Traditionally, human service agencies hired case managers to support families and individuals with disabilities. However, research and practice have shown the model to be too passive and often ineffective for families. Therefore, a new model of support is emerging called Systems Navigation, in which families are taught and mentored to become advocates and active brokers of their own unique services and supports.
In the early years of the autism diagnosis, autism was thought by some to be a mental illness caused by poor parenting in the form of “refrigerator mothers” rather than a developmental disability caused by a difference in neurological type. Although this inaccurate idea about autism’s roots was disproven after much effort on the part of advocates, one of the results of the process to get rid of the “refrigerator mother” concept was a tendency on the part of many in the autism community to want to shy away from the world of mental health.
From the 1990’s onward, the diagnostic criteria for autism broadened to include milder forms of autism. Labels such as “high-functioning autism” (HFA), “Asperger’s syndrome” (AS), and “pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified” (PDD-NOS) were recognized. Asperger’s syndrome was only added to the DSM-IV, the handbook for diagnosing psychiatric disorders, in 1994.
Learn more about Developmental relationship-based or developmental social-pragmatic approaches to educating children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. These are systematic approaches to teaching children with autism grounded in theories of human development and developmental pragmatics.
Find out more about Individualized Education Program (IEP) process and how to navigate it.
