Gil talks about Shrub Oak International School on “Affect Autism.”

I love the blog and website, Affect Autism! I sat down with my good friend, and fierce developmental advocate, Daria Brown, while I was in Toronto at Oakwood Academy a couple of weeks ago, to do a podcast and interview for her influential blog. We talked about Shrub Oak International School, the school I am helping to found in Westchester County, New York. We ranged over a number of topics, but we focused in on how I plan to use what I have learned over many years of starting, running and consulting to schools to make Shrub Oak extraordinary. Specifically, we talked about how the fantastic 127 acre campus of Shrub Oak supports the sensory processing challenges of students, and avoids the problems that occur when classrooms are overcrowded and schools are loud and confusing.

Take a couple of minutes to listen to the interview, visit the Shrub Oak website, and then do a deep dive on Daria’s site, “Affect Autism.” I think you will find it worth the time you invest!

Gil Tippy and Rae Leeper at ICDL International Conference

 

Rae and I got a chance to present at the Interdisciplinary Council for Development and Learning’s (ICDL) International Conference on 11/9/14. We presented on the way that a DIR/Floortime curriculum meets the requirements of the Common Core Standards, is relatively easy to do, and is very effective with kids on the Autism Spectrum. The work is from the Rebecca School in Manhattan, where I am the Clinical Director and one of the Founders, and Rae is the Educational Coordinator, and also a founding member of the faculty at the school. This is really a teaser, and if people want to see the entire thing I would be happy to put it together in small segments. You could contact Rae at the Rebecca School, or me through my blog or website. We were really happy to be so well received by the audience. We think this is the answer for how to meet the Common Core Standards for kids with developmental challenges, and for neurotypical students as well. Good developmental work is simply right in many different situations.

Respecting Autism Conference at Middlebury College

The panel at Respecting Autism, Sept. 27th

At the Rebecca School, we are still on a high, after the amazing conference, “Respecting Autism“, we gave at Middlebury College on September 27th. In conjunction with the Sapphire Center, a very cool local center for kids with

Petra Daitz answers questions from an audience member

developmental challenges that is doing DIR/Floortime, volunteer staff from the Rebecca School presented a full day conference on what Floortime looks like in a school setting, when it is done well.

Stacey Hensel talking about Music Therapy

Presentations on Parent Support, Visual Spatial support, Floortime with a group of challenging students, Lunchtime Speech and Language programing, our Cafe Rebecca Program, our Music Therapy program, a panel discussion with all of us, and my keynote on the importance of thinking. It was an amazing day!

Yummy Cafe Rebecca cookies at the conference

Here is the good news! We recorded the entire thing! Our amazing Creative Services director, Billy Gomberg, worked tirelessly all day, and as a result, we will be able to offer the entire conference, the very best of Floortime

Meghan Collins talks about visual/spatial support

in the school setting, to everyone, for free! Through the generosity of Tina McCourt, the Program Director of the Rebecca School, we will be able o put all the presentations on-line. So, if you were unable to make it to Middlebury on September 27th,

Lunch alfresco at Middlebury

you will be able to see the whole thing, on-line. Watch this space, because as soon as we have the material edited, and the server space set up, we will let you know.

It was a great day!

Gil Tippy has a Simple Mind, and that’s a Good Thing

This is Part 1 of a lecture I gave at the Rebecca School about how to instill the spirit of inquiry in kids, and help them into the world of symbolism. First, I showed a video from Ted Talks, about how X became the symbol for the unknown. Then I told a story about how my daughter dyed her eurythmy shoes at her Waldorf School.

I believe that simplicity is a virtue, and that DIR/Floortime is the simple, respectful, effective support for kids with neurodevelopmental challenges, and for all kids, and all people. Respect, support, and thinking, are really how we should be treating everyone.

Dr. Tippy talks about Separation, Individuation and Rapproachment

Here is about three minutes of video from a recent case conference I ran at the Rebecca School. The staff of the school working with a particular child stands up in front of the rest of the school, and the child’s parents, and presents the program they have created for the child, and defends why they have created that particular program. Then, the rest of the staff offers suggestions and asks questions of the staff working with the kids, and I also ask questions and comment on the program. This case conference is really based on a Clinical Grand Rounds model, and you really have to have thick skin, and be very confident of your program to present in front of 120 highly trained and talented DIR/Floortime practitioners.

This piece is a little snippet where I stood up and pointed out a little, but critical difference between what the classroom teacher had said, and how she was acting. I should point out, that this teacher is entirely brilliant, as is her entire team, and my comments were intended as a teaching moment where I can emphasize the difference between behavioral interventions and relationship based, developmental therapies.

At the Rebecca School we don’t focus on controlling contingencies, providing prompts and making choices easier for children. We are focused on helping kids to rise developmentally. We are a thinking based curriculum, and I wanted to make it clear that it is always easy to prompt someone, but we have the more difficult developmental goal always at the heart of our work.

Dr. Tippy on Empowering Parents in Autism Interventions

I got a chance to talk to a group of parents the other day at the ICDL conference where the subject was the developmentally appropriate intervention of DIR/Floortime. What a great group of folks came to my presentation! I was talking about how we could help to make developmental, relationship-based, sensory appropriate interventions the norm in Autism intervention, and during that talk, I spoke about parent empowerment. This clip is from that section of my presentation.

