How to Effectively Include Students with High Functioning Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome

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How to Effectively Include Students with High
Functioning Autism and Aspergers Syndrome

• Kimberly Bennett
• Educational Consultant
• Kbennett_at_tiu11.org

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Purpose

• This Power Point presentation is to help teachers
  understand the deficit of autism and Aspergers
  Syndrome and to provide suggestions on how to
  successfully include them in the regular
  education classroom.

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• Working with children on the spectrum can be
  challenging but I can assure you that you will
  learn a great deal about yourself and teaching by
  having them in your life.

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• Understanding autism spectrum disorder is the
  first step in accepting the differences that make
  these individuals unique and fascinating.
• This presentation just scratches the surface of
  the needs of each of the children on the spectrum
  in your classroom.

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• I attempted to cover areas that appear to affect
  most teachers and students in the regular
  education classroom.

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• I have taught children with autism for the past 7
  years and have grown professionally in ways that
  I never would have experienced had they not
  entered my life.

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Lets begin with COGNITIVE PROFILE OF CHILDREN
WITH AUTISM/ASPERGERS SYNDROME

• Weaknesses
• Inflexibility in applying rules to changing
  contexts
• Difficulty with Executive Functioning
• Difficulty with Complex Motor planning
• Difficulty with Perspective Taking
• We will cover these throughout the presentation

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Rule Learning

• Rules are a learned concept not a generalized
  concept for children with autism. Their brains do
  not generate the rules by themselves they have to
  be taught to them.
• They need to be clearly stated.
• Children with autism can learn things by
  categories but they cannot generate or organize
  the categories by themselves. They can learn it
  if you do it for them.

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Do rules always stay the same?

• When do they change?
• How do we know when they change?
• We categorize rules and that helps us know when
  to use them.

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The rule of swearing

• Where can typical kids swear and get away with
  it?
• What if kids on the autism spectrum hear kids
  swearing on the back of the bus and at home?
  While playing on the playground they swear at a
  teacher or another student.
• What discipline procedure should be implemented
  if these kids are caught swearing on the
  playground?

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Swearing

• The child with the autistic brain needs to be
  taught the rules of swearing because they may not
  be able to categorize it or apply the rule to
  different situations ---

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Rules of liking the opposite sex

• What are some behaviors children perform in
  elementary school when they like someone of the
  opposite sex?
• What do they do in middle school?
• What do they do in high school?
• What do they do in college?

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How do the rules change?

• What if you were functioning at a
  social-emotional age of 12-18 months to 3-5
  years? Failure to consider this in treatment of
  these students worsens the behavior and function.

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Rules, Rules, Rules

• Transition rules
• Lunchroom rules
• Playground rules
• Hallway rules
• Rules at home
• Bus rules
• Different teachers-different RULES

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Rules can sometimes override concepts example

• Bill is a young adult with autism who decided to
  take figure skating lessons. His mother drove him
  to the rink several times a week. After a while,
  she decided to skate while he had his lesson.
  Bill performed his routine, but people learned to
  stay out of his way. He went where his program
  required him to go regardless of others. One day
  his mother forgot to note where Bill was and he
  ran her over, knocking her unconscious. The
  emergency team was called and she was given first
  aide and taken to the hospital. The next day she
  asked Bill why he did not come to her assistance,
  since he was an Eagle Scout with a first aide
  badge. He relied, It expired.

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What did Bill understand and what didnt he
understand?
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Children on the spectrum like the following

• Knowing what the rules are, what is going to
  happen next.
• If your brain is not doing this for you, you will
  need some help.
• How stressful would it be to never know what to
  expect next and then you got in trouble when you
  guessed wrong?

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EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING

• The capacity to control our own attentional focus
• Enables a person to do or attend to more than one
  thing at a time.
• It enables us to recognize what is relevant shift
  attention, and then recall what is relevant.
• Ability to Monitor Self Inhibition

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• Attention, organization, and generalization
  contribute to executive functioning.
• With strong executive functioning we are not
  distracted by the irrelevant and can shift our
  focus to the relevant.

