Developing Motor Skills for Autism Using Rapid Prompting Method: Steps to Improving Motor Function - Paperback

by Soma Mukhopadhyay (Author)

Imagine living in a body where your coordination fails to execute a specific mental command: Let's say your mind wants your hands to execute a function like holding a pencil to write a word, but all the motor coordination allows you to do is simply make a pencil mark. Imagine, if you can, wanting to be functionally independent and yet the body movements you make are beyond your mind's control. - Such is a state that can make living least enjoyable. Just as it is important for the mind to be stimulated through academics and communication, it is important for the body to continue learning skills so that "Mind and Body" find a way to unify. A plateau in cognition can make one feel stagnant. So why wouldn't a plateau in developing skills make one feel "stuck"? Communication skills on a letter-board or a key-board is essentially the same motor skill - Pointing. Growing one's skill beyond pointing is an essential goal of RPM. Otherwise, a 'Skill-plateau' may lead to further frustration if the mind is unable to direct the body to manipulate its environment. The external world, including one's own body, is a three dimensional space. To manipulate it one has to overcome selective activities (stims or OCDs). So there needs to be step-by-step lesson plan on how to achieve each goal. This book is an earnest effort in "how" to plan the first skill goals that go beyond pointing skills. It goes a step further to experience the world through the principles of Rapid Prompting Method.

Author Biography

Soma Mukhopadhyay is the Executive Director of Education for HALO (Helping Autism through Learning & Outreach) in Austin, TX. Soma holds a Bachelors of Education degree and a Masters degree in Chemistry. Students come from all over the world to benefit from her innovative teaching approach. Since developing the Rapid Prompting Method to teach her own son Tito, Soma has been featured on CNN International, 60 Minutes II, PBS, BBC and Good Morning America, and in the New York Times newspaper, People, Scientific American and National Geographic magazines.