Earthcode: Angels Disguised ~ The Other Indigo Children (Interview with Leslie Morrison MA

Angels Disguised:

. . . Why Are They Here?

Interview with Leslie Morrison MA

          . . . plus New and Current Model of Autism

      Read about the "Other" Indigo Children . . .
           and the Courage to See Who They Really Are.

"Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct
them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better
able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius in each."
--- Plato (Most influential philosopher of all times. 428 BC-348 BC)

* Skip to Angels Disguised: the Other Indigos
* Skip to New and Current Model for Autism

Introduction by Paula Peterson

In my interview with Leslie Morrison, MA, you will meet the Board Certified Behavioral Analyst who is featured in the new and heart-warming documentary version of the Indigo Children: The Indigo Evolution - now playing in theaters throughout the world.

* IMPORTANT - Instead of mis-diagnosis; instead of institutionalizing; instead of using prescriptions drugs which always contain a certain amount of harmful side-effects - healthier options are available.

Due to the startling rise in autism, it is highly likely that you or some one you know may be aware of families with a unique child of unusual characteristics and they may not realize there is highly effective professional help, support and alternative options available - so please share this information with others. Thank you!

Angels Disguised - Why Are They Here?

Is autism really a weakness? Or is there an evolutionary process at work that we simply don't understand?

Perhaps we need to look far deeper than the surface of cold, clinical perspectives to see that these are gifted and highly intelligent children that require a very different kind of interaction in order to draw out their natural gifts and talents.

Autism is a developmental disorder that has sky-rocketed to epidemic proportions among the children in the USA and in other parts of the world. From 1 in 10,000 in the 1970s to 1 in 150 today, that's an increase of over 6,000% in only a few short decades.

Even though "classic autism" was first described in 1943 by child psychiatrist Leo Kanner at Johns Hopkins University , it has only been since the last decade that autism has risen to such shocking levels; so much so that the issue appeared as a major cover story during 2005 in Newsweek along with Times Magazine, The New York Times, United Press International and others.

What is causing this condition that has brought heart-ache and devastating crisis to many families that may view their child's condition as a curse, a burden or a hopeless situation?

Could it be that this national epidemic is, instead, a catastrophic "wake up call"?

Autism may be the perfect opportunity disguised as a crisis that will force colossal shifts in consciousness as well as force badly needed renovation in the fields of our educational system, the pharmaceutical industry, medical institutions, health and diet - as well as parenting and how we all interact with one another.

As a well-worn cliche we have often heard that "God works in mysterious ways".

What we perceive as punishment, bad luck or an unfortunate event that brings about turmoil and upheaval to our lives very often ends up being the best thing that could have happened. It is often through adversity that we are forced to change, to transform and rise anew.

These special kids may come wrapped in a package that has unfairly earned the label of retarded, disabled or disturbed. However, what it all boils down to is how humanity responds to them.

Do we make it all their fault, give up on finding solutions or shut them away in an institution? As members of the human race - of which they are a crucial part - can we re-discover in them, or because of them, an important part of our nature that we have disowned?

In my interview with Leslie Morrison, MA, you will meet the Board Certified Behavioral Analyst who is featured in the new and heart-warming documentary version of the Indigo Children: The Indigo Evolution - now playing in independent theaters throughout the world.

My personal experience and observation is that she is, indeed, deeply dedicated to these unique kids and their families. Her love is evident - and her compassion very real.

Ms Morrison's courage in working with these kids and her passionate vision for their future has elevated the phenomena of autism to a new level: a level in which we may acknowledge that these children are truly "Heaven Sent".

The Utopia of a New Heaven and a New Earth of which we long for will not come about without some hard work - both on ourselves and in how we relate to each other and to all living things upon this earth.

Autism is just a name - a label - that obscures the truth of the nature of these kids. In many way, they really are angels in disguise - and they have responded to our longing for a better world.

* Please link to this page by using ~ http://www.paulapeterson.com/AngelsDisguised.html ~ Thank you!

The "Other" Indigo Children:

And The Challenge to See Who They Really Are

Interview with Leslie Morrison MA

by Paula Peterson

P: In discussing these children of a very different nature being born
in greater numbers, there is the scientific aspect : the proof and the
evidence of what we're working with on a clinical level. Then there's
the mystical: the spiritual and metaphysical side to it that also makes sense to the heart and soul.

