In 2015, the United Nations World Organization recalled during the commemoration that 80% of adults with autism are unemployed, a situation that does not help their social integration. This fact highlights the lack of knowledge that the vast majority of employers have about the abilities of people with ASD. Helping people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is very important, both socially and professionally. Recent studies indicate that people with ASD have greater competence in pattern recognition and logical reasoning, as well as greater attention to detail, compared to “neurotypical” workers.
For people with ASD to develop their full potential, it is necessary to improve their professional training with programs adapted to their needs and to have sufficient support from various areas, both social and administrative, to encourage their job placement and reduce current discrimination.
Early intervention is essential to work with children with ASD and help them become adults with better tools to face a society that is not prepared for them. Daily work with specialists significantly improves the child’s quality of life and allows for a future as an adult with a full and dignified life.
Interview with the creator of the TEAyudo project
Many professionals specializing at Universidad ISEP have decided to dedicate their careers to people with ASD. Marta Lladó Amézola is an example. A psychologist by vocation, she decided to train with us and complete the Master in Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology and the Postgraduate in Early Intervention. In 2006, even before finishing her university studies, she began working in the world of autism, and in 2012, she decided to launch her project TEAyudo.
What led you to study child and adolescent psychology?
I have always been fascinated by the world of children. I was the older sister and the older cousin, so I was always surrounded by children to “take care of.” I also belonged to a scout group from the age of 8, and as I grew up, I became part of the monitor team, and I really enjoyed preparing activities for the younger ones. We established very cool bonds: the little ones gained confidence with the older ones, and seeing in their eyes that they felt supported and understood generated a very strong feeling in me, and I wanted to professionalize that part of myself.
That feeling of understanding children and young people has always remained. Today, I have a very good relationship with some of those children, and now they are already 20 years old!
Why did you decide to study the Master in Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology at Universidad ISEP?
I started working very early with children with autism and decided to expand my training in this regard. You cannot close yourself off so soon in such a specific area as autism, as many children with ASD also have comorbidities with other disorders (ADHD, learning difficulties…). I needed a generalist Master’s degree to deepen my knowledge on the subject.
What made me choose Universidad ISEP was the schedule (I did it on weekends): it allowed me to perfectly combine it with my work. In addition, its practical, real-world approach, which is very focused and taught for active professionals, made me decide on it. You can really tell when you speak the same language as the instructors, in terms of examples, case presentations, and daily difficulties… If I had had my own practice at that time, the feeling was that what I learned on a class weekend was totally applicable on Monday at work.
Tell us about your TEAyudo project
TEAyudo is dedicated to intensive intervention in natural environments (home, school, and community) with children and young people diagnosed with ASD, seeking the functionality of their learning, promoting the greatest possible autonomy for children, and providing security to the families we work with regarding the procedures and strategies to use. We are based on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) strategies; one of the autism therapy approaches that has shown the most scientific evidence in achieving its objectives.
I had been working for over 5 years in a specialized ASD center that also provided intensive intervention in natural environments. Due to the economic crisis, in December 2011, 4 people stopped working at that center.
Two months later, Aprenem Associació (a parents’ association) began referring some children to me personally. By that April, I already had four patients, but due to the volume of hours I dedicated to them, I couldn’t do it alone, so I contacted Silvia Sáez, one of my colleagues who also ended her employment with the other center at the same time as me and who is now my partner. When we received the request to attend to a fifth child, that’s when the idea of creating TEAyudo was born.
At that time, there were very few centers in the Barcelona area that offered intensive home-based therapy focused on ABA. There was also a growing demand from families seeking this type of intervention, and many reference centers also recommended it. So, we took the leap, and here we are!
With the launch of TEAyudo, we wanted to make this type of intervention accessible to different families regardless of their economic situation, as this type of therapy is often costly due to the number of hours involved, especially at the beginning of therapy. That is why, from the very beginning, we have been looking into and promoting scholarships, either through our own funds or by reaching agreements with other entities that cover the therapy costs for some of the children we work with. Currently, 20% of our children receive scholarships to varying degrees.
Even while working on a constantly growing project, you decided to continue specializing and repeated training with us, this time with the Postgraduate in Early Intervention. What led you to continue training if you could already make a living from your work?
The situation was that most of the children I had worked with were at least two years old, and as research on ASD symptomatology in early ages increasingly offers greater results, I decided to learn more about early intervention. There are even studies on the possibility of observable symptomatology at six months of age.
It is a fact that psychologists need constant and continuous training. I was also curious to learn more about early childhood and also needed more training hours for the health psychologist certification. All of this ultimately pushed me to pursue the postgraduate degree. I did it online, and it’s really very convenient to be able to do it that way.
How do you think your training has influenced the success of your project and your professional recognition?
It is necessary to know in order to apply. One of the aspects that I consider very important, and which was discussed repeatedly in the master’s program, is taking into account the parents of our patients; parents who feel heard, understood, and valued… will be much more involved in the therapy and recommendations proposed by the professional. This is something that we at TEAyudo have strongly promoted: we work with parents, together. Family is very important to us. We have to establish a good bond with the parents, in addition to the child!
At the last AETAPI congress (November 2014), it was said several times, and David Preece recently reiterated it in an interview: “The professional is the autism expert, but the child’s expert is the parent.”
How do you see the future?
– Training in classroom and playground strategies
– Real inclusion in the regular classroom
– New technologies
We are being asked for training in associations, schools, and universities outside of Catalonia. The feeling is that there are few professionals truly trained in ASD. In university degrees, very little is generally studied, and yet, diagnoses are increasing! We are at 1 child per 150 in Spain. That is a lot for such little general training.
Regarding inclusion, the children we work with benefit greatly from being in an inclusive regular classroom, especially in Early Childhood Education, many also in Primary Education, and some in Secondary Education. The problem is resources. Laws promote inclusion but at the same time reduce resources, and therefore, this inclusion is not truly plausible, as more and more is demanded of teachers with fewer resources. We must, all together, raise awareness to provide real resources to schools and defend the rights of families who want to opt for an inclusive education for their children.
And regarding new technologies, new and very useful applications and resources are also appearing, but we observe that training in their use is necessary, because depending on how these technologies are used, we will or will not help the family, and if the family does not find it useful, they will not use it. One of TEAyudo’s therapists specializes in applied new technologies.
Self-employment, nowadays, is almost the only option for professionals in psychology, pedagogy, and speech therapy. What recommendations would you give to someone who doesn’t dare to take the leap and start a business?
They should dare! We have a lot of difficulty finding vacancies in centers, or at most, it will be a few hours in one center. Therefore, self-employment allows you to work in several places at once, enriching yourself from all of them! I myself collaborated with another entity that works with children with ASD for three years while starting TEAyudo. In fact, I left due to time constraints, but I continue to collaborate with two other entities giving training workshops and maintain a very good relationship with a third.
The secret is, in part, not to close doors, go to congresses, conferences… Make contacts, get moving! And believe in one’s own abilities. And I recommend that they find their “Silvia,” because it is always much more pleasant and enriching to work with a partner with whom you understand each other and can count on.