Bucks County Autism Conference Stresses Positive Behavior Support

More than 300 parents, educators and professionals gathered at Central Bucks South High School Saturday morning to spend the day gathering information about how to manage people with autism.

Organized by the Bucks County Autism Support Coalition (BCASC), the 4th Annual Autism Conference offered a full day of classes and workshops designed to provide information on assisting individuals with autism throughout the stages of their lives, from early childhood through adulthood.

The full-day conference ran until 4:30 p.m. Workshops offered included topics such as using the iPad to help students with autism and sensory processing in young children.

“This is our first time here,” said Edward Rinkevich, who attended with his wife, Amy. They have two autistic sons,  ages 6 and 2,  and were looking for more information on the support and available services.

A keynote speech, delivered by Dr. Linda Bambara and Dr. Lee Kern, both of Lehigh University, talked about how schools and families dealt with challenging behavior from people with autism before the diagnosis started to become more prevalent in the mid-1970s.

“We used to try to punish the behavior away,” said Kern. “People could be involuntarily institutionalized.”

Kern said attempts to research the efficacy of punishments such as electric shock, spanking and restraint showed how useless these approaches were.

She said a study of the methods conducted between 1965 and 1984, headed by Dr. Doug Guess, saw that it took hours of implementing the punishments to prevent behaviors such as aggression or disruptions.

“We’ve come a long way in a short period of time,” said Kern.

Both Kern and Bambara touted the success of Positive Behavior Support (PBS), a strategy that encourages input from all the major stakeholders in an autistic individual’s life, including parents, educators and doctors.

“A behavior support plan should not just react to the consequences of aversive behavior,” said Kern. “It should also work to identify how the behavior begins and come up with strategies to replace those indicators.”

A successful support strategy needs to be fully embraced by the entire team, said Bambara. A notion that sounds easier said than done, she acknowledged.

“There are many barriers to success,” Bambara said. “People get frustrated and think there is nothing that can be done. Some think the individualized interventions are unfair to others.  And sometimes our schedules are just too busy to meet and plan the strategies.”

Bambara said she hopes that as studies continue to evolve, they will become more efficient, allowing quicker interventions of the behavior and the development of a plan.

And once a plan is developed, she said everyone needs to stick to it and consistently evaluate the results. The parents and teachers, especially, should openly communicate and work together.

“Everybody wants that quick fix,” said Bambara. “They made a sticker chart, so everything should be fine now. And when the child acts out, they want to blame one another. There is no quick fix, and the strategies take time to determine if they are successful.”

The Rinkeviches felt they were not getting that kind of cooperation from the Bucks County Intermediate Unit (BCIU) with their oldest son, Zachary. They said he wasn’t properly placed in the Tawanka Learning Center and eventually they paid out-of-pocket for private services.

“[The BCIU was]  just not very cooperative,” said Amy Rinkevich. “They generalized his treatment. He was supposed to get one-on-one sessions, but they never happened. It wasn’t until we started squawking that doors began opening up.”

They said the environment changed when Zachary began attending public school in Morrisville. The Rinkeviches are grateful for the way the faculty and staff at Granview Elementary treat their son and embrace the inclusion philosophy.

“They are awesome,” said Amy. “They are very accommodating and have a great support system.”

The BCASC conference also served as a kick-off event for Autism Awareness month in April. They have a calendar of events that will be offered throughout the month across the county, including a 5K race on April 16 at Bridge Valley Elementary School in Furlong.