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Arthur Golden
Jerusalem, Israel
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Arthur commented on the article |Jypsy,
Thank you for the link to a webpage that does provide the English translation of Message 26 from September 2007 but the links on the webpage you posted do not seem to work.
Meanwhile, the Hebrew website is up to Message 46 written one month ago and Message 47 was just written this afternoon.
I was contacted today by the English translator and told her that the link for the most recent English translations (through Message 45) is not working. I hope she can contact the right person to get it fixed. She just about has ready the translation of Message 46.
Art -
Arthur commented on the article |
To Kate Gladstone:
The two Hebrew language websites which have much of my son Ben's ("Binyamin") writings translated into English are:
http://www.emet8.com/ (click on "Important English Messages" found on right side - but link was broken last time I tried)
http://www.dani18.com/ (click on "English" near top of page)
Over a decade ago, I posted a website that I have not updated, but it contains Ben's earliest essays, originally written in English, from October 1994 to March 1996 and some explanatory material:
http://www.goldenfc.com/
Another English website that includes English material written by Ben is:
http://www.jewishfuture.com/ (scroll done and under "The Jewish Present" and click on links to "Messages of Autistic Students")
My quick answer to your questions are "both" but a proper answer is very complicated and beyond what I feel comfortable discussing on this blog.
Arthur Golden of Jerusalem Israel -
Arthur commented on the article |
Kristina,
Yes, I was referring to the IACC Strategic Plan. By the way, does anyone know where I can find out the information of what Autism research is included in this Strtegic Plan?Art -
Arthur commented on the article |
Dora,
NIH recently decided that the autism research would not include research about vaccines and Kev at the Left Brain/Right Brain blog made an entry about this to which both my son Ben and I made comments including:
[As Ben wrote on January 27, 2009:
I am asking my father to preface this and all my future messages on the internet that:
I write using a letterboard and my father has to input my messages on a computer because directly pushing my fingertip on a computer keyboard can cause me excruciating pain. ]
[Ben Golden wrote on January 28, 2009:]
All current scientific research on autism is not needed because it is based on false premises about human nature. My current activities are most important because they help all human beings and other autistics should try to do the same.
I wrote on January 29, 2009:
Without physical assistance, my soon-to-be 37 year-old son Ben Golden can only communicate on the level of a preschooler. With physical assistance, Ben Golden communicates on the level of an ancient Hebrew prophet, his statements (written in Hebrew) are currently posted on at least 2 websites and hundreds of volunteers distribute his statements to many thousands of avid readers throughout Israel.
Fortuitously, in the ultraorthodox Jewish community, physical independence is not the priority that it is in modern Western culture. Modern Western culture needs improvement in many areas and I would recommend the ultraorthodox Jewish community as a model. Further scientific research is not needed before doing so because the information about proper ethical human behavior toward other human beings was revealed over 3,000 years ago and just needs to be implemented.
Arthur Golden -
Arthur commented on the article |It would seem that it would be helpful if someone accumulated information about such living arrangements and put up the information on the internet. Of course there are privacy issues but many of our issues are very similar and a more organized networking about what is actually working would seem to be so helpful.
I do wish to note that I find it so frustrating that innovative ideas that I implemented in my home community of Brookline Massachusetts 25 years ago are completely forgotten and are not available for someone such as Sue Senator's son in the same local community!
Arthur Golden -
Arthur commented on the article |From 9,000 miles away (but where are the people paid by your state government in Oregon?):
person-centered planning experts - information publicly available from the internet:
Herbert Lovett, of blessed memory, from Boston, Massachusetts was one of the best people in this field and a personal friend of my son Ben and me. His writings are still worth reading. He died several years ago on an icy road in Maine returning from a trip to help a person with diabilities.
John O'Brien and Connie Lyle O'Brien
58 Willowick Dr
Lithonia, GA 30038-1722
770-987-9785
fax 770-322-1255
email johnwobrien@gmail.com
http://www.inclusion.com/jobrien.html
Michael W. Smull
The Learning Community for Person Centered Practices
3245 Harness Creek Road
Annapolis, MD 21403
Phone: (410) 626-2707
Fax: (410) 626-2708
E-Mail: mwsmull@cs.com
http://www.elpnet.net/home.html
Annual International Gathering in Portland, Oregon
July, 27 - July 31, 2009
local trainers in Oregon:
Janet Conklin
Autism/Lifeskills Consultant
Lane ESD
1200 Hwy 99North
Eugene, OR 97402
541-689-8989
jconklin@lane.k12.or.us
Teresa IdrisOregon
Technical Assistance Corporation
(503) 364-9943 x36tidris@otac.org
Mentor Trainer
Ed Little, Jr.Project Specialist
Oregon Technical Assistance Corporation (OTAC)
3886 Beverly Ave NE Suite I-21
Salem, Oregon 97305
Phone: (503) 364-9943 x42
Fax: (503) 364-1939
Web Page: http://www.otac.org/
mailto:http://www.otac.org -
Arthur commented on the article |
Dora,
I meant to add and I will now that the focus person, such as yourself, can be the facilitator or at least co-facilitator in the person-centered planning process. If the needed experts do not exist in Oregon, they can be found in the UK, Australia or even as close by as Annapolis Maryland. I remember the geographic locations but I will have to look up the names! Anyway, I now need to go out (it is almost 8:00 a.m. here) and you might be asleep when I get back. But I will try to find the names and send them to you soon.
