Where is Angela?
25 minutes
Videotaped on location at LCDC/Lynnfield
This charming and instructive video opens with voices singing "Where is Angela?...Where is Angela?" followed by a pause, then continuing, "There she is!" as Angela appears for the first time. She is a beautiful 4-year old, nonverbal girl diagnosed as having pervasive developmental disorder (PDD). The title and the song helps the viewer become aware that at first Angela does not know either where she is or who she is because she can neither understand nor use spoken words. This video documentary illustrates her dramatic progress toward achieving this understanding in the course of 4 months at the Language and Cognitive Development Center in Lynnfield, Massachusetts. First seen as a nonverbal, tantrumming child unable to tolerate change, the video shows the careful Umwelt Assessment conducted by the Millers and the manner in which the assessment leads to specific interventions both in her class and in individual therapy sessions.
After the assessment the viewer sees her classroom teacher using sign language with her on elevated structures both to teach her to respond to simple commands such as "Get up!" and "Jump!" as well as how to play symbolically with dolls. Following this, the viewer has an opportunity to see her working with tools to make a boat in a shop under the guidance of a cognitive-developmental therapist. It is delightful to watch her as she decides to quit working and begin to tease her therapist by smiling as she drops to the floor -- a vivid expression of her new capacity to assert her own individuality. Subsequently, she is seen in her class cooking a "make believe" breakfast with other children in her class. A later scene shows her laughing delightedly as she rides on mother's back and commands her with sign and word to "Go!" Mother obligingly does so but then deliberately collapses in a way which makes a giggling Angela get off and command her mother with sign and word to "Get up!" so that she can again climb on mother's back to continue her ride.
The documentary then shows Angela at home -- 3-months after leaving LCDC/Lynnfield -- mischievously letting her cat lick her ice cream cone and later asking for toys while she is in her bath. It ends with a brief report by Angela's mother as to the gains Angela made week by week during the almost 4 months she was at Lynnfield and how these gains changed not only Angela, but the lives of her entire family.
Come Back Jack
60 minutes
"Come Back Jack" is a video documentary showing the bumpy road a family went though as they sought help for their son, Jack Parish, who carries a diagnosis in the autism spectrum. The award-winning hour-long video shows Jack's early history, the Parish family's arrival at LCDC, the assessment of Jack by Dr. Arnold Miller and Jack's heart-warming progress under the guidance of Eileen Miller and her dedicated staff during his five-month stay. Through interviews with Jack's mother, Diane, the documentary also shows, in intimate detail, what his progress meant to his family.
Jack's father, Robert Parish, is a professional scriptwriter and filmmaker based in Cincinnati, Ohio. He followed his son's progress at LCDC with his camera and assembled the documentary. Recently, he reported tht "Come Back Jack" won two prestigious national awards, a Silver Telly and an "AXIEM," which stand for Aabsolute Excellence in Electronic Media...The video is of professional quality and, when purchased, may be shown to large audiences.