The Value of Predictive Maintenance

For the last two weeks, our SUN News article has centered around the topic of maintenance. Corrective maintenance deals with issues as they arise, hopefully before a major incident erupts. Discipline (imposing consequences for disobedience) is one form of corrective maintenance. Preventive maintenance takes into account what we know about a given situation or group of people, and develops preventive measures to try to avoid difficult issues. A first grade teacher who knows something about the attention span of six and seven-year-olds can plan lessons accordingly to ensure that her students are able to attend to an entire lesson. A teacher or parent who knows about sensory integration can control the environment so that it does not become overwhelming in case someone struggles to effectively handle sensory input. Both of these types of maintenance have their place; they can be effective as we work with individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, both take away from valuable instruction time as we work to diffuse a difficult situation (with corrective maintenance) or plan and implement strategies based on our expectations of a particular group of people (preventive maintenance), whether or not they end up being necessary.

 

There is a third type of maintenance which takes additional time and planning, but may be more productive and efficient in the long-run. Predictive maintenance takes into account an individual and his or her strengths and challenges, and predicts which situations may be more difficult, which strategies may be most helpful, etc. It requires knowledge of a particular person, how he or she has reacted in the past, what the current level of functioning is, how likely the individual is to have issues with something, and what strategies have proven to be helpful before.

 

Predictive maintenance involves teachers and parents (and other individuals working to promote social understanding) who work to identify and understand a person’s strengths and challenges, and to equip them with necessary accommodations and skills. It is also important to enable individuals with ASD to better understand themselves and how to access the help they may need.

 

The Gray Center has several resources which can help us practice predictive maintenance to enable everyone in a social interaction to experience success. Some are highly-individualized resources which help us to better understand individuals on the autism spectrum. Others provide in-depth information about the diagnosis and how it may affect a given individual, with strategies to help. These include:

- Asperger’s…What Does it Mean to Me?

- Asperger’s Syndrome: An Owner’s Manual (both Number 1 for children, and Number 2 for adolescents and adults)

- Answers to Questions Teachers Ask about Sensory Integration

- The Incredible 5-Point Scale (and “When a 5 is Against the Law”)

- Guiding your Teenager with Special Needs through the Transition from School to Adult Life

- Asperger Syndrome in the Inclusive Classroom

- How to Handle a hard-to-handle kid

- Achieving best behavior for children with developmental disabilities

 

(Note that many of these resources—as well as others–are ON SALE this week at www.thegraycenter.org as part of our ten-year anniversary celebration!)

 

Much of our work as parents and professionals involves maintenance, whether it’s corrective, preventive, or predictive. It’s an important component of promoting social understanding, especially when we use it to instruct, guide, and equip individuals with ASD to be successful in interacting with those around them!

 

Laurel Hoekman, Executive Director

The Gray Center for Social Learning and Understanding

www.thegraycenter.org

 

P.S. We still have limited space available for our November 6 showing of “Autism the Musical” in our Grand Rapids office. You can reserve your seat at www.thegraycenter.org!

The Benefits of Preventive Maintenance

In last week’s post, I wrote about the purpose of maintenance, and detailed the role of corrective maintenance in our parenting, teaching, and working. Corrective maintenance deals with problems as they arise, which hopefully enables us to keep situations from escalating out of control, but often forces us into a reactionary mode rather than being able to parent and teach deliberately.

 

Another type of maintenance, preventive maintenance, enables us to be more proactive. In our day-to-day lives, we practice preventive maintenance when we get our furnace inspected prior to the heating season, take our vehicle in for regular oil changes, and go to the doctor for an annual physical or well-child check-up. We don’t do these things because we’re experiencing problems with our furnace, vehicle, or health, but because we hope to avoid problems by taking steps to monitor the well-being of each of these areas, and to stay a step ahead of any potential difficulties. We take information that we have gleaned about general categories, and apply that to our measures to prevent problems. For example, we know that furnaces tend to fail if they are not kept clean and working parts are oiled or checked regularly, so we set up a schedule of having the furnace inspected before it’s used each year (or on a regular basis).  We know that vehicles run more efficiently if the oil is changed regularly, so we get that done according to a schedule that dictates how often this form of preventive maintenance should be performed. We hope to gauge our overall health by checking various aspects of our physical well-being and letting our doctor keep track of any trends or changes over time. We may be left with a feeling that these preventive measures might not have been necessary, which may cause some people to neglect them while they see how long they can go before problems arise…which often leads to a need for corrective maintenance if something fails or develops issues!