L: In my opinion the scientific and mystical are really not so different. The popular movie What the Bleep presents a good example for this: spirituality and mysticism is supported by scientific research. Both are extremely valid and important. Science is the grounding mechanism that states "this is the way it is" while mysticism is the hope and desire. In a way, its like grounding God into our reality.

P: People like to see scientific evidence because they want more tangible proof that the mystical, spiritual world exists. Then, when educated people like yourself - with a convincing background of credentials and academic training - come in to support these ideas, the gap is bridged which makes it all the more credible to the public. For this reason, I like to showcase visionary pioneers like you because - as you say - clinical evidence grounds the more mystical aspects of this phenomena.

L: Every person on this planet has that hope and mysticism inside of them. It may seem scary at times to acknowledge this, especially as a professional. For me, I've been uneasy about revealing this aspect of myself. Even though my spirituality has always been a big part of my life and inner work, I don't often share this with my clients because I haven't had that kind of clientele throughout my career - until recently.

P: Tell us about these unique children with autism and why there are so many of them being born at this time.

L: That's an important question: why are they here? I've learned some amazing things about these kids and I have my own theories about them. However, let's start with the hard statistics.

According to the Center for Disease Control there has been approximately 800 percent increase in autism nationwide since 1992. In most individual states there has been an increase between 600 and 1300 percent. In my research, I could not find one state where the increase was less than 600 percent.

These are only the statistics that are reported through the Department of Education which takes data on kids in the school system. It doesn't take into account the number of kids that are not in the school system so the percentage is probably even higher.

P: That's pretty startling. What are some of the characteristics of autism?

L: Since I've been doing this work for almost 12 years now, I've seen a definite shift in autistic characteristics as well as the numbers. When I first began my career, I worked mostly with Classic Autism (*) . In Classic Autism, one is born with typical characteristics: lack of social skills, non-verbalization, repetitive behaviors like hand-flapping or stemming and avoidance of eye-contact - are a few of the classic signs. The autistic character in the movie Rainman was a good example of Classic Autism.

However, its a little bit different in the kids I see now. What I'm seeing are kids that have all sorts of sensory issues: they're strongly sensitive to foods, metals, allergens as well as sounds and other environmental factors that most other people don't even notice. How they see us, the world and how they process information is also very different.

Kids and adults with autism are really amazingly intelligent. Certain parts of the brain and mouth just don't seem to work correctly. Because of this, they often get labeled as mentally retarded even though they're not. Standardized testing of mental disabilities have a lot of flaws. I've met hundreds of kids and adults - even as a worker in a mental institution - and I have never met an autistic individual that I would consider mentally retarded.

Although there may be some noticeable physical characteristics - a bit larger than average teeth or the eyes are interesting and move very easily - for the most part, these kids look like every one else; in fact, some are extraordinarily beautiful.

So why are they here? As I see it, one of the main reasons that autistic children are here is for us to change. And that change begins with the families. I very much believe in parent training and educating them on how to help their child to learn to do things any normal, neuro-typical child would be able to do on their own.

However, these kids already tend to have some important qualities worth nurturing. For instance, I notice with autistic kids is that they have an incredible amount of empathy ... more than I've seen in anybody else. This seems strange to some people because they don't see it. Since one of the characteristics of autism is lack of socialization, they shut down and don't want to interact. But there is a reason why they don't want to interact.

They are highly aware and very sensitive. And since the majority of adults say one thing but then do another- it confuses the autistic child. They simply do not understand it. What we do, how we act and what we say is so disconnected. These kids can't learn from that. We're such a enigma to them that they don't respond. And traditional parenting - punishing a child as a method to decrease bad behavior - just doesn't work with them.

For example: my parents wanted me to eat my vegetables. To get me to eat them, I was made to sit at the table and was not allowed to have desert until I ate my vegetables. This is a strategy many parents use and its based on punishment. Even though it did work because I finished my vegetables, when I grew up and left home, however, I would not eat any vegetables. So as a child I never learned to like vegetables because of the association with punishment.

That type of phenomena happens a lot in our culture: there are a lot of people running around at the affect of punishments they grew up with. And so we have to be really careful what kind of messages we are giving our children.

P: The old reward and punishment syndrome.

L: Well ... there's not much reward for doing it. Our society doesn't look at that. In fact, in the early days of my work, I had to convince certain families that using positive reinforcement for appropriate behavior was much better and more effective than using punishment for negative behavior. I would often get a comment like, "Why should I reward my child for doing something he's supposed to do anyway?"

