A Promise is a Promise
A couple of posts ago I wrote about an ongoing tug of war. That I was trying desperately to hold on to the loving and happy side of Travis. His depression and anxiety is a fierce opponent. Tugging him in the opposite direction. I promised him years ago that I would never let go.
Remember in my first blog, “The Origin Story”, Travis and I pinky swore? I promised Travis that I would never give up searching for answers to help him and he promised to trust me and be open to trying whatever ideas I came up with. Today’s post is about one of those ideas. Because I want to leave no stone left unturned.
On this particular idea I had to remind him of our pinky swear and his side of the promise. Keep in mind he is sixteen at this point.
Somewhere along the line in my research I came across the Davis Autism Approach. This approach was developed by Ron Davis. He is also on the autism spectrum. He believes this gave him the foundation to develop this program.
Per his website, www.davisautism.com, “The program begins with the premise that each individual is born with everything they need to develop into fully functioning individuals. However, for whatever reason, the processes in place to make it happen either failed to happen at all or happened incorrectly. By kick-starting this natural process, we begin to see the individual developing more normally. That, in a nutshell, is what this powerful program does.”
I know what you’re thinking. This concept sounds a bit woo-woo. Let me define woo-woo for you. Relating to or holding unconventional beliefs regarded as having little or no scientific basis, especially those related to spirituality, mysticism, or alternative medicine.
But read a bit further and tell me that you wouldn’t have given it a shot. And don’t forget a promise is a promise. (Or a pinky swear.)
Again, per his website, “Individuals with autism are not oriented to their environment and their senses are not functioning in harmony. Only when the senses are functioning properly is a person able to develop the concept of self as separate and distinct from others and the objects in the environment. Only then can the individual develop a proper identity which will allow them to participate fully in life.
A fully functioning individual requires a self-identity with a foundation of basic concepts including ideas like consequence and time. Typically developing children learn these through trial and error in early childhood. However an individual with autism has failed to learn these concepts through life experience. When these concepts are missing, we see characteristics that indicate the individual lacks full understanding of how they fit into the world. Ron has created a simple, fun, yet powerful process to expose the client to these missing concepts with permanent and meaningful results.”
There are three steps to the program.
Step One is Orientation and Individuation. This step is done one to one with a Davis Autism Approach facilitator. “Using the simple methods developed by Ron, the client begins to harmonize their senses and understand their environment more accurately. Once this has happened the facilitator takes the client through a short series of concepts about the idea of “self” to allow them to develop a true sense of self - we call this individuation. Only then are they ready for the next step.”
Step Two is Identity Development. This step is also done one to one with a facilitator. The information on the website also says this can be completed with a loved one that is coached by the facilitator. But I felt that Travis might have better results if he worked with someone else. Not only because we already do so much together and I might not have the proper patience, but also because I did not have a full understanding of the program. How can I teach what I don’t know?
From the website, “Humans that have developed typically have done so by coming to an understanding of the world through experience. They have, for the most part, figured out how the world works and how they fit into it. This is not the case for individuals with autism. If an autistic individual hasn’t been perceiving their environment properly, they will have an incorrect or incomplete understanding of things the rest of us take for granted.”
This step begins with the basic concept of change. If you have been following my blog or know someone on the autism spectrum you already know how difficult change is and that unexpected or any change can create anxiety. According to the Davis site, “By exploring the concept of change in a fun and creative way, the client can become familiar with it. Once they are feeling safe and confident with the new idea, the client and facilitator will go exploring to find the concept at work in the real world.
This process is repeated for about thirty of these basic life concepts including consequence, time, emotion, behavior, motivation and responsibility.”
Step Three is Social Integration. “When the client has developed a good sense of self, and mastered the concepts necessary to understand how “self” interacts with the world, it’s time to have the client explore concepts necessary to navigate in society. This is a very strong area of need for most people with autism who find the motivation and behavior of others baffling, confusing and overwhelming. The concepts explored and mastered include things like trust, rules and right and wrong.”
This may not come as a surprise to you, Travis started but did not complete this program.
But doesn’t all of the description you just read sound exactly like him? And at this point of his story he has just graduated from The Joshua School. And I am desperate to help him because he is almost an adult. And time just keeps passing. And what if it worked? Understanding all of these basic life concepts would make a huge impact on him and difference in his life.
