Providing RPM Services and Training to Students, Parents, School Personnel
Offering in-depth training for parents, school s and caregivers
what sets me apart
- I have extensive experience in working with children, teenagers and adults who are on the autism spectrum or have developmental disabilities, both in academics and activities of daily living. I have older students preparing for their GED exams.
- I am knowledgeable about how the brain impacts on learning and I share that with all my students. I tell them I am a brain coach to help them learn to make their brains work better and become stronger. This is important with students who are on the spectrum because every one of them is smart. Once they learn how to use the letter board, I get to see their brilliance come out from their world of silence; miracles happen every day.
- I have developed lesson plans for middle school and high school students. I work well with the older student because I can offer more stimulating lessons than those found in special needs classes.
- My counseling background enables me to listen well to the parents’ concerns and offer positive support and reinforcement as needed. I am always aware that each child I work with is an important part of a family system. If the system needs support, I will address it. I have helped families find advocates to assist them in dealing with school issues. Did you know that because of federal law, letter boards can be used in a classroom setting?
what is rpm?
"RPM is used to teach academics, and communication is also taught in the process. Despite behaviors, the academic focus of every RPM lesson is designed to activate the reasoning part of the brain so that the student becomes distracted by and engaged in learning.
RPM is distinct from other methods as it is based upon how the brain works. The aim is to bring the student to maximum learning through the open learning channel and to elicit the best (not simply to test) out of the child to enable maximum output in that given time. As a student's cognitive and motor proficiency increases, the sophistication of a student's response also improves.
RPM uses prompting to initiate a student's independent response, without physical support. In addition to teaching letter-chart pointing, RPM also utilizes stencils and other drawing exercises to lead to independent handwriting.”
HALO is dedicated to the use of Soma Mukhopadhyay's* Rapid Prompting Method (RPM) for improving academic success and communication for persons with autism and similar disorders.
According to Soma's website, "the four objectives worked on in every RPM session are:
- Cognitive - The teacher will teach an academic topic based on the student's age, exposure to learning, interests or preoccupation. The teacher uses this topic to work on the student's ability to express reasoning and understanding.
- Skill - Based on the motor, sensory and emotional readiness o the student, the teacher will ask the student to respond by selecting between correct or incorrect choices...
- Tolerance - Every student has different has levels of visual, auditory, tactile, performance, and time tolerance. Intitially, the teacher adapts to the students sensory and performance tolerances. Over time, the teacher slowly works on helping the student increase their level of tolerance in all of these fields.
- Communication - Communication is the output of learning. Learning/communication is an integral part of RPM. Communication goals involve - single words, sentences, paragraphs, essays, short stories, compositions of poetry."
* Soma Mukhopādhyāy is an Indian educator and the creator of the Rapid Prompting Method (RPM), which is closely related to facilitated communication. Her use of the RPM with her autistic son Tito garnered media attention in America in the late 1990s and early 2000s. She lives in Austin, Texas, and has conducted training workshops all over the world."
This RPM excerpt taken from
how rpm can help your child
Lenae Crandall, Executive Director of H.E.E.D. in Utah, suggests on her H.E.E.D. website the following situations in which RPM can help your child:
- Your child (3 yrs-99 years old) is non-speaking or has limited verbal abilities, perhaps speaking a few words or phrases, but does not necessarily display complex understanding.
- You have been told your child can’t learn, or perhaps has the intellect of a toddler. Your child has been working on the same task year after year (colors, matching, sorting, counting objects, ABC recognition, following one-step directions, etc.).
- Your child has changed school(s) due to extreme behavior or "low functioning" ability, and has perhaps reached a learning “plateau”.
- You have a desire to know what your child thinks, what he/she knows, what he/she is capable of learning, why he/she cries, hits, or bites or engages in self-injury.
- You sometimes suspect your child is intelligent, but don’t know how to access him/her.
- You have been told your child is “low-functioning”, or has “severe autism” (or a related condition). Alternately, your “high functioning” child is capable of speech, but occasionally gets “stuck” and exhibits difficulties with output.
- Your child can type or hand-write a list of words, or your child can already communicate in a limited fashion by typing or writing and you would like to develop communication further.
who am i?
MaryLynne White
MaryLynne White has an unique understanding of how to help parents feel acknowledged and supported with their spoken and unspoken concerns about raising a child having autism. Through her years of experience and vast research into the field, she has clear vision in how to reassure parents and work with their children to show progress quickly and easily. She’s able to communicate clearly to adults and children with keen insight and encouragement. She helps us see the world through the eyes and body of a person having autism; gently showing us how to make their word a better, safer place.
WHAT I DO
I began studying RPM in February 2014 when I was introduced to a teenage student on the autism spectrum. That September, the student, his father, and I flew out to Austin for a four-day boot camp.
Watching Soma work, reinforced my desire to learn more about how to use RPM with students. In August 2014, I successfully completed the four-day certification course to learn the theory and use of RPM. During my first year, I had bimonthly consults with Soma, sharing videos of my work with her to see how I could improve my skills. I continue to have consults with her, sharing videos of new students.
My professional career started in the field of developmental disabilities after receiving a master’s degree in child and family development from Ohio State University. During that time, I worked on the development of curriculum for activities of daily living for students from the ages of four through adulthood. I was actively involved in working with teachers to assist them in working with their special needs students.
Years later, after working as a case manager for children having severe developmental disabilities and social worker, I decided to begin working on a PhD in counseling. Through that process I started work as a counselor at a mental health center in Mesa, Arizona. Most of my clients were children having ADHD, autism, developmental disabilities, oppositional defiant disorder, anxiety disorder, and attachment disorder. It was during this time I also studied the neurological development of children on the autism spectrum because
of its important impact on learning.
MaryLynne White
RPM Educator
Charlotte, NC