This book is designed to help parents and professionals respond to the behavioral potential of children and adults diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) through the application of the Feuerstein method, an approach that brings an alternative and innovative treatment modality that uncovers and enhances the learning potential that traditional diagnoses and treatment methods often overlook or discourage.
The method is based on Reuven Feuerstein’s formulations of cognitive modifiability and has been implemented successfully and confirmed by both research results and the experiences of teachers and parents. This book is a valued resource for treatment, including descriptions of the basic concepts of the method and their application to the assessment and treatment of those functioning within the spectrum. Each chapter is specifically written by members of the Feuerstein Institute clinical and research team. The chapters are interspersed with case studies that illustrate the principles and practices described therein and is written in an accessible and clear language for practitioners and parents.
Presenting a new and optimistic paradigm in defining and responding to ASD, this is an invaluable resource for parents and practitioners concerned about meeting the needs of the ASD individual and acquiring insights and techniques for seeking or implementing treatment.
Table of Contents:
1. Autism and its Changes 2. Searching for Islets of Normalcy 3. The Mediating Clinical Team: The Importance of Teamwork when Treating ASD Individuals Using the Feuerstein Method 4. The Dynamic Assessment of Young and Cognitively Low-Functioning ASD Individuals 5. LPAD With ASD Children and Adults Mild to Moderate Levels 6. Communication Skill-Building with ASD Children 7. Mediating Thinking Skills through the Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment Program for ASD Individuals 8. Imparting Writing Skills to Children with ASD 9. Cognitive Therapy through the Motor Modality with ASD Individuals 10. Mediated Learning Experience as a Treatment Modality with Families of ASD Children 11. Brief Case Studies
About the Author :
Raphael S. Feuerstein, PhD heads the international organization of the Feuerstein Institute, a researcher, creator and teacher. Among his developments are dynamic cognitive diagnosis methods and preschool intervention methods, and the development of learning profiles and identification algorithms.
Review :
“All of us concerned with autism, parents, professionals and autistics alike, often speak of presuming competence and realizing the potential of individuals with autism, but how to do this is a formidable challenge every step of the way and at every stage on a lifelong journey. It is the brilliant legacy of Professor Reuven F,euerstein whose unshakable belief in human modifiability offers us further direction regardless of the cause or severity of the condition, or the age of the individual.
It was a great honor to know Prof. Feuerstein, a giant amongst giants, to have the opportunity to learn his theory, to study his comprehensive methodology and assessments, to follow his research, and to discuss our challenges as well as similarities and differences in working with autism. But it was never enough! Reading this new book presented by Rafael Feuerstein and the reflective therapists of the program is an exceptional opportunity to deepen understanding of his legacy in a clear and concise form, enriched by numerous attuned and insightful case examples illustrating his revolutionary approach not only to cognition but the whole child and family and how it can reawaken and advance development at all ages.
Whether you are familiar with Prof. Reuven F,euerstein, or new to his work, this book allows all related disciplines and parents to pursue outcome goals by sharing a conceptual framework of the learning mechanisms that reveal individual potential, provide hope and pave pathways into the future.”
Serena Wieder, PhD, Co-Creator of the Developmental, Individual Difference, and Relationship based Model (DIRÒ), Clinical Director of the Profectum Foundation.
