TPB Adventures in USA

IN the WORLD of CHILDREN and PHOTOGRAPHY

Thematic PhotoBooks system (TPB) is a creative method of working with special children. The process of making PhotoBooks, helps children develop various skills, acquire the necessary knowledge and develop intellectual abilities. It should be interesting for the one who teaches and useful for the one being taught.
“It's so simple, and at the same time so cool!” — I thought, for the first time, about creating Thematic PhotoBooks. It's good that when I created this method, my head was completely occupied with children and how photography could help them. I had no idea about the intricacies of The System. Otherwise, I would hardly have come up with something ... Without a license! Scandal! Because, as it turned out later, to invent something without a license is possible only for personal use, not for public use.
How dare you!

When I made the first site, it didn't claim anything - just a few stories from my practice that included children I worked with. I didn't know then that it was illegal. A lot of rave reviews came and requested not to stop such a wonderful thing in any case. Some teachers were inspired to start using the camera in the classroom. This inspired me even more, and I published an article in a professional educational journal,  hoping that this will give me the opportunity to continue working on this and further develop this method. When material is selected for publication, the author remains anonymous.
The professional experts of this journal found "intriguing" ideas, when using one tool you can work on developing several different skills at once, which are necessary for special children. They agreed that Thematic Photobooks can be a great motivation for many children and can be used to gain both academic knowledge and life skills...
However, they noted that no scientific study was provided, no confirmatory experiments were given. No statistics, no data. Everything is based on unproven claims. Further research is needed..
It was inspiring and encouraging, but "things are still there."
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NO PLACE for TPB SYSTEM

As it turned out, I got into a space that does not belong to anywhere. No one knew how the TPB system should be classified, and they simply began to ignore the method or use something from it for their own purposes.
Going from below without knowing what is above is not the best idea. I was advancing with my Thematic Photobooks and this path was a road to nowhere - it was the path of "Up the stairs leading down", which at the moment led  to Proza.ru, although this is also not a very suitable place for TPB system.
It turned out that my Thematic Photobooks system had no future... Instead of being a means of developing children's abilities, it turned into a disappointment  - in people, in The System ...
That is, instead of revealing how the ideas of TPB  can benefit children with special needs, I identified and overcame the various barriers that "normal" adults put in place to keep the system  from serving children.
A lecturer at a famous American program for autistic children said in London that years ago, simple common sense had the power of persuasion, and now only scientific research has value. Without scientific research, any evidence and "beliefs" does not  mean much.
For example, if I say “discussion of photos helps develop conversational skills and improve vocabulary,” it does not mean anything, until I can show the proven data: exactly how many words, how many children process them and for what period. Only then I  can make "such a statement."
At first, it was very difficult to accept, but gradually I succeeded.
Going against The Systems is not a good idea-that is the general consensus. I can clearly see that my idea was doomed to failure from the very beginning, and for a huge amount of reasons.
I should not create or develop such ideas. As one American lawyer put it, “Do you have a license to create such ideas?” …somehow I felt like a bit of a criminal, as if I had done something wrong.
Without proper training, it can produce harm, but training is not possible as the idea is new and there is no professional feedback or approval of it. Professionals are not willing to collaborate  with amateurs .... it turns out to be such a familiar vicious circle.

In organizations  where I was able to work with my ideas, authorities were evasive about my position and  or my activities. When other employees asked me about it, I had no idea about my working status. Sometimes I even asked them myself: “Maybe you know who I am considered here and what I do?”
Some ridiculous situation.
For a system where everything has its own place and instructions about what to do in this place and how to do it, I was a problem. Nobody knew what to do with me. They wanted to use  me, but they  were not sure what was allowed to them and what could bring trouble. There was no manual or instructions.
In one organization where I was offered a job using  photography  in response to my direct question about what my duties should be, the answer was “You are children's friend. You should make them happy." They tried not to use the word "photography". At the same time, they paid all related photo expenses and even purchased cameras . but did not want to participate at all in kids development with the help of photography.
No better was with  parents. Taking photos of special children without permission from their parents is forbidden. Parents were happy to grant permission to use pictures of their children for fundraising or publicity purposes, but I had a different  purpose. And this is a completely different story, and they do not need it, because they trust only professionals. But no professional will undertake to agitate for my method, because it does not have official approval and a person  can get in trouble ...

The problem was that the motivation for the child for creating Photobooks must be in the external environment in relation to our work with children. But the environment refused to cooperate, and that destroyed everything. The main component of motivation that would inspire a child to do difficult work was missing.
For example, “From this book that you and I are doing, other guys will also learn how to make vegetable salad as great as you do it. Let's not be lazy and finish quickly. Everyone is waiting, they want to see it"... But... no one was interested in what we were doing and no one would ask, “Well, Michael, is the salad photobook ready? We all are  waiting!”
  That little thing had huge importance , but it was impossible to get it done.
Seemed everyone would be happy if I came, did some photo project with a child or children, and disappeared till next time. It is desirable that this can be shown somehow or hung above the bed. And no one cared what the participation of the child in this project was. Maybe just holding  the pencil with the help of an adult and  drawing some lines. The main thing was that papers were filled up  and everyone would be happy.
On one program, my work was “valued” and  they did not let me go for 3 years. They fulfilled all requests for  materials. However, any of my desire for some work helping in life skills,  some work with a goal other than entertainment, was ignored. 
       In the end, they explained to me why they didn’t want to let me go - because of the +mark . “On our program we do photography projects.” (Others do not have it - come to us! Competition !)
But I  continued to insist to make the environment cooperate , instead of adjusting to the environment myself. And as a result, became "professional troublemaker", ... but nothing was achieved.
People have given a lot of advices and it seems I've tried them all
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IN THE WORLD of PROFESSIONALS

