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CONCEPT-BASED INFORMATION* ABOUT AUTISM*
Our Concept-based information is presented in basic family orientation to intermediate provider practice guides, and advancing scholorship. Texts are organized, in this way on each page link, to meet the needs of our wide and diverse Autism community audience. The goal of this integrated approach is to provide an information system that can help us have a holistic map of how we each may or may not be aware of what we all do and do not know about Autism. This creates a use-able community knowledge brokerage for us all.
The purpose of our CONCEPT-BASED pages is to realize an optimum distribution of key sources of well-established Autism theories and human systems models, across relevant professional disciplines, with texts that can begin to share our history of established and new ideas, ideals, and scholarship. This matrix model demonstrates how to create a knowledge system based on developmental domains view of the mutual impacts of Autism that can integrate systems research on the Sensorimotor, Communication, Social Relatedness, and Ableness features of Autism, and how such inquiry helps us identify how our of ideal models may integrate Universal Best Practices. These links can help us put together a more holistic base of academic research for ourselves and our research and practice communities, and our audiences of family or service providers as we all gain new knowledge.
The goal of our concept-based dimensions of Autism information on our home page matrix is to provide and discuss various theoretical models and ideas about this pervasive developmental disorder, its features, and current thinking about its global impacts. Once we have engaged these concept-based models of the nature of Autism we may have a clearer view of how people think about Autism. Then we can begin to apply some of the intermediate best practice models we may believe are best for our children and families across settings. If we manage to cover the advancing materials here, we will most likely have gone well beyond our past ideas about Autism. We may then be able to invision others' ideas, and defend our own choices of intervention models, with clarity. Therefore, looking back to the basic ideas and intermediate information pages, can also help us become ever more aware of what we and others may, and still may not, know about Autism. This can help us become more totally ready, able or willing to visualize our path ahead in new and better ways.
Our family and service provider clients have reported, and we have observed, that being and staying aware of our adult provider thinking in relation to our own and the whole base of ideas about Autism can actually helps us function better, as much as forming our own beliefs about Autism may help us. Even more importantly, providers as leaders can explore new knowledge, awareness, skills, and abilities we need to engage with people with Autism and our families. In doing so must remember to engage people as who we truly are as human beings--for this path is not an achievement competition--it is the ground of ideas in what is our shared trek of survival of Autism and thriving in our development. In this human race, if any one of us loses, we all lose.
Concept-based knowledge is founded on visions of ideal outcomes, paradigms of problems and the strategies needed to solve them, and holistic models of human development and diversity. Such information takes an organic approach to the study of the complexity of human systems. These kinds of research studies use both scientific and other formal methods of research design and theory construction. Several forms of theory and logic testing are used, in order to assure that conceptual inquiry is more objective in the nature. Conceptual theory building structures often serve as the philosophical foundation for other research designs and how scholarly authors defend our various views of what are valid ideas about Autism.
Each type of formal conceptually-based research will have its own strengths and limitations. For example, visions of ideal outcomes of human development can be misplaced if we inaccurately, or merely mechanistically apply them to members of groups of people with atypical patterns of life span development. Yet, these same studies can be helpful in understanding the nature of Autism itself, if we first consciously realize that people with Autism may not have been included or be accurately represented within the work of even major theorists of human development. However, now there are conceptual research designs that have been centered on the patterns of development of people with Autism, which have produced well-established scholarly and practice knowledge. All these studies may meet the logic testing standards of scholarly research, and yet, still lead us in two different directions in how we engage in Autism practices. This is why various proponents of Autism philosophy and practice may sound like "true believers" who claim to hold the only truth about Autism. This stand avoids the purpose of concept-based knowledge. Differing concepts of Autism models, as well as all the other the factually, contextually, and individually-based forms of scholarly inquiry can ALL add to our community's base of use-able theory and practice information. Our goal is not to subtract them away, until we get down to one right path for everyone to follow. That would profoundly weaken our knowledge about Autism. Our web site seeks to share a whole Autism knowledge brokerage that adds, rather than subtracts from this information.
Concept-based information also underlies the open market of ideas we find ourselves engaged in as we learn how to live, work, and cope with Autism. In the new world of online information parents are now flooded with a wide range and quality of ideas and knowledge about Autism. Being aware of what we truly do, and do not, know will be critical to the outcomes of our journey. This is because awareness helps us better understand what we may need, expect and want from Autism intervention models. However, often families may need to be the initial source and deliverer of this professional information to both novice and experts. Such providers may be very skilled and knowledge-able in our fields but still not have had significant training or experience in serving people with Autism before. This is a common occurrence that families must deal with as we meet our new providers in need of information over and over again in our life span journey. We hope that web access to our Autism information system will ease that passage, and the passing on of these texts for both family and service providers.
*The Four Dimensional Model of Information which has been applied in the design of Threshold's knowledge brokerage has been used with the permission of Dr. Robert Silverman of the Fielding Graduate Institute. Scholarly Sources below:
Silverman, R. (2003). The professional use of substantive knowledge--Assessing one's competencies. Retrieved October, 2003, from http://www.fielding.edu/private/hod/CUR/KA/profsilv03.htm
Honold, L., & Silverman, R. J. (2003). Organizational DNA--Diagnosing your organization for increased effectiveness. Palo Alto, CA: Davis Black Publishers.
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