Supporting Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Supporting Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

• August 2004
• PaTTAN Paraeducator Training

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Paraeducator Development Plan Menu(to be used in
conjunction with Paraeducators Personal
Development Plan)
Directions This menu is a tool for you to use as
you progress through the Paraeducator Course.
Whenever you come across topics about which you
would like more information, place a checkmark
next to the topic and indicate in the Notes
column any specifics (for example, in 1 indicate
which disability). For each topic checked make an
entry in the Paraeducator Personal Development
Plan.
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Paraeducator Development Plan
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Local Policy

• Your local districts policies regarding Para
  educator job descriptions, duties, and
  responsibilities provide the final word!

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Agenda

• Purpose of Training/Learner Outcomes
• What is Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Main Deficits
• Classroom Challenges Strategies
• Current Methodologies

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Learner Outcomes

• Describe the defining features and core deficits
  of students diagnosed with Autism Spectrum
  Disorder
• List specific instructional strategies to address
  the core deficits associated with ASD
• Discuss some of the methods currently used to
  support students who have ASD

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AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

• High Functioning

• Low Functioning

• Retts Syndrome

• Aspergers Disorder

• Autism

• Childhood Disintegrative Disorder

• PDD NOS

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Main Deficits in Autism

• Social Behavior
• Reciprocity
• Communication
• Verbal
• Non verbal
• Restricted Range of Behaviors

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Pennsylvania Department of Education Autism Child
Count for years 1990 - 2004
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REMEMBER!!!

• Autism Spectrum Disorder is diagnosed by the
  observation of behaviors.

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Addressing the Challenges

• It is easier to prevent a behavior from occurring
  than to deal with it once it happens!

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Challenges for Children with Autism Spectrum
Disorder (ASD)

• ACADEMICS
• Problems with
• Making connections
• Understanding abstract concepts
• Organizing themselves and their environment
• Seeing the Big picture

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Academic/Behavior Strategies

• Provide a predictable and safe environment
• Prepare for changes
• Expose student to new activity beforehand
• Avoid surprises
• Teach flexibility
• Minimize transitions
• Offer consistent daily routine
• Provide picture or written schedules
• Teach calendar skills and choice boards

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Academic/Behavior Strategies

• Break assignments down into small units
• Provide frequent teacher feedback
• Give redirection as needed
• Use timed work sessions
• Have firm expectations
• Visually show beginning and end
• Provide environmental supports such as room
  dividers and individual carrels
• Use curriculum that addresses individual student
  needs

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Academic/Behavior Strategies

• Make language visible!

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• Sensory Issues

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Sensory Activity
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Sensory Motor Activity

• 1. Review this Sensory-Motor Preference
  Checklist. Think about what you do in small
  subtle ways to maintain an appropriate level of
  attention that a child with a less mature nervous
  system may need to do in a larger more intense
  way.
•  
• 2. Notice which types of sensory input are
  comforting to you and which types of sensory
  input bother you. Are your items grouped in a
  certain category?
•  

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Sensory Motor Activity

• 3. Consider how often how long, how much and with
  what rhythm you use these strategies to maintain
  your focus.
• 4.  When you need to concentrate at your work
  space, what sensory input do you prefer to help
  you work most efficiently?
• a.      What do you put in your mouth?
• b.      What do you prefer to touch?
• c.      What types of movement do you use?
• d.      What are your visual preferences?
• e.      What auditory input do you use?

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Challenges for Students with Autism Spectrum
Disorder
Sensory

• May be
• Hyper/Hyposensitive
• Sounds
• Visuals
• Taste/Smells
• Touch

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Sensory Strategies for students who are

• Sensitive to sounds
• Muffle sound of PA system
• Put tennis balls on bottom of chair legs
• Keep noise levels down in classroom
• Sensitive to visual distractions
• Check for flickering fluorescent lights
• Limit number of visuals displayed
• in the classroom

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Sensory Strategies for students who are

• Sensitive to smells
• Mask smells with lip balm
• Do not wear strong perfumes
• Sensitive to touch
• May prefer to wear clothing inside out
• Dont get into students personal space

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• Social
• and
• Communication
• Issues

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Challenges for Students with Autism Spectrum
Disorder
Social
Play

• Difficulties
• Relating to others
• Prefers being alone
• Joint attention
• Interpreting nonverbal social cues
• Eye contact

• Issues
• Ritualistic repeating a particular behavior
• Focus on detail
• Use toys in uncharacteristic ways
• Limited play themes
• Solitary or parallel play

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Social Strategies

• Protect the student from bullying and teasing
• Emphasize skills the student is good at
• Teach how to react to social cues
• Give scripted responses to use in social
  situations
• Model and role play two-way interactions
• Use social stories

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Play Strategies

• Structure play time
• Teach play skills
• Teach interaction with others
• Limit time spent alone
• Plan, plan, plan for recess, free play,
• lunch, PE

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Challenges for Students with Autism Spectrum
Disorder

• Communication
• Difficulties
• Lack of initiation skills
• Poor auditory comprehension
• May not respond to their name
• Immediate echolalia
• Delayed echolalia
• Perseverative speech
• Incessant (repetitive) questioning
• Limited receptive and expressive repertoires

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Communication Strategies

• For Classroom Staff
• Give students time to respond
• Avoid excessive use of questions
• Use as few words as possible
• Respond naturally
• Always have communication tools available

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Communication Strategies

• Attempt to get students attention before
  speaking
• Adjust complexity
• How you talk
• What you talk about
• Do not demand constant eye contact
• Support verbal language with visuals
• Limit adult conversations

SIT
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Communication Strategies

• If necessary, use gestures to supplement speech.
• Use clear, concise language to help structure a
  students world.

