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PEP, SPECIAL NEEDS, AUTISM AND
ASPERGER’S SYNDROME
In state schools in Britain at least one member of staff is responsible for helping students with statemented physical and mental handicaps. Providing facilities for those with physical disabilities in wheelchairs is relatively straightforward. Looking after the needs of students with emotional and neurological disorders calls for sensitivity, understanding and a knowledge of the problems each individual student faces. The disruptive behaviour such youngsters often exhibit is a challenge to teachers and parents alike.
The causes of anti-social attitudes are manifold. One of them may be an inherent slowness, or inability, to develop the mental processes necessary to develop perceptual skills. As we have seen learning English involves mastery of perceptual skills including an ability to relate images and sounds to familiar and unfamiliar objects and situations.
The Perceptual Enrichment Programme (PEP) sets out to redress deficiencies by encouraging the mind to learn, recognise, match, remember and interrelate different items. It is based on the structured cognitive development programme originated by Patricia Thielson in the 70’s and 80’s. Since then it has been refined and developed into well defined procedures that are now being used world-wide to help individuals with learning difficulties. PEP starts with a pre-test to assess the level of perceptual skills. It then proceeds with a series of graduated exercises designed to stimulate the mental paths needed for different perceptual processes. In the final session a post test is taken which enables the extent of improvement to be measured.
The etiology of many mental disorders is still a mystery and doctors are at a loss to provide cures. A case in point is autism which can gradually develop in apparently normal young children. Its symptoms can range from almost imperceptible to a complete inability to speak and control normal bodily functions. Lack of knowledge of what is going on in the minds of such students makes them particularly difficult to deal with.
Sometimes solutions can come out of the blue. Lord Stephen Ladyman, Chairman of an All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism, quotes the case of a little girl who was always disruptive at her primary school when the time came for sitting down on the floor in a circle for reading:
“Nobody could understand why, until a teacher familiar with autism was consulted. She realised that all the children simply sat down wherever they happened to be standing at the time, which meant that this little girl was always in a different place. She found that very upsetting. Autistic children like routine. The problem was solved very simply by getting hold of a red carpet tile, which she always sat on for reading. She stopped being disruptive immediately.”
Rosemarie Mason was faced with the problem of bringing up three autistic sons. A turning point in her life came when the family discovered a form of sound therapy which involves listening to music and natural sounds. It wasn’t a cure but it made a huge difference to their behaviour and speed of learning. This points to the fact that the physical environment is important. Schools and hospitals can be forbidding places for both adults and children. Introducing images of dolphins, with their associated feelings of joy and freedom undoubtedly relieves stress.
It is now accepted that making treatment and learning centres very pleasant places to be in aids recovery for those with all kinds of problems - physical and mental. For instance when she decorated the interior of walls of a hospice for children with AIDS in Romania with images of Dilo and played taped sounds of dolphins the Italian artist Sally Gallotti found that both the patients and the staff were inspired. They had a much more positive approach to the difficulties they faced every day*.
At another location a large model of Dilo with which children can play and interact has proved so successful that families now look forward to going to hospital for treatment. Discoveries like this can be extended to the classroom, particularly in specialist schools, where walls decorated with colourful underwater scenes can help to calm children’s fears and reduce their anti-social behaviour. Being allowed to play with dolphin toys after a lesson is a useful incentive for good behaviour.
Some children have astounding talents that may remain undeveloped if their mental dysfunction is not identified. It is important therefore to screen students, especially those with unusual behaviour patterns, for medical conditions such as autism. Once a diagnosis has been made, which is often far from easy, and a definitive medical condition identified, an appropriate management programme designed especially for each student can be introduced. A well documented case is that of Stephen Wiltshire who was diagnosed as autistic. Stephen has a remarkable ability to memorise every detail of complex architectural landscapes. Having looked at a scene just once he can draw it from memory in every detail. He is heralded a brilliant artist yet he is unable to hold down a conventional job or manage the money he earns.
Joshua Whitehouse was diagnosed as autistic at the age of five. He would throw tantrums and make grunting noises for hours on end. He lashed out violently at his teachers. Then at the age of seven, it was discovered that Joshua liked drawing. He was enrolled in a Saturday morning club at an arts centre.
Joshua’s output soon became prolific. His behaviour changed beyond recognition. A local art gallery had an exhibition of Joshua’s work. Some of his drawings sold for large sums which were donated to a children’s hospice.
When he was ten years old Joshua watched on television the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York on September 11th 2001. Ten minutes later he was drawing pictures of New York. His pen moved over the paper at an amazing speed. No mistakes were made. No corrections were needed.
Joshua’s mother is proud of his gift. When she sees him drawing she knows he is happy in a way that he cannot express like other children of his age.
Kieran was a troubled boy who came from a very disturbed background. He arrived at school with his head hung down and was reluctant to participate in lessons. Suddenly he would become hyperactive and disrupt the rest of the class. When this happened, one teacher tried to channel Kieran’s excess energy into gymnastics. She succeeded. Slowly Kieran’s attitude to classwork changed. In fact the boy became so proficient at gymnastics he won a medal. With that Kieran’s self esteem rose from rock bottom. He was never going to be the brightest boy in the class but he did manage to pass a few exams. When he eventually left school he walked out with his head held high. “Kieran still has problems,” a fellow teacher proudly told me, “but discovering he was good at gymnastics transformed that boy.”
The building of self-confidence can be a vital step in a young person’s personal development. Nita Jackson was bullied at school for being a ‘weirdo’. Nita was not diagnosed as having Asperger’s Syndrome until she was 15. As soon as she heard this Nita read everything she could find about the condition. The acceptance by others that Nitaat an had a recognised medical disorder caused her to at least attempt to behave “normally”. Her new found self confidence enabled her to write a book and stage a play by the time she was 18.
In 2001 the British Medical Research Council published a report on autism which could have far reaching effects in education. It estimates that autism affects six young people in every thousand. Retrospective investigations into the lives and behaviour of those who have achieved eminence in science reveals that with current knowledge many would be diagnosed as having Asperger’s Syndrome. This is a form of autism in which the subjects show the milder symptoms of the disorder but their intelligence and intellect remains unaffected. Parents of children who do not fit readily into school can take heart from this fact. Among those who might now be identified as being mildly autistic are the philosopher Wiggenstein who had a towering intellect, yet did poorly at school, Lord Cavendish, the discoverer of hydrogen who had a laboratory at Cambridge University named after him, and Einstein of E =MC2 fame.
At first sight Aspergers children often appear to be normal. This is not so with those at the opposite end of the autism spectrum. Such youngsters have strange mannerisms, are often incontinent and lack the co-ordination necessary to feed themselves. The case history of one such person is described in detail in my book Dolphin Healing. Eve Hanf-Enos said her first and only word, “good”, when she saw a dolphin. Recognition of the therapeutic power of dolphins completely changed Eve’s life. Eve’s mother discovered that with her help Eve could tap out words on a keyboard in a procedure called “facilitated writing”. Eve’s assisted output was powerfully eloquent. She had a style of writing that was uniquely hers. I received a stream of letters and poems from her which indicated that behind her “loony” (as she described it) behaviour there lurked a mind of unfathomable brilliance.
*Dolphin Healing by Horace Dobbs (Piatkus Books 2000)
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