And so because of the way the parents were raised, patterns of raising their own children have been set down.

As children, if we were playing quietly and being good, our parents could go about doing what they needed to do so we were left alone without attention as long as we were well-behaved and everything was ok. But the minute we did something inappropriate, then all of sudden we got all this attention due to our behavior - and it was usually the kind of attention that was punishing in some way. As adults, our social behavior and how we interact with one another and the environment has been greatly conditioned by the punishing principles we grew up with.

Let's say you love to sing in the shower: you have no inhibitions whatsoever. Even while you drive in the car you sing because it makes you feel wonderful and happy. But then you walk down the isle of a grocery store and if you start singing out loud, people will think you're crazy. So what do you do? You stop singing and shut down because of the disapproval from others - and that is a form of punishment.

When we start monitoring our own behavior because others will be upset, then we are not free to be ourselves.

Generally speaking, in our society our behaviors are modified and changed based on punishment contingencies. Or by being asked to change a behavior because it doesn't suit some one else. Children with autism are innately aware of this and it makes no sense to them.

P: Is this sensitivity with them at birth?

L: When they are born, they definitely have some super sensitivity. Their hearing, vision and sometimes their tactile sensations are very amplified. Like a piece of paper dropping on the floor: we don't even hear it. But it startles some babies born with autism because they have super hearing.

Their nerve endings are a little more amped up, too. So in those early infant stages we make all these sounds and noises and it probably hurts their ears. Then, when they start to cry we may assume, "Oh .. you must be hungry" or "You must want to be picked up". All of these responses that many of us would find to be a normal thing do - which may be comforting to a "normal" child - is very punishing to an autistic infant and so they start to shut down.

Avoidance of eye contact and the shunning of other people starts at that early age so it might be irritating to them.

P: Since there are so many of these children now, where you think they come from and what are they all about?

L: In the past few years there have been labels given to special kids ...

P: The Indigo Children ...

L: ... Crystal kids, Amethyst Kids, Sparkle Kids and so on. That's just our human brain needing to label, compartmentalize and categorize everything ; especially when something is very different from the norm.

That hope of the next generation has always been within us since the beginning of time. Most parents want their kids to do better than they did. Overall, the collective spirit of humanity urges us to evolve toward higher consciousness and better behavior toward one another.

So, with that in mind, it seems like forever that we've had some pretty sick behavior on our planet ; especially when it comes to interacting with people who are different. Now we have these special kids who are being born in huge numbers - and they are very different.

P: How does autism happen?

L: No one knows why behavioral disorders like autism happen. There is no neurological or blood test that one can take to find out. There are theories as to what causes it, but they are still just theories at this point. What we do know is that autism is based on behavior.

P: You mentioned that these children often develop normally until around 18 months of age and then something goes wrong. I've read quite a lot of information regarding the effects of vaccinations on infants. Does autism have anything to do with the vaccines? The evidence seems to be mounting ...

L: The evidence is mounting. Many families of autistic children are pretty convinced that vaccines are the main cause. And since these kids are already born highly sensitive to many elements, it is entirely possible. I have actually seen a number of video tapes from families that show their child before vaccines and after ... and it has definitely peaked my interest. Because of this, I watch the research very closely.

I really applaud Robert Kennedy, Jr. for bringing public awareness to information that connects autism with vaccinations. But then, guess what? Its gone now and you don't hear anymore about it.

P: Its being suppressed.

L: It will take lot of persistence to keep digging and exposing the truth. And at the same time ... this issue brings to light even more about these kids. They are making big changes in nearly every area: parenting, health, diet, medical treatment, environment, education and so on.

P: In what areas of society do you see the most cases of autism?

L: For the most part, I've worked with mainstream America. I remember a professor in college telling me that classic autism was a phenomena predominately found in middle class white families. You can say a couple of things about that: you could say that middle class Americans have access to the most vaccinations if you believe that vaccinations are the cause of autism; or you could say it was under-reported in the minorities. But since then, autism has appeared in all socio-economic groups all over the world... not just middle class white families.

All in all, these kids are here to wake every one up - and they won't make it easy on us. For the most part, we're still influenced by the old paradigm beliefs that we have to work really hard to get something good. So they're here to teach us is to make our words count. And for most of us, that will mean making big changes.

What we say and what we do has to match ... or else they may not have anything to do with us and may find all kinds of ways to avoid interactions.

