Parents Going Back to School
Laurie Duddy’s 8 year old twins, Tommy and Alex, both have severe autism. She—and a number of other parents of autistic children—are now studying for a master’s degree in Applied Behavior Analysis at Caldwell College in northern New Jersey. Today’s New York Times profiles the program and some of the parents who are studying in it:
In most states, a generic special education degree is sufficient to treat children with autism and to use the particular techniques of A.B.A., the only therapy for the disorder with proven results in peer-reviewed research. But many colleges and universities now offer specialized degrees in A.B.A. Graduate programs are offered at Northeastern University in Boston, Florida State University in Tallahassee, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, the University of Maryland in Baltimore County and California State University in Los Angeles, to name a few. Administrators at several of the programs say they, too, have parents of autistic children among their students.
Caldwell’s graduate program is the only one of its kind in New Jersey, a state known for pioneering autism education and advocacy……..The state is thus a magnet for families from out of state looking for the best services for their children. Because of this migration, New Jersey has the highest incidence of autism in the United States: 1 in 94 children versus 1 in 150 nationwide, according to federal studies.
(Whether such a “migration” is the reason for New Jersey having the highest autism rate in the country is not clear; some other reasons include greater understanding and awareness and well-established early intervention programs.)
Most of the parents studying in Caldwell’s graduate program plan to continue to work as behavior therapists for autistic children and, especially, for older children and adults:
Martine Torriero, who has a 15-year-old son, hopes to run recreational and cultural programs for autistic teenagers. Delia O’Mahony, whose son is now 22, is interested in adult services, since children like hers “fall off a cliff” when they are past school age. Diana Kelly, who used all her skills as a lawyer to get her two sons properly diagnosed and treated — each has a different variation of autism spectrum disorder — does private consulting for families and schools as she works toward her master’s degree. She hopes Caldwell will add a doctoral program, too.
Until Charlie was five years old, I seriously considered becoming a professional autism teacher/therapist myself. I have learned a fair amount about ABA and different ways of teaching autistic students over the years and have found these more than helpful in teaching Charlie to take care of himself (tooth-brushing, for instance), to go out into the community (more on our visit to the Met later today), to help out around the house, and to play piano and cello. Parents learning how to be teachers of autistic students do bring something extra to the classroom:
By her own account, Ms. Kelly has tried just about everything, from A.B.A., which many families find harsh and robotic, to kinder and gentler programs with little data to support effectiveness, to special diets and detoxification. Each consumes time and money, Ms. Kelly said, telling her fellow students, as she does the parents she works with, that trying a little bit of everything is tempting but not necessarily wise.
“It’s not what looks good, it’s what works,” Ms. Kelly said. “And every hour spent doing X is time lost for Y.”
While I’ve found ABA to be very helpful for Charlie, I’ve also had a lot of questions and frustration about it over the years, and about the various ABA consultants and therapists that we’ve had (I’ve recounted Charlie’s ABA education and some of the criticisms of ABA here). As Charlie has entered puberty and now that he’s taller and stronger than me, some behavioral techniques have proved very useful when he has gotten anxious to the point of becoming aggressive. I can no longer use any kind of physical methods to help Charlie through a difficult moment.
Parents who’ve been there and done that can help to make autism education better, more effective, and always humane. And, I’ve also learned a tremendous lot by listening closely to the experiences of autistic adults such as some of the speakers at the April 10th Artistic Spectrum reading, including Cliff Schumacher (you can read his presentation here) and Amy Gravino (who is a student in the Caldwell program).
Tags: applied behavior analysis, asd, asperger, autism, Education, Family, lovaas, mother, New Jersey, parent, pdd-nos, PsychologyRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Education, Family, Music, New Jersey, Parenting, Psychology
25 opinions for Parents Going Back to School
Regan
Apr 20, 2008 at 4:38 am
Hmmm. Interesting. I wonder what the criterion of the NY Times was (ABA-International accredited?), because as far as I know NJ has at least 2 more programs offering graduate degrees and at least the qualifications to sit for the BACB certifications.
Rutgers-The State University
of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ
Graduate School on Applied and Professional
Psychology, Rutgers University
Douglas Developmental Disabilities Center.
Publishers of the Autism-SIG newsletter for ABA international
http://dddc.rutgers.edu/
and
Rowan University,
Glassboro, NJ
http://users.rowan.edu/~kerwin/specialization.htm
Kristina Chew, PhD
Apr 20, 2008 at 6:47 am
There does seem to be something different about the Caldwell College program—-it’s very specifically focused, as I understand and based on the therapists we know who have trained in it. Caldwell is also located in northern New Jersey where many of the ABA schools (Alpine Institute—whose director received her degree from Rutgers, Reed, many others —not PCDI, which is in central Jersey) are located, so there’s a cluster, perhaps, of parents and others looking for a certain kind of training.
Regan
Apr 20, 2008 at 7:09 am
Thanks Kristina.
I’ll have to ask around about the program because I am always interested in what people are doing in their training. If you have any comments about how they might differ, that would be interesting. I’ve encountered differences of approach myself depending on where people have taken their education and experience.
mayfly
Apr 20, 2008 at 10:44 am
ABA is by far the most successful program in alleviating autism, but is no means 100% successful. My daughter had quite a few ABA therapists. A few were excellent, many were mediocre, and some were horrendous. The rise in autism I believe has overtaxed the providers of ABA services resulting in a poorer product. It will be great if programs such as these can set high standards.
ange
Apr 20, 2008 at 11:46 am
I have been told by others that I should be a therapist/teacher. I thought about it for a second, but the thing is, I have good ideas, I can problem solve, come up with theories, develop plans… but boy do I suck at application. I have a hard enough time applying my “great” ideas with my own children, which really ticks me off. ;) I like therapists that can think outside of the box and work with kids as individuals… the best ones I have seen are the ones trained in various therapies and can pick the pieces that work best for each person…but they need to know when to bend to meet the needs of the person too.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Apr 20, 2008 at 1:16 pm
So many times I’ve had some great scheme for Charlie and it does not quite pan out—-my latest being the cello! I think I’ve kind of figured out how to proceed with it but it can feel like the proverbial blind leading the blind…..have you been a teacher, ange?
