The
Para
Periodical
September 2015
Sensory Issues with Autism &
Behavior Management Strategies
Quick Look
Autism in Our Classroom
Autism
“Autism is a geneticallybased human neurological
variant… characterized by
particularly high levels of
synaptic connectivity and
responsiveness. Autism
produces distinctive,
atypical ways of thinking,
moving, interaction, and
sensory and cognitive
processing” (Walker, 2014).
Behavior Management
Behavior management
consists of strategies used in
the classroom to “reduce or
eliminate problem behaviors
and/or increase desirable
behaviors.” (Bursztyn, 2007)).
As every educator should know, it is absolutely
essential to an effective classroom that the teachers and
paraeducators know their students as individuals. This
includes having an understanding of any of their unique
educational, physical, and/or emotional needs. In our
classroom, it is important that we familiarize ourselves with
the disabilities that our students have, since they have both
direct and indirect effects on their learning.
Our classroom consists of several students who have
autism. Although it would be nice to be able to define and
explain autism once and for all, this spectrum disorder is not
easily defined, as it varies a great deal from person to
person. For example, we have Jenna, who is very friendly
and personable, but misses some social cues once in a while.
We have Charlie, who is very withdrawn and sensitive to
excessive noise in the classroom. And we have Ben, who is
non-verbal and sometimes engages in self-mutilating
behaviors when frustrated. It is important to understand
some common factors to learn how to implement instruction
that meets the diverse needs of these students, all who have
autism.
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Autism and the Senses
Autism is a “neurological variant” and
“developmental phenomenon” that causes people to think,
act, and socialize in a variety of ways that are often outside
the norm (Walker, 2014). It is officially defined as Autism
Spectrum Disorder, which means that it manifests in
different people in a huge variety of ways across a whole
spectrum of symptoms. Some people with autism show
very mild signs of it, while others have much more severe
symptoms.
Autism often has a significant effect on the way that
a person views the world and perceives his or her
surroundings. As Nathan Walker, author of the blog
Neurocosmipolitanism explains, “autistic brains are
characterized by particularly high levels of synaptic
connectivity and responsiveness. This tends to make the
autistic individual’s subjective experience more intense and
chaotic than that of non-autistic individuals: on both the
sensorimotor and cognitive levels, the autistic mind tends
to register more information, and the impact of each bit of
information tends to be both stronger and less predictable”
(Walker, 2014).
Because autism has this effect on the way that the
brain responds to stimuli, it can greatly affect children’s
learning by altering the ways that they perceive and
process information and stimuli from their environments,
as well as the ways in which they interact with other
people. Their high levels of responsiveness to various
stimuli can make certain sensory experiences, such as
excessive noise, bright lights, or sustained social
interactions, overwhelming for individuals with autism,
and it is very important to be aware of these situations in
the classroom.
However, despite many commonalities among
individuals with autism and their brains’ functions, it is
important to recognize that autism varies greatly from
person to person, so very few generalizations can be made
about individuals with autism. For this reason, it is
imperative for educators and paraprofessionals to learn
their individual students’ learning and sensory needs.
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[Issue] :: [Date]
Expectations:
Special Education
Teacher –
 Provide Paras with
necessary
information about
student needs and
instructional plans
from their IEP’s
 Include 1:1 Paras in
the IEP planning
processes
Paraprofessional –
 1:1 Paras should be
active in the IEP
planning process
 All Paras should stay
informed of the
students’ sensory
needs and be able to
accommodate them,
as necessary, to
support learning
 Recognize students as
having individual
needs and understand
that autism is very
unique to each
student
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Issue [#] :: [Date]
Behavior Management Strategies
Behavior management strategies are very essential
elements to a functional and effective learning environment.
They are strategies that are used in order to help increase
positive behaviors among students and decrease or eliminate
undesirable ones. Some strategies are very simple and can
be used to help effectively manage an entire classroom of
students. Other strategies can be more geared toward
helping a particular student’s target behavior. Often times,
these more individualized behavior management techniques
are accompanied by data collection and subsequent planning
of more strategies and instruction.
Expectations:
Special Education
Teacher:
 Inform Paras of the
behavior managements
strategies that are
effective for each student
 Model and instruct Paras
in how to perform each
individualized strategy
Paraprofessionals:
 Be able to implement the
appropriate behavior
managements strategies
for each student
 Accurately document
when individualized
strategies were needed to
calm or redirect a
student
 Accurately and
completely collect data
when instructed
Some common and effective behavior management
strategies include:




Self-regulated time-outs in a Cool Down Corner
o Allow student to take a “Trip to Alaska” and
take a 5-minute break in the beanbag when
they become too frustrated to continue working.
Brain breaks to break up tasks and let out energy
o Turn on an upbeat song and let the students get
their “wiggles” out!
Daily Checklist
o Write down all of a student’s activities for the
day, and check them off as they go.
Behavior Charts
o Students put a happy face sticker on their
individual chart when they display their desired
target behavior, or a sad face for an undesired
one.
Managing Behaviors in
Our Classroom
Because our classroom contains students with many
needs, we will use many individualized behavior
management strategies with our kids. For example, Charlie
uses a daily checklist so that he knows what is coming
throughout the day, which minimizes outbursts. Jenna uses
a behavior chart to track positive and appropriate
interactions with her peers. We are also working on Ben
utilizing the Cool-Down Corner so as to help him learn
positive self-regulatory behaviors.
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