As of this week, Portia has come through on her promise - with flying colors. Her website now includes a 75-page .pdf document (free to all), which incorporates a very detailed description of exactly how to start your child pointing. She says this manual is a work-in-progress, but it is certainly an impressive start.
Perhaps even more significant, she has developed a very unusual type of community. She's invited visitors to upload video of "baseline," "starting up," "ongoing" and "how-to" pointing sessions with their children. These videos are comment-enabled, so that other parents (and Portia) can chip in with support, ideas and critiques. It's like a virtual workshop - and promises to be extremely helpful for parents who think pointing might be a promising approach for communication with their child on the autism spectrum. At present, in the how-to section, Portia has included a time-lapse video of "pointing" pioneer Soma working with a little girl with severe autistic symptoms. While the details of Soma's approach are a little tough to grab from the video, there's no doubt that the message is inspiring.
If you do go to the Strange Son site, let us know what you thought - and whether you feel "pointing" is a useful tool for communicating with non-verbal folks on the autism spectrum
When writing a manual one should consider how well written it needs to be for it’s users to be able to tie together the concept and application of the method. I’ve read this manual and I cannot say that it does this.There’s lots of references to other peoples work(mostly Soma Mukhopadhyay)and scattered material on various other methods.
The promises she’s made,IMO, were not kept.As for the video clips shown are a handful of parents who are sharing what type of communication their child is doing at this time..not clips of parents showing how they are able to implement this “method”.
Honestly,I do not understand the use of any of Soma’s clips when Portia’s “pointing” method clearly is not in any way,shape or form near the level of empirical learning as RPM is.
Let’s be clear on one thing,Soma is not a “pointing” pioneer..her talent reaches far beyond that.Her method is not simply about the ability to point,matter of fact pointing is not even a prerequisite to get started doing RPM.The clip with Soma working with the little girl could not be broken down and explained by Portia she cannot explain how RPM works.Despite the fact that she had the opportunity to learn and work side by side with Soma for years,she still can’t tell you how or why RPM even works.
Throughout much of her manual she even strongly recommends replicating certain techniques that she observed Soma doing but has no idea why it works(she states this herself).I would think that if someone is taking the role of authority on something that they could at the very least be able to explain why they highly recommend something to be implemented in order for it to work.So,more questions than answers here.
Strange Son is an incredible web site. Portia’s personal blog is full of papers, news, and video clips. As more parents read the manual, more video clips will be uploaded. Strange Son is a place for many to come together and learn and for others to help.
I hope people reading this article will check out the website and the manual for themselves. If you poke around the internet, there are a handful of of Soma fanatics who only want Soma teaching this method, as the corportion called Halo makes money from it. Stacey is one of small group you will see posting comments against anyone who tries to help or talk about pointing. Please don’t let this petty clan hold you back from checking this out and seeing if it is right for you.
I’m registered with both HALO and Portia’s Strangeson website. Both offer something of use to a parent wanting to get started with trying to communicate with their child.
For me, the most useful tool to date has actually been Portia’s manual. It clearly written, non-mysterious and has given us something to work with, and my son is progressing and making gains each day. And it has allowed us to get started. Sometimes that’s the hardest step.
As Darlene says, you need to check out the website(s) yourselves and see what works for you and your own child.
I’m not sure what constitutes the site being incredible,but you are so right Nancy, Portia’s blog is full of news on what Portia did,when she did it,who was there and most importantly movie premiers!
And Darlene,if you read anything between the lines as my advising against parents checking this out for themselves please be specific.My comments or opinions were strictly on the content of this “manual” that Portia wrote.Secondly,if HALO wanted Soma to be the only person able to provide RPM why would they offer training for parents and professionals?
HALO happens to be a non profit organization so they are not serving the community to make money but rather to support,educate and empower autistics and others with related conditions or communicative disorders .
It appears to me the focus of this discussion was not to take jabs at HALO, rather to discuss the “manual” that appears on the Strange Son site. Darlene,as a parent of a child who benefits from HALO’s outreach, I find it offensive that you criticize a non-profit organization which only hopes to promote the abilities of autistic children. And to clarify, RPM is much more than “pointing”. Perhaps that is the focus of this manual. I don’t support the Strange Son site and don’t care to comment on it.
