Showing posts with label Lifespan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lifespan. Show all posts
WASI-II Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence
The WASI-II (Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence) is an IQ test for ages 6-90. It is a shorter and simpler measure based on the more comprehensive Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). 
WASI-II measures cognitive abilities across a range of domains and provides an estimate of a person's general intellectual ability (or Full Scale IQ - FSIQ). It is often used in research studies, and often used to screen for intellectual disability or giftedness, or to assess cognitive abilities in the context of neuropsychological evaluations or clinical diagnoses.
Uses in autistic population
- Assessment of Cognitive Abilities: believed to help identify cognitive strengths and weaknesses in verbal comprehension and perceptual reasoning, which can be informative for planning educational/ behavioral interventions.
- Research: frequently used in autism research studies as measure of cognitive ability.
- Diagnosis: While the WASI-II itself isn't a dx tool for autism, it can be part of a broader diagnostic assessment as it is believed that understanding an individual's cognitive functioning can perhaps provide context for other symptoms or behaviors.
Adult Autism RSS Feed
For what its worth, came across this. This blog is #2 in a top Autism RSS feed list.
Autism after 21 Day
Does Autism Magic away in adulthood?
Where are there pediatric Autism Clinics in all hospitals but no Adult Autism Clinics?
Why is there a Services Cliff at Age 21, when any services (even if they are inadequate) received during childhood comes to an abrupt end with no replacement or continuation of supports and services.
IDEA protection end, with no equivalent replacements and supports
There is URGENT NEED for translatable solutions and supports for the ever increasing numbers of autistic adults.
End of IDEA protection afforded during the Ed years. The yellow school bus stops coming.
- Approx 1/3 of autistics who got access to mainstream ed are put on a diploma track in high school and have the opportunity to make their way to 2/ 4 college, at age 18. They join the swelling ranks of other late-dx autistics and face challenges and barriers that come with adulthood.
- Almost 2/3 of autistics who are dx in childhood remain in the special education all through their ed years.
- At age 18, they get another 4 years of what is called Post Secondary Program; located either in segregated facilities/schools, in the school district itself or more recently as programs run on university campuses so they happen in the same space as college-aged peers; though the programming may be different. At the end of the programming, they receive a Certification of Completion.
- IDEA protections end at this point. This is also the services cliff where all previous services.
- Their options are a series of adult day programs, upto age 50 and then 50+ years. These day programs again have a range of quality - from real job coaching to mere babysitting but there is far less state oversight of quality. There is a shortage of good programs. And as usual, much like special education itself, programs only want the "easy autistics". So where do the rest go?
- This is a HUGE problem, as families are suddenly handed back their adult child and told to go figure out what to do, from caretaking to daytime programming to housing and staffing, funding to figuring out pretty much everything. Many YA autistics have signifiant medical and other communication needs which can get aggravated with age with no real supports. The onus pretty much falls to the family to figure out what to do.
- The challenges faced compound for autistics who have higher support needs yet had somehow managed to access mainstream education and even make it to college. Its like straddling two world, as they face barriers in both world - neither of which knows how to support you or wants to include you. Its almost assumed you must be in one of the other other. I have to question this assumption. Instead why can we find solutions?
- Some of these barriers and challenges are unique to each space while others are common across the spectrum. The point being that adulthood in autism is not easy and we need to be thinking of solutions that helps each group and across the board.
In a Different Key
The webinar is up at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=039eGaw2Q1w
Curious about the first person who was diagnosed with Autism!!
And what Autism can look like at 90?
And all manner of issues in between.
Watch the Webinar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=039eGaw2Q1w
discussing critical issues in the film "In a different Key" hosted by the Frist Center for Autism & Innovation.
A very relevant question in the face of a society that is underprepared to meet the needs of the ever increasing number of autistic adults of today who will go onto becoming the aging autistic seniors of tomorrow.
This is one of my responses in the webinar.
About the movie I want to start with a comment. What I absolutely love about this movie was the utter genuineness of autism. And highlighting how others treat autistics is both DARKNESS and HOPE but there is a chance to BELONG.
To give you a perspective on what autism can look like, A little more about myself, On the disability front, I do have significant challenges that present multiple obstacles to my everyday living. Having limited communication skills is just the tip of the iceberg of these issues and I do need constant care for most aspects of daily living. On the other hand, I like to think I also have strengths which have carried me here all the way to graduate school where I hope to do meaningful research that contributes to knowledge and solutions in the autism space.
I happen to straddle aspects of two often seeming disparate worlds. So I will go to the HEART OF THE DEBATE.
It troubles me that there is such a divide between both worlds, when I think ultimately both worlds often have the same long term objective. I often feel we are wasting time and resources arguing with each other instead of getting real work done.
I don't think it's an either-or situation. That it has to be this model or it has to be that model, with no room for negotiation in between. That it is a pure Medical Model which says the solution lies in medicine alone or a pure Social Model which says society has to accept and accommodate us and nothing more needs to be done.
I agree that all of us need and yearn for that ULTIMATE GOAL OF BELONGING, like what we saw Donald Triplett was living and experiencing with his community in the movie. That is what the Social Model is. That is indeed the ultimate dream.
But do you think that same community would be as accepting and inclusive of an autistic adult who had constant meltdowns, who was displaying self-injurious behaviors, who had significant social anxiety and a range of health issues to boot. Guess who is left holding the baby, so to speak. It comes down again and again to the family to cope and manage the best they can in terms of finances, resources and time. No wonder those families ask, what after us.
