A small playroom, benevolent volunteers and no learning constraints. These are the foundations of the 3i method (intensive, individual and interactive). Its goal: to restart the psychomotor development of the person autistic.
The 3i method was born in 2004, when Catherine de la Presle developed tips for treating her grandson Augustin, suffering from autism spectrum disorders. It was then inspired by the Sun-Rise method, developed shortly before by two American psychoanalysts. The principle is simple: awaken the autistic child through non-directive games and create an exchange through imitation. This method is intensive because it stimulates the child all day, every day, so that he does not lock himself “in his bubble”. She is individual because the child is isolated and benefits from the full attention of volunteers, face to face. Finally, she is interactive because it is about capturing the attention of the child through activities and playful exchanges that he chooses himself. In 2005, faced with the progress observed in her grandson, Catherine de la Presle founded the association Autism Hope Towards School (AEVE) of which she is today director. “After a year and a half, Augustine began to breathe, to make sounds, and then to use speech.“says Anaïs Bisdorff, head of the regional branch of AEVE Normandie and communication officer for the association.”Augustine then went through all the stages he had overlooked since he was a baby.“She adds. He returned to school gradually and today Augustin is 15 years old.”He is good in class and has just a mild social integration disorder“reveals Anaïs Bisdorff.
How to adopt the 3i method?
Today, AEVE supports 200 autistic people, aged 18 months to 30 years, and following the 3i method thanks to a network of 40 psychologists and 6,500 volunteers. This method is practiced at home or in the experimental center. Lud’Eveil, in Courbevoie (Hauts-de-Seine), currently the only center applying the 3i in France. The cost of care by the 3i method is estimated at 350 euros per month and per child. It reaches 1,000 euros when it takes place at the Lud’Eveil center. For comparison, the monthly cost of ABA method(Applied Behavior Analysis) is valued at 3,500 euros at home and 8,000 euros in a center.
Concretely, the parents of an autistic child can contact AEVE and follow a one-day training course in Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine). This training costs 150 euros. They will then have to set up at home or with relatives a playroom equipped with a corner to isolate themselves, rugs, a mirror, balls and balloons and several toys. In this room, volunteers trained by AEVE take turns all day long for one-and-a-half-hour play sessions, and a psychologist follows the child every week. The room should not exceed 10 square meters so that the child can easily appropriate the space: “the room is a real sensory cocoon which responds to motor and psychic needs. The child must know its limits to feel safe. If it is too big, it can generate anxiety, the child runs, goes back and forth“warns Chloé Bornens, clinical psychologist at the Lud’Eveil center, specializing in developmental disorders in children.
Reconstruct all stages of child development
“Non-directive play promotes new brain connections which allow the reestablishment of verbal and non-verbal communication, then learning“explains Catherine de la Presle. The playful exchange andimitation will particularly stimulate mirror neurons, brain cells that play a role in learning and social bonding. It is then a question of bringing the autistic person to awaken in stages, naturally, by rebuilding all the developmental phases. “Children in reconstruction always follow the same process: they babble before speaking, they play with puppets before playing with their hand, holding objects, then a pencil.“, explains Anaïs Bisdorff. A developmental grid makes it possible to follow the progression of the autistic person.
If the 3i method was first developed for children, it is not subject to an age limit. “The younger people with autism are cared for, the more plastic the brain is, but there is plasticity at any age, so there is always hope.“emphasizes Anaïs Bisdorff.
Progress step by step on the way to school
Little by little, the child progresses, learns to communicate, to play, to interact. “His attention can be expressed in a very simple way: a look, a caress, a sound made, a smile“specifies Anaïs Bisdorff. The 3i method also helps to re-educate sensory disturbances in the autistic person, who frequently suffers from hyposensitivity or hyposensitivity, that is, she feels too much or too little visual, auditory or tactile sensations. The commotion in the street or in a classroom can be very painful, even insurmountable. When the child evolves and his autonomy grows, the AEVE association considers a gradual reintegration into a school path, either in a traditional school, or in a School Integration Class (CLIS), or in a specialized center such as an Institute. medico-educational (IME). This “provided they have acquired the communication tools necessary for class life: simply call out to the teacher, say if they are in pain anywhere or if they need to go to the bathroom, interact with them the other children“explains Anaïs Bisdorff. Reintegration must be done little by little, first one hour a week, then half a day, until joining a full-time class.
Several scientific studies on the 3i method are underway and should very soon allow it to be included in the official recommendations of the High Authority for Health (HAS) for the management of autism spectrum disorders. A retrospective study of 449 children followed for 10 years by the AEVE association already shows that 51% of them have found their way back to traditional school after only two to four years of the 3i method. Each little progress is a step towards victory, according to Josette Domingos, president of the Lud’Eveil association: “the 3i method allows each child to evolve and grow. There is hope for all families. “
Sources:
- Visit of the Lud’Eveil center, Courbevoie (Hauts-de-Seine)
- Interview with Anaïs Bisdorff, regional manager of AEVE Normandie and communication manager of the association
- Interview with Josette Domingos, founder and president of the Lud’Eveil Courbevoie association
- Interview with Chloé Bornens, clinical psychologist at the Lud’Eveil center, specialist in child developmental disorders
- Gardziel, A., Ozaist, P., Sitnik, E. 2015. The 3i method in the therapy of autism spectrum disorders (TSA). Psychotherapia 1 (172)
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