I also told the folks in the room that I would give them a form on this blog where they could get in touch, and get the slides from the talk. That form is below.

If you want to see the beginning of the revolution, you can go to RespectingAutism.org, and see what we are planning to do to change the way the world relates to all kids and young adults!

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Developmental Therapies and Health for Autism At USAAA in Salt Lake City

How inspiring, to meet a group of heroes in Salt Lake City. Lawrence P. Kaplan, PhD,

Larry Kaplan

the Founder and Chairman of US Autism & Asperger Association, and Theresa K. Wrangham

Theresa Wrangham

, a parent advocate,former president of the Autism Society of Colorado, member of the Advisory Board of USAAA, and just plain nice person, welcomed me to the conference with open arms, and made me feel welcome right from the start. This is unusual in an organization, this pervading feeling of welcome and openness, and I felt it when I walked into the conference.

This conference is a beautiful mix of parents, advocates and people with Autism, and the presentations were right on. I learned a lot about nutrition, that will help my family, and change some of the recommendations I make to families. I also saw the need to bring together all of the people across the country who believe in advocacy and respectful, developmental treatment and support. I met Kathleen Werr, of The Wild Idea, a parent advocate and a hands on creator, who is creating a cutting edge social “happening” for autistic adults in Washington State. (Happening is my word; Sorry Kathleen. That’s my 60’s sensibility sneaking in!) I met Jacquelynn Bradley, a parent advocate, and creator of a transition program in Utah, that matches all of the respectful, developmental standards we have been trying create in New York. They are just examples of the literally hundreds of folks I met who were all positive and assertive about what directions this world has to move in.

I was blown away by getting the chance to meet, and talk to, Patricia Lemer, MEd, NCC,

Patricia Lemer

who has been doing and saying for 40 years a lot of what I thought I had invented! I am reading her book now, Envisioning A Bright Future and it is so exciting to see the groundbreaking work she did to make it possible for folks like me to advocate for sensible developmental therapies, and for children playing rather than doing worksheets. She has begun a very exciting documentary project that I hope to play a part in, and I will talk more about that soon. Here is the link to Patricia’s organization, Developmental Delay Resources. If this were your only resource, you could put together a top-notch, developmentally appropriate program!

I could write for quite a long time about this, but I just want to thank Larry and Theresa, and Jaqui and Chris Gauthier in particular, for the invitation. This conference, and these people, are changing the world for the better.

Interactive, Improvisational Music Therapy at ICDL

If you were in the audience at Montclair State University today, you know how incredible Stacey Hensel, Kenji Takeda and Zach Kandler of the Rebecca School were, because you gave them a standing ovation for their presentation. We were all so proud, and I was honored to be a part, and to see all of you standing, and crying, made all the work worthwhile. We really wanted to represent our version of interactive, improvisational music therapy in the Interdisciplinary Council for Developmental Learning community. If you were not there, you really missed a special day. However, you are in luck!

Gil Tippy, Zach Kandler, Kenji Takeda and Stacey Hensel at ICDL annual conference 11/16/22

Over the next couple of weeks I will post pieces of the presentation we did today, and if you fill out the form below, I will send you the powerpoint from the presentation. ICDL also recorded the event, and I am sure you will be able to view the presentation through their online version of the conference. Check back here often, because as I get the clips edited, I will put them up. A great day for respectful, developmentally appropriate treatment for kids.

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Tomorrow: Webinar with Dr. Tippy

Tomorrow, Thursday September 27th at 4:00 pm Eastern Time, I will be doing an hour webinar for ICDL on Floortime in the schools. Dave Nelson, Founder of the Community School in Atlanta will be the Discussant to ask your questions and make my presentation clearer. In November, Dave will present, and I will act as the discussant. In January, my friend, and the Program Director of the Rebecca School, Tina McCourt, will present on the IDEA and FAPE, and other topics that rarely get discussed in relationship to DIR. It should be a great and much needed presentation.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing you all at the webinar tomorrow at 4:00 pm. Go to ICDL at the address below, and click on the virtual auditorium,

Gil

http://www.floortime.org
DIRFloortime in Schools Live Webinar – TOMORROW!

DIR ® Schools in Action: Strengthening Capacities All Day, Every Day
Featuring Dave Nelson, Director of The Community School & Gil Tippy, Clinical Director of The Rebecca School.

Join us on September 27, 2012 at 4:00 PM EDT by visiting ICDL’s Virtual Auditorium at http://www.icdl.com

Rebecca School in the New York Times Today!

Today we were lucky enough to have a reporter from the New York Times,Vivian Yee, and a photographer, Librado Romero, to come and write an article about the “Olympics” at Rebecca School. There is a great photograph in the article of Ryan Lambiasi, our adapted phys ed teacher, and a student, Dylan Riano, working on their technique for the shot put. There is a brief quote from me, and a nice quote from Tina McCourt, the Program Director, but the real juice can be found in the quotes from the kids. It was a lot of fun to show the school to visitors, and a real joy to see the kids enjoying the day so much. Link to the article below. It is a quick read, and we are proud to be represented in the New York Times!
New York Times Article about Rebecca School