A Life-Changing Therapy For Children With Autism At The Child Study Center

Making eye contact, understanding big words and interacting socially were tough for 5-year-old Victoria Udal. Born on the autism spectrum, she struggled to keep up with her peers. Her parents turned to the Yale Medicine Child Study Center for help. Pamela Ventola, PhD, one of the center’s autism experts, suggested that Victoria would benefit from pivotal response training (PRT)–a type of play-based therapy that helps children on the spectrum develop language, behavioral and social skills. Now, one year later, Victoria’s parents say she has completely transformed. In this short documentary, Ventola and the family reflect on the power of PRT and celebrate Victoria’s entrance into mainstream kindergarten.

[meaniebeannie]

I am 23 and autistic. I am semi-speaking & also often have to deal with selective mutism (the two are similar but caused by different stimuli) I often have moments where I don't want to make eye contact or talk to someone because it can be physically painful to me and often very intense emotionally. When I was a kid everyone just thought I was shy and said things like "don't worry, you'll grow out of it." But I've since come to learn that these behaviors cannot simply be changed or "corrected." Being semi-speaking is simply a part of who I am. And I shouldn't have to force myself to talk or make eye contact when I don't want to (or can't) simply because it is the "typical" way of communicating. I would also like to add that I have been working on these things for my whole life thinking that it would get easier and that eventually I would barely have any trouble talking to others. Spoiler alert: that's not how this works. My brain is quite literally wired to work in a different way that what is "typical." My brain is wired to become overwhelmed when I am forced to communicate verbally. We need to stop expecting autistic children to follow every command as if they are dogs. We are living human beings with our own strengths and challenges, our own joys and pains. LET US COMMUNICATE IN THE WAYS THAT FEEL BEST TO US.
(edited for spelling corrections and clarity)

[shadowfox]

"If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck..." it's ABA. No amount of "rebranding" will change that. My opinions about the basis of ABA aside, I really do believe that autistic adults are inherently more capable of understanding the needs of an autistic child. There are many skills that can and should be taught to autistic children, but these are things we generally want to learn anyway. We just don't learn the way most people do; after all, our brains literally process everything differently. For example, I couldn't learn to tie my shoes by copying my parents by sight, so my dad taught me at 5 years old by putting his hands over mine and physically doing the motions with my hands (i.e. teaching me kinesthetically). To this day, I still tie my shoes the same way, and if I try to do it any other way, it doesn't work. I'm 22 now.

As far as the issue goes with the children not engaging with people, I'll say what those children don't have the experience to fully understand and express at that age: we don't engage because nothing they're doing is engaging to us. We gain nothing from simply talking to people and exchanging words for the sake of it. When we choose to seek out that interaction, it is usually because we want to talk about a concept of some kind. A good illustration of this would be the difference between talking about the weather on a given day and talking about how those weather patterns were formed. If I want to know the weather, I'll find a forecast, but if you want to talk about meteorology, I'll actually be engaged.

We aren't "broken, " and we aren't a list of "deficits." We're fully-fledged human beings; we just interpret the world differently. A lot of people would understand us a lot better if they would just put away the idea of "correct" communication long enough to have a simple conversation. To that end, I would give you this advice: you're just as strange to us as we are to you, so please remember that communication is a two-way street.

I don't agree with the "autism is a superpower" idea, but the vast majority of us also don't see it as a curse. I don't want pity or sympathy from you; I just want you to truly understand me as I am. In this case, whether or not you like me after the fact is largely irrelevant.

Sorry for the rant, it just upsets me greatly when I see kids going through what I was *almost* forced into

[queenquno]

I think that the most important thing is for parents to realise that your kid don’t need to communicate or do something in a certain way. The best thing in my opinion would be to teach all kids that communication can look different. Like as long as the person is listening is eye contact really that important? Do you need to seek out contact with others if you don’t want to? If stimming helps you concentrate or feel better should you really be pushed to refrain from it? We don’t need to learn how to act “normal” we need the people around us to understand and accept that our way of communicating is a bit different but it’s still valid communication. One of us don’t need to change instead we can both make an effort to meet halfway and find a communication that works for us(neurodivergent and neurotypical). Like among the many verbal languages out there there are also sign language and things like art and common interests that you can use to communicate with someone. It’s a bit weird to me that we seem to think that there are right and wrong ways to communicate. Isn’t it better to teach kids in school that there are many different ways of doing things and then support them if they wish to try different forms of communication with each other?

[theautisticpage]

I was not "astronomically harder" to raise. While it can be very challenging I am not a burden. It is amazing how people, even the good ones are vey ablest.

[littlesarahautism]

My daughter (Sarah) was diagnosed with severe autism at 16 months. She is five years old now, she is still not speaking sentences. She make sound's 24/7. I did seek help but everyone that was sent to our home could NOT helped my child. I had to educate them in order for them to even start communicating with her. lord know I am devoted and dedicated to my child and because of that she now saying hi and bye bye (recently ) and yes she now know how to communicate nonverbal not sign language< by 8 years old my Sarah will speak. When it comes help if you don't have MONEY the process will take longer.... p.s It's NOT easy but you as the Parent have to have a lot of patient and give your child a lot of tender loving care (They need it ). Parents you need to be devoted, dedicated and advocate when it comes to your child.

[FerBrazil]

I am a music therapist and I assisted a 4-year-old child with ASD for a period of one year. It was amazing to be part of this process. The secret is to penetrate their world and slowly bring them closer to ours. This includes not being afraid to interact and use what the child brings to, then, improvise with her/him. Music was a very powerful instrument. I feel grateful for this work.

