|
|
re:这两天正在读Jean Bryant在19...
这两天正在读Jean Bryant在1993年写的《The Opening Door》一书，书中真实记录了作者训练一位自闭儿童六年的经历（从3岁到9岁）。这位自闭儿童叫陶哲渊（Trevor Tao），现年31岁，数学博士，在澳大利亚国防部下属研究机构从事计算机图象分析工作，而他的哥哥陶哲轩（Terry Tao）是一位天才的数学家，2006年获菲尔茨奖。
这本书与Catherine Maurice著名的《Let Me Hear Your Voice》发表于同一年，但后者是名扬四海，而且在美国为ABA咸鱼翻身作出重大贡献；而前书只在澳大利亚才为人所知。Catherine的书完全按Lovaas的方法走，而Jean的训练虽然也用了ABA的方法，但更多的是跟随孩子的兴趣和特长因地制宜开展训练。或许是因为理论性不强，或者是没有名家推介，她的这本书并不广为人知，静静地躺在图书馆里，上Amazon绝对是查不到的。
然而，结果是不容置疑的，Catherine的两个孩子至今仍然是隐姓埋名，她的理由是为了孩子的隐私和成长，我从不怀疑她的训练成果，但她的确应该给所有赶兴趣的读者一个交代。而Trevor Tao的消息一直出现在当地媒体上，15岁时受到当时的霍克总理的接见。至今也是快乐和健康地生活着，以一般的角度看，他应该是成功的。
当Jean开始训练的时候，Trevor已经3岁多了，但只会说几个没有意义的字，但是在音乐，识字和数数方面表现出兴趣和特长。当时流行的做法是，让孩子均衡发展，有意抑制他们的特长方面。但是，Jean还有孩子的父母决定因势利导，有意发挥孩子的特长。一个具体的例子是，Trevor的天才哥哥玩国际象棋，他表现出了兴趣，他们就立刻请人教他，15岁时他成了澳大利亚冠军。他在数学和音乐方面的兴趣得到积极的培养，后来他始终展现出在音乐和数学方面的才能。
以下是相关报道：
陶哲轩（1975年7月17日－Terence Tao），生于澳大利亚阿德莱德，是华裔澳大利亚籍数学家，主要研究调和分析、偏微分方程、组合数学、解析数论和表示论。陶哲轩的智商介于220至230之间，如此高的智商百万人中才会有一个。24岁時，他在加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校擔任教授。他现在为该校终身数学教授。2006年8月22日，他在西班牙马德里的国际数学家大会獲得菲尔兹奖。并于2006年8月23日在国际数学家大会做了一小时报告。
陶哲渊（Trevor Tao）（1977年～），“菲尔茨奖”获得者陶哲轩的弟弟，出生在澳大利亚阿得雷德，是家中的次子。陶哲渊曾是澳大利亚国际象棋冠军，数学博士，曾获得国际数学奥林匹克铜牌，可以在仅听过一遍之后，在钢琴上弹出一只管弦乐队表演的乐曲。两岁时的陶哲渊曾被论断患有孤僻症。澳洲阿德雷德大学科学数学及音乐双学位。他表示，只知自己拥有这些才能，但实际的原因为何则并无头绪。现在为澳洲的国防科技组织工作。
他的父亲陶象国(BillyTao)和母亲梁蕙兰(GraceTao)均毕业于香港大学。陶象国后来成了一名儿科医生。梁蕙兰是物理和数学专业的高才生，曾做过中学数学教师。1972年，夫妇俩从香港移民到了澳大利亚。
以下为《澳大利亚人报》2007年关于他们兄弟三人的报道：
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22216398-5012694,00.html
If you were looking for a place to study the Big Questions about human intelligence -- Is genius innate? Why are brilliant minds so often troubled? -- the Tao household in Adelaide's southern suburbs might seem an unlikely choice.
...
For Billy and Grace Tao, life changed irrevocably one afternoon in 1977 when they were visiting friends and looked over to see their two-year-old son sitting on the floor teaching a group of five-year-olds how to spell and add. Asked how he had learnt these skills, Terry replied that he had been watching Sesame Street. By the time he enrolled in primary school three years later, he could sit for hours reading high school calculus textbooks. That same year, 1980, the Taos were told that Trevor, then aged two, was autistic.
