Change a Paradigm & Change a Child's Life

This weekend at the BCASC Autism Conference, Carol Gray, the keynote speaker, said so many things in her phenomenal presentation that resonated. One thing she said though really stuck with me:

"Change a paradigm 

and you change a child's life".

A Paradigm is defined as:

     1

: example, pattern; especially : an outstandingly clear or typical example or archetype

     2

: an example of a conjugation or declension showing a word in all its inflectional forms

     3

: a philosophical and theoretical framework of a scientific school or discipline within which theories, laws, and generalizations and the experiments performed in support of them are formulated; broadly : a philosophical or theoretical framework of any kind.

4: A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline. 

*Source: Merriam-Webster.com

Carol was referring to definitions #3 and #4.  Many assumptive paradigms exist in education, especially in the area of social skills. These accepted methods used by well-meaning educators & therapists in a variety of settings, only serve to systematically traumatize students further. 

One example that Carol discussed was regarding perceptions & the way we use language. A story she used to illustrate this, was about one of her students who had assumed that Carol had changed her dog's name to "Popcorn".

Instead of immediately correcting the student and saying "I didn't change my dog's name..." and causing the child more confusion, Carol stopped and said, "I need a moment to think..." and proceeded to look from the child's perspective and realized where the child's perception of the dog's new name originated from.

She revealed to us on her slides the reason: the student saw a popcorn bowl being used for the dog's food. For a child with autism, it was a logical assumption that the dog's name had been changed because of this visual evidence. (We believe most of what we see.) Had Carol not stopped a moment to look around, before she responded, she would have not realized the child's perception.

Carol instead replied "You know, I have a very true story to tell you..." and proceeded to explain that the popcorn bowl was there because the dog's other bowl broke. The student's response was "Okay-but can you turn it around? [so "popcorn" doesn't show].

Carol's presentation was filled with real-life examples, such as this one, of how we have the power to support & change interactions for kids. In those few split seconds between the stimulus & the response, how we use our power-and how we respond- can make a huge difference.

In order to move students forward-socially, academically and otherwise, Ms. Gray encouraged parents & educators to pause & think before we respond & to identify/ recognize existing paradigms so we can innovate new methods in order to change what's not working. She has provided a variety of tools to help us to achieve this and I highly recommend her site, her books and related site links to every special educator and para-educator.

As a parent or educator, what paradigms would you like to personally change? How would you go about it?

What paradigms or outdated methods would you like to see changed in general? 

(Please share your ideas in the comments below.)

To learn more about Carol Gray, Social Stories™, Comic Strip Conversations and her other work visit:

The Gray Center for Social Learning & Understanding

To find our growing library of

Webinars and Conference Call recordings 

visit AnyMeeting

.