Characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorders
Each of the disorders on the autism spectrum is a neurological disorder that affects a child’s ability to communicate, understand language, play, and relate to others. Children with autism or one of the other disorders on the autism spectrum can differ considerably with respect to their abilities, intelligence, and behavior. Some children don’t talk at all. Others use language where phrases or conversations are repeated. Children with the most advanced language skills tend to talk about a limited range of topics and to have a hard time understanding abstract concepts. they may be diagnosed as having one of the other disorders on the spectrum—Aspergers, Rett’s, PDDNOS. PDDNOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified)
They share some or all of the following characteristics, which can vary from mild to severe, evidence before 3:
1. Communication problems (for example, with the use or comprehension of language-expressive and receptive);
2. Difficulty relating to people, things, and events;
3. Playing with toys and objects in unusual ways;
4. Difficulty adjusting to changes in routine or to familiar surroundings;
5. Repetitive body movements or behaviors.
6. Unusual and sometimes uncontrolled reactions to sensory information—for instance, to loud noises, bright lights, and certain textures of food or fabrics.
7. Social interaction (such as the inability to establish or maintain relationships with peers appropriate to the level of the child’s development,
8. Communication (such as the absence of language or delays in its development), and
9. Behavior (such as repetitive preoccupation with one or more areas of interest in a way that is abnormal in its intensity or focus).
STRATEGIES
Routines & Schedules: practiced, taught, set (visual/auditory) & reviewed daily
Active Ignoring/Extinction; the student does not receive a reinforcement positive or negative/consequence-the behavior and the student is ignored completely, everyone is engaged in actively ignoring the behavior
Prepare for changes; speak to student(s) in advance for a sub, fire drill
Practice-Role Play; have the students practice asking for clarification
Over-Correction; students walk through halls several times correctly
ASD students are provided with many repeated opportunities (called learning “trials”) to practice specific skills and receive direct feedback.
When a child makes an incorrect response, the instructor provides feedback that indicates that the response was incorrect; indicate this by saying something such as “try again”, the instructor may ignore the incorrect response and simply move on to the next task,
The instructor performs the correct response and assists the child in repeating it (called correction). I do it-We do it-You do it.
It is generally wise to avoid using the word “no” because it has usually been associated with negative events in the child’s past and can elicit emotional behavior such as crying or tantrums.
Recognize when he/she behaves appropriately. Do not focus on the absence of the negative behavior, rather reward appropriate behaviors displayed, points on desks & tallies on board.
Once the child has learned to differentiate the desirable behavior from undesirable, then the child is taught to monitor brief periods of time or occurrences of the positive behavior.
The child can be taught to self-manage in any environment. Adults should only remind the child to begin self-management and then gradually fade out of the new environment by leaving for longer periods of time.
First-then" strategy; that is, "first you do ___, then you do ___",
rather than an "if-then" approach (i.e., "if you do ___, then you can do___").
This first-then strategy allows the "first" expectation (whether a task, activity or assignment) to be modified, as needed. The modification is in terms of task completion and amount of prompting, in order to accommodate the student's daily fluctuations in his ability to process in-coming information. Then he can move on to his next visually scheduled task/activity.
Academic Work: What they need to know
What is the work to be done?
What is the nature of the task?
How much work?
Visually represent to the student exactly how much work is to be done
When am I finished?
What comes next?
Play/Social Time
A teacher frequently reminds a child on the Autism Spectrum, prior to going out for recess, the rules. Specifically; that s/he cannot push other children. Have the child repeat this rule prior to going out to recess.
When experiencing great distress, a child with Autism Spectrum continually looks to others for monitoring of his emotional states, "Am I under control yet?" Tell the child, “you are doing good, your breathing is slower and your face is calmer”.
He has limited awareness of when he is calm, versus extremely upset. Another example would be laughing, seemingly inappropriately, when others are hurt, embarrassed, etc. Do not be alarmed; use it as a teaching moment.
