The Autism Community Talks about Evidence too!
This morning at the keynote speech at the Autism Society of America conference here in Orlando, I realized that people in the autism community -- practitioners at least -- are as concerned as OTs are about evidence based practice. I think that's fantastic, because there are a lot of alternative treatments out there (in autism lingo, they call them "biomedical approaches") that haven't been researched very much. Things like chelation and hyperbaric oxygen treatment and gluten-free/casein free diets, to name just a few. Thankfully, scientists in this community are beginning to study these treatments and whether and how they work. Dr. Harland Winter of Harvard School of Public Health and a noted pediatric gastroenterologist talked about his work with a team of 28 experts who are looking at evidence surrounding pediatric gastrointestinal issues and pain in the ASD population.
Then Dr. Jim Ball, a noted behaviorist in the autism community and a very funny speaker, talked about applied behavior analysis and made a strong point that ABA interventions should be evidence-based. He also talked about the environment (not just the physical environment, but the social environment as well) and how it affects behavior, something that I thought many OTs would appreciate. "If you look at your own environment and how it shapes you, you will better understand how environment afects the people you serve." I think that's a valuable insight no matter what population you work with. He also stressed the importance of positive reinforcement, not just negative reinforcement. Don't forget to praise or reward people (in a way that is individually meaningful to them) when they are doing things right. Who doesn't like to be told they are doing a good job? We all want to feel successful; when we feel like we are failing it seriously impacts our motivation to try harder or again.
Moer later on the sessions I'm attending today, including one by noted OT researcher and academic Dr. Moya Kinnealy from Temple University in Philadelphia.