 

In our homes, classrooms, and workplaces, we also practice preventive maintenance. If we know something about sensory integration, we may work to ensure that our environment isn’t too overwhelming for those with sensory sensitivities. We may modify lighting, background noise, clutter, colors, or other decorations, and make calming techniques available (such as a swing, opportunities for heavy lifting, etc.).  We may utilize visual strategies such as picture schedules, posters containing guidelines and expectations, and photos of children engaged in the various activities around the room. We post classroom rules and set forth a plan for dealing with infractions, hoping that we won’t need to use corrective measures if the preventive ones are working properly.

 

Basically, our attempts at preventive maintenance in our relationships with others cause us to take what we know about human interactions, or common characteristics of a diagnosis such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and institute measures that are most likely to be successful at promoting success for the greatest number of people possible. We are proactive in gauging likely responses to situations, and taking steps to ensure a positive outcome. Like other areas of our life, if these preventive measures are successful, we may even begin to question whether they’re necessary, and may try removing them, sometimes with positive results, and other times with disastrous outcomes. Often we find the old adage (attributed to Ben Franklin) to be true, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!”

 

The Gray Center has numerous resources geared toward helping you set up preventive measures in the home, school, and community. Many of these titles are included in our anniversary sale this week! Go to www.thegraycenter.org to find books such as “The Survival Guide for ADHD,” “Win the Whining War and Other Skirmishes,” “Asperger Syndrome and Difficult Moments,” and “No Fishing Allowed” (a program for discouraging bullying).

 

Best wishes as you promote social understanding—and work to ensure success through preventing unpleasant or difficult situations in your work with individuals around the world!

 

Laurel Hoekman, Executive Director

The Gray Center for Social Learning and Understanding

www.thegraycenter.org

 

P.S. If you live in or around West Michigan, go to www.thegraycenter.org to reserve your place at our showing of “Autism the Musical” on Thursday, November 6^th! This excellent production has been nominated for several Emmy awards, and would be a great family outing for the evening! (Location is yet to be determined—you will be contacted after you register online).

The Purpose of Maintenance

Most of us are familiar with the concept of “maintenance.” Many things in life require either occasional or frequent repairs or adjustments. We may perform maintenance on our homes, vehicles, lawn, and appliances. Most people also practice some form of “personal maintenance” as they work to maintain their health, perhaps through diet, exercise, and visits to the doctor. Maintenance is a means of “providing basic and necessary support” (Miriam Webster Dictionary) or “care and upkeep” for something. Even in our parenting, teaching, and working, we are performing regular maintenance according to another definition from Werriam-Webster which indicates that maintenance is the “action of providing a person with the necessities of life.”

 

There are different types of maintenance. I’ll use the next couple of weeks to discuss those forms of maintenance, and how those concepts can be applied to our parenting, teaching, and working, especially when we’re interacting with people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

 

“Corrective maintenance” is perhaps the most common or widely-understood form of maintenance. It is used when something isn’t working, and changes need to be made. In your home, you may need to utilize parental corrective maintenance when bedtime becomes a problem (a child refuses to go to bed, deals with fears or issues demands at bedtime, or experiences some other concern related to going to bed or sleeping). In the classroom, you may utilize corrective maintenance when a behavioral problem arises, for example, when a child disrupts learning with a temper tantrum or meltdown, or when two children suddenly become angry with each other. Corrective maintenance is also used when a teacher recognizes that a child is falling behind his or her classmates in academics, and needs additional instruction or support to achieve his or her full potential. It may be used by employers or other support people when a person violates workplace rules or expectations, perhaps as a means to helping that person keep his or her job, or possibly to help ensure that the next job won’t suffer from the same mistake.

 

Basically, we use corrective maintenance when we identify that there is a problem, and begin working to change the situation or improve it. The value of corrective maintenance is that we can hopefully deal with problems before they spiral out of control. But approaching problem-solving by fixing problems after they’ve occurred isn’t always the most efficient way to live our lives. It leads to the feeling that we’re spending our days “putting out fires” as we frequently set aside our plans in order to deal with problems as they arise. To increase our efficiency, and most likely our satisfaction and success, there are two other types of maintenance that I’ll discuss in subsequent issues of SUN News.

