---55楼:还是没明白VB和ABA有什么本质区别呢?
不知道下面这个会不会有帮助。为了方便天使BB阅读,特意翻译成了英文。这个采访者的三胞胎男孩都是自闭症,一个高功能,一个中等,一个重度。大家可以看到vincent对自闭症相关问题的基本看法,并领略他的太极功夫。
DR. VINCENT J. CARBONE - 30 YEARS OF ACHIEVEMENT
By R.L. Gaston - 4/28/2007
Dr. Vincent J. Carbone, keynote speaker for Autism Expo 2007, renowned for his emphasis on Verbal Behavior and has worked with children with disabilities for the past 30 years. He currently runs Carbone Clinic in Valley Cottage, New York which hosts prospective candidates for his workshops from around the world. His programs and lectures continue to be well received by many and his passion to continue helping families remains steadfast. I had the opportunity to ask him a few questions before the Expo.
RL Gaston: What would you attribute the recent rise in numbers of autistic children being diagnosed today?
Dr. Vince Carbone: I am not a physician or epidemiologist and therefore my opinion on this topic is no better than that of the “person on the street”. From everything that I read and hear it appears that better screening and iagnosis plays at least a part in the higher rate of incidence. Beyond that it appears that most experts in his area speculate that a child’s genetic predisposition along with potential environmental insults and oxins might account for the rise in the number of identified cases.
RL Gaston: You have been asked to educate and train several schools systems across the US, have you found that some school systems are willing to embrace VB as apposed to traditional ABA because of its approach?
Dr. Vince Carbone: The distinction between what people call “traditional ABA” and “VB” may not be a useful distinction and frequently leads to confusion among consumers and conflict in our field. A potentially more useful distinction is between ABA programs that include a behavior analysis of language through the application of B.F.Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior and those that do not. Some practitioners who guide ABA programs for children with autism have been influenced by Skinner’s behavioral analysis of language and the empirical research that has followed while others have not.
ABA programs that make use of Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior have been referred to by some as “VB Programs”. In fact, the focus of my keynote address here at this conference relates to the benefits of including a behavioral analysis of language to ABA programs. As the benefits of including Skinner’s analysis of language are acknowledged and recognized within our fi eld our consumers, e.g. parents, school districts, etc., are becoming aware of these outcomes and therefore are specifically requesting programs that incorporate this very important component of ABA.
RL Gaston: Some parent may have opted out of the educational system altogether and gone the home school route; do you feel (if done properly) that home schooling using a VB approach can offer more than a self-contained classroom?
Dr. Vince Carbone: I support and encourage the development of behavioral programs within the public school environment. The move to home programming for children with autism was mainly the result of parent dissatisfaction with the level of services their children were receiving. When schools provide effective behavioral services is it is the preferred educational setting for school age children with autism, in my opinion. Effective school programs provide a variety of activities, persons and settings which are important educational experiences that can not be duplicated easily in the home environment. [/ALIGN] Moreover, the extreme demands on parents of managing a home program can have negative effects on the entire family. Consequently, a focus of my work for many years has been to improve school programs so that parents do not feel the need to develop home programs that substitute for the school experiences of children with autism. I think in the long run for the majority of students our efforts to support and improve public education for children with autism will be the most important thing we can do.
RL Gaston: Are there any Verbal Behavior schools (Private or Public) in the US? If so, where are they located?
Dr. Vince Carbone There are schools throughout the US that have developed ABA programs that incorporate a behavioral analysis of language. I would refer interested parties to the Yahoos Group Verbal Behavior List server on which parents have posted lists of schools of the type you mention. A review of the archives of this list server or a post on this topic will bring forth a list of schools and programs.
RL Gaston Families often fear that there is a ticking clock when it comes to helping their autistic child get services; do you feel that there is a specific age range that is optimal for learning or does it depend solely on the severity of the disorder?
Dr. Vince Carbone: It is clear that providing services at an early age leads to better outcomes. Certainly the severity of the disorder plays a role in the ultimate outcome. Given the fact that learning occurs at every age there is no reason to believe that services should be discontinued at a certain age or that learning can not occur after a certain point in development. There are limits that are determined by age in everyone’s development but too much emphasis upon artificially determined age limits can lead to a failure to provide effective services.
This question frequently is asked about the development of speech in children autism. The earlier speech develops clearly the better and there is a tendency for speech to develop earlier rather than later if it will develop at all. There are limits related to the individual as to whether or not speech will develop and when. Notwithstanding the learner variables there are behavioral procedures that have been demonstrated to support vocal responding in children with autism. In this area it is a delicate balance for practitioners to not abandon procedures to support vocal responding too soon while insuring that everyone realizes there may be some developmental limits related to the acquisition of this repertoire.
RL Gaston: For first time parents whom are just starting a VB program what do you suggest the fi rst steps are? And approximately how long once you’ve started a VB program might you see progress?