I called the facilitator listed on the website that was located closest to our home. More than an hour away. She referred me to a woman that was a licensed Davis Dyslexia Correction provider. This woman was working on becoming licensed to be a Davis Autism Approach facilitator. She agreed to work with Travis for free as, if I remember right, she needed to work with an individual on the autism spectrum as part of her training.
There simply would have been no way he could have done this program if we had to pay for it. The basic fee is a few thousand dollars, but Travis was taking way longer than projected to work through the program. So in all likelihood it would have cost even more.
I give this provider a lot of credit. She worked extremely hard to reach Travis. He is just a hard case.
There is a great deal of working with clay involved in working through this program. Which was unappealing for Travis on several levels. First, he is a perfectionist. So the product he made with his hands looked nothing like the idea he had in his head. So he kept working because it had to be just right. He also did not have the motor skills to get it right. And on top of that, he has never been the kid who enjoyed that type of art or crafting type activities.
He tried to make it more interesting for himself. He picked difficult themes to work with, harder to make out of clay. Like game controllers. Cars. Animals.
It is important for something of this nature to work to believe it will work. We were just never able to get Travis’s buy in. He believed that he was too old to be playing with clay. He couldn’t see how this was going to help him in any way. And he simply had other things he wanted to be doing with his time. Travis did not find the program simple or fun as described.
It was also a hard concept for me to understand. Because I am an inside the box type of learner. Could it really be as simple as creating a clay version of yourself to realize you have an identity? But then when you look at the website it has several positive reviews.
But is it evidence based? The only study I could find online was information that was gathered directly from the facilitators. It’s possible that there have been other studies and I was just unable to find them.
What I did find was an article written in the Journal of Early and Intensive Behavior Intervention, “The Cost of Fad Treatments in Autism”, written by Thomas Zane, Cheryl Davis and Mary Rosswurm. They state, “With the increase in the incidence of autism, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of treatments for this disorder. Professionals generally recognize the need for effective treatments. Effectiveness is typically considered to mean the use of quality research with good control over internal and external validity threats.”
They are basically saying that if there is not research showing the effectiveness, the treatment shouldn’t be disseminated on a widespread basis. They go on to say, “However, many fad treatments exist that have no such proof of effectiveness. The use of such treatments waste time and money, and prey upon the emotional vulnerability of parents and caregivers.”
They are not writing about this particular treatment. They are saying there are many ineffective treatments out there.
I have no idea if this method is a fad or not. What I do know is that it did not work for Travis. But he did not make it through the program. And he is a complicated case because he has so many different issues going on.
Testimonials show it works for some people.
The provider that worked with him was amazing. She was patient and kind. And I believe she really wanted it to work because she understood that I was desperate to help him. She got to know Travis and saw the good in him. And that is big for us. Because not everyone that has worked with Travis has taken the time to see there is a bunch of great stuff about him.
She was also kind enough to provide a summary on what she had worked on with Travis and a list of characteristics that Travis demonstrated while doing the program with her:
Empathetic with others that have similar problems to what he experiences.
Can demonstrate kindness.
Lacks social skills, at times demonstrates inappropriate social behavior.
Lacks an understanding about friendship or strangers.
Difficulty in making and sustaining friends.
Does not fully understand the meaning of common gestures, social expressions or tone of voice.
Fairly good verbal skills.
Loves animals.
Family has provided him with many great experiences.
Difficulty understanding how others think and react.
Good imagination but has problems with it in terms of change, cause and effect in real life.
Problems with predicting events or actions.
Has a sense of humor.
Can get so strongly absorbed in his video experiences that he loses sight of other things and can get upset if he cannot pursue the games.
Music is calming for him.
Reading and writing issues.
Has some strategies when he gets overly frustrated or mad.
I’ve always felt safe with Travis.
Demonstrates many dyslexic characteristics.
Good rote memory in certain areas.
Makes honest, but often inappropriate observations.
One emotional incident can determine the mood for the day.
Irregular sleep patterns.
Visual processing problems.
She provided a report for us to share years after working with him in order to help him acquire necessary benefits. I feel lucky to have had her be a part of Team Travis.
“Love is an unconditional commitment to an imperfect person. To love somebody isn’t just a strong feeling…It is a decision, a judgement and a promise. - Author Unknown