Understanding and using non-verbal social communication (discourse) skills: Children with Autism Spectrum can have significant difficulty interpreting non-verbal social communication skills used to regulate social interactions (e.g., tone of voice, facial expressions, body postures, gestures, personal space, vocal volume, use of eye contact to "read" faces, etc.). Say, “look at my face, what is it telling you? It is telling you I am feeling…”
For example, they may not understand that a raised vocal volume can convey an emotional state such as anger (e.g., A student with Autism Spectrum stated, "Why are you talking louder? I can hear you" when his mother raised her voice to communicate anger). Some children with Autism Spectrum can exhibit conversational speech with a somewhat flat affect: limited vocal change regarding vocal tone, volume, pitch, stress and rhythm, particularly to indicate emotion and/or emphasize key words.Narrative discourse skills: Children with Autism Spectrum can exhibit difficulty with their narrative discourse skills, including relating past events, or retelling movies, stories, and T.V. shows in a cohesive and sequential manner. They may leave out important pieces of relational information, as well as referents, and may use many revisions, pauses and/or repetitions. Be patient and use it as a teaching moment.
Give the child with Autism Spectrum enough time to respond, in order to allow for possible auditory processing difficulties, before repeating/rephrasing the question/directive. The child can be taught appropriate phrases to indicate he needs additional processing time, e.g., "Give me a minute, I'm thinking"
Written rules can help the child understand what is expected of him at all times. Reference to the rules can be used rather than verbally telling him what to do, or what not to do.
The adults in the child's environment should be aware of the child's concrete/literal interpretation of figurative language, and should provide concrete explanations for idioms, multi-meaning words, jokes, teasing, etc.,
This can be tricky: Forewarn the child of any fire drills, earthquake drills, etc. This can be done both verbally and visually (on his schedule). Although the child may appear calm outwardly and appear able to readily handle this change in routine, he may be experiencing internal stress/anxiety which could appear later.
They need to have access to various sensory calming activities and/or physical activities (we have fidgets), which are scheduled throughout the day, fidgets are available if a child seems to be stressing.
STRESS RELIEVERS
Deep pressure (pressure touch) activities: firm hugs; being rolled within a mat or blanket; wearing a weighted vest/blanket; massage; chewing gum, rolling in a frog or a mat. Rubbing back or forearms.
Incorporating heavy work patterns (i.e., push, pull, carry) into functional tasks/jobs appears to assist some children in becoming more calm and focused.
Student Jobs; taking the attendance or lunch room count to the office for each classroom; getting the milk cartons for the kindergarten classrooms and delivering them to each classroom; sweeping a walkway; carrying books back to the library; cleaning the chalkboard, etc.
COOL-DOWN CORNER
Southwest corner of the classroom: to decrease sensory overload and increase self-calming, it has objects available which are calming to the child. Lily-Pad
SITUATIONAL
Saying negative comments to other students
Encourage the child to whisper, rather than speak his thoughts aloud.
Remind and practice to "think it-don't say it" have them role playing, and social scripting can all be used to teach the child how to initially identify what "thoughts" should be represented internally.
Changes
Changes in routines and can exhibit a definite preference to a reliable schedule. Avoid changes, but some are unforeseen; they can become quite anxious and worry incessantly about the unknown; that is, when the environment becomes unpredictable and they do not know what to expect. Example: Unpredictability may occur during less structured activities or times of the day: recess, lunch, free play/time, physical education, bus rides to/from school, music class, art class, assemblies, field trips, substitute teachers, delayed start/early dismissal, etc. Lessons on what to do when the unpredicted happens, then reference back.
Communication discrepancy-tells someone "Thank you", he expects the person to respond immediately with, "Your welcome". If the person does not immediately respond, the child will perseverate in saying "Thank you", and become increasingly anxious until the person says, "You're welcome". Practice calming tools and give them opportunity to hear the expected communication.
