Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh and Defeat Autism Now have created a new video documentry which is planned to be revealed as part of the national Defeat Autism Now (DAN!) national conference in San Diego, CA. The film tells the story of four children diagnosed with autism, who achieved success using treatments rooted in Applied Behavior Analysis. The documentary includes clips of therapy sessions along with interviews of the children who are now teenagers, their parents, therapists, and Dr. Granpeesheh. The children (now teenagers) will be present at the screening.
According to the video’s website:
Over the past few years, there is a growing concern amongst adults with Asperger’s that recovery as an end goal may be depriving them of their rights, or altering their personalities in a way that is not desired or acceptable. It has never been our desire or intention to alter any person’s skills in a detrimental fashion.
All personalities change over the course of development. We all learn skills as we grow older and these new skills change the way we interact with and learn from the world.
Our intention in providing proof of Recovery and in identifying a course of action toward that goal is only to bring hope and determination to those families who feel it is in the best interest of their child to learn new skills in order to better access the rewards of life.
We feel every child has the right to be healthy, to be taught the skills they need to interact appropriately with their peers and to be allowed to demonstrate their strengths, instead of fight their weaknesses. We feel confident we have found the path to make this a reality.
A trailer of the documentary is available at the video’s website. I have to say – not seeing the entire video I have to reserve my judgments but based on where the first screening is going to be I don’t think and and many others will be happy with this film.
Related Posts |
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m still reminded of the Autism Research Institute videos on YouTube which claim to show recovered autistics. To me, the children in question seem more like high-functioning autistics; they hardly seem neurotypical even after ‘recovery’.
(Also, as an aside, the “your comment is under moderation” message is showing up in Romanian for me. That’s…interesting.)
Its because I have to approve comments – I have been getting a lot of spam lately.
That’s kind of stupid to say that someone has “recovered” from autism, especially if they still have autistic traits. Does anyone agree with me?