Autistic children are here to make big changes and the only way they really respond is through positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is a principle of behavior in the field of behavior analysis. Behavior analysis is based on many years of empirically based research. So its not just a theory - its proven science.

A behavioral analyst knows what the results will be through the use of positive reinforcement. And when its done the right way consistently, you will see consistent changes in behavior over time.

P: What is it like to work with these kids and their families?

L: When I work with an autistic child, I never come from a place of blame. And what I mean by that is, I don't treat them as if they can't do something because they have autism. If they can't learn to do something its likely because I haven't been able to teach them yet.

I start them off quickly in how to interact with others. They already know how to pull in information from the world; they just don't know what to do with the information, and without help they end up doing nothing with it.

Then, when others learn how to communicate with them and you teach them how to learn, some of those disabling characteristics and frustrating behaviors start to dramatically change and begin to improve. Very often when progress is made during appropriate therapy these kids can overcome the diagnosis of autism. I don't say "cured" because we don't even know what autism is. So until science has found a cause for autism, we cannot say there is a cure.

So ... when I first meet with a family, I explain that I'm here to change their behavior, not their child's.

P: I bet that throws them off.

L: Its does. But let me explain. As I mentioned earlier, there needs to be a change in how families deal with bad behavior in their children. Often we are born with the dysfunction of our ancestors because the negative behavior patterns have been passed on and reinforced over and over. I believe very strongly that its part of our being and genetic makeup to come in with some of that behavior still influencing our actions.

So when parents suddenly have a child that doesn't follow all the rules it can sometimes reinforce an autistic child's bad behavior when parents use the old model of punishing. Some kids with autism think its funny ... so it doesn't work with them and may even make matters worse.

P: I have seen that in their behavior. I currently provide care for an autistic boy and I see him smiling at times when he's being scolded for inappropriate behavior. He often launches into hysterical laughter which can then be frustrating for the adults. I have wondered if he knows on some level that if he keeps laughing that we'll all eventually lighten up and laugh along with him!

L: Sure. Its fun to watch us get all excited and mad. Its such a control issue. And to many of them, its silly. And you know, when you think about it, they are absolutely right!

As a behavioral analysis and a mom of a seven-year-old I know that I still carry some of those patterns of behavior of my parents. So I understand how we all have been influenced by our upbringing and our environment.

But when I see the whole family transform as a result of this work - and not just the child - its very rewarding and reinforcing to the methods I'm using.

P: Autistic children don't seem to have the "filters" like other children.

L: They don't have any filters and they don't know what to do with the information. All this "stuff" is going on inside and they don't know how to select and pull out what they need. Its not like they have a box around them and nothing is getting in; its quite the opposite. They literally take everything in.

P: How can families cope with having such a different child?

L: Obviously, its very stressful to a family to have a child of any special needs - especially those kids with behavioral problems. Even more so with kids that have autism. Since these kids don't really look all that different from any other kid - and its not readily apparent that they are autistic - when the child suddenly has a melt down, the parents might feel judged by those around them as being bad parents for not being in control of their child.

There are many more stress factors that come with having an autistic child and they make us so aware of our own behavior. And you do have to become aware of your own behavior before you can make any changes. When I come in and teach families how to use positive reinforcement for good behaviors and teach them the skills of communication that's when transformational change can take place for the whole family.

P: You mentioned how autistic children have a natural gift of empathy. I've noticed this characteristic in the autistic children that have been in my care. They could be in their usual state of avoiding eye contact and seeming to be in another world. But when some one was sad, got hurt or was crying these kids suddenly had eye contact and showed real concern.

L: That's right. Very empathetic. I have a short story to go along with that ...

I began working with an autistic boy when he was three years old. He's nine now. But earlier on he was having a hard time in kindergarten because of another child that bullied him in an awful way. The little autistic boy angry and devastated, since he would be the one who would get in trouble. He could only speak a few words, but one day he said, "I hate Tommy". So we worked a lot on how to deal with that.

Interestingly, the bully fell off the swing one day at school and was crying. As if it was totally natural, the little autistic boy stopped what he was doing and rushed over to the bully and asked if he was okay while everyone else was laughing. This was so profound to me as I watched it. I went over to him and told him it was pretty amazing that he showed such concern for the boy who had bullied him. He responded as if he didn't know what was so amazing about it. It was simply a part of his nature to be concerned and he thought it was silly that I mentioned it.

