Expert: James Michael Roan - 5/21/2008

Question
I have 2 children with autism.  One is an adult, and is out of school.  Briefly, I feel that the IEP program didn't really help him, as he still has significant social delays and is currently on SSI.

My second child with ASD is 3.  He's currently enrolled in public school, and is attending preschool 3 days a week, with 1 hour of speech and 1/2 hour of OT.

What he really needs is social remediation.  What should I ask for at his IEP?  Can you give me some studies to back my request please?

Answer
Hi Kim;

I don't have any studies at my finger tips, however they do abound and can be found, at least the abstracts, on Google Scholar and Google Books. This piece of seminal research is well recognized and internationally validated: http://depts.washington.edu/uwautism/pdf/Early%20intervention%20in%20autism-Effe...

Dr. Geraldine Dawson of the University of Washington's Autism Center recommends naturalistic social interventions, which means a partially structured adult-facilitated small group play with same-aged peers (2-3) who do NOT have autism, where joint attention and interactive attentional and social skills can be developed. This should happen five days a week for however long your child can endure and should be continued by you outside the school setting. Also, a floortime model, designed by Stanley Greenspan, would be effective as well.

A very good resource for curricula is Michelle Garcia-Winner's www.socialthinking.com website.

Kind regards,
James