 

To help you with the areas in your life which require corrective maintenance, especially in your work with individuals with autism spectrum disorders, The Gray Center has numerous DVDs, books, and CDs available. Be sure to check out the significant savings available on many of our “surprise sale” resources this week which we’re providing in honor of our 10-year anniversary! (Editor’s Tip: One of the resources on sale this week is a book appropriately titled, “Solving Behavior Problems in Autism” by Gray Center advisory board member and longtime friend Linda Hodgdon!) One form of corrective maintenance is apologizing—attempting to repair a hurt-filled situation through an appropriate heartfelt apology. “Sorry!” is a beautiful children’s book which helps children and young people to see the difference between an effective apology and a hollow or careless uttering of a seemingly simple word. This book (which is also on sale this week) and our many other resources are all available at www.thegraycenter.org.

 

Best wishes as you work to promote social understanding—and successfully repair difficult situations– with children, young people, and adults around the world!

 

Laurel Hoekman, Executive Director

The Gray Center for Social Learning and Understanding

www.thegraycenter.org

 

P.S. There’s still time to register to attend Carol Gray’s workshop on Friday, October 17^th! She’ll be presenting at our Lakeshore location (in Zeeland, Michigan), helping attendees learn to write Social Stories(TM) using the newly updated guidelines and criteria, Social Stories(TM) 10.1! This workshop is appropriate for parents, grandparents, teachers and other support staff, and other interested people, whether or not you’ve received prior Social Story(TM) instruction. You can register quickly and easily (only $45 for the day-long workshop) online at www.thegraycenter.org. Hurry—space is limited!

A Perfect Ten

If you have been to The Gray Center’s web site in the last few days, you may have noticed a new banner at the top which indicates that we are celebrating ten years of service to the global community! We are excited about this milestone, and all that we’ve accomplished through the years:

 

- We have hosted seven conferences to educate and support families, professionals, and individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This is in addition to the workshops and other events that we have provided to our local community.

- We have sent presenters to numerous conferences, school staff trainings, and other meetings to help people promote social understanding around the world.

- We have hosted two Family Resource Expos to connect people in our local community with available resources.

- We have hosted countless support group meetings for parents, young adults, grandparents, and community partners.

- We have published a variety of resources to provide practical information and support to those working to promote social understanding, and have added those to an ever-changing and growing list of valuable resources in our bookstore and resource library.

- We have talked with thousands of people around the world in person and by phone or email, providing free information, advice, encouragement, and support.

 

Our achievements over the last ten years have only been possible because of your support! We appreciate your attendance at our events, your calls and emails, your financial contributions, your encouragement, your purchases of books and other resources, and your commitment to promoting social understanding in your own corner of the world. We are pleased and honored to be partners with you, and hope that through the next ten years, we can continue to grow together and to bring about many more positive changes for people living with ASD!

 

Would you be willing to support us financially at this time? We’ve made it easy for you to give $10, $20, $50, $100, or $1000 online at http://www.thegraycenter.org/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=161. Your tax-deductible (in the U.S.) donations will help us pay our bills so that we can continue to devote our time and talents to making a difference in the lives of those affected by ASD. Your contributions will also help us to produce more valuable resources and host more opportunities for learning and networking with others! (Remember that you can also support us financially—at no extra expense to you—by accessing your online shopping through www.iGive.com/graycenter).

 

As our way of thanking you for your support, we’ll be running some special SALES on our web site at www.thegraycenter.org! Various items (books, DVDs, and CDs) will be on sale for $5 and $10 (or multiples of 10). Often an item will be offered at less than 50% of its retail price! But you’ll need to check back often, and order quickly when you see something you want, since each item will be on sale for only a short time, and the sales will change frequently. (Editor’s tip: The current “best buy” is a VHS being offered at 1/6 of its retail price!) This is a great opportunity to purchase items to give as gifts during the upcoming holidays, or to show appreciation to a teacher or friend!

 

Whether or not we have met you in person, we appreciate your involvement with and support of The Gray Center! The work you are doing to promote social understanding is a wonderful contribution to the global community and is likely having a positive impact on those whose lives are affected by ASD.

 

We appreciate you, and look forward to spending another ten years learning and growing with you!

 

Laurel Hoekman, Executive Director

The Gray Center for Social Learning and Understanding

www.thegraycenter.org