I referenced Bridget Taylor above—-she actually went to a different division of Rutgers, the Graduate School of Applied Psychology for her Psy.D.
The Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center at Rutgers (under Sandra Harris) has a series of graduate courses on ABA, after which one can take the BCBA exam. The Caldwell College masters in ABA is a fully laid-out program—-I think students also have to do get a lot of experience working with autistic children under the direction of the faculty running the program. And, they have to research and write a Masters thesis; qualifying for a BCBA would mean taking a specific exam.
Like mayfly, we’ve had the full gamut of therapists and teachers, excellent, mediocre, horrendous (to the point of making me seriously question ABA at times).
Melody
Apr 20, 2008 at 1:46 pm
I saw an ad posted at the college for people who have a psychology degree and want to work as an ABA therapist. It frustrated me a bit, being a high school student, considering that I can interact much better with autistic people than most teachers / therapists / professionals that I have known. I have found that with autistic people, it is much easier for me to “read” them, both body language and to “read between the lines” of what they say. The special ed. teachers at my school consistently misread the body language and words and actions of autistic students; I feel almost like a translator at times, even when the person in question is fluently verbal. Unfortunately, they rarely listen to me.
The two things I do plan on at the moment (who knows how things will actually turn out 20 years from now) is to get a Ph.D. in astrophysics, then go back to school and get a Masters in education (specifically special education) and then maybe get trained as a therapist as well. I think the “insider’s perspective” so to speak, would be really helpful not only in interacting and teaching kids, but also to explain things to parents. There are so many times I’ve heard adult professionals give the wrong or inadequate explanations to things. I’ve heard many parents have the same kind of complaint, of professionals not being responsive to the individual. I could be a teacher by day, astrophysicist by night. :)
Regan
Apr 20, 2008 at 5:00 pm
I wanted to add that besides the coursework for the BCBA (which requires a minimum of a Master’s degree, which could be in ABA or a related field), that there is a 1500 hour supervised practicum requirement beyond the course sequence in order to sit for the examination. So it’s a bit more than completing some classes.
http://www.bacb.com/pages/experience_BCBA.html
Regan
Apr 20, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Consumer Guidelines for Identifying, Selecting, and Evaluating Behavior Analysts Working with Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Autism Special Interest Group, ABA International.
http://www.abainternational.org/Special_Interests/AutGuidelines.pdf
Kristina Chew, PhD
Apr 20, 2008 at 5:03 pm
I think the Caldwell program is kind of specific about where you do the hours and what kind of supervision there is.
Kenneth F. Reeve, PhD, BCBA
Apr 21, 2008 at 9:42 am
Hi All,
Thank you for covering the story on your blog, Kristina. I would be happy to correspond via email with anyone who is interested in our program at Caldwell (I am the Chair of the Psy Dept which is the overseeing department of the Masters in ABA program). No respect to Rutgers or Rowan, both of which do have BCBA level coursework. Caldwell College, however, is the only dedicated Masters in ABA (as opposed to being a specialization within another program).
Caldwell is also in the early stages of developing a PhD program in behavior analysis to increase the number of individuals that will be highly qualified to set up and oversee both private school and public school-based autism programs.
Regards,
Ken
Kenneth F. Reeve, PhD, BCBA
Apr 21, 2008 at 9:43 am
…in my previous post, I of course meant to say no DISRESPECT…
Kenneth F. Reeve, PhD, BCBA
Apr 21, 2008 at 9:46 am
If anyone wants to compare the different NJ Higher Education programs related to ABA, the links to each program can be found on the New Jersey Association for Behavior Analysis webpage at http://www.njaba.org
Regan
Apr 21, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Dr. Reeve,
Thanks for the information.
We could certainly use a Master’s level program of this type (or even just the BACB course sequences) out where I am.
Best wishes to Caldwell College and to future expansion.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Apr 21, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Thanks very much Dr. Reeve….and thanks for all you do.
Bonnie Sayers
Apr 23, 2008 at 12:11 am
This sounds interesting. I will have to add the link on my site.
Is anyone doing the Stanley Greenspan Online Course starting this Friday? I lucked out and got the Regional Center to pay for the main conference.
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Jane
May 10, 2008 at 9:04 pm
I am a parent of a child on the spectrum, and I am interested in going back to school. I would like to get in touch with parents who are in the M.A. in ABA to get their perspective. Thanks.
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 11, 2008 at 12:46 am
@Jane,
Sounds great—-may I ask how old your child is? I’ll try to see if I can get in touch with any parents in the program for you. Very best—
Jane
May 11, 2008 at 8:44 am
Thanks, Kristina. My daughter is 11.
Kenneth F. Reeve, PhD, BCBA
May 11, 2008 at 9:46 am
This is in response to Jane’s request to get in touch with some of the parents of children on the spectrum who are in Caldwell College’s Masters in ABA program. You can send me your email at kreeve@caldwell.edu and I will pass it on to those parents featured in the NY Times story. Hope that helps!
Ken
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 11, 2008 at 9:56 am
Thank you, Dr. Reeve!
Jane, my son turns 11 next Thursday.
Jane
May 11, 2008 at 10:37 am
Kristina, you are a parent of a child on the spectrum? Can you e-mail me? Thanks
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 11, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Yes, my son has autism—will be in touch.
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