UTV wins autism Stupid award!

UTV (Ulster Television) are not exactly known for their research capabilities and I don't think any of their presenters or producers even know what the word 'erudite' means, but a cursory google search would have imparted to them more information than what they wasted 9 minutes of airtime on in this short piece which aired this past Tuesday evening (link embedded above). If you want to see the program for yourself you can watch it on UPlayer until November 13th when it will be removed from their website thankfully.

The opening 5 minute vignette about autism featured a parent and her 7 year old son. There are a myriad of ways in which informed parents could have have been interviewed by UTV to help dispel the myths about our children and what they need. This program wasnt about dispelling myths though. It was about pandering to the existing system and asking for more of the same. Charities like AutismNI/AutismUlster could have selected the mother featured in the program as she laments the fact that she needs more of what groups like AutismNI/AutismUlster offer (training in TEACCH, Pecs, etc)

This parent lamented the lack of services, the long waiting list she encountered in having her son diagnosed (two years) as well as her fears for the future of her son once he leaves his special school at the age of 19. Much of her worry centered around whether or not her son would find employment when he reached adulthood.

This is where I started screaming at the television....I don't believe this parent deliberately set out to mislead the public, though I do believe UTV cynically chose this parent to gauge sympathy rather than inform. The viewer is told how her son received six months of a TEACCH program and how he was six years old before he received any benefit from interventions.

TEACCH is not appropriate for children with an ASD. TEACCH is a system of control set up to embed routine into the individual's day to repress and suppress personality, spontaneity and of course motivation. It is not a social communication program and in fact the TEACCH trainers admit that is so. It is cheap, and teachers love it because it allows them to put structure into THEIR day and keeps autistic kids and adults quiet. Coupled with the PECS system, it's a sure fire way to prevent any child from ever having an independent life, a happy life, a life of equity with his or her peers. It is NOT an intervention for autism.

The parent then went on to talk about how routine plays a big part in her son's life and the life of autistic children. If only she could have given this a bit of thought and hadn't internalised the lies that professionals fed her, she may have concluded differently. Clearly someone along the way had spun her a yarn, a yarn so big that all it needed was a self fulfilling prophesy, in the form of TEACCH and of course in the form of a charity that makes money at rolling out the said program. (by the way, does anyone know how much money AutismNI/AutismUlster has in its coffers?? anyone bothered to find out, or even how much they have spent or been awarded to roll out TEACCH?)

Why wasn't this parent asking for something else. She says that her son received no benefit from 'interventions' offered, until he was six years old. Maybe she believed (or was led to believe) that 'autistic' kids take a long time to learn and that well, you know, it's the autism, etc etc.

This parent went on, 'you do the best you can with what you have', (I don't know if she was referring to services or to her son). She went on to say that any employment for her son "would have to be very repetitive...there is work out there that is repetitive work and autism children would be the best at that because they do like to repeat everything and I hope that when xx is that age to go out into the world that there would be something for him, but at the moment it doesnt look very good there is no understanding of the autism world."

I doubt any one came knocking on this parent's door to give her and her family choices in the training of specific educational interventions that would individually suit and help her son. I also doubt that she were given much hope by 'professionals' who have worked with her boy. The fact she expects him to stay in the special school (dumping ground) system until he is 19 kind of verifies that.

Persons with autistic spectrum conditions do not like to 'repeat' everything. In fact, I would venture that many individuals with an ASD absolutely hate repetition, even to the point where repetition becomes an uncontrollable co-morbid condition of ASD. If you insist on using a TEACCH program for your child, however, repetition and 'routine' may become so ingrained in your child that he may very well not be able to cope or learn without repetition, it becomes a learned behaviour, purposefully and deliberately projected by those who promote TEACCH.


As I have said before there are over 300 well known educational models for autism now, probably a lot more, that I do not know about. This province has not delivered in any other way for our children so why would any parent think, or accept that an educational model offered (TEACCH) has any merit?

As an aside this parent also said in the UTV program that her child gets up in the middle of the night, and also has some major gut and bowel difficulties. I would ask her to investigate biomedical interventions, homeopathy, stress reduction techniques, cranio sacral therapy, neurological chiropracty, sensory integration and of course her child's diet. His problems are common and unfortunately are not addressed by doctors and paediatricians here until they become life threatening. By the way if you want any of these things, you will of course have to pay for them yourself. You will NEVER get a sensory integration specialist even though it looks like your son really really needs one. Sensory integration is not OT, is not Physio. It's a very complex art and isn't offered here. You need to go to England to get anyone that is any good. But, I thought I would mention it. In fact, your child's special school probably can't even spell sensory integration much less know anything about it.

And now on to you, UTV, you should be ashamed as you knew exactly what you were doing by cynically using this parent and her son to pull the heartstrings of your viewers and keep them watching. I didn't expect anything less though. Your station is not exactly known for rocking any boats. You didnt do your research. Either that, or else the lack of depth of this program was planned on purpose.

Below is an article on how one parent, who believed in his child created something unique and wonderful in terms of employment for persons with an ASD based on their amazing and unrivalled skills. Would this ever happen in Northern Ireland? I doubt it.

Our kids can work, and no they don't need repetition. What they need is for their strengths and abilities to be valued, honoured and respected. My son is never ever going to leave a special school, to enter into the workforce to make baskets or pencils for some government training scheme. If that's where you see your children heading, only one question - why? I say over and over again, if the floodgates start opening up in terms of realisation about how bright our children are, the government will be horrified. No longer will parents buy the crap fed to them about how their kids have learning disabilities, can't do this, or that. It only takes a few parents to lead our kids out of the darkness we have in Northern Ireland. I just wish you would find each other and not waste any more time because no one else is going to do it for us.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/the-company-that-turned-disability-into-an-asset-1801627.html