“Teaching a kid on the spectrum feels like folding a fitted sheet. It doesn’t line up neatly, it feels like there is not one right way to do it and trying to make it look like the flat sheet makes you feel kind of incompetent. However, isn’t the fitted sheet a miracle? Its bunchy irregularity is, in fact, the thing that makes it such a valuable asset.”
Dr. Dean is coordinator of the five-year program in special education at Arcadia University. She has a Ph.D. in school psychology, and for more than 11 years has been working and researching in the area of social development, social skills training and school consultation. Her research interests are in the use of imitation as an intervention tool in improving the social responsiveness of young children with language and social impairments.