Practical Suggestions for Teaching Autism
What We Know
Asperger's Syndrome. Many students with Aspergers Syndrome fall through the cracks. These students can be thought of as highfunctioning students with autism. Often these students are very verbal, do well academically, and test at average or above-average IQs, but
their behavior is combative and non-compliant when we ask them to do something that contradicts their rituals. It can be hard to
discriminate the behavior pattern of a child with Aspergers Syndrome from child throwing a tantrum.
Autism is a neurological disorder. The autism student's behaviors are symptoms of what going on in the student's brain. Many more
students have autism that we thought. Autism seems to occur in clusters. There are multiple children in a family with the disorder. We can
also identify autism at an earlier age than was previously thought. By examining the motor patterns of children, we can diagnose autism at 5
months of age based on differences in movement patterns, how the child turns, and how the child moves his or her head in relation to the
body.
Myths about Autism: Autism is not an emotional disturbance, due to poor parenting, of a failure to bond, or lack of discipline. Most
children with autism do make eye contact, and most are physically affectionate. However, they handle physical touch better when they are
in control of it and initiate contact. Many children with autism are exceptionally attractive-they look ok.
General Education Guidelines
As educators, we get off track when our interventions respond to the autism student's behaviors. More and more students with autism are
being successfully included with non-disabled students. In these settings, most of challenge are not in the academic areas, it's at social times
(lunch and playground). Schools must adjust administrative procedures to provide support the students need in that setting.
Learning characteristics of students with autism
These students
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Learn better with concrete information than temporal or abstract information.
Are slower at processing information.
Have difficulty processing auditory stimuli.
Need concrete visual space-based cues. Even students with autism with high IQs can't survive without visual cues. These students
require lots of schedules and written cue cards to help them know what people are saying.
See things as whole and can't pull out parts and recombine information to make a new whole. Therefore, when they learn a skill,
they can't generalize; and educators see inconsistency in performance as a result. Learn gestalts: the things we build into routines
become a part of the prompt. If we remove that part of the prompt, the child can't perform the task anymore. Many things can built in
as prompt that we don't realize we built in. For example, to get a child started on a task we may touch him or her, which the child takes
as a prompt. In the future, if we don't touch the child, he or she will not get started on the task.
In addition, these students are gestalt in the way they learn and are tied to the concrete. The need sameness and predictability. If something
is not the same, it changes the entire gestalt, and they don't know what is expected. For example, if a teacher rearranges the classroom with
no warning, these students may fall apart and not know how to do the tasks they have always done. They can't separate the change as a
nonessential piece of information. The key is find way to communicate to the child in a concrete visual way what will happen before it
happens. For example, the teacher could show the student floor plans of the current classroom arrangement and the new arrangement before
he or she makes the change and give to child. The teacher should highlight the child's desk or chair and any other places pertinent to his
space. We tend to talk things, and talk more when they are not doing well. We must augment what we say with a concrete visual for
students with autism.
Speech & Language Characteristics
We may miss the message students with autism are giving us in words. The message the child is giving us verbally not be what their
message is. For example, one student with autism engaged in repetitive questioning: "Is there an elevator?" He kept asking that question
because he was anxious about elevators, he didn't understand them, and elevators were a difficult sensory experience for him. We must
interpret the information and then script the reply: "You want to know more about elevators."
Social Behaviors in Autism
The social behaviors of students with autism are tied to their problems with sensory processing. Because adults are more predictable than
children, many children with autism may interact well with adults but not with their peers. Adults are not seen as a sensory threat. Also,
ritualistic compulsive behaviors often occur in children with Aspergers Sydrome. This can resemble willful behavior, and as a result the
students may be called non-compliant. However, their behaviors stems from the fact that they can't figure out what we want them to do.
Once they know that, they are extremely compliant.
Interventions
Provide a Sensory Diet Educators should use sensation in proactive ways in the student's schedule to maintain level of calmness and
modulation for the child. To do this, we should follow the lead of their behavior when they are agitated, whether the child swings, flaps
his/her arms, rocks or jumps when upset. Whatever movement pattern the child uses is the key to the kind of stimulation we should provide
in more intense doses. For example, educators should set aside 10 minutes of swinging for a child that swings. Those 10 minutes of
swinging activity will provide an organizing sensation for brain first thing in the morning.
As the child progresses, the educator can use a swing or spin toy-that way the child gets the stimulation needed in a way that is appropriate.
Also, when the educator schedules the time for sensory motion into the day, the time it occurs is in the educator's control. If the educator
gives the child sensory input that is intense enough, the child won't engage in the activity other times. When we try to stop the child's motor
patterns, we cause the child more stress.
A Safe Space Children with autism also need calming sensory activities or materials where they can go when they about to hit overload.
They will go off for brief period of time and come back out. They need down time.
