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Sarah Clifford Scheflen ’00 is the senior speech-language pathologist in the autism program at Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA. With the actress Jenny McCarthy, Sarah cofounded Teach2Talk, a producer of educational videos that help children develop play, language, and social skills. In her own words, here is her story.
I met Jenny McCarthy’s son Evan when he was first diagnosed with autism and came to our program at UCLA. As I worked with Evan, Jenny and I developed a friendship, and after he completed our program, she asked me to continue working with him privately.
I was using video modeling with Evan, using my own homemade videotapes to demonstrate appropriate play. Video modeling is based on the idea that if you show a desired behavior or skill to a child using an audio-visual medium, the child will start to imitate the model and learn from it. A lot of research shows how effective video modeling can be, especially for children on the autism spectrum. Eliminating the social context of live, one-on-one modeling allows these children to filter out some of the external stimuli that get in the way of learning for them. Just making eye contact with a teacher can be stressful for some children, but something about the visual medium allows them to tune in.
One of the core deficits of most children with autism is that they cannot play appropriately or engage in imaginary play. I conducted a research study at UCLA that showed that children do learn to play appropriately through video modeling. I’m preparing the study now for publication.
I would go to Jenny’s house with my homemade tapes to work with Evan. Jenny would ask me, “Why can’t I get these tapes at Target?” Finally I asked her if she’d like to produce tapes together, combining my clinical experience with her experience on the production end of things. She agreed on the spot.
We started brainstorming all the different things we could do. We could teach not only play but all sorts of language and social skills. We could reach not just children with autism but also more typical kids who might have trouble in certain developmental areas.
We started working with her production people and selling the tapes in 2007. We now have fourteen tapes available. I write the scripts; Jenny is involved in every step of the process. The tapes have been really well received. We get e-mails every day from all over the world saying, “My child can answer questions now,” or “My child can play appropriately for the first time—thank you.” It’s great to know that we’re helping people.
I decided to go into speech pathology during my junior year at Elmhurst. It was the best program. The teachers were just amazing; they cared about you and wanted you to succeed. In a lot of ways we were treated like graduate students. The experience we received in the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic was great, for example. I think I learned more as an undergraduate at Elmhurst than I did in graduate school.
Working with children with autism is fascinating. Early intervention is important. I work with children as young as two years old, and the progress they make is amazing. They get intensive therapy and by the time they finish our program they’re starting to look pretty typical. It’s exciting to be a part of that process. |
