Soma Mukhopadhyay is an Indian mother who developed a successful technique for teaching and communicating with her autistic son, Tito. Tito, now an adult, is still profoundly autistic -- but has also developed talents as a poet, writer and teacher. How does this method work? Is it worth trying?
This show, and another on PBS, explained how Portia Iversen learned of Soma's work, and contacted her in hopes that Soma could help Iversen's autistic son, Dov. Iversen is the wife of producer Jonathan Shestack; together, the couple founded a research foundation called Cure Autism Now (now a part of Autism Speaks). A year ago, Iversen came out with a book called Strange Son, which describes Soma's techniques and states that RPM and "pointing" (to a spelling board) allowed Dov to begin communicating for the first time in complex, intellectual sentences.
Since the publication of Strange Son, Soma and Portia have parted ways, but RPM has grown in popularity as a result of Soma's organization (Helping Autism Through Learning and Outreach, or HALO) and Portia's website. According to HALO's FAQ's:
- In the Rapid Prompting Method, the teacher (Soma) matches her pace to the student's speed of self-stimulatory behavior, while continually speaking and requesting student responses, in order to keep the student on task and focused on the lesson at hand. In addition, Soma adjusts subject matter to stimulate the desired side of the brain. Her teaching style is respectful and conversational, as she speaks to her students with the confidence that they are capable of learning and responding to answer her questions.
While RPM and pointing carry no risks, nor are they backed by any kind of focused research. In fact, even the "research" link on HALO's site provides almost nothing in the way of outside evaluation of efficacy. As a result, parents who travel to Austin for Soma's services do so on the basis of anecdotal evidence and hope -- and at considerable expense. It is, however, possible to start RPM and "pointing" on your own, by working from manuals, videos and instructions provided on the HALO and Strange Son websites.
Resources:
Inteview with Portia Iversen, January 2007