[snoogkies]

0:44 Also, *being* the the child with autism is equally difficult. Everything you do seems to be beyond your control without therapy. I’m missed out on so many positive experiences in my life because my autism was torturing me... It took my friends, it dumbed me down socially, and it stole my happiness. I hope I’m not too old to get something effective, I’m only 16. I have such a hard time talking to people and being understood, I even confuse myself! I want to have friends and maybe have a relationship one day, but I get so nervous and overwhelmed around other kids and people. Autism is like being in fog; it’s confusing and annoying, and you just feel so disoriented and limited. Being treated would take so many of the limitations away, and I feel like I could finally be myself. I just hope *someplace* approves of my insurance... 😞

[alinaunicycles]

thats like forcing someone who is left handed to only use the right hand, there are studies that say its really harmful, even tho she seems happy she most likely is playing being happy to make her parents happy or she understood that it is the way to make the uncomfortable situations stop

[budgetforsuccess]

I mainly don’t like the eye contact part because I was forced to do that and it is painfully uncomfortable so I am not ok with forcing eye contact.

[MtchndraLrd]

I was just recently diagnosed as autistic and it brings a smile to my face that a kid like her is getting the support she needs this early on. Even the first couple of seconds of the video starting where her parents ask her if she needs help. Growing up I was never deliberately asked if I needed help so I just kept it all to myself, this gradually had costing effects and so now I am trying to learn to ask for help and to be more forgiving towards myself. Plus the part where the prof said autistic children love bubbles, I was obsessed with bubble machines and bubble wands as a kid, they are really mesmerizing!

[johnmcintosh]

My heartfelt admiration goes out to everyone taking care of kids and adults who have disabilities for their devotion support and love, that’s all I can say ❤️🙏

[alirezavafaei.psychologist]

The parental engagement absolutely have a significant role in the therapy because still lots of children have fear of being with unfamiliar person.

[summerbunnygirl]

I’m not a therapist but when the therapist talked about helping her make eye contact.. idk. it feels like she’s just teaching her to mask. idk. i think therapy for autism should be about learning how to accommodate yourself and things like that, not learning how to live a neurotypical life. i could be wrong tho

[Element_Z]

beautiful child. a father's love for his children is immeasurable.

[towzone]

We don’t like being stereotyped as having poor language skills. Most neurotypicals I’ve met are much worse at language than me. My experience over 52 years is that neurotypicals only hear what they want to, or what is familiar. Because of issues with prosody, saying the exactly appropriate words to communicate often backfire because neurotypicals insist on never saying what they mean and my tone of voice is not what they expect, so they just change what I say into what they assume I am saying, and never listen to the words. This is a communication deficit that goes unrecognized due to it being “normal”.
This could often be the reason for going nonverbal, when no one listens, why talk?
I got in trouble as a toddler for trying to get adults to talk to me like an adult.

[ZR-vfgf]

This's borderline to me. Some kids are different naturally and it's perfectly "normal" (within normal human variation.) So treating those kids as if they're severely disabled is a little weird and seems potentially harmful.

But we also live in a world where not having social skills is detrimental, so there's that as well. It would probably be better for everyone if society was more accepting of differences instead of expecting conformity!

[wellnessmatters]

As a student of clinical psychology, during my rotations I have seen many parents getting devastated at the news that their child is suffering from a developmental disorder but all we can do is to manage and make the lives of these little angels more beautiful and much better

[relentlessrhythm]

I’d like to hear the voices of those who are traumatized from ABA therapy.

[gwtwtara]

This is great. I've heard of ABA and my daughter had it until she "aged out" 🙄 in school (5 yrs old) and her 3 yr voucher for in home therapy (God send --ever grateful for programs like these) ran out. Her school district doesn't use ABA in the all-inclusive, self-contained class she's now in. My girl is now 12, sings all the time and will repeat whatever is said, so I kept wondering why is the "communication/comprehension" not coming? It's heartbreaking to watch tears well up in her eyes when she's looking at me like " I'm trying mommy. I should know this but I don't." I really think she knows that and she gets so hurt, frustrated and angry. So she cries, then I cry and sometimes I have to become octopus-like shielding her forehead from the edge or surface of anything close, her fists from her temples (so hard she gets bruises), anything hard in her hands from her knees, backs of hands from edge of table or legs of table underneath (I've figured out if we're at table when overload/frustration occurs, chair gets pulled back quickly and we take a breather from the whole scene)...she's quick! This old mommy has to get my arms moving to protect her from hurting herself, all without saying too much and trying not to give any "positive reinforcement" for her choice of reaction to her frustration. My sweet girl has always tested closer to the severe end of the spectrum due to the inability to comprehend/communicate. I recently learned through more thorough gene testing that she has a mutation of the gene GRIN2A (speech disorders/seizures{yes-she has them}. Speech disorders can be severe and include dysarthria, dyspraxia, and both receptive/expressive language. Kinda feel like life sucker punched my baby girl and she's such a sweet and happy girl a majority of the time. I've been diagnosed with narcolepsy and drop seizures (seizure diagnosis 2 weeks after crainiotomy for hematoma-irony for ya) within the last couple of years, and she has been so patient with me. After one of my harder falls, she came and stood beside me and just reached her hand down and held my hand til I was ready to quit my crying and get up. I would tell her that she was a great "little mommy" helping "big mommy" when I needed her. She would just smile or giggle when I would tell her that. No more falls since seizure melds, thank God! The day she was born my heart leapt from my chest and grew two legs! 💝 My angel girl from God above.

[willowswonderfulworld]

I'm autistic and I got into therapy half a year ago and it has really helped me and made me happy