CM Conference Notes: Moving From Behaviorism to Relationships

Moving From Behaviorism to Relationships (Tammy Glaser)

I didn't take notes on this session, I decided to just listen and be inspired. Tammy has a daughter with autism, and the gist of the lecture was that, although many people working with autistic kids recommend behaviorism (reward the child with an M&M when he makes eye contact), Tammy had better, faster results when she used a relational approach. She showed a film clip of her daughter before and after a week of relational techniques, and you could see the difference.

But what struck me was when Tammy talked about how God created people with a pre-designed and perfect timetable of development. If a little boy hasn't caught on to reading, he gets labeled as a slow learner, or as a challenged or disabled child in need of remedial training. But the labeling and the problem are fabrications of the school, not a defect in the child. The child is developing along the perfect timetable that God designed for him. If lots of children aren't reading at age six, or writing compositions at age eight, or doing fractions at age nine - it isn't the children with the problem, it's a problem with our timetable.

This isn't the first time I've heard this - in fact, I had heard it just the day before at the Four Pillars lecture. But for some reason, it suddenly clicked and made sense. And it's made me a lot less stressed about my Year 5 son who still struggles with math.

Tammy has a blog where she discusses homeschooling and autism; it's here.

(complete list of conference posts here.)