Need for closure/completion: In relation to their ritualistic needs, children with Autism Spectrum can exhibit an intense need for closure or completion of tasks/activities before transitioning to the next activity. Such as touching certain places in the class as a method of “checking out”. This can create significant educational implications if not planned for accordingly (e.g., If a math worksheet is not able to be completed prior to going out for recess, the child with Autism Spectrum may become quite upset - even though he may enjoy going outside for recess very much). The anxiety relates to the need for closure, a ritualistic need, rather than in relation to the specific activities at hand, and typically cannot be alleviated by being told that the activity can completed later. Let them complete the ritual.
Getting off-task, and may be easily distracted by both internal (perseverative thoughts/concerns) and external (sensory) stimuli. For example, internal stimuli distraction: a child sees a single cloud in the sky and begins to obsess about whether it is going to rain and/or possibly storm. External stimuli distraction: attending to a fly buzzing around the room rather than the teacher; attending to fluorescent light flickering). Screening out information that is irrelevant can be very difficult, requiring conscious effort by the child with Autism Spectrum. If prompting is not successful-ask if would help for them to complete the task in different already identified location.
Routines: Gathering educational materials needed for specific tasks/activities/homework. Keeping track of their belongings - including personal and educational materials such as assignments;
• Each student has a daily schedule check list on their desk
• The weekly schedule is on the board and reviewed daily
• Specialties (Speech, Social Skills Group, etc.) are on the board and reviewed daily
We use timers a lot!! Use of a timer provides time constraints and structure for completing tasks. When given an unlimited amount of time, children with Autism Spectrum may take an unlimited amount of time for task completion. However caution should be taken in using timers. Some children may become highly interested (distracted) in the amount of time which is passing-we need to monitor this closely; “you cannot have the timer if you focus on the time”.
Emotional Vulnerability - Intervention Strategies:
Utilize the child's strength areas-a child with a high interest in geography could give a presentation to the class relating to the current area of study.
Limit or Regulate Intense Interests;
Relentless "lectures" on their specific areas of interest; Repetitive questions about interests, concerns or worries; trouble "letting go" of thoughts or ideas, particularly relating to concerns or worries; Refusal to learn about anything outside of their limited field of interest, as they do not appear to understand the significance. Common high interest areas for many children with Autism Spectrum may include: "Wheel of Fortune" game, transportation, astronomy, animals, dinosaurs, geography, weather and maps. It is important to note that these behaviors can often resemble obsessive/compulsive types of behaviors.
The Golden 3: The student can be given 3 tickets a day to speak about his/her interest for 3 minutes, and they can learn 3 new things on a topic they are not interested and they can teach 1 one desired concept for 3 minutes.
THEORY OF THE MIND
Remember perceptions of the world are often viewed as rigid and egocentric, when in reality they are unable to infer other people's mental states. Typically developing children acquire "Theory of Mind" skills by age four, yet it estimated that this concept develops between the ages of 9-14 in children with Autism Spectrum. The following are educational implications for children who have "Theory of Mind" deficit:
1. When the teacher asks a question to the class, the child thinks that the teacher is speaking directly (and only) to him, and therefore calls out the answer.
2. A child with Autism Spectrum can be extremely vulnerable to wrongful intent initiated by other children. He can have great difficulty reading the intentions of others and understanding the motives behind their behavior (e.g., a fifth grade student "befriended" a child with Autism Spectrum and told him to say and do many inappropriate verbalizations/actions, for which he got into trouble).
3. Due to difficulty in being able to understand the emotional perspective of others, the child may exhibit a seemingly lack of empathy (e.g., a child with Autism Spectrum may laugh seemingly inappropriately when another child gets hurt).
4. The child may have difficulty understanding that his behavior (both actions and words) can affect how others think or feel. He doesn't appear to understand that his words or actions can make someone feel different than his own emotional state. He is not purposefully trying to hurt others. He is factually relating information, without regard to the other person's feelings.
Remember to have fun!
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