Believe me, life is far from a happy optimistic picture for not just the families but for these autistics too. Even providers don’t want to work with us, let alone society. I have peers stuck at home because no adult day program will take them due to behaviors. Group housing does not want the adults with behaviors. So where do they go? I have peers who can have a dozen seizures a day. I have peers who have to be on the toilet all night due to gut problems. Sleep for just 2 hours a day means both the autistic and family are sleep-deprived. And this stuff does not magic away in adulthood. Providers just get harder to find as you age, as everyone wants an easy case. I’ve had providers quit on me after just 2 days. The happy life of Donald Triplett will slip further and further away.
I want and yearn for belonging but I’m also beginning to realize that perhaps there are some missing steps, almost like accommodations to how to help adults and kids with more significant challenges. Maybe those solutions lie in understanding physiology and in underlying health and medical issues.
Unfortunately any movement towards those solutions is deemed as the evil medical model and therefore taboo, which is very frustrating. We are conflating health issues with cure. We are getting sidetracked honestly with this debate. I don’t think anyone deserves to be engaged in self injurious behaviors and be experiencing extreme mood swings which make inclusion almost a non starter. No one deserves to wake up in intense gut pain like me in my younger days and have it be thought of as something that can only be addressed with behavior therapy. And when behavior therapy does not work, because you are looking at the wrong thing, you are pushed into an even worse special education classroom as then you are deemed in capable of improvement and inclusion. Any dream of belonging goes up in smoke.
If your body internally feels better, and you have less health issues it will reflect in outward happiness and a better quality of life. What’s wrong with finding solutions? What’s wrong with looking for solutions on multiple fronts. We can all agree our environment has gotten more toxic and it is causing more and more significant health issues world-wide. Maybe some of our solutions are somewhere in that arena. Just medicating us with psychotropics can’t be the only solution, which also have their own long term health effects. Proactively taking care of your health and well being is not pathologising. We have to research solutions, so that guys like me and others with more significant issues can also dream of moving about in society with ease, and have a chance at opportunities and belonging like Donald Triplett.
At the same time I am so incredibly amazed by the strengths and possibilities I see in the autistics who are able to get out there in society and be able to avail of opportunities. There is so much unlocked TALENT and potential which can bring about significant changes in the world. It is very critical for autism to also be looked at from a STRENGTHS-BASED perspective for that acceptance, inclusion and belonging piece.
In fact, I would like to see this TALENT HARNESSED IN FINDING SOLUTIONS for the ones with more significant issues, so they too have the opportunity of inclusion and belonging. Solutions lie in many fronts, from medical research to policy to societal attitudes to caregiving issues to inclusion. We also help solve the unemployment problem this way by making everyone across the spectrum, especially those who have the desire to work, become part of the solution for all. So it can be a win win for all.
I also want to point out to a Sins Invalid principle of Disability Justice which says when you address the needs of the most marginalized, you address the needs of all. In fact I would point out that I admire that Donald Triplett is a healthy active senior but I doubt if many of us will be as healthy. Current research seems to point to a lot of health issues we are going to have as aging seniors. If you get a chance read Alice Wong's piece on caregiving for her recent health crisis. Isn’t it better to find solutions on both health issues and caregiving now when we are able to do something about it rather than when we are all tottering senior citizens. So I want every autistic and family member and ally to think about how they can be part of the solution.
So it's almost like we have different degrees of needs and some of us have legs in many issues so we need solutions on many fronts. Why then are we having factions and fighting?
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The documentary "In a Different Key" is streaming on PBS https://www.pbs.org/show/different-key/)
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-nominated book of the same name by journalists Caren Zucker and John Donvan, IN A DIFFERENT KEY follows the mother of an autistic son as she finds and then befriends the first child ever diagnosed with autism – Donald Triplett, who still lives in the rural Mississippi town where he was born nearly 90 years ago.
The mother – co-director Caren Zucker – undertakes a journey seeking answers to the unknowable: will the non-autistic majority embrace and protect her child when she is no longer here?
The mother – co-director Caren Zucker – undertakes a journey seeking answers to the unknowable: will the non-autistic majority embrace and protect her child when she is no longer here?
Our Guy Donald
Autism Diagnosis in Minority Communities
Mickey visits a Cat
Autistic Voices
Supports, Skills & Society - Integral Adult Autism Conference
Keynote at this conference.
https://integralautism.org/presenters
Together We Can Learn Conference
I was Keynote Speaker
https://familiestogetherinc.org/2021twcl/#hari
Building a Bridge to the Future
I was keynote speaker at Missouri State 2021 Transition Training Institute
https://dese.mo.gov/special-education/effective-practices/postsecondary-transition
https://www.eventsquid.com/event.cfm?id=12567
List of all Speakers: https://www.eventsquid.com/event.cfm?id=12567
Advocacy Day for Access and Independence
Event by ABLE-South Carolina
Recording at https://youtu.be/O4sd30F_9bk I'm on at 2:16:51
Event Site: https://unlockingbarriers-sc.org/?fbclid=IwAR19-TeohFuvq2rnxLdCVObxGe1l8l5doQ0WT4s-upGSbSuf1cC-C_hCmb4#:~:text=Save%20the%20date%20for%20April,responsible%20as%20the%20pandemic%20continues
Empowering a Future
I was the keynote speaker at the ABLE - South Carolina, a Center for Independent Living at their Annual conference. www.able-sc.org
Empowering a Future is a professional development opportunity for
educators and service providers working with youth with disabilities who
are transitioning to adulthood. This year’s conference will include all
the exciting sessions you’re used to – but in a user-friendly online
format! Want to learn how to motivate and empower your students? It’s
time to leave the deficits-based approaches behind and focus on new
strategies to build strong, successful self-advocates. Session content
will highlight virtual service delivery, supported decision-making,
pre-employment transition services, youth leadership, and much more. This event is made possible through a partnership with Able South
Carolina, South Carolina Department of Education, and Transition
Alliance of South Carolina (TASC).
Link to any potential recording will be posted if available.
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