Another high-functioning autistic girl was in junior high. She was very shy, had social problems and didn't have many friends. However, there was another girl in school - a girl she did not know - who was crying one day. When I worked with the autistic girl later, I could tell that she was very pensive about something. When I asked her about it, she said she was really sad that this other girl was crying. She just could not let it go. In fact, she was so distracted that she couldn't focus on the games we were playing. I took her to the school counselor so she could talk about it as she was getting physically upset. The next time I saw her, I learned that she had approached the little girl who cried and found out that her mother had passed away.

And so we have these kids that often don't socialize or interact much with others only to show profound compassion at crucial moments. Its almost as though they wait for those moments to show compassion and its really very special when they do. They're compassionate - and yet they're also very human.

Its like the autistic boy who hated the bully: his instinct was to immediately run to the bully's aid when he was hurt. I have seen this over and over. Once more, I have never seen a kid with autism that was mean on purpose. I mean, never.

P: And so their natural empathy and helping us become more aware of our own behavior are their special gifts?

L: Well ... that's part of it. And what a better reason as a parent or a professional to become more aware of your own behavior through the love of a child? There is no punishment going on here . Its not a punishment to have a child with autism. In fact, its an absolute gift.

I want people to know that autism is not a bad thing because right now the general public has a lot of negative misconceptions about this condition.

Once the families start using positive reinforcement and see how well its works, they tell me that they also begin to use this method on the adults in their lives - because it works.

P: It really does!

L: Everybody loves positive reinforcement. So right there, you can see the huge value in how this can change society.

You could have a family history of horrible dysfunction and yet begin to transform the patterns. Suddenly, these beautiful children are born and they make us look closely at our own family patterns. Since the love for the child is so strong the parents are willing to change something about themselves in order to help their child.

Its a difficult thing to do and parents need just as much reinforcement and support as the child. That's where someone like me comes in; that's my job. I'm there to reinforce the families and keep them motivated. When that happens, every one changes in the family.

Even when my services are no longer needed, the parents can continue to use the tools. I've watched really unhappy families become very happy; and the past dysfunctional patterns within the family dynamic goes away.

So then what follows is a new generation after that - the children of autistic children - who are going to learn through positive reinforcement from the start instead of learning through punishment.

About six years ago I scheduled an intense training with the entire family of an autistic boy: the parents, both sets of grandparents, along with the preschool teacher. Everyone was really angry and stressed about having to do all this work and make changes in their lifestyle for this boy. I came in to set up the program for the little boy and while I worked with him for the two days, he did really well.

By the end of the two days my passion really came out. Since I have such a love and connection with these kids the adults began to see things about him that they hadn't seen before. I spoke to their child so differently than anyone else had. Even though every one else was saying how wrong my methods were and insisted that a child has to be taught this way and that way ... I agreed, but then added, you've got to use positive reinforcement to get positive change. Besides, its great and its fun.

After a while, I saw tears in the eyes of the cynical grandmother. I thought, wow ... this kid is here to change whatever intense dynamic is running this family.

After the training was over, this little boy took me by the hand and walked me to my car. He was only three at the time and had been so shut down because of the attitude and behavior of everyone in his family. I come along and suddenly there is some one who knows who he is and treats him with respect.

While driving home, I was in so much bliss and amazement over the whole weekend with this family that a strong vision came to me: when this group of special children become adults they will make a major shifts in human consciousness. And its going to shift because we will learn to be authentic: because if we're not authentic these kids will shut down and will try to avoid having to interact with us.

I've learned so much about myself and learned to be as authentic as I can ... from them. And when I feel love from these kids, that is the biggest gift that they can give.

P: I totally agree. I learned a lot about myself, too, while being with these kids. I have seen that they really connect with genuine care and love. One autistic boy in my care was deeply present when he was appreciating me. I never felt that kind of depth from another person. That was the only way he knew how to tell me that he loved me, that he cared. He could not speak it because he was non-verbal; but it was there in his eyes and in his being. After that, he would space-out and go back to being in his own world again.

What about autistic kids that don't get appropriate help for their condition?

L: I can tell you about the very first boy that I worked with when I was still in graduate school. He was nine years old and severely autistic with lots of inappropriate behaviors. He had a history of being violent, but I never had any fear of him when we worked together.

He was non-verbal and back then I was not yet trained in verbal behavior. I wish I knew then what I know now. I worked with him down in his room which was in the basement. He was made to eat dinner alone away from the family. It was very hard on him and he had a lot of aggression.