It’s good if Portia’s manual was helpful to some. After I read it, I was left to wonder about how she was actually recommending to proceed. It seemed like a very scattered approach… one might try pointing this way, or that way… criss-cross, or with one eye covered. And then there was a recommendation to have multiple baskets of supplies for pointing. The author seems to still be searching for her own way…
Portia’s manual is a much needed tool and another step towards educating everyone about the abilities of people with autism who have little or no verbal communication.Portia describes the manual as “work in progress”. The Informative Pointing (IP)method is not a scientific method or a calculated equation. It is about human interaction, tapping into the cognitive side and eliminating other processes that are not in synch. Portia writes this manual for those just starting out. She explains the method’s ideals, tools and how to execute a lesson with a student. Portia includes her incite into autism. After years of silence, then seeing her son’s transformation, Portia describes the impotance of joint attention with the student and the integration of visual skills and motor movements. Portia collaborated with others that have been successful using this method because their experiences using IP with students offers a different perspective. Having personally used IP for the last five years in a school setting, trained other to use it and now writing my own manual, I am passionate about IP being the best teaching method out there for low-communicating students with autism. In order for IP to evolve it has to be used by more people. Portia’s web site has brought IP to the public in a personal and community forum. The next step is documentation. This manual and the videos on strageson.com document the use of IP. As more people get started and more kids start to communicate, the how and why this method works will become clear. The answers will come from the students using it. I encourage ANY parent,therapist to read Portia’s manual on IP and start using it with their students. You WILL see results. There are so many kids with autism out there waiting to communicate and to be understood.
Heather Clare
Heather,
I’m so pleased to see you are making the distinction between IP and RPM, because I think that will helpful to the general public. It seems there has been a lot of confusion and blurring between various methods, and the more clear professionals can be about the techniques they are using, the better-served all of the families with children on the spectrum will be as they determine which route to take. Does your school advertise themselves as providing IP?
Thanks again, for your clarification.
Linda
I have known Portia and Dov for some time and seeing his access to communication and the dedication Portia and others, Heather included have put into making sure that individuals with limited or no verbal skills have consistent access to communication is awesome. We have to accept that individuals on the spectrum need those supporting them to be open and curious about the possibilities within each method, new, old and bold! Sharon Rosenbloom and myself have had much success in using IP/FC/RPM, I mention them all not because they are the SAME BUT BECAUISE THEY ALL INSIST ON THE PRESUMPTION THAT THOSE WITH LIMITED/NO VERBAL SKILLS WANT TO COMMUNICATE AND HAVE LOTS TO SAY! it is important to note, that without total commitment from the child’s support system, especially families, children will not progress in this method. The whole idea of the Strange Son website and manual is to give everyone access to the approach, yes it takes time to “get” the approach but simply put, it is ensuring individuals receive two way communication and access to express their opinions, preferences, needs, wants etc, something we take for granted but those with limited/ no verbal skills are often sidelined and their intent to communicate ignored.
Thanks Portia for making it accessible and for giving us insight via your book, Strange Son, to your own journey.
Remember there may be many opinions on who did what first and various opinions on this subject but really all that matters is, making sure those with Autism, be given access to reach their full potential and communication is key to this goal.
For information on Sharon and Sonia’s life plan a long term plan for families who want to figure out how to manage and support their child and address long term goals, please contact us at specialneedsconsulting@yahoo.com
The problem with any “method” is that it may or may not work precisely in the fashion it perhaps promises. The manual may have its weaknesses, but consider that this is a first stab at this, and from the sound of it, not with much encouragement from Soma’s group. If you read the book “Strange Son” you will see the seeds of conflict there. I sense this has spread to many of the “users” as well. I think the manual has “good bones”, kind of like a house with a lot of potential and in need of some shoring up that I believe will occur over time. However, parents need to understand that they must do the work. This isn’t snake oil, nor is it the cure for anything. Soma was heroic in that she was really there for her son. Portia is not only there for her son but also wants to change the world. If that’s one of her faults, we’d all do well to be at fault, no?
As far as educating your child, our program manager likes to say that ABA is not science. It’s rather a technology. I like this approach. It makes one always fine tune a program and really shine a laser point at your kid’s learning style. How you do it is of less importance as what will get the result. Pointing does on some level seem like an intuitive art, and could anyone really teach that with a manual? No. But, keep in mind that speeding your child’s responses, however you do it, is a key factor in learning.
My son has been to see Soma, and while Portia’s “program” differs on many levels (particularly, level of physical prompting), I was able to get some good ideas from the manual. For me it is less about “Soma’s side” and “Portia’s side” as “What can help my kid?”. I’m wary, though, when I see some mention of facilitated communication both in the manual and on her site. I’m not sure if she is comparing this method to it or not. I hope not.
My name is Joey Rosenbloom. I am a 20 year old with autism typing my comment. I was first released from the prison of talking but not speaking my mind when I worked with Soma almost 4 years ago. Radical help also came from the Syracuse people training me to type. Dr. Mayer Shevin taught my hands the right way to move. Portia’s manual has vastly captured the steps to mind body training. She gets each step takes intense practice to connect kind mind thoughts to the motor movement. Im owing each my knowing real mind body connection to communicate this to you. Portia is one of the greatest, simply beautiful minds in this divided greatly feuding world of autism.