviors or increasing any desired behaviors. There is plenty of evidence from which a verdict can be drawn. And the verdict is that, despite the intuitive appeal and glowing testimonials, SI therapy is not an effective treatment (Gresham, Beebe-Frankenburger, & MacMillan, 1999; Hoehn & Baumeister, 1994; Shaw, Powers, Abelkop, & Mullis, 2002). Literature in a field can be compiled and integrated through a method called meta-analysis. All results are reduced to a metric called an effect size. Effect sizes are expressed in standard deviation units. The rule of thumb is that an effect size greater than .50 is large and an effect size of .20 to .50 is moderate. Effect sizes of less than .20 are rarely significant. Another common pattern is that poorly designed studies result in greater effect sizes than well-designed studies. That is the case with SI therapy. Several early studies that did not assign participants randomly found positive outcomes. Forty-one studies had random assignment of subjects, which is considered a minimum criterion for a quality design. Subjects include children with the following diagnoses (N refers to the number of studies considered): autism (N=8), learning disabilities (N=23), mental retardation (N=5), motor problems (N=3) and multiple developmental issues (N=2). From all of these studies, each with multiple variables, 218 effect sizes were calculated. Of note is that there were no significant effect sizes for language improvement (-.08), behavior (.02) and sensory motor functions (-.10). There were small, but significant effects for motor skills (.24) and psychoeducational performance (.26). However, if only the studies that considered maturation factors are included (N=12), then the effect sizes for motor skills and psychoeducational performance are reduced to nearly zero (.03 and -.04, respectively; Shaw et al., 2002). There simply is no evidence of the efficacy of SI therapy (Cummins, 1991). Many have tried. It certainly is possible that the studies lacked sufficient power to demonstrate effectiveness, dependent measures are not sufficiently sensitive to change, or that experimental designs may be biased against finding positive effects (Vargas & Camilli, 1999). These are important academic questions to be answered. However, for a procedure with no evidence of efficacy to be used on the public with claims of success, to charge money for these services, and to train practitioners in this model borders on unethical behavior. At least some evidence that SI procedures are "safe and effective," to use Food and Drug Administration language, is required before moving a technique from theory and experimentation to the public. The Placebo Effect of SI If this is so, then why do so many therapists and parents swear by the effectiveness of SI therapy? In a word: placebo. Placebo is a powerful tool used in many professions. If someone believes that a therapy works and invests personal energy into making a therapy work, then to some degree it will work. In SI therapy a skilled professional is spending one-on-one time with a child, coaching parents on how to interact with their child, supplying answers to parents, and giving parents hope (Ottenbacher, 1982). These are fabulous and valuable activities. Parents are empowered. Parents become hopeful and involved. However, these activities have nothing to do with SI therapy. A professional could provide the same positive messages by giving the child a massage or playing checkers with a child and there would be the perception of positive outcomes. Placebo is neither a bad thing nor something to be ignored. There is an estimate that 30% of physician treatment effectiveness is due to placebo (Roberts, Lauriello, Geppert, & Keith, 2001). Certainly the same is probably true of psychological counseling

Megan Tollefson has seen the myriad faces of autism first-hand. Now she's painting those faces both to satisfy honors graduation requirements at Arizona State University, and to help build public awareness of a widespread and often heartbreaking disorder. "I have two cousins, one from each side of the family, with autism and I've seen the effects on my aunts and uncles," said Tollefson, 21, of Mesa. "Unlike illnesses that go away in a few weeks, autism lasts a lifetime and it means changes in people's lives for a lifetime. That has made a very great impression on me." A great enough impression that when the time came to choose a topic for her required honors thesis, she chose autism. Megan has a double major, one from the business college in marketing, and one from the School of Art in painting. She decided in the fall that she would bring her painting skills into play while she studied autism. For months Tollefson has been researching the subject online, through reading books and publications, and by spending time at the Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center, a non-profit organization in downtown Phoenix. There is a community school at SARRC, and Tollefson goes there about once a week. "I go to observe, but to take part too," she said. "I talk and play with the kids, I take photos, and I've gone to the homes of the children and painted portraits. I have learned an immense amount from doing this." Lyndsey Miholich is the center's community relations manager. "When Megan contacted us she was so sensitive in focusing on what life is like for families and children but also celebrating their talents - so SARRC was happy to help in her project," she said. "She spent time with families in their homes and provided children with canvasses so they could create their own artwork." Megan not only spent many hours at SARRC, she took part in events meant to bring the issues of autism before the public, including attending the Autism Candlelight Vigil January 29 at the state Capitol. "I took pictures at the vigil, and a painting I did from one of the pictures is a centerpiece of the art show I'm having of my works on autism," Tollefson said. Tollefson's show is March 17 -28 at the College of Art Step Gallery in Tempe Center, on the southeastern corner of Mill Avenue and University Drive. Tollefson said she plans to donate any proceeds from paintings she sells to SARRC. "I'm so glad I decided to do my thesis on autism," she said. "It has meant so much to me, been so rewarding as I've met families and learned so much. I hope my paintings can do some good."