P: No wonder he was angry.

L: Well . . .around that time, one of the local hospitals in Kansas City was doing a drug study. It was an experimental drug for candida yeast infection, which back then was one of the theories as to the cause of autism. This boy was a participant in this clinical trial for about two weeks during which time I worked with him.

I was sitting at the table with him one day and filling out some data sheets when I suddenly hear, "Leslie" just as plain as day. I look over at him and he's smiling. When I asked him if he had just said my name, he didn't respond.

When I mentioned this to his father, his father said that ever since his son had been on the experimental drug that he had been saying some words - and that the words he had been saying the most often, over and over to his mother were, "I love you".

Unfortunately, the clinical trials were stopped and he never spoke again after that. He's institutionalized now.

P: That's so distressing when these kids end up being institutionalized.

L: And its so unnecessary. Incidentally, that 's the population I was inspired to begin working with. When I was nine years old I happened to watch a special on Night Line about a group of institutionalized kids that were extremely self-injurious: they would bite their lips and fingers off while some wore helmets because they head-banged so badly that they would get horrible hematomas. This was back in the 70s when that kind stuff was usually hidden away.

The controversy behind it was that a clinic was doing punishment contingencies to decrease the self-injurious behavior and was having limited success. The special showed things like a little boy sitting in his wheelchair with his hands strapped down to keep him from hitting himself really hard. Then he was placed in a small box where he was unstrapped. The minute he would hit himself they would spray him in the face until he would stop.

The parents of these kids were so desperate to have these kids stop hurting themselves that they went along with it. But it horrified me that these kids were doing this to themselves. The treatment horrified me, too. And it stuck with me. I knew from then on that I wanted to work with autistic children.

Now, whenever I see a child with autism, I just adore them. And after I had seen those children in institutions I decided I never want to have any kid go into that environment because there is no reason for it.

P: And that's why you're here and that's why we need you.

L: Luckily there are a lot of people out there doing the kind of work that I do.

And in touching on my work a bit more, I use motivational operation: a big technical sounding term that means "something that motivates you". For example, if you're hungry your motivation to go get something to eat is much higher than if you were full.

Motivation is paired very early on with learning: infants are motivated to cry and scream because doing so gets them food when they're hungry. So this develops into a "mand": a request for things that they want or need. By motivational operation we learn to get our needs met. However, almost everything else we learn is usually for the benefit of every one else in this world. So we get moved further and further away from our true nature.

Especially the children in our traditional educational system: they are drilled and drilled and drilled. Even though there are some wonderful and amazing teachers out there that are doing some great work , its the system behind them that is terrible: it doesn't support those good teachers and it doesn't support the families in getting the kind of services that these special kids need. Not only that, there is also very little money in these systems to support services for special needs kids.

I don't want my kids to just memorize facts: I want them to learn how to learn. That is really what they don't know; they don't know how to learn. Learning is a principle that is heavily based on motivation which is not very often found in our traditional school system.

P: That is so true. A teacher in high school was my all-time favorite because he made the class fun and interesting. I learned a whole lot more from that teacher than I did from any of the other teachers. It was fun to learn from him and I retained more from that class. The other teachers seemed bored and unenthused by what they were doing - as if it was just a job to them. I would tend to fall asleep and lose interest in those classes: whereas, the teacher who was enthused about what his was teaching kept me alert and interested.

L: That's right. That's what positive reinforcement is all about. When any one of us wants to go learn something now, we have to be pretty motivated to go do it. Otherwise we won't do it. Through what we need to change in ourselves and through recapturing our authenticity, we gain back our motivation. These kids are helping us do that.

In looking at the motivational operation again: that's passion. When we're not motivated, our passion is squelched. These kids bring it out in us. Everyone that works with these kids and their families see this. When they have the tools they need to help their child they rekindle a fire that had died out. And that's a gift.

These children bring the gift of making us self-aware .

But the parents must do this work along with their child, otherwise the child won't do it either. So these kids are here to push the envelope a bit on the parent-child bond.

Overall, everyone have to behave differently in order to interact with these kids. And when these kids grow up we're going to have a lot of adults entering the work force that will bring with them a very different way of interacting with others and a very different way of looking at life. Especially in the communications field - like computers and related fields: those who will enter these fields will generally be those with high functioning autism.

P: Like Albert Einstein ...