Arthur Golden -
Arthur commented on the article |
Dora,
Nearly two weeks after your original blog entry on the subject of "self-determination," Becky B. makes a comment that results in you adding a comment about why it is not working for you:
"I'm [Dora] in the same position as your son [Becky B]! I need skills to make the hiring decision first in order to make the hiring decision! I've used very little of my funds for the same reason."
I don't have an answer to your dilemma in Oregon, but in contrast to the situation of you Dora and the son of Becky B. (who wrote "One example is that my son would have to be a boss and make a hiring decision. He can't do that!"), self-determination has actually been implemented by my son Ben for nearly 15 years. These recent comments by you and Becky B made me think about the process of self-dtermination that has actually worked for my son Ben, so I have been motivated to add some comments. I do not know if my explanation will help either of you or others, but I believe that sharing information is a good idea and I pray it will be of help to others.
Becky B wrote - "One example is that my son would have to be a boss and make a hiring decision. He can't do that!" - and human logic 15 years ago would have resulted in the same statement about my son Ben, but he has had self-determination for nearly 15 years anyway. Defying human logic, our actual experience shows that nothing is impossible - please don't think "He can't do that!" - help your son so he can do it. First of all, there has to be a plan - or maybe it would be better to call it a "dream for the future" by the "focus person" ("focus person" is using person-centered planning terminology - Google the internet for "person-centered planning") of what to do, then a planning process of how to implement the dream. I must admit that 15 years ago, when my son Ben was turning 22 and had to more on from his "Free Appropriate Public Education" to the post-school world, there was no conscious person-centered planning, but in hindsight that is what actually happened and I would recommend that for both you and the son of Becky B. If done formally, person-centered planning requires a "facilitator" to bring together a group of people to work with the "focus person" to develop his dream for the future. By the way, "dream for the future" may not be formal person-centered planning terminology (while "focus person" and "facilitator" are) but is the term that just popped into my head, which I hope makes sense to you and others.
Dora, I think you have the independent communication skills to articulate your dream for the future and I presume you already have. I presume that the son of Becky B does not have such independent communication skills. Even in such a situation, people who are experts in person-centered planning have developed techniques to assist a focus person with such difficulties. For example, developing a "personal dictionary" of the personal language of a person who is completely nonverbal and has no standard system of communication. I realize the "solution" for my own son Ben nearly 15 years is still controversial today, but I will mention it - on his own initiative, Ben insisted on using full-support Facilitated Communication (FC), which allowed him the communication skills to articulate his own dream for the future. While we could not validate his type of FC, his self-determination of his personal dream - moving 6,000 miles to Israel and starting a yeshiva program for Torah learning to include adults with adults - was so beyond the wildest dreams of anyone who cared about him that it was "self-validating" and then turned out to be easily implemented.In terms of the subsequent steps to implement Ben's self-determination, such as hiring staff, it is true that the actual hiring was done by others (and thank Heavens until recently not by me!), but Ben was always asked for his approval and advice, so I believe it qualifies as actual "self-determination." Maybe the son of Becky B does have the communication skills to make the first step of articulating his dream and it is the practical logistics of hiring staff that is blocking the process, as it is for you Dora. But to make self-determination more than a buzzword, the government which is offering the financial resources should be offering all practical assistance to implement its use, such as helping with hiring, but with the philosophy of self-determination that it is assistance for the focus person and not dictatorial supervision. I should note in our actual situation, there never has been any financial resources available from any government so we also had to do private fundraising too.
In Ben's situation, I believe that Divine Providence always provided in advance the staff properly prepared to be hired when needed - starting 6,000 miles from where Ben was then living (in Israel when Ben was living in Boston in the USA) and in a small town (Zichron Yaakov) where human logic would never expect it to be found - but that is the reality of what actually happened! Within the ultraorthodox Jewish community, there is the concept that we are only expected to make the effort and the actual results always depend upon Divine Providence.
Arthur Golden of Jerusalem Israel -
Arthur commented on the article |
Oops!
I meant to write "that I do *not* feel comfortable discussing publicly on someone else's blog..." -
Arthur commented on the article |
Dora,
After you directly replied to my son Ben, he FCed to me:
YOU CAN EXPLAIN AS YOU WISH.
After thinking about how to explain, I realized that I wanted to mention some matters that I do feel comfortable discussing publicly on someone else's blog, so I decided to just write my thoughts on my own "blog" - the autismfc Yahoo!Group.
Meanwhile, I have read the latest blog entries by you and Kristina and I look forward to continuing to do so. Good luck to both of you on your joint blog at Change.org
Arthur Golden
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