Core elements of effective teaching of
individuals with ASD
(Appendix 7 of: Ministries of Health and Education. 2008. New Zealand Autism Spectrum
Disorder Guideline Wellington: Ministry of Health)
In Appendix 7, the core elements of effective teaching described in 3.4
Education sector organisation and management are expanded and tables
show possible barriers and ways to implement these elements in the New
Zealand context. Considerations and barriers at two age levels (roughly
equating to primary and secondary) are summarised in the accompanying text
boxes. This material has been drawn from the work of Marks et al. and from
the practice experience and knowledge of the Guideline Development Team
from the education workstream221.
1. Individualised supports and services
This element includes incorporating a focus on the child’s strengths and
weaknesses, as well as family preferences, and the child and young person
preferences and interests to determine the most appropriate intensity and
level of instruction to meet their individual goals.
7–12 years
13–20 years
Incorporating the child’s preferences and special interests
It is possible to include the student’s
preferences and special interests into the
learning objectives for teaching in almost
any curriculum area in the primary area.
It is particularly important that teachers
consider the student’s skills and
preferences when asking students to
demonstrate their learning (eg, the use of
video and other technologies, rather than
writing, which is often a difficulty).
At this level the actual content becomes
more prescribed and more difficult to adapt.
Therefore, teachers should:
• give students options, such as courses
within their interest studied by
correspondence
• consider flexible ways for students to
demonstrate their knowledge
• work with students to give them the
social understanding to be able to
interpret the achievement criteria.
Individual attention to the child’s needs to determine intensity and level of
instruction
• Provide professional learning and development for teachers so they are skilled and
knowledgeable enough to make assessments to determine the student’s needs and
priorities.
• Interventions should use the student’s strengths and find accommodations for their
weaknesses to allow them to participate as much as possible.
• It is essential that the student’s stress levels are monitored and that planned down time
is incorporated into a programme where necessary.
7–12 years
13–20 years
Specialists and teachers need skills in
writing appropriate, specific and
achievable individual educational plans
that focus on the key competencies. Goals
need to be carefully thought out and
planned step-by-step, and every person
who works with the student needs to
understand the purpose and the steps
towards attaining the goals.
•
Students do not need a goal for every
subject. The key goals can be adapted
and generalised across all subject
areas.
•
At a certain point, adaptive behaviours
may need to become the priority.
• Children and young people with ASD
often suffer from fatigue. They may need
to do fewer subjects than other students
and have study periods in which to do
their homework at school.
2. Systematic instruction
This involves carefully planning for instruction by identifying valid educational
goals, carefully outlining instructional procedures for teaching, implementing
the procedures, evaluating their effectiveness and adjusting the instruction
based on the evaluations.
7–12 years
13–20 years
Teachers and specialists require professional learning and development to have
the expertise to target meaningful skills that need to be taught and to plan and
implement systematic instruction and data collection.
• Programmes need to set priorities with
an emphasis on communication and
social skills along with other ‘pivotal’
skills.
• It is important that all instruction is well
considered and goal directed.
• Curriculum adaptation is usually
required, but there is often a tension
about who will do this. This needs to be
addressed. It is likely there will be
different solutions for different students.
• Provision may need to be made for a
number of teachers to receive release for
professional learning and development.
• The emphasis needs to be on:
- the student’s understanding of the
aim of the task
- getting step-by-step (visual)
instructions
- the social, communication and
cognitive elements being transparent
- student motivation and feedback.
3. Comprehensible and structured learning environments
This includes strategies such as organising the instructional setting, providing a
schedule of activities that is kept up to date, carefully planning and providing
choice-making opportunities, providing preventive behavioural support and
providing supports to assist with transitions, flexibility and change.
7–12 years
13–20 years
Providing a comprehensible learning
environment requires good planning, time
to communicate with others, access to
resources for making visual supports, and
an understanding of and empathy with the
student’s perspective.
This provides significantly more challenge
at this level as students have multiple
teachers, use different rooms and have
different timetables. It is important that one
person takes responsibility for coordinating
what is required so that everyone
understands the situation and has the right
information. Students with ASD require
clear boundaries and expectations. It is
particularly important that students have a
lot of support at the beginning of each year
to learn the routines and rules, as well as
the exceptions.
4. Specific curriculum content
This component describes prioritising the core difficulties for individuals with
ASD in the areas of communication and social interaction, and the skills that
are required to participate.
7–12 years
13–20 years
Children with autism need to be taught skills based on an individual assessment, with
consideration for the family’s preferences for targeting goals. Careful consideration
should be given to the functionality of the skills, with an emphasis on skills that:
• are most likely to be useful for the student to control his or her environment
• will increase the student’s independence and quality of life
• will increase the student’s competent performance.
A goal for all students is to communicate effectively, even if the form is non-traditional.
7–12 years
13–20 years
•
There can be a tension in setting goals
between the needs of the student and
the needs of the teacher.
•
•
Communication and social interaction
goals are clearly part of the key
competencies in the New Zealand
Curriculum. Teachers do not always
have the skills to teach these
competencies to children with ASD.
If students have not mastered writing
and other forms of traditional
communication by this age, then quality
of life and social validity issues become
the priority.
•
Teachers and specialists need to work
to find alternatives or accommodations
that enhance participation in the
student’s environments.
•
It is particularly important that teachers
continue to have high hopes for the
students they work with and to continue
to examine what the student can do and
how their interests and the skills they
have acquired can be enhanced or
used to increase their motivation and
ability to participate.
•
It is also crucial that there is continuity
to any communication systems that
have been established. This highlights
the importance of good documentation
of the student’s skills, taking the time to
observe and work with the student
before transitions and information about
the student (in the form of a profile)
being kept up to date.
•
All specialists and teachers who work
with students with ASD need to be
given professional learning and
development to help them take a longterm view of their students’ needs and
to be able to implement communication
and social interaction teaching
strategies such as contemporary ABA,
augmentative communication, use of
technology, PECS, pivotal response
training, peer tutoring and social
stories.
5. Functional approach to problem behaviour
This describes the process by which the child’s problem behaviour is not
merely decreased or eliminated, but is replaced with an appropriate
alternative or replacement behaviour that results in the same or similar
consequences (this is described in detail in section 3.2.e Self-management skills
and addressing challenging behaviour in education settings).
Primary
Secondary
• Schools often have consequence-based behaviour management policies that can be in
conflict with the functional behaviour principles and these need to be discussed and
resolved.
• Teachers, principals and boards of trustees need to examine their policies and discuss
the potential for conflict.
• The principles of functional behaviour assessment are not well understood by teachers
and some specialists, and professional learning and development is needed.
6. Family involvement
Primary
Secondary
Primary
Secondary
Schools need:
• policies and practices that make parents feel welcome and encourage them to
participate
• to support parents to get the information they need to make informed decisions
• to adopt and support effective home–school communication systems.
Systems are needed to help parents to
learn about the curriculum, service
provision and cross-sector initiatives.
Communication at this level tends to be
less regular and often only one of the
teachers (such as the SENCO) is involved.
Very few individual educational plans
include all teachers.