L: Like Albert Einstein and Thomas Jefferson. These were extremely intelligent men who are now thought to have had Asperger's - a form of high-functioning autism spectrum disorder.

P: Isn't there also the Williams Syndrome variety of autism that centers around the arts and music?

L: Yes. That's when an autistic person can listen to a Mozart concerto and then sit down and play it after hearing it just one time. They have incredible abilities. But those abilities have to be nurtured before they can come out and be expressed. And who will do the nurturing? Us!

P: Have you ever heard of the theory that since these kids seem so highly evolved on some levels and they may be telepathic and that's why they have hard time learning the spoken word?

L: Well ... telepathy is a very interesting topic; I personally like to do research on it because I often think that in the spiritual and new age community those abilities are mislabeled.

In my opinion, telepathy isn't only about hearing voices in your head. Telepathy is really about using your whole sensory system.

P: Tel-empathy is another word used to describe it and involves feeling . . .

L: Yes, tel-empathy. That's what I operate on when I work with these kids. I've only had one case where I actually heard a girl's voice in my head: it was brief and startled me. But then I was able to move into that space of feeling.

These kids are highly sensitive. So when it comes to tel-empathy, I think , why not? Its not too far out to consider such possibilities.

One five year old autistic girl would walk up to the front of a fuse box in her home and would then just stand there. I would watch her tilt her head and soon she would start swaying and smiling. No one knew why she did this.

Through therapy, we taught her verbal communication and a few requests. Soon she began to use some words. After a few months I asked her one day what she was doing when she stood in front of the fuse box? She said "music". It turned out that she could hear music through the wires from a stray radio transmission. None of us could hear it, but she could.

P: In getting back to an idea: you mentioned how we created these children through our desire and passion, which seems right to me. In addition to that, some people theorize that these highly gifted yet highly sensitive children come in with an added bonus of the higher intelligence of extraterrestrial influence that has given a boost, so to speak, to our evolutionary process ...

L: This topic does interest me very much. My own personal belief is that we were originally created by what we call extraterrestrials; so its in our genetics already. I do think that higher intelligence - the extraterrestrial element - is present and maybe "kicking in" at this time to upgrade the human race.

P: What is the most important thing to remember in communicating with autistic kids and adults?

L: Just talk to them like you would any one else; they understand just as much, if not more, than we do.

Words, language and communication are precious. If I happen to not speak authentically to a child or adult I work with, sometimes they no longer pay attention to me. When I "find" myself again and present that to them, once again I have their attention.

I have to make sure that I'm clear when I talk to them and acknowledge what they're going through which is very deep for them.

I have a more difficult time working with adults with autism, however. I can feel their love, but at the same time they have had a life-time of being deeply frustrated with people ... with us ... for not "seeing" them for who they really are. Those bigger "windows" for learning certain skills at a young age have long passed. That doesn't mean autistic adults can't learn because any one of us can be 75 years old and still go to medical school to become a doctor. But certain abilities - like language use - have closed physiologically a long time ago and it can be much harder for autistic adults to learn to speak.

So when I work with the adults they have more control issues and the energy they send out from their being is so intense. Most of them have huge psychological walls built up because they've become so discouraged. Its as if they're saying, "oh god, here comes another professional to say something is wrong with me ..."

And I recognize that. If I need to I'll acknowledge it right away and say to them, "I'm here for you. I'm not here for your mom or your dad. What do you want help with?"

I worked with one autistic man who was 29. He lived at home with his parents, but they were getting elderly and couldn't take care of him any more. They were planning on putting him in a group home. He was so angry at them about it because he didn't want to go and was becoming aggressive and destructive. So they were avoiding dealing with the issue.

The mother had called for my help, thinking that I could come in and teach him to communicate. But this was not the case.

When I walked into the house, I could feel the heavy black cloud over this family. When the autistic man came into the room, he tried to push my head down in the same way he did with his mom. It was his way of saying I'm stronger than you. I would not allow this and blocked it, then said, "You don't need to do that. I know that you're smart."

He had learned to type some words on the computer and over and over he wrote, I'm not stupid. I'm smart. And so I said over and over, "I know you're locked in your body. I know that no one is working on anything that has any significance to you. What do you want help with?"

He was so angry, but I kept holding his hands and said, "I know you're angry," and stood there in pain with him. Then he started to cry and cry. His mother said he never cries - which often happens with these people as they lose their ability to cry and go straight into anger.

