Mary Beth Palo

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Mary Beth Palo is one of the nation’s top parent advocates for Autism Spectrum Disorders.^[1] In 2007, her work on behalf of Autistic children in New York State and throughout the United States of America earned her the honor of being named by the New York Senate Assembly one of the state’s “Women of Distinction.” She serves on the National Autism Association fundraising board and is a sought after contributor and speaker for national events related to autism treatments, advocacy and research.^[2]

Ms. Palo first became involved in the autism community when, in 2000, her son, Brett, was diagnosed with a pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) which was classified as autism a short while later. Her efforts to obtain appropriate and effective treatments in the months and years that followed led her to create a line of autism treatment videos^[3] with which she taught Brett to speak and eventually to socialize. Brett’s progress with the help of Ms. Palo’s videos was so remarkable that other parents began to request copies of her videos. This prompted her to found Watch Me Learn,^[4] a company with a philanthropic mission to provide the most effective autism treatment videos to families, therapists and educators. Her commercially produced videos are the only of their kind to receive the endorsement of the National Autism Association.

Following Brett’s initial diagnosis, Mary Beth took traditional steps recommended by doctors, head start professionals and therapists. Like most parents, the Palo’s discovered quickly that recommended treatments were often ineffective and expensive. After months and months of one-on-one ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) therapy they became disheartened by absence of measureable progress. Two years after learning he had autism, Brett remained non-verbal and suffered constant asthma, ear infections, gastrointestinal distress, seizures, hypoglycemia and sleeplessness. In desperation, the family consulted with New York’s most reputable physicians only to be told that Brett would require institutionalization.

Frustrated by the ineffectiveness of the recommended treatments for Brett, Ms. Palo cancelled all future appointments with therapists. In the days and weeks that followed, she observed her son in a desperate effort to discover a way to ‘get through to him.’ Brett, like many autistic children, was drawn to the television and video. Mary Beth observed his unique engagement on the television and decided to harness this characteristic to enhance his learning. Initially, she created one 11-minute video. Brett watched the video off and on for about two weeks when suddenly one morning, he responded to one of Mary Beth’s questions with a phrase from the video. This was a momentous beginning. From that time forward, video has been the mainstay of Brett’s learning. In July, 2007, Brett competed at the U.S. Diving Nationals in Florida. At 10-years old, Brett is a nationally ranked diver in his category. He first learned to dive watching old footage of Greg Louganis competing at the olympics. Since then, Brett has been coached by some of the best in New York. In the Summer of 2008, Brett will spend a month in Beijing where he has been invited by a coach of the world famous Chinese Diving Team to train. In addition to focused efforts to strengthen Brett’s immune system and video based teaching, Brett underwent surgery to correct a Chiari I Malformation which was discovered when Brett underwent an MRI. As far as anyone involved knows, this was the first time that a Chiari Malformation was surgically corrected for an individual with Autism.

[edit] Personal Profile

Mary Beth Palo was born Mary Elizabeth Rochin in Syracuse, New York on May 15, 1963 to Norman and Lillian Rochin. She is the youngest of 6 children. The family lived in Syracuse through Mary Beth’s high school education. She attended Catholic Schools there and was an accomplished gymnast. Mary Beth graduated from Saint Bonaventure University, with a BA degree. On May 12, 1990, Mary Beth married David Palo, of Trumbull, Connecticut. They are the parents of two children, Grace (b. 1995) and Brett (b. 1998). She resides in New York with her family.

[edit] Autism Advocacy Work

Following Brett’s diagnosis at 2 ½ years of age, the Palo’s embarked on an aggressive search for effective treatment options. After experiencing very limited success with traditional behavioral therapies, Mary Beth created over 50 hours of home videos meant to teach Brett the most basic life-skills.

Her unique, play-based approach to social skills training was met with success and the door was opened to learning for Brett and thousands of other children suffering from various developmental delays. In 2008, she began to cross reference her video training with gold standard inventories of child development and behavioral standards in order to provide both clinicians and families with a full bodied curriculum for enhanced learning. She is considered an innovator by parents, physicians and therapists in the world Autism community. Mary Beth^[5] was the driving force behind the 2004 campaign resulting in New York State designating Autism Awareness license plates. In addition to the plates, on August 3, 2004, legislation was signed into law amending the vehicle and traffic law to provide for an Autism Awareness and Research Fund. She was honored for pioneering this effort by New York Assemblyman Harry Weisenberg.

Ms. Palo has been a featured speaker at the Autism One® conference,^[6] GASAK^[7] and the Hicksville SEPTA, the National Autism Association Long Island Fair,^[8] The Maine Autism Resource Fair,^[9] The National Autism Association Conference,^[10] and The Cody Center for Autism.^[11]

Mary Beth does volunteer, fundraising and advocacy work with the following organizations: