Running Header: IMPROVE OUTCOMES OF STUDENTS WITH AUTISM
Working to Improve Academic and Social Outcomes of Students with Autism
Elise Phillips
Seattle Pacific University
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Working to Improve Academic and Social Outcomes of Students with Autism
Autism is a category of developmental disorders including five classifications. These
classifications include autism disorder, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise
specified (PDD-NOS), Asperger’s syndrome, Rett syndrome, and child disintegrative
disorder. The cause remains unknown, but family and twin studies seem to point to some
kind of genetic connection. It has also been found that people with autism have
neurobiological differences in anatomy and function of the brain. There is no cure and it
is not possible to outgrow this developmental disorder; however, it is possible to
overcome many symptoms. 1/110 of people between the ages of 0 and 21 has been
diagnosed with autism; however half of these cases are mild forms of the disability
(Isbell, 2011).
The topic of autism is relevant to special education because students with this
disability are served by special education services in our schools. Also this is a current
topic of debate as a new definition for the disability may exclude many from services that
are available to them at this time. This is due to the overbearing financial pressure on
schools and the explosion of diagnoses in the past decade (Carey, 2012). This particular
disability is of interest to me because I have worked with several students with autism so
far during my career. Through research on the topic of autism, I hope that I will be able
to better serve and support my students with autism in my classroom as well as gain an
understanding of what it feels like to walk in their shoes. I hope that through a better
understanding of this disorder, I will be able to work to improve the social and academic
outcomes for students with autism.
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As this disability continues to rise in prevalence, more and more research is being
done around what teachers, parents, care givers, and specialists can do to help improve
academic and social outcomes of students with autism. Through my literature review, I
was able to learn about many studies that have been done to test hypotheses about
interventions and support for students with autism. Von der Embse (2011) says that there
has been a recent push for inclusion of special education students in general education
classrooms. While this can be very beneficial for both the student with the disability and
the rest of the class, it can also be very challenging. It is important that general education
teachers who work with students with disabilities have training and know strategies and
techniques to make the situation beneficial for everyone involved.
In my literature review on autism I found several themes of intervention. These
include teaching self-coping strategies, social skills training, and the effects of teacher
training on students’ problem behaviors. I also found that in the studies that I read about
interventions, the researchers reported generally positive results. A few interventions,
which are summarized below, stuck out specifically.
In “Case Studies on Using Strengths and Interests to Address the Needs of
Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders,” Lanou, Hough, and Powell (2012) explain
the importance of taping into students’ strengths and interests to promote success.
“Educators can embrace students’ unique humor, idiosyncratic interests, and seemingly
“nonfunctional” behaviors to motivate them in meeting challenging social and academic
expectations while also increasing their confidence and independence” (p. 176). This
team collaborated to develop a toolbox of strategies based on best practices. The
strategies include an academic strategy to specifically encourage self-monitoring during
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writing activities, an emotional self-regulation strategy, a social strategy, and a behavioral
strategy.
The authors took things that the students in their study liked and identified with
and incorporated them into the strategies. For example, they took the doodles that one
student often created in his notebook to create a system of messages so that the teacher
could know if the student was frustrated and to what extent. Another example is that a
different student loved the Titanic and was always searching for more information on this
disaster. He would often get too close to other students so they developed a cue card to
tell him to watch out for icebergs when he got too close to other students. This made
perfect sense to him.
I can see using this toolbox of strategies in my classroom with my students with
autism. I find that tapping into students’ interests almost always promotes buy-in. When
students can make a connection to their own lives and what they like, they are much more
likely to enjoy the class and be interested in the work or the goals that you are trying to
accomplish.
In the article, “Stop, Think, Proceed,” Isbell (2011) reminds the reader that half of
children diagnosed with autism have a mild form such as Asperger’s syndrome or
pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified. Strategy teaching is a
promising intervention to help students develop skills to become effective problem
solvers. Students with autism have difficulty coping with unexpected problems in the
daily routine. Stop, Think, Proceed is a protocol that teaches essential skills for social
problem solving. It is designed to be visually stimulating and each skill has a visual
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symbol associated with it. Teaching and reinforcing these strategies help students monitor
their own behavior and be able to generalize them for other situations.
I like the idea of the visual aspect of this intervention. Because students with
autism are very visually driven, it is an effective tool to use with this population. Also
the protocol creates a routine for the students so that they know exactly what to expect. It
also leads to ownership and self-monitoring for the students, which is very important to
build on.
In the article “Step by Step,” Ogilvie (2012) suggests that social and academic
improvements for students with autism can be fostered through video modeling and peer
mentoring. Students with autism have difficulty interacting with peers because they do
not pick up on social cues. Examples of social characteristics of a person with autism
include lack of eye contact, limited affect, and partial or nonexistent verbal
communication. The goal of a teacher of a student with autism is to teach the “hidden
curriculum” of social rules that vary depending on setting.
Peer mentoring is a strategy that can work in conjunction with video modeling
where a student who does not have a disability will help a student with a disability
academically and socially. Some examples of this partnership include working with a
peer during class on an assignment, participating with the peer in a social group, or roleplaying social situations. Through these interactions, the peer mentor will model
appropriate behavior without explicit instruction and the student with autism will be
given an opportunity for social interaction. Teachers can combine these strategies by
creating videos using peer mentors. It is suggested that the videos should focus on the
ABCs of a behavior, which include the antecedent, the behavior, and the consequence.
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It is important to be thoughtful as you implement these interventions so that both
the peer mentor and the student with the disability feel comfortable with the arrangement.
As they begin to work to master specific social skills, the teacher should begin by
introducing the skill to the student and the peer mentor. Then the teacher should review
the steps of the skill. Next, he or she should show the video to the student and the peer
mentor and have the student practice with the mentor. Lastly, the teacher should review
the steps of the skill.
Peer mentoring has been used very effectively in my school. It is clear that both
the student with the disability and the peer mentor gain a lot from the experience. As I
picture using this intervention in my classroom, I envision working with my student’s
special education teacher to make this possible. In my classroom, peer mentoring would
be an excellent experience for both the mentor and the student with autism. I can see a
student with autism being paired with a peer to work on assignments or guide during
group projects. However, while I love the idea of the video modeling, I do not think that
I would have time to incorporate this into my classroom. Through collaboration with my
student’s special education teacher, perhaps we could work with peers in my class to
create these videos and practice the behaviors.
In another article, Suhrheinrich (2011) described a study about the effects of
Pivotal Response Training. In this article, PRT was described as “a behavioral
intervention that was developed to facilitate generalization, increase spontaneity, reduce
prompt dependency, and increase motivation of children with autism.” The goal of this
intervention is to increase verbal and non-verbal communication skills. The study
addressed the effects of a 6-hour group workshop for teachers on PRT and the effects of
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additional coaching on teacher implementation of PRT. The study was comprised of 20
teachers who participated in the workshop, classroom videotaping, and direct feedback
from the trainer. The results indicated that the training and continued coaching was
effective in improving teachers’ use of PRT.
I would be very interested in receiving more training on specific disabilities and
working with students with disabilities. As a general education teacher, I do not work
with classroom full of these students but I have a few students with special needs in each
of my classes. I feel that professional development is a very important piece to the
puzzle.
I found that while more and more research is continuing to come out best
practices for teaching students with autism, I would be interested to see more studies with
use of inclusion as the independent variable to determine what is the best setting for
students with autism and what needs to happen to close the gap of success. I think that in
the inclusion model, general education teachers need more training to know best practices
strategies for working with students with disabilities.
The articles that I read in my literature review gave practical examples of how to
use specific interventions and strategies in the classroom. As I read these articles, I was
reminded of the theme of collaboration that we have talked about in this class. As I
pictured using many of these interventions in my classroom, I envisioned collaborating
with my student’s special education teacher to make them possible. I believe that this
would help students generalize the behaviors that they had learned and help consistency
throughout the day. Also I have found that the more I learn, the more I want to learn. I
IMPROVE OUTCOMES OF STUDENTS WITH AUTISM
hope that I can become better equipped to help student with autism and other disabilities
in the future.
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IMPROVE OUTCOMES OF STUDENTS WITH AUTISM
References
Carey, B. (2012, Jan 20). New autism rule will trim many, a study suggests. New York
Times, p. A1.
Isbell, J. S., & Jolivette, K. (2011). Stop, think, proceed: Solving problems in the real
world. Intervention In School And Clinic, 47(1), 31-38.
Lanou, A., Hough, L., & Powell, E. (2012). Case studies on using strengths and
interests to address the needs of students with autism spectrum disorders.
Intervention In School And Clinic, 47(3), 175-182.
Ogilvie, C. R. (2011). Step by step. Teaching Exceptional Children, 43(6), 20-26.
SARRC (Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center) “Autism FAQ”
http://www.autismcenter.org/autism_faq.aspx
Suhrheinrich, J. (2011). Training teachers to use pivotal response training with
children with autism: Coaching as a critical component. Teacher Education
And Special Education, 34(4), 339-349.
Von der Embse, N., Brown, A., & Fortain, J. (2011). Facilitating inclusion by reducing
problem behaviors for students with autism spectrum disorders. Intervention In
School And Clinic, 47(1), 22-30.
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