After I spent time with him, I finally said to the mother, "You've got to address this issue because moving him to a group home is eating him alive. You go take a look at the group homes first. Then take him and let him be a part of making the choice."

As I was getting ready to leave - and I knew that I would not see him again - he gave me this look that said, Its okay ... thank you for seeing me ... I'll be okay. To this day, I still think about him so much.

P: Its true that they are trapped in their body; and its sad that there is probably not a whole lot that can change at that age ...

L: That love though ... its just so clear. He doesn't do anything else but be clear. And so I knew exactly what he was trying to express: I saw it in his eyes and I felt it emotionally. I cried the whole way home after that. But I had to let him go and let the mom go, too. She was wonderful; but it was so hard for her.

That is why I strongly urge early intervention with children with autism. Don't wait until they get older because then it gets harder to help them. If a parent has any suspicion whatsoever that their child has abnormal behavior, then have it checked out by a doctor that has current knowledge of autism - because most doctors are hesitant to give a diagnosis of autism and they will say wait. Don't wait.

P: Yes. Mothers of autistic children have told me that when they took their infant to the doctor because they were concerned about their babies behavior the doctor simply said, "Don't compare your child's behavior with that of other children." And that was all the doctors told them ... and so most of these mothers never did anything more about it and they had a much bigger problem with their child later on.

L: That's right. You must be relentless in finding out.

P: When you work with the families, you give them the "tools" they need to help their child?

L: Absolutely. I give them the "tools" and the guidance. When I come back in about four to six weeks and the child has made progress, I didn't do that: the family did. I just gave them a little boost.

A life-style change for the family is - at first - very difficult: its hard for families to focus on practising positive reinforcement. But there is no judgement about that. And when the practice also becomes a positive reinforcement for the parents and they finally have a way to get their child to communicate - then they win, too, as opposed to just throwing their hands up in the air and giving up.

P: Where do you see all this going and what is it you really want people to know about special children?

L: I would ask that we all look at these kids in a different light and see their presence as a gift rather than a problem.

These kids are so very aware, and everybody around them treats them like they're babies that don't know anything. Or they treat them as if they're retarded and they're not.

Their receptive knowledge - the information they take in - is much more advanced than most kids their age because their sensory system works differently. They take everything in. But since there is no outlet for it - due to non-verbalizing or lack of other forms of expression - it just sits inside of them.

They hear it all, they take it all in and they understand it; but few people are working on helping them with the output. Whatever it is inside of them that doesn't seem to work quite right needs our help in order for them to overcome it.

Its that hope, desire and that passion that we're passing on when we help these kids. The dysfunctional behavior and old beliefs that have conditioned us is not working with them, so they're left with this purity that only comes out through love and positive reinforcement with good things happening in their lives. In this way, we all become instrumental in bringing about a transformational change where we all treat each other better and make our world the wonderful place that it was meant to be.

Leslie Morrison, MA - Board Certified Behavior Analyst (ABA) with BA in Psychology from California State University in Fullerton and MA in Human Development from University of Kansas in Lawrence. She is currently practicing in both Missouri and Arizona.

Morrison creates training seminars for parents, therapists and professionals who work with children with developmental disabilities.

With major focus on children diagnosed with developmental delays along the Autism Spectrum, Morrison also works with children and teens diagnosed with other disabilities, such as Seizure Disorders, Psychotic Episode Disorders, Defiant Behavior Disorders, and Attention Disorders.

Morrison finds that the key to success in overcoming partial or all developmental delays lies heavily in the education and support of parents, educators, and professionals on how to better understand and change behaviors through careful identification of variables that affect the child, as well as create a highly reinforcing and motivating teaching environment so the child learns to enjoy learning, thus seeking out learning on his or her own.

She is currently working closely with the Arizona State Dept. of Developmental Disabilities, as well as Northern Arizona University, to create a statewide ABA clinical training model to train professionals in the field of ABA, as well as open up state funding for ABA services at a consultant level, to better serve the Arizona autism population.

CONTACT:

Leslie A. Morrison MA
PO Box 3
Sedona, AZ 86339
PHONE: 928-274-0336
EMAIL: LeslieMor@juno.com

Visit Morrison's Website: www.lesliemorrison.com

Where to find qualified Behavior Analysts in your area, and information on the field of Behavioral Analysis:

1) Association for Behavior Analysts: www.abainternational.org

2) Behavior Analysis Certification Board: www.bacb.com