The Joint Attention , Movement , and Parents (JAMP) Program for Children with Autism
Author | : Michelle Iemolo |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 96 |
Release | : 2012 |
Genre | : Autism |
ISBN | : |
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Autism is a life-long neurological and developmental disorder of unknown etiology, with a current prevalence rate of approximately 10 to 16 cases per 10,000 people (Volker & Lopata, 2008). According to the DSM-IV, even the highest functioning adults with Autistic Disorder typically continue to display disturbances in social interaction and communication, along with markedly restricted interests and activities (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Restricted activities frequently involve engaging in repetitive and rhythmic movements such as rocking and arm flapping. Furthermore, children with autism (CWA) demonstrate grossly impaired functioning in non-verbal communicative behaviors such as eye gaze, facial expressions, body postures, and gestures and tend not to engage in the simple imitation games or routines of infancy and early childhood. The above-mentioned skills, which are prefaced and shaped by the ability to imitate, are now identified as joint attention. By definition, joint attention is the ability to coordinate between an object and a person in a social context through the use of pre-verbal language, such as pointing, showing, body positioning and coordinated looks in order to engage in a shared experience with another. Joint attention has been the subject of much investigation because of its hypothesized functional relation to the deficits in language, social development, play and emotional reciprocity. These non-verbal, movement based abilities, which initially develop with primary caregivers during the first years of life, are necessary for learning about one's self, others and the environment and function as the building blocks to higher order cognitive and social abilities. Because of its early recognizable onset occurring prior to verbal language acquisition, joint attention has become an increasingly important diagnostic and treatment tool with regard to autism. It is speculated that parents of CWA spend an alarming $72, 000 a year in treatment and therapy. Intensive one-on-one applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy, speech therapy, music therapy occupational and/or physical therapy, medical treatment, special diets and educational tutoring are just a few of the many services and interventions that children with autism may receive on a weekly basis along side of the education and services provided during their school day. As a result of numerous therapy sessions, children with autism experience very intensive schedules with little room for recuperation and socialization with primary caregivers and learning in their natural environment. Recent information provided by The National Research Council (NRC), after a thorough investigation of several state-of-the-art intervention programs for children with ASD, revealed that parent training was a critical part of high-quality intervention programs for children with ASD (NRC, 2001). In addition to it being a critical component to interventions for CWA, it is also cost effective for parents. The current program has been designed to address and treat the language, communication and socialization deficits found in autism in children 18 months to 30 months of age. The primary goal of the program is to train parents of children with autism to establish joint attention skills as well as provide the dyad with the opportunity to share appropriate developmental bonding and interactions. A second component of the program is to provide child participants with the opportunity to practice and generalize joint attention skills across environments and people during group dance/movement therapy sessions. Following a naturalistic approach to teaching, the program will utilize the techniques and interventions found within a dance/movement therapy framework. As defined by the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA), Dance/movement therapy (DMT) is the psychotherapeutic use of movement as a process, which furthers the emotional, cognitive, social and physical integration of the individual. A main component of DMT that will be employed in the program is the use of rhythm. Rhythm is utilized as a co-operative imitation in the development of language, social awareness, empathy and theory of mind. Throughout the course of 11 consecutive months, treatment will consist of intensive individual sessions with the parent, child and clinician, small and large group dance/movement therapy sessions with other peers and caregivers in the program and ongoing training workshops for caregivers. It is hypothesized that CWA will develop increased levels of communication, social engagement, language, and empathy as a result of parent training. Additionally, it is expected that parent's stress levels will subsequently decrease.