This web page explains the philosophy and operation of the clinic. While the following is written in the present tense, the clinic is, sadly, no longer in operation, having closed its doors in December, 2006.
Patients are seen, in one day, by a panel of
multidisciplinary specialists including a Pediatrician
with advanced training in autism and behavioral
disorders, an occupational therapist with 20 years
experience in sensory integration disorders, a nurse,
and a speech pathologist with specialized training in
language pragmatics. At the end of the day, the team
meets with the patient and
parents/guardians/caretakers and presents their
diagnosis, recommendations for further evaluation, and
a treatment roadmap. The patient is then referred
back to the referring physician and community
resources.
The following handouts from the clinic may be useful to parents and professionals:
We are dedicated to diagnosing and making treatment recommendations for difficult and complex patients with autism and attention spectrum disorders. We have a facility with a large play area where our therapists can observe the patient in a naturalistic setting. We are dedicated to the new concepts of Functional Diagnoses which emphasize how a patient interacts with his or her family, school, and environment. Our diagnosis and treatment plan is intended to be individualized and practical. Our nurse often visits schools to observe patients and make recommendations to the teachers after listening carefully to their concerns.
We have a multidisciplanary approach that embraces the best of so-called 'alternative medications and treatment strategies' as well as sensory integration modalities, social skills classes, speech pragmatics (the practical aspects of how we use language such as how to begin and end conversations, change topics, and repair conversations), yoga, computer technology, and medications.
When we recommend medications, we strictly adhere to the concept that medications ideally must be 'transparent' and free of side effects. By transparent, we mean that the patient does not perceive his or herself to be medicated.
We are proud that we can offer patients everything from suggestions on diet and nutrition, to treatment for yeast, to school interventions, and medication recommendations.
We are a parent-driven interactive clinic. Our physician is not a DAN or FEAT physician, however, he is well versed in both worlds of the (in his opinion) irrational split between parent driven alternative therapies and physician oriented traditional therapies in the autism world.
Like so many clinicians and
researchers in the world of autism, we are drawn to
the field because of our own personal experiences with
autism. My son is in the ADHD-autism-learning
disability grey zone and much of my initial interest
was to develop novel therapies for him to function in
school. Much of my initial experiences in working with
sensory integration strategies as well as adaptive
technology resulted from my efforts to learn and
educate my son on the best strategies to function in
the classroom.
My wife Pauline also has Asperger's Syndrome (she
wants me to say mild). My first clue as to this was
when she wanted to spend an enjoyable evening sorting
Lego's by size and color. My second clue was when she
wrote me her first love letter that began with a
lengthy description of her computer and the new
hardware attachments and software capabilities which
helped her in writing the letter, and then signed it,
'Love, Pauline'.
She plays an active roll in our clinic, particularly working with teenage girls. She is a roll model for them when they realize that she married a doctor and that we have three wonderful children.
I am proud of the research that our clinic has done. We have found that many patients with autism and Asperger's in fact are victims of domestic violence, abuse, and have post-traumatic stress syndrome. Other researchers have documented this as well, yet we are one of the first to find this association in the clinical care arena. Our results, after one year of seeing patients, is that as many as 25% of patients labeled as having autism have a strong history of domestic violence, abuse, and evidence of complicating post traumatic stress syndrome. It may well be that post traumatic stress syndrome in many patients presents with typical autistic features.
Our fearless leader, internationally recognized expect on the therapeutic value of play, Keri Tanta Ph.d., presented our preliminary clinical model and findings in 2006, at the American Occupational Therapy Association Annual Conference and Exposition, Poster Presentation, Charlotte, NC.
Conference Poster: JPG (1.5 MB) Powerpoint HTML (Browser dependent)
I have learned from Dr. Tanta that play is very serious stuff. If you doubt this, consider that disruptions in early play patterns are an initial tip off to the development of autism. Scholars of play can readily distinguish between building things with Lego's (object manipulation), building things with Lego's with a friend and creating something new (interactive play) and turning a pencil into a spaceship and a set of dishes into a tea party (true pretend play). They are so expert at the subtle and varied types of human play that early detection of autism can be achieved. The earlier autism is detected, the greater the likelihood of attending regular elementary school and high school with typically developing children.
One reason for the success of our clinic was the involvement of experts in play, sensory integration issues, and speech pragmatics early in the diagnostic process. Instead of parents meeting with their pediatrician, and then as weeks progress, seeing a neurologist, a speech pathologist, an occupational therapist, and then returning to the pediatrician who has to make sense of a bunch of reports sent to him or her in the mail, we all sat down together and evaluated the patient and presented our findings all at once.
One exciting initial finding Dr. Tanta presented was that many of our patients who came in with a label of autism could be more appropriately labeled post traumatic stress syndrome. If this finding holds up, and is replicated by other researchers, it could effect significant changes in the way we diagnose and treat both autism and post-traumatic stress syndrome.
Post traumatic stress syndrome is frequently associated with dissociation. It responds to talk therapy, play therapy, and desensitization protocols. If picked up early, before the teen years, it has a far better prognosis. Patients with PTSS in the late teen years frequently have the severe secondary factors of school failure, runaway and delinquent behavior, sexual promiscuity and prostitution which can in turn complicate treating the underlying trauma issues.
If childhood domstic violence and abuse victims turn out to be a significant subset of patients currently labeled as having autism, this could result in new hope and treatment modalities for these patients, who otherwise often are not diagnosed until they are in their 30s.
Yes. Even though I went into autism work because of my son and wife, I have found a connection between classic Kanner's autism and my near death research. One unknown in Kanner's autism (the autism as seen in the Rainman) is how can the human brain accomplish the feats these patients demonstrate. However, if my speculation that the human brain is connected with an ultimate 'non local reality' which contains all the information in the universe, Kanner autism is easily understandable. Some tantalizing preliminary evidence exists showing that patients with Kanner autism have increased right temporal lobe function.