Dr. Vince Carbone: One of the factors that may lead to the best outcome is a knowledgeable and skilled individual guiding the program. The background and skills of the person the school or parents choose will have an important effect on the long term outcome of the learner. One of the most important fi rst steps will be the selection of a competent consultant. I also encourage parents to develop their own knowledge base through reading and attending conferences and talking with other parents so that they become informed consumers.
Progress is a very individualized issue for children with autism. However, one of the first skills often taught within a behavioral language program is requesting or technically referred to as manding. This is a very important skill since it is one of the first social initiations of typical children as well as many children with autism. Parents will want to determine how much emphasis is placed on this skill since this will not always be the focus of some providers. Parents may want to use the development of this skill as a benchmark of initial progress since it is very common that you can see this skill begin to occur very quickly with many children with autism in properly designed programs.
RL Gaston What percentages of non-verbal children who use a VB program actually become verbal?
Dr. Vince Carbone: There are no published studies that report the type of results your question is asking. Unfortunately a substantial portion of children with autism do not easily develop speaking as their form of communication. One of the goals of programs that emphasize language development is to support spoken communication through alternative methods of communication. The question might then best be answered by discussing what forms of alternative communication are most likely to support vocal production in children with developmental disabilities and autism.
There is some published work that has demonstrated that both manual sign language and Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) have led to improved vocal responding in children with autism. (See Millar, Light and Schlosser, 2006). Two studies have compared manual sign language to PECS related to vocal production and in both cases manual sign language was superior (Anderson, 2002; Tincani, 2004) Consequently, the outcome related to vocal production may at least be partially determined by the choice of alternative communication systems chosen and the intensity of services.
RL Gaston A lot of autistic children go undiagnosed until 8 or 9 years of age, since they already missed the early intervention years, what would you suggest for these parents to do?
Dr. Vince Carbone: As discussed above early appears to produce better outcomes compared to later intervention. Notwithstanding this fact, the recommendations for beginning treatment do not change substantially with differences in age. Despite age I recommend the placement of the children in an ABA program with special emphasis upon a behavioral analysis of language. In “older” children with few communication skills request or manding training would be the initial emphasis as it would be with younger children. While age appropriate activities are a consideration along with other age related factors, in general the application of behavior analytic procedures and emphasis upon social initiations seem important at any age.
RL Gaston The Carbone Clinic in New York has a summer workshop; roughly how many people do you train there annually? What qualifi cations are necessary for those who may want to attend and pursue your program?
Dr. Vince Carbone: The information regarding our summer institute training is available on our website at [U]www. carboneclinic.com[/U]. We limit our training to about 10-12 participants so that we might maintain an intensive and highly interactive training experience. During the 10 days of the summer institute training the participants receive behavioral instruction and have the opportunity to work with children with autism each day under the supervision of our staff. In this way we can shape the teaching repertoire of each of the participants through direct contact with students. We frequently have international participants from locations such as the Middle East, Greece, Europe and the United Kingdom.
RL Gaston What single thing would you contribute to being the success of Verbal Behavior?
Dr. Vince Carbone: Skinner’s behavioral analysis of language has provided behavior analysts and teachers with a fi ner grain analysis of language that goes beyond the more common expressive/receptive language classifi cation system. As a result we are now aware of the differences between teaching words as labels (tacts) as opposed to requests (mands). In most programs guided by Skinner’s analysis we begin almost immediately by teaching expressive language in the form of requesting (manding). By doing this we may see an immediate increase in social initiations, communication attempts and a reduction in problem behavior. This may be the single most important contribution that a verbal behavior approach brings to the treatment of persons with autism.
RL Gaston There are very few programs for adults with autism in the US; if services were offered to adults what would services should they be looking for?
Dr. Vince Carbone: Services to adults with autism should be guided by an assessment of individual learner needs as is the case with younger learners. Programs for adults might place greater emphasis upon independence, self-care, leisure activities and community involvement. However, many adult learners have not benefi ted from strong instruction in the area of communication mainly because it is thought that they have reached their potential in this area. This is not always true and therefore instruction in verbal behavior might well be an area of emphasis for adults as it is for children. Many of the problem behaviors that adult learners sometimes exhibit may be related to ineffective communication skills. Consequently, improved communication may lead to less restrictive placements and a reduction in the inappropriate use of psychotropic medications to reduce behaviors that are thought to be the symptoms of adult on-set mental illness.
RL Gaston What does Dr. Carbone do for a hobby when your not travelling or speaking?
Dr. Vince Carbone: For most of my life I have been a sports enthusiast and have maintained a daily regimen of jogging and running to this day. My wife and I enjoy watching the New York Yankees and we enjoy live performances and therefore we are frequent theater-goers and visitors to Broadway performances. (看看,人家都是两口子一起去看的)
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