By Dr. Jacinta Ryan
Monumental shifts happen for our clients when we stop talking and start modelling abstract cognitive concepts
As a talk therapist, I am still mind blown by the developmental shifts that are happening for our Autistic clients when we stop talking, shift gears and model abstract cognitive life concepts in 3D – and then find an enjoyable way to explore the idea in the real world.
As we head into the Christmas break, some of our research participants have been making gingerbread houses to explore the fuzzy concept of Time (defined by Ron Davis, the Autistic architect of the Davis Autism Approach® that we are testing with our Neurodivergent Co-Researchers, as: ‘The Measurement of Change in Relation to a Standard’).
We spent the morning exploring ‘Time’ with one of our Year 6 students ‘H’.
Apart from being an entirely engrossing activity, decorating a gingerbread house also allowed ‘H’ to explore life concepts such as Change, Consequence (Causing a Change) and how to Sequence the steps. It took 27 minutes for ‘H’ to decorate her gingerbread house (and share her creative flair) and that is an important embodied experience.
We all struggle with Time – whether we feel haunted and pressured by it and frightened of being even a minute late or entirely disoriented to it and running on our own internal clock (our research participants report they tend to be one way or the other and cannot find the balance).
So how will building the concept of ‘Time’ in 3D help ‘H’?
The research is showing that after we have modelled an abstract cognitive concept such as a Time in a neutral, educational way, our co-researchers and participants are able to apply the concept in their own way to their own lives at home.
This week we got an update from a parent, whose beautiful Autistic son (who came to us with a diagnosis of ADHD, Selective Mutism, Pathological Demand Avoidance, and several concurrent mental health and medical diagnoses) recently worked with us to build the concept of Time.
In his mother’s words: “There have been a few new “happenings” since our last session. On Saturday, ‘E’ showed me his favourite jeans which had stains on it. He explained to me how it occurred, then suggested he wash it because he wanted to wear it in the afternoon. Change? Consequence? Cause and Effect?? I said I’d wash it for him. He left the room and returned with 3 more garments and requested I wash those too. I asked if he also needed them to wear that day. He said no, but he would like them clean so they’d be ready for him to wear another day!! Time???? He could think about another Time in the future. I teared up….I often want to cry when I see huge piles of laundry but this time it was tears of joy!!!”
Dr Jacinta Ryan, SENIOR CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST, BA (Hons.), PhD (Clinical), MAPS (Clinical)
Currently leading independent clinical research on the effectiveness of the Davis Autism and Concepts for Life Programs.
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