Visual Accommodations Use visual schedules for children with autism. It doesn't matter if the schedule is created with objects, photos or
symbols. (Symbols are put out by Mayer-Johnson). The written word should always be used along with the symbols or photos so the child
can pair abstract and symbols. Also, if the teacher uses color coding, he or she can build a visual syntax.
Many times, teachers create these schedules and when the child memorizes them, the teacher stops using them. A better method is to
continue using the schedule by having it serve as a transition tool. After the child has memorized schedule, the teacher could change it or
move it around - this provides a concrete visual way for the child to know what is going to happen next. This teaches children with autism
to be analytic processors. Also, give the children choices about what to put on it and its order so they can use the schedules as a strategy for
adulthood.
Visual Task Analysis Rather than breaking own the steps in day, educators should break the steps in an activity: toothbrushing would show
visually each step in brushing one's teeth.
Choice Cards Use visual accommodations to allow children with autism to make choices. Try to begin with things we want children to
communicate about (bathroom, hungry, thirsty). Teachers are more successful in Teaching communication skills if they start with things
their students with autism like to do, such as spinning or other self-stimulation. Too often, we create artificial practice activities around
communication and the only time the students have access to communication accommodations is when they are with the speech pathologist
or in a language class.
Emotion Cards Create a set of emotion cards and have them available everywhere the child is. If you are frustrated, point to the card and
say, "I am frustrated," and freeze frame your expression so they can process it. You should also use the emotion cards to read their
emotions. If you misread their emotion, they'll correct you. Use these cards context, when the emotions really happen, not as an arbitrary
practice activity.
Sensory-based Information
Sensory-based information is the most powerful sensation we have (it's what the brain uses naturally to learn). Touch is one of the three top
powerful sensations. Brain function - when your brain perceives that you are at risk, your automatic nervous system will override anything
else going on. The brain of children with autism perceives the environment as dangerous -it misprocesses incoming sensory stimuli, which
causes it to create a constant state of alertness. The brain focuses on those issues to the exclusion of what we are trying to teach. Therefore,
we teach the status of being ok, of being comfortable and non-stressed.
The most powerful input is when your body or you are moving, the input you get from heavy work that activates muscles and tendons.
Contraction and resistance is the second most powerful. Touch is the third down. Then we move down to visual and auditory input, which
is what we use predominantly to teach. The most powerful input in terms of activating brain is in movement and whole body involvement.
Thus, kids learn by doing.
Children with autism have sensory dysfunction; their sensory defensiveness is tremendous, which results in extreme avoidance of a
particular kind of sensory sensation. The automatic nervous system takes over, and the child can't deal with the sensory input and must get
away from it. To do so, they go into flight or fight. In children with autism, we see patterns of finicky eating behavior, disturbed sleeping,
and/or preferences for certain kinds of clothing. These are characteristics of this sensory processing problem.
Sensory Modulation Nearly every child with autism has difficulty staying on an even keel. They fluctuate from drowsiness to hyperactivity
and distractibility and back down. These children also often under or over-register sensation. For example, they may become stuck on a
detail or won't register (hear or feel) things. They may need to see their hands or feet or they don't know where they are. Their body
awareness is bad, and as a result they may run into people, knock down, or hang on to you. This type of behavior can look aggressive.
Modulation problems also result in difficulty with transition, distractibility, shutting down, or persistent self-stimulation.
Sensory Defensiveness Children with autism may experience sensory defensiveness with touch, orally, visually, or with, experience
gravitational insecurity. Sensory defensiveness may make bathing or changing clothes an issue or result in picky eaters (I know what this
food will do). If a child experiences oral defensiveness, don't force feed them. If a child has gravitational insecurity, he or she may refuse to
climb on playground equipment. To help, provide furniture that fits them or provide the child with weights or weighted blankets. A child
with auditory defensiveness may put his or her hands over the ears or run away. The pattern of defensiveness interferes with everything
going on, learning, staying focused, or staying in same environment.
Techniques for Sensory Defensiveness Cliffer Mills, Inc. markets multi-bristle non-scratching brushes that provide deep pressure input on
the arms, hands, legs, and feet. The deep pressure provides deep input to lympic system and resets its ability to process incoming stimuli.
The deep pressure stimulates pressure centers, then is followed by gentle compression to joints. If this is done every 2 hours over 3-5 days,
what is happening in the lympic system can be reset and defensive patterns can disappear.
Modulation Issues To help children with autism stay is in the middle range, educators should structure their day in terms of sensation.
Generally, students are expected to sit down for much of the morning, while in the afternoon they get to move in pe, music, and art. This
structure does not promote modulation. Instead, provide active movement alternating with periods of sitting and concentration. The best
situations are those that are very flexible and allow kids to come and go.
When these students are required to sit still for extended periods of time, they may not be able to process information because it takes all
their concentration just to do sit still.
Oral Stimulation Give students things that are hard to chew such as starburst, beef jerky, taffy, and massaging teethers. Also, use powerful
sensations for taste (extremely sour or sweet) or ice-cold to warm.