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Communication Strategies

• Use Communicative Temptations
• Interesting/favorite toys and materials
• Objects in clear containers
• placed out of reach
• Give small portions

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Communication Strategies

• Fill in the blanks
• familiar songs and stories
• Provide choices
• Couple a preferred item with a non-preferred item

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Make Language Visible
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SHOW ME AND I REMEMBER
Bring what to school?
Tell me and I forget!
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All Students Have a Need to Say

• What they want
• What they are having trouble doing
• When they need timeout
• When they are giving up
• When they are happy and successful

Adapted from Ann Heler
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All Students Also Need to Know

• What is expected of them
• What is the routine
• What is socially relevant so they can respond
  appropriately

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Strategy Activity
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Overview of Methodologies, Strategies
Treatments for Autism Spectrum Disorder
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Applied Behavior Analysis
Lovaas Therapy
Verbal Behavior
Discrete Trial Teaching
Intensive behavioral Intervention
Direct Instruction
Incidental Teaching
Precision Teaching Fluency Based Instruction
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Applied Behavior Analysis

• Goals
• Teach simple to more complex skills
• Develop a behavioral profile that is as typical
  as possible
• Generalize learned skills to other situations
• Prompting, fading, shaping, chaining
• Enable students to function as independently as
  possible

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Applied Behavior Analysis

• Tools
• Curriculum of simple to complex target behaviors
• Task analysis
• Menu of reinforcers for child
• Repeated practices, discrete trials
• One-to-one instruction
• Systematic generalization training
• Data based decision making
• Incidental teaching

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Picture Exchange Communication System

• PECS is a structured communication system
• Can be used with students of all ages
• Give a picture to a communicative partner in
  exchange for the item
• Teaches functional communication

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Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)

• Can be used with students who are just beginning
  to speak
• Uses behavioral training techniques
• Two trainers used at first one for prompting in
  back, one in front of the student

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Social Stories

• Describe social situations in terms of relevant
  social cues
• Often define appropriate responses
• Teach routines, academics, and address a variety
  of behaviors

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A Sample Social Story

• Sometimes a person says I changed my mind.
  Descriptive
• This means they had one idea, but now they have
  a new idea. Perspective
• I will work on staying calm when someone changes
  their mind. Directive
• When someone says, I changed my mind,I can
  think of someone writing something down,
  scratching it out, and writing something new.
  Control

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Structured Teaching

• Structure is a key component of a classroom for
  students who have Autism Spectrum Disorder.
• Structured teaching includes
• Organizing the physical environment
• Developing schedules
• Developing work systems
• Using visual materials
• Providing clear and explicit expectations
• Creating an independent learner

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Structured Teaching

• Physical organization of the classroom
• consistent, visually clear boundaries for
  activities
• transition area (check schedule)
• 2. Schedules (help anticipate and predict events)
• reduces problems with time and organization
• minimize strain on attention and memory
• compensate for language impairment
• foster independence
• increase motivation to complete work before play

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Structured Teaching

• Individual Work Stations
• informs student about what to do while in
  independent work time
• informs student of amount of work to be done
• helps student see when almost finished
• Learning Task Organization
• individualized jigs or templates to demonstrate
  how task is to be completed

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Reasons for Using Structure

• Helps the person with autism
• understand
• be calm
• learn
• Structure is a form of behavior management
• A means to increase independence through visual
  structure

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Good teachers helped me to achieve success.
Children with autism need to have a structured
day, and teachers who know how to be firm but
gentle. Temple Grandin, Ph.D.
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Wrap Up

• Complete the Paraeducator Development Plan
• Complete Evaluation Form

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Upcoming Paraeducator Trainings

• Videoconferences for 2004-2005
• Supporting Students in Inclusive Settings
  October 14
• Paraeducators Role in Mathematics Instruction
  December 14
• Strategies for Helping Students Become
  Independent January 25
• Paraeducators Role in Reading and Language Arts
  Instruction April 27
• Videoconferences are presented at sites across PA
  and are scheduled from 4 to 530

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Upcoming Paraeducator Trainings

• Paraeducator Spring Seminar at a Hotel
• April 1 and 2, 2005
• Topic Progress Monitoring
• Location to be Determined
• PaTTAN Website www.pattan.k12.pa.us