Mabel Ramos's favorite song is "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker Junior. From morning until night, if Mabel is awake, she is listening and dancing to - or asking to listen to - the number one Billboard hit from 1984. Though some parents might be annoyed by listening to a single song repeatedly, her father, Mark Ramos, said he is delighted by his daughter's ability to dance, communicate and express her enthusiasm.
Mabel, who is five years old, has autism spectrum disorder. Mark, assistant research professor of health policy and administration at Penn State, said that she is reaching developmental milestones that are typical for a two- or three-year-old child. When she was two years old, her development was almost stagnant - she could not speak or sit up by herself. According to Mark, Mabel's increased development is largely due to the therapies she receives.
When his daughter was in therapy, Mark discovered that - for a specific type of treatment - statistical methods could be used to help measure whether children were meeting developmental milestones. Mark wrote software code that therapists can use to choose thresholds for verifying that children with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities are mastering skills. The free software and its application were described in a recent article in Behavior Analysis in Practice.