Writing an Article

The idea to write an article belonged to a fairly prominent writer and psychoanalyst Henry Reed, who worked with me as a psychologist. He  said that my approach is needed and useful, and I am obliged to share it with people. This method should be taught in colleges, I should make this contribution to humanity. Of course, I could not do it myself and asked him for help to write an article. We published the article, but it seems that the biggest contribution from this project went to my co-author pocket for his help. After that  he  no longer had any interest in how humanity used this idea or used it at all.
Wring a Book
Then it came time for the idea of book  writing. We began work on the book with a co-author from AZ,  who was a professional writer. We made a legal contract as co-authors. Everything was great at first. She admired my work and was inspired by my ideas. Perhaps because her daughter has just started working in this field. Pretty soon, work on the book stalled. Something went wrong with our co-authorship, with understanding. We decided that she would finish writing the book herself. As a result, she made meaningless financial allegations (people often use money for attack, when needed to defend themselves.)
All this time she made a lot of efforts to test my ideas in practice. She shared with me her concerns that no one wanted to do "unauthorized" activities. It was true as I also made many efforts.. During our joint work on the book, she mentioned several times a man, a great expert in autism from Massachusents, who seemed to be supervising our work. I didn't pay much attention to it. I was focused on the book and how to show the TPB idea better. It only came to my mind later after her strange behavior became clear
I realized that she had started a preparatory research activity… really organizing things, paying people to do what they did. She got funds obviously. The result of her work was supposed to be part of the book, but with my authorship, because she no longer wanted to be a co-author of the book, she withdrew herself.  Perhaps the idea of being part of a real study was much more appealing, perhaps she did it for her daughter. One can only guess. But the fact that this was done behind my back was disgusting, but giving the official life to the TPB system was attractive. She suggested publishing under my name what was done for research without my knowledge and participation. It  was like a hoax ...Of course, I refused. At that time I still believed in honesty and decency
Result: The book was not published. According to her, the study was stopped because of my negative attitude and their fear of my further actions. Maybe it was stopped, maybe not. It is possible that it had a development under a different name, but I may never know about it. Of course, I would like research to continue even in such a dishonorable way. I worried about what could be done with my idea when other people start working on it. But I have no power over this. In any case, the publication in the journal was made with the aim of presenting it to professionals for further development, ... although I had the hope of participating in this. But obviously it didn't work that way.
Research in College
Very soon  I received confirmation of this . I communicated with a psychologist, who was quite a weighty autism expert, who knew my work quite well. Years ago, she helped me organize and describe the results of my work and make it presentable. She then showed it to several people. They told her the job was good and if the job was hers they would offer her a job, but since they didn't know me there wasn't much they could do. (At least that's what she said.) She also told me that one of her friends who runs a residence for autistic children liked the idea of making a book out of it… Maybe she did…
In any case, after the unsuccessful  book writing ,  I came to her with the sacramental question "What to Do?". In addition to being disappointed with what happened to the book, there was  also a good result- for the first time my ideas were performed by  other people. My “co-author” tried Thematic  Photobooks in 3 places: with the mother of an autistic boy (described in the story “Devon and his balls''), with a teacher in a kindergarten for special children (“Denny is the director of the Publishing Company”) and with a high school teacher in a class with autistic children ("Thematic Photobooks in Public School"). The results were inspiring.

COLLEGE INVESTIGATION

By that time, that woman had become a professor in the Department of Autism at Brooklyn college, and told me that there was an opportunity to do research there based on my ideas ...

What happened next was more like the theater of the absurd, and ended sadly: finding out that this college was trying to do research behind my back. Moreover, the person who had to collect the data to do the preliminary research work was a student of the professor and also my former supervisor at the residence for children with disabilities, where I developed many of my ideas. A nice guy who confirmed in a conversation that they used my materials in class to study autism, but suddenly, he got scared of something, said strange words: “you won’t get anything from this” ... and hung up.
The residence manager refused to talk to me at all, and the manager of another residence, whom I asked for help to find out how the professionals used my ideas, finally advised me in a friendly way "stay away from this mafia"...Academical Mafia?
But I wanted to know. I also wanted to know what the words ``you will not get anything from this" meant. I went  to college and asked for an investigation. Although my acquaintance, an employee of this college, warned me from the very beginning about the result: nothing will come of it, I still did it. He was right, of course. The process  was reminiscent of appealing to the trade union in Soviet times with complaints about the administration.