（对Bill和Grace Tao来说，当他们在1977年的一个下午看到两岁的儿子Terry在给一些5岁的孩子讲解如何拼写和加法的时候，他们的生活就再也不可逆转地改变了。问他在哪里学了这些技能，Terry回答说是看儿童电视剧芝麻街上学的。3年后当他上小学的时候，他已经在看微积分的教科书了。也是这一年，1980年，他们被告知另外一个2岁的儿子Trevor患有自闭症。）
“At the time it was a bit like someone throwing a ball to you and saying ‘Catch!’, then throwing another ball right after it,” recalls Billy, with characteristic sangfroid. “It’s not like you have time to wonder whether the balls will be too heavy; you just catch them. You don’t think, ‘I’ve got one child who is gifted and one who is autistic’, you just sit down and work out what to do.”（如今，Bill Tao很平静地回忆到，那个时候，这就象一个人给你扔过球来，喊到“接着”，你刚努力接住，另外一个球已经被扔到你身后去了。你根本没时间考虑球是否很沉，你只能接球。我有两个儿子，一个是天才，而另外一个是自闭。你只能坐下来，想办法如何解决问题。）
Autism scrambles the brain signals that govern human communication, and Trevor showed many classic symptoms. He avoided eye contact, didn’t speak, exhibited repetitive behaviours such as endlessly twirling a ball, and would become enraged if his routines were broken. The prognosis for him appeared to be a life of social isolation. But with the help of the Autistic Children’s Association of South Australia (now Autism SA), the Taos hired an instructor, Jean Bryant, who began teaching him behaviour modification techniques.（刚被诊断时， Trevor表现出经典的自闭症状：回避眼光接触，没有语言，重复刻板行为等，他的预后是终身的残疾。...）
“When we originally looked at him we thought the outlook was pretty bleak,” recalls Billy. “In those days, if an autistic person could be taught some basic living skills – to make your bed, do the dishes, make a cup of tea – this would be considered good. To finish high school was a bit of a dream. To finish university was a fantasy.”（当时，刚开始给他训练时，前景是非常悲观的。那个时候，如果能教会自闭的孩子一些生活的技能，例如铺床，做饭，准备茶等，就已经很好了；如果能上高中，就已经是梦了；而上大学，那简直就是狂想。）
Jean Bryant later wrote a book about her experience of teaching Trevor Tao, and it’s difficult to connect the five-year-old she describes – who needed cue cards to learn how to dress and speak – with the 30-year-old who sits at the piano playing Rachmaninoff. Tall, gangly and bespectacled, with a high-domed forehead and thatch of spiked black hair, Trevor still speaks with the slightly flattened tonality of many autistic people, and exhibits quirky habits such as clasping his hands behind his back. He is, however, a droll and witty presence. Looking at a scrapbook which features him smiling goofily from the pages of Woman’s Day at the age of 10, he says: “Hmmm. I must have been in my autism mode.”（当记者2007年采访Trevor的时候，很难把Jean书中描写的5岁的需要图片提示穿衣服和说法的男孩，与眼前的30岁的弹钢琴的瘦高文静的男人联系起来。虽然他的说话一如很多自闭的人一样语调很平，而且还表现出古怪的僻好：在身后反拧双手，他是很幽默和机智的。...）
These days Trevor works as a research scientist at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation in Adelaide, specialising in image analysis. Two years ago, he completed a PhD thesis entitled An Extended Mumford-Shah Model and an Improved Region Merging Algorithm for Image Segmentation (don’t ask). He also writes anti-smoking songs set to tunes such as Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (“Smoking causes heart disease and osteoporosis …”) The day I visited he played me this tune on the guitar and jokingly cited it as evidence that he is himself a genius. “That’s not genius,” advised his dad. “That’s obsession.”
Music was the key that first unlocked Trevor’s potential. As anyone who has seen the Dustin Hoffman film Rain Man will know, autistic savants have an almost paranormal ability to divine the intricate patterns within maths and musical notation. Allan Snyder likens it to a brain that receives information in ultra-high contrast: in social situations this causes overload and confusion, as the mind fixates on myriad irrelevant details, whereas the static data in a musical score or mathematical equation can be absorbed at a glance. Before he could even speak properly, Trevor could memorise music almost instantly and play it back note-perfect.
...
|
|
IP卡
狗仔卡
楼主
显身卡
发表于 2008-12-31 22:34:59
