Lon Woodbury and Elizabeth McGhee, talk show hosts on Parent Choices for Struggling Teens, discussed working with the autism spectrum with Doug Maughan who is the Clinical Director for Daniels Academy.
The host of the talk radio show Lon Woodbury is the publisher of Woodbury Reports and the founder of Struggling Teens. He is an Independent Educational Consultant and has worked since 1984 to help families with struggling teenagers. Meanwhile, the co-host of the radio show, Elizabeth McGhee, works at the Sandhill Child Development Center in New Mexico, where she is the Director of Admissions and Referral Relations.
Profile of Douglas Maughan
Once a case manager at Utah's Division of Services for People with Disabilities (DSPD), Douglas, who has a BA, MA, and LCMHC, is now the Clinical Director at Daniel's Academy, a therapeutic boarding school that offers a family-living atmosphere for boys with autism. These young men, aged 13 years to 18 years, struggle with emotional difficulties, academics, and executive function.
A New Approach to Working with the Autism Spectrum
Students within the autism spectrum are often misunderstood. They are often misdiagnosed by psychologists as having Oppositional Defiant Disorder or mislabeled by teachers as willful. However, these adolescents actually are unable to shift perspectives or follow the rules of traditional education because of problems with their prefrontal cortex functioning.
Douglas explained that teenagers who fall within the autism spectrum, don't know how to interact with their peers. It becomes a huge issue for them when they are either teased or bullied. Sometimes to fit in, they enact the very behavior that upsets them.
Daniels Academy works with high-functioning autism, as defined as a Level One autism in the DSM V. The staff teach through a number of ways like individual therapy or group milieu settings. Students also improve social skills by interacting with the local community. Many of these boys are actually very bright. However, this is not always discerned because they have very low self-esteem.
The success of the autism program is measured by whether or not students can follow the social skill sets taught in the curriculum. The Four Pillar method taught at Daniels Academy consists of learning daily living skills, emotional regulation skills, social thinking skills, and executive functioning skills. These four skills are designed to teach students about social adaptation. In addition to learning these four essential skill, the boys learn how to improve overall motor functioning.
The host of the talk radio show Lon Woodbury is the publisher of Woodbury Reports and the founder of Struggling Teens. He is an Independent Educational Consultant and has worked since 1984 to help families with struggling teenagers. Meanwhile, the co-host of the radio show, Elizabeth McGhee, works at the Sandhill Child Development Center in New Mexico, where she is the Director of Admissions and Referral Relations.
Profile of Douglas Maughan
Once a case manager at Utah's Division of Services for People with Disabilities (DSPD), Douglas, who has a BA, MA, and LCMHC, is now the Clinical Director at Daniel's Academy, a therapeutic boarding school that offers a family-living atmosphere for boys with autism. These young men, aged 13 years to 18 years, struggle with emotional difficulties, academics, and executive function.
A New Approach to Working with the Autism Spectrum
Students within the autism spectrum are often misunderstood. They are often misdiagnosed by psychologists as having Oppositional Defiant Disorder or mislabeled by teachers as willful. However, these adolescents actually are unable to shift perspectives or follow the rules of traditional education because of problems with their prefrontal cortex functioning.
Douglas explained that teenagers who fall within the autism spectrum, don't know how to interact with their peers. It becomes a huge issue for them when they are either teased or bullied. Sometimes to fit in, they enact the very behavior that upsets them.
Daniels Academy works with high-functioning autism, as defined as a Level One autism in the DSM V. The staff teach through a number of ways like individual therapy or group milieu settings. Students also improve social skills by interacting with the local community. Many of these boys are actually very bright. However, this is not always discerned because they have very low self-esteem.
The success of the autism program is measured by whether or not students can follow the social skill sets taught in the curriculum. The Four Pillar method taught at Daniels Academy consists of learning daily living skills, emotional regulation skills, social thinking skills, and executive functioning skills. These four skills are designed to teach students about social adaptation. In addition to learning these four essential skill, the boys learn how to improve overall motor functioning.
About the Author:
Discover more about the problems faced by Struggling Teens. Lon Woodbury records the entire interview on his L.A. Talk Radio show for people to listen to at any time.
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