James MacDonald
Post #1 in this category. Please read posts in numerical order.
Problems in the World of Autism
http://www.jamesdmacdonald.org/Articles/FAutism/ConclusionsFrom26YearsStu.html
“The thrust of our work has been that unless we help autistic children [and other categories of children with neurodivergence] to become playful, social and communicative, it may matter little how much compliance and school knowledge they achieve. I personally know many autistic children who succeed in many school tasks but who are still isolated and unable to develop friendships.”
“My major conclusion is that our most important responsibility to these children is to offer them a social world in which they can build genuine relationships. Our goal in this work can be stated as: “We want to make autistic children into social communicative persons before they become students.”
Note: To Nurture the Child’s Communicative Potential
Some may interpret James MacDonald’s wording in the quote above as suggesting that we should “make” children into someone they are not. Having worked with several young people who had received treatment from James Macdonald I know that force, manipulation or non-acceptance were not at all his intention or his practice.
James MacDonald wrote that his intention “was not to “fix” autistic behaviors, but to nurture the child’s communicative potential by creating emotionally rich, socially engaging environments, empowering children to relate, communicate and grow within trusting, interactive relationships.”
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