Scientific Council Chair's message
Dear Friends,
As Chair of OAR's Scientific Council, welcome to our Web site and thank you for your
interest in effective intervention through the promotion of quality
applied research. As you may know, OAR is the only national
autism organization whose mission is the promotion of applied
research and the subsequent dissemination of evidence-based information. And
why is this important?
- Seeing is not believing. Believing a specific intervention
works is simply not enough. The one resource in consistently
short supply is that of time. As such, interventions that are
ineffective or have limited efficacy waste this precious resource
independent of what we may believe, or hope to believe, works. Applied
research allows us to make the transition from belief to knowledge
and, in so doing, make the best use of our time and our student's
time.
- Correlation does not mean causation. A number of years
ago in New York City all the buttons on the stop lights that
read "To Cross Street, Push Button, Wait for Green" were
disconnected. Yet people keep right on pressing them. Why? Because
every so often they push the button and the light changes for
no other reason than it was programmed to change at that time. This
results in a chance occurrence being interpreted as direct
result of one's action (in this case, pushing the button). We
may certainly perceive causation here but there is none. Applied
research gives us the tools to stop pressing buttons that do
not work.
- We have an ethical obligation. Quite simply, professionals
in the field have an ethical obligation to our students, adult
clients, families and funding sources to provide treatment
and intervention that is most likely to be effective. How
do we know what is most likely to be effective? By doing
the research, disseminating the outcomes and translating the
findings into our professional practice. Individual learners
with autism and their families deserve nothing less.
Best
Peter F. Gerhardt, Ed.D.
Chair, OAR Scientific Council
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