Ido in Autismland

A Stunning Report By Mary W Maxwell, PhD, LLB.
There is a new method that helps an autistic person communicate in English (or other language) despite his having no speech, that is, no way to get his words out vocally. First he has to get to know all the letters of the alphabet, and then be taught the spelling of words, e.g. d-o-g and c-a-t, same as we were all taught. He can then tap on the letters of a keyboard – same as all of us – to write. Or, if he lacks muscle coordination, a teacher can offer him letters and let him choose the ones he wants by pointing.
Ido Kedar, now age 17, was so slow at first that it took him an hour to tap three letters, but now he is “fluent.” Mind you, he was always fluent, same as you and I, as to the words he wanted to say. He had always understood what people around him were saying. But he could not give an intelligible reply until he was introduced to the technique called Rapid Prompting Method. (And he now has an iPad that gives “word prediction,” and an app that coverts his text into spoken form.)
“Ido in Autismland: Climbing Out of Autism’s Silent Prison” (2012) is the book by Ido Kedar. It will probably have a wide influence on the public. Here is what I got out of it:
First, Ido’s mind is in every way like yours and mine.. He is so normal emotionally and intellectually that it is embarrassing to think we once thought there was a different way in which these children existed. I repeat: Ido is just like us.
Ido informs us that what he has is an “output problem.” He tells his legs to walk into his bedroom but instead they walk into his parent’s rom. When asked to indicate the dinner he prefers to order in a restaurant, he indicates not the one he really wants but another one.
You can easily imagine yourself having a neurological output problem in which the nerve sends a signal to the wrong muscle. It wouldn’t mean that you were unable to know the difference between your bedroom and your parent’s room. It would not mean that you were incapable of picking your favorite dinner. You simply have an output problem. (Note: I am not saying that this is the sum total of autism. Many autistic children are in pain from bowel ailments and have a range of disabilities. For example Ido sometimes can’t figure out where his limbs are, or focuses on certain smells.
He can’t always keep track of things. And perhaps there are some autistic children with no language faculty?) As for the professionals who have said they can’t accept RPM because it is not evidence-based, that is disgusting. I venture to guess that they say that in bad faith.
What the hell is evidence? Imagine you have just washed your clothes and thrown your new bright-red jersey in with the other stuff, and every item came out red. Next time you buy a bright-color jersey will you be careful not to mix it with other laundry, or will you say “We have no proof it was that red jersey that discolored my clothes. I need a full scale clinical trial”? RPM works brilliantly. So says Portia Iversen in her book “Strange Son,” concerning her boy, Dov. So says Ido, and so says Tito. (Tito now writes excellent poetry. Geez, waddaya want?) Tito is the son of Soma Mukhopadhyay, the lady who invented RPM.
It’s terrible that people say the teacher provided the answer. Anyone can see that it’s the child talking. What the teacher did, which was crucial, was press the child’s knee or elbow in order to cut out some of the sensory distractions. (Recall Temple Grandin saying she used to love the pressure of her squeeze machine, amidst the chaos and insecurity of her world?) The word “rapid” in Rapid Prompting Method is also important. Soma more or less barks at the kid to hurry up and furnish an answer (such as to the question “What is the capital of Florida?”) in order to keep the kid’s mind from wandering. This was her indispensable contribution. It is a physical way of organizing the brain. She’s not prompting him to answer “Tallahassee,” versus “Miami.” She’s telling him to concentrate.
Can we please be grown up enough today to stop referring to “Clever Hans” syndrome? It is unrelated to the RPM method. If there is any Clever Hans syndrome going on, it would be the parrots who say “I need more evidence” when worried that someone “in the profession” will criticize them. Polly want a cracker. Polly want a cracker. Etc.
Could there someday be a family in which the procedure is faked? Yes, of course. In fact right now you can hire some Hollywood actors to show an episode of a child apparently writing (Ido-like) and then later prove it was a set-up. Sure, sure, you may one day fall for a scam. But don’t let the fear of it cause you to turn off your common sense, for Pete’s sake.
OK, so what’s next, now that we know that Ido is “in there” and that the whole autism thing is due for a new look? What’s next is for us to listen to Ido. He has suggestions. Oh boy does he have suggestions. Similarly, Carly Fleischmann, age 21, is basically rewriting the textbook. Here is an excerpt from her Dear-Abby-like website, CarlysVoice.com:
“Q. Carly, did you ever scream for what seemed like no reason? Like you showed a happy face, and everything was calm and relaxed, but you just start screaming? My daughter does it. Thanks!
A. I love this question. She is audio filtering and breaking down sounds noises and conversation throughout the day. Other than the screaming you might see crying or laughing fits and even anger. It’s our reaction from finally understanding things that were said and done last min; last day; last month. SHE IS FINE AND TELL HER TO KEEP IT UP.”

These young individuals are now the experts. Moreover, they are expert at a lot more than autism. During the years that they were buried in their prison of no-communication, they made up their minds about many of society’s weird habits. I believe that even if Carly and Ido hadn’t been afflicted with autism they would have been leader-types — they’re just bent that way. But they wouldn’t have been such good leaders as they’re now going to be, thanks to fact that they studied us from behind a screen as it were.
Also, their “condition” has made them uninhibited with regard to anger. We need more of this. We should all be angry these days, IMHO. Maybe your anger does not typically take the form of trashing a cupboard, as Carly’s does (and which she says she regrets but can’t help), but do we have to accept what is going on today without so much as a yell?
We ought to be extremely angry. I say go trash a cupboard and get the feel of it. Or at least do something. Don’t just lie there and take it.

Mary W Maxwell, PhD, LLB, can be reached at her website, ProsecutionForTreason.com. Her latest book is “Fraud Upon the Court: How To Reclaim the Law.”

Postscript: Have just now received and read “The Reason I Jump” by an autistic boy in Japan. It is the best introduction to Buddhist philosophy you could hope to find! Naoki Higashida
was age 13 when he wrote it. If he never makes another contribution, he has already done the work of a lifetime!