I thought it appropriate to group these two "autism heroes" together. This year (2010) has not been kind to great scientists in the field of autism. Dr. Greenspan passed away earlier this year, and Dr. Ivar Lovaas, just last week.
Dr. Greenspan (top) was the leading figure behind the DIR model and Floortime, a popular intervention for autism. While I do not subscribe to everything Floortime, there are a lot of ideas Dr. Greenspan has published that complement and enhance ABA therapy. What I like about Floortime is the simplicity. You don't pay to understand Floortime, much like you don't pay to understand ABA. For this reason, if people are turned off by ABA I usually point them to Floortime over RDI.
Dr. Lovaas (bottom) was the individual responsible for bringing ABA into therapeutic use for people with autism. Without him, we would not have the interventions we do today. Thanks to him, there is hope for my daughter where so many years ago she would have been institutionalized with no hope for a future in this life.
I thank both gentleman from the bottom of my heart. You both will be greatly missed.
Very different approaches from those two but both were extremely dedicated.
ReplyDeleteI am thankful to them both.