During the college investigation, the one who investigated and the one who was under investigation supported each other, albeit not very well. From one information it followed that the professor applied for a private grant, from the other that for a federal one. At first they said that the grant application was the property of the professor, then they agreed that it was still the property of the college, and as a result it turned out that there were no copies at all.
— How so? Why?
- Because ...
Everyone lied and/or cheated: the ethics inspector, the head of the department, the professor herself. Research involves grants, money, and, of course, "this territory" is well guarded from outsiders like me.
I didn't get much, of course. I asked the lawyer to complete the picture: since the college claims that the grant was not received, it means that no one wrote anything and received no money. No money, no crime.
“But how about this and that, those things are illegal? ..
- This does not count until there is a monetary result. If you find out about the money that was earned as a result of this, call me.

CONTRIBUTION TO EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

Yet, at my insistence, the Professor had to present my method to the students in my presence, and not behind my back, as she had done before. The professor tried to evade, didn't want to give the date, was as obscure as she could, and as a result gave the wrong number for the lecture audience. But, despite all her efforts, I was present at the presentation.
“Well,” I thought, sitting at the lecture, “postgraduate students specializing in autism are being introduced to my method. I have already made my public contribution. It's time to calm down." But peace did not come. The professor did not even come close to the essence of my method. The professor, no longer young, was sitting on the table. The students ate popcorn and looked at their cell phones. When they called, they went out to talk in the corridor… Well, at least that way… But all this helped me a lot to gain understanding. I refused further presentations and said goodbye to the academic world. Later I’ve read the evaluation of that Professor by students..it was similar to what I went through with her
Over the years, the advice I've heard most often is, “Don't share your ideas with anyone. They will be stolen." I answered that it didn’t matter to me: my idea is big and broad - enough for everyone.
But, somehow, it became a stumbling block, and a very unpleasant one, that made me stop all further attempts to try to convey my ideas to children. It was obvious that I could not do it alone. And involving others also does not solve the issue.

"WITH HANDS TIED"

When there are children with autism in front of me, I really want to take a camera and start working ... So “hands itch” and worries the convolutions: this hooligan boy could be helped by a photo book about his own behavior, where he himself could sort photos. Here he is spitting at people and kicking them, and that goes into a bad pile because, “Look, the girl is crying. You hitted her. She is hurt. You don't like being hurt. Nobody does.  And she doesn't like it. Now look at the way Miss R., whom you love so much, is looking at you. Look, she doesn't like your behavior and doesn’t want  to look at you after you spit on her. She's very upset."

If his face twisted and he is ready to burst into tears - for this you can have a photo (from a “good stack” or “white folder”) where they are doing something good or interesting or useful together, and Ms. R. is looking at him with love and approval, and his charming little face glows with happiness.
Watching him with a camera in hand, it becomes clear that praise for something good causes this naughty kid to react in a way that can help him change unwanted behavior. We will be very careful with praise so that he begins to appreciate it and to earn it ... “Well, what to do? Why don't you go to Miss R and apologize and ask her to play ball? And I will take your photos and then we will put them in a white folder. Look, it's already thicker than black..."
But alas, this is not possible. The system will never allow this; “Photographing bad behavior? Draw the child's attention to bad behavior? Absolutely unacceptable! Just ignore it!!! It is forbidden to explain to the child that it is bad to push others. Just give the child more attention! And that's all he achieves. Just ignore bad stuff!!! And often praise for good behavior.
Some programs require you to give your child a candy every 15 minutes if they behaved well during that time. But what if the child thinks: “What  do I want more: another candy or hit that boy and take away his player?”
... And this beautiful but sad girl: I wonder if she would like her own photos in different outfits, would she like to pose? .. “Put on a red blouse. She needs a long skirt... No, this one is short... Yes, this one is long... Take it... You have good taste... Do you like that round cap?.. No, this one is not round, this one is square. Round on the top shelf ... Yes, well done. Put it on, please ... Oh, how great, what a beauty you are in it! Sit down here, Kate will take pictures of you,.. and then you her,.. and then we will discuss what you will wear for the holiday…
And then you can discuss photos: “Please find a photo where you are in a long skirt ... Yes, okay. But here you are in a blue blouse, let's look where you are in red ... Well done. Now let's compare: which one do you like more? .. "
which one do you like more? .. "
But everything is not easy-going

MOVING ON

….That is not allowed,
….You will be  punished
….Getting  fired for that...
…..Nothing can be done...
….and so on

What's left there ? Just follow the words that everyone loves to repeat like a mantra and that solve any difficult situation:
- "MOVE ON", or "Move forward!"
Only where to move?????

Facebook is full of selfies and photostories about people having fun . There breakfasts and suppers in restaurants are displayed

And
"You must immediately erase the photo of the child if it got into your mobile phone" - The TPB's verdict was passed.
- "Go with the Flow", We are sailing ... But where?
When I first started designing Thematic Photobooks, according to official statistics, one in 500 children was born autistic.
In 2023, the CDC reported that around 1 in 36 children in the U.S. is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
Maybe Flow is moving  in the wrong direction???