Barbara Doyle didn’t set out to become an
autism specialist.
The Springfield native started her career in
education more than 30 years ago as a teacher for the deaf. She helped
develop a sign-language program for deaf people with autism-spectrum
disorders, and after that, she says, she couldn’t stop herself from
getting more involved. Doyle’s interest in ASD — a group of
developmental disabilities that can affect a person’s social,
emotional, and communication development — intensified further a few
years later when physicians diagnosed autism in her young nephew.
Since then Doyle has published an award-winning
autism manual and travels around the country to educate families, teachers,
and clinicians on improving the lives of people with ASD and other
disabilities. She consults with schools and service providers and helps
students at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine understand
how ASD might affect their future patients.
As the numbers increase — 1 in 150 people in
the United States now have a diagnosis of ASD, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention — Doyle says her main focus is to
teach practical strategies to help support people with autism.
“You have to focus on the right things,”
Doyle says. “You have to prioritize with an eye on the future and
help them create quality lives.”
Her nephew is living proof that success is possible,
she says. Now 23 years old, he recently graduated from college with a
degree in accounting.
But more education on ASD is needed, Doyle says.
She’s spoken with students in graduate education classes who only had
one or two lessons on autism and hopes that this will change as awareness
spreads.
Doyle will present her practical strategies and more
information to Springfield-area teachers in a seminar, “Supporting
Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders in the General Education Classroom:
Get Off to a Great Start this Year,” 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Friday, Aug.
15, in the Learning Center at the Hope Institute for Children and Families,
15 East Hazel Dell Lane. She’ll share ways to increase learning
through the use of visual cues, routines, and other methods and tactics to
reduce disruptive behaviors and identify underlying learning issues.
The workshop is designed to help the entire classroom
function more efficiently. For example, Doyle explains, many students with
ASD have difficulty dealing with change, but if a teacher learns to provide
advance warning all students can benefit. The same is true of such cues as
signs and color-coded systems, she adds, because most people are visual
learners.
Doyle hopes that teachers will also use her
techniques to make it easier for students with ASD to fit in with their
fellow students by showing that they have the same feelings and needs as
everyone else.
“I don’t view children with autism as
autistics,” Doyle says. “They’re not a separate breed
— we need to look at their humanity first.”
Anyone with an interest in ASD is invited to attend
Doyle’s seminar, which is being hosted by The Autism Program of
Illinois. Registration is $25. For more information or to sign up, call
217-525-8332.
Contact Amanda Robert at arobert@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Aug 7-13, 2008.
