CHILD PSYCHIATRY: AUTISM’S LONELY CHILDREN

[Music] the following program is from NE the national educational television network [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] this is a strange and lonely playroom we hear no prattling voices and the toys go untouched two boys Peter and Marty play alone time is stopped for these children because they are victims of a severe emotional disorder called autism Peter and Marty are hospitalized at the Neuropsychiatric Institute at the University of California in Los Angeles where researchers are studying the nature of autism a major symptom is the autistic child's withdrawal from the human world people are objects he stares at blankly he feels no need to communicate so he rarely learns how to speak he lives in a world of his own making me Marty's symptoms are extreme alone he plays bizarre ritualistic games by the hour seeking to satisfy his constant craving for stimulation Peter is less autistic than Marty his concentrated interest in the pencil sharpener represents a higher level of development than Marty's simple game with a stick Peter's mechanical skill is actually Superior to that of many normal children it shows that unlike the mentally child he can often think and act def effectively researchers hope that autistic children can be taught other normal skills such as speech learning to speak is essential in the treatment of autism experience shows that if 5-year-olds like Peter and Marty do not learn now they may not be able to learn at all Dr Frank hwit who does research at The Institute leads Marty into a teaching Booth a device for teaching him speech before he begins the the teacher must establish control over his pupil to do this he uses a variety of rewards and punishments to evoke simple responses so in this teaching Booth we can provide both Pleasant rewarding experiences for the child as well as somewhat unpleasant experiences for instance when the child is cooperating and Performing as the teacher directs he may be given a piece of candy from this candy window and should the child fail to cooperate fail to pay attention while the teacher is working with him he may be given a negative reinforcement such as having the booth closed off and being separated from the teacher until he initiates contact by pushing a button on his side of the booth hi Marty Marty touch my ear good boy Marty touch my ear first step in getting control over Marty was inducing him to imitate simple gestures on demand like clapping his hands Marty clap your hands clap your hand Marty clap your hand clap your hands Marty clap your hands Marty clap your hands Marty clap your hands Marty good boy Dr HT rewarded him with candy only if he responded with the correct imitations The Candy encouraged Marty to repeat the gestures whenever he was CED touch my ear touch my ear touch my yeah touch my ear come on come on Marty touch my ear come on Marty touch my ear Marty touch good boy Marty touch your nose Marty touch your notse Marty touch your nose good boy Mar touch your nose touch your nose touch your nose tou you not thank you you don't like that candy two months to teach Marty these responses but this was the first time his behavior had ever been effectively controlled the next big step was to start him on the road to speech Dr huitt worked on one intelligible sound that Marty made spontaneously by repeating the sound and offering him a candy reward he hoped to train Marty to imitate him he could then try to shape Marty's sound into a real word but it did not work if Marty would not vocalize for candy would he speak up to avoid a punishment like turning out the lights v b v good boy B B B BBB BBB BBB BBB BBB BBB good finally the candy work too Marty had taken a step toward acquiring speech good boy let's count one 2 3 4 5 six yeah let's let's make the six again you make it six yeah you make it Peter has come much further than Marty his teacher Miss Ethel RAB has taught him to draw to write the alphabet and numbers up to 50 yet until he entered the teaching Booth Peter like Marty had never spoken an intelligible word hi Pete hi in the chair in the chair Pete oh Peter was a quicker pupil than Marty in every way he quickly understood about imitating Dr and responded to a variety of rewards besides candy like this cartoon movie that's right see the movie good boy good boy okay touch my face touch my face Pete no put your in the leave about a year put your finger the a the yes you're hearing music No don't touch that no we don't want to touch [Applause] [Music] that he was soon ready for the next step learning to say his first word Dr Hu chose a simple but highly meaningful verb go go remember that don't you huh go Peter soon got to put his first word to good use he learned he could use it to get a spin in the chair okay Pete in the chair Peter goes round and round Peter goes he goes all around round and round he goes good boy Okay C he learned other basic words C good boy good boy what's this I good boy good boy Peter give me a in the chair what's that n come here look at me n what is it n no good boy what's that Peter ear touch your ear ear you touch your ear ear touch your ear ear here good boy sit in the chair Peter how are you s how are you s what's your name Peter Peter what's your name Peter Peter what's your name Peter hardest for Peter was learning replies to simple questions this required more understanding than imitating the teacher on Q how are you f how are you f what's your name what's your name what's your name what's your name what's your name Peter Peter what's your name what's your name Peter Peter Peter Peter what's your name Peter p what's your name daddy Peter good boy Peter what's your name name Peter Peter what's your name Peter Peter what's your name d good boy good boy okay what's that Peter Mom Daddy Daddy Daddy sit down Peter sit down Sit Down's who's that Mama what's this Peter toil toilet Dad good boy what's this food food what's this water water water what's this what's this Peter Peter must learn to use his hard one words in his daily life what's this Dr huitt encourages this by making him say the words to get things he wants like water to get a drink all right come on let's go over here at first this treatment was frustrating now he is used to everyone making him say his words what is it key key what's that toilet toilet now Peter's learned about 15 words and we've talking to him Dr huitt has invited Peter's family for important visit he wants Peter to use his new words with them because soon they will have to take over the job of teaching him themselves water and that you would never give him water unless he would say water he actually says I want water this is the way he puts it how strict shall we be in the fact that he must say the words distinctly instead of I want water I want to begin with the important thing is that he makes an effort to say the word uh in the situation and very gradually we can I think begin to hold in for a better quality reproduction but at first that isn't too important the important thing is that Peter has gotten the idea that people communicate with words and that words pay off that words will get you things you want and that is the most important thing we've done come here Pete I want you to sit down you let me uh maybe I can try a few things Peter Hi how are you how are you good boy Dr huitt prepares the parents to work with Peter directly a two-way mirror allows the camera to film the scene without distracting Peter who's that Daddy Peter Peter who's that no who's that Mama all right Peter who's that who's that Daddy who's that Mama who's that Peter daddy who's that Mama good boy that's a good boy boy all right now Peter what I huh good boy Dr hwit turns the session over to the parents he does not know how things will go between them and Peter but he hopes for the best the completion of Peter's education depends on this transfer from teacher to parent Peter Peter hi Hi how are you that's a good boy what is this fer sit down yes that's right and what is this toilet Peter Peter good oh yes who's this that is water now Peter come back here come back here sit down Peter come sit down honey Peter sit down don't play in the water sit down sit [Music] down put it right put it right that's B7 what picture would you you like Mama M mama mama here's mama daddy Daddy Let Me Find daddy daddy where is daddy where is daddy where is Daddy Daddy who's this Dy no say it right say daddy daddy that's a good boy what picture would you like next Peter Peter okay let me find Peter here's Peter the long sessions in the teaching Booth have produced good results while the causes of autism remain a mystery Dr huitt and his colleagues at the neuros psychiatric Institute are now hopeful that children like Peter and Marty can be helped to conquer the tragic effects of autism very well honey what we've seen in the case of Peter is the beginning of the most important aspect of our speech program his parents were able to get him to use this experimentally acquired speech with them and hopefully will be able to continue to reinforce this when they're with him away from the hospital on home visits in the case of Marty we've just made a bare beginning and there's a great deal more basic work to be done it's hope that continuing research in the field of developing communication skills in autistic children will enable us to more effectively teach speech to children like Marty and Peter and to initiate this kind of procedure long before their fifth birthday good boy good boy [Music] the [Music] [Music] this is NE the national educational television network