CANDID BY MARIPAT ROBISON
Autism SHORE
to Shore
An interview with Dr. Stephen Shore
J
ohn and I are always traveling, but our schedule pales in
comparison to that of Dr. Stephen Shore, the most-traveled
self-advocate I know. From his home in Boston, Stephen
travels around the world raising autism awareness. He has presented in forty-six of the United States and thirty-nine countries
on six of the seven continents. Whew!
If you’ve read Understanding Autism for Dummies,
which he co-authored in 2006, you’re already
familiar with some of Dr. Shore’s work. Dr. Shore
is also a professor of special education at Adelphi
University.
I candidly asked Dr. Shore some questions about his life, growing
up autistic, his travels and differences he sees in the way autism
is viewed around the world. His answers were nothing short of
amazing. (To learn more about Dr. Shore and his work, visit his
website AutismAsperger.net.)
ROBISON: How did your parents give you such a good start
even though you were nonverbal and it was suggested that you be
institutionalized?
DR. SHORE: At that time, institutionalization was standard for
someone severely affected by autism. My parents advocated for
me and convinced the James Jackson Putnam Children’s Center in
Boston to take me about a year later.
ROBISON: What are some approaches your family used that
worked well?
When my parent’s attempts to get me to imitate them failed, they
began imitating me, making me aware of them in my environment. This aspect of developing trust with someone on the spectrum is foundational to Daily Life Therapy as practiced by the
Boston Higashi School.
58
ZOOM Autism through Many Lenses
We also sang and moved to music, similar to
music therapy. Activities on swing sets and a
climbing structure in our yard closely mirrored
today’s techniques used in occupational therapy
for sensory integration.
ROBISON: Have you adopted those approaches in your own work with children?
DR. SHORE: Giving music lessons to children with autism, I use an approach adapted
from the Miller Method, where practitioners
try to comprehend how the child with autism
perceives the world. All behaviors, no matter
how disordered, are assumed to be the child’s
attempt to make sense of a confusing world.
Finally, the idea of the disrupted systems of this
approach is the same as when a parent leaves
the last word off the end of a song and waits for
the child to fill it in.
ROBISON: What’s the most important thing
you can tell parents about helping their children
reach a full and happy potential?
DR. SHORE: Like everyone else, a child on
the spectrum has unlimited potential. We have
to access that potential. An important key involves identifying and using their interests and
strengths. What do they do with most of their
time or what would they do if they were allowed to choose? That activity is an interest to
them, and people tend to be good at things they
are interested in. Sometimes interests are directly translated to a career, and sometimes they
need shaping to a related area.
ty communicating, it is also clear that he likes
things related to fire engines and fighting fires.
While being a fireman is attractive to this person, challenges in verbal communication make
it difficult for him to actually become a fireman,
but perhaps he could find employment or even
volunteer at a local fire station and spray water
at high pressure to help was h fire trucks.
ROBISON: You’ve done presentations across
six continents. That’s a tremendous accomplishment. What do you enjoy and find difficult
about that level of travel?
DR. SHORE: Meeting and collaborating with
people who are dedicated to improving the lives
of people on the autism spectrum is extremely
rewarding.
Most of my difficulties in traveling are sensory
in nature, like noisy airports and trains. Accom-
Stephen Shore playing piano in Moscow.
For example, a child with limited verbal ability
likes putting his finger over the end of a hose to
spray water at high pressure. He will do this for
hours if permitted. Even though he has difficul-
ZOOM Autism through Many Lenses
59