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• The teacher told the class to take out their
  black pencils. Yours fell on the floor and when
  you looked in the case you did not see it. The
  teacher continues to give directions-- what do
  you know to do?
• What is the most relevant thing you would need to
  do in this scenario?
• If you have trouble with executive functioning
  what would happen? What would the child focus on?

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• Can you talk on the cell phone to your spouse
  when you are lost in an area with a lot of
  traffic?
• Can you talk to your spouse and watch an
  interesting TV show at the same time?
• Why?

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EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING

• Think of how many times a day you require a
  student to shift attention.
• In the first hour of school what do you require
  students to do?

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Transitioning from Reading to a spelling test

• What are your instructions?
• Count up the number of instructions you give your
  class.
• If your brain did not have the ability to take in
  all of that information at once what would you
  want someone to do for you?

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I would want someone to
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Poor Executive functioning

• They may not be distractible in the way that
  others with attentional problems may be.
• In fact it may be very hard to get them to shift
  attention.

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If a student has difficulty writing down thoughts
what can you ask him to do instead?

• Answer let them tell you instead of writing
• For some student the act of writing and thinking
  at the same time is to difficult. Many students
  with autism/Aspergers have fine motor delays and
  it is very difficult for them to write. If you
  want to know what a person with autism knowsask
  them.

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ATTENTION DEFINITION

• The ability to see what is relevant, and shift
  attention to the relevant, contributes to what is
  called attention.

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What can we do?Answer Use a strength-Visual
Performance

• Children with autism frequently have better
  visual performance abilities than auditory alone.

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Live it out loud

• Explain what you are doing and why
• i.e. verbally walk through the process of losing
  a pencil.
• THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT

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• Let the child know the sequence of events a
  visual schedule posted on the wall or at their
  desk is extremely helpful.
• Let them know what is going to happen throughout
  the day.

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Older Children

• Prepare a schedule for daily routines
• What do I do first, next, last?
• Books needed for each class
• Completing a project
• Provide information about time periods
• Graphic organizers
• Highlight important information

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Make a task schedule for a spelling test

• What does the child have to do first, next, last?
  (List the steps in order, place it on their desk
  to remind them.)

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Executive Functioning

• Tell them what is relevant.
• When presenting them with a structured lessons
  the child needs help figuring out the relevant
  information so that they can answer the relevant
  questions.

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The Autistic Brain

• Some adults in the spectrum state that thoughts
  come into their heads and they cant get them to
  stop unless they say the words over and over
  again.
• I heard one man say, When I feel my autism take
  over it is like a train speeding down a track and
  I know it will soon crash. The looks and comments
  that will come from others will not be nice, or
  understanding, but hurtful and rude.

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Non Fiction

• Information presented in a direct way
• Usually not a problem

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Fiction

• In most literature a great deal is implied.
• The reader is invited to understand and wonder
  about things.
• This is frustrating as the communication of most
  people, (the communication that is to be
  understood), is said without explicitly being
  stated.

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This causes stress and anxiety
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And then meltdown
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BRAIN IMAGING Brain activation in people with
autism during sentence comprehension.

• Autism group has less activation in Brocas area
  ( a sentence integration area) than the control
  group and more in Wernickes area ( a word
  processing area)

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• These results have been consistent with
  performance. These student have poorer
  comprehension of complex sentences but are good
  at reading words (spelling bee champs).

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• Reading a text is not a problem but being able to
  pull out relevant information from the text can
  be a problem. Some researchers feel that some
  people on the autism spectrum see a sentence as
  one big word and not individual words with
  different meanings.

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• Brain circuitry underlying basic abilities are
  intact, and these circuits plus visual processing
  are relied upon to perform tasks that typical
  individuals perform using and integrative
  circuitry and higher order abilities.

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• Functional under-connectivity of neural systems
  is a general feature of the brain in autism.
• Information processing capacity is reduced so
  dual tasks, speed of processing, and any task
  relying on strategy is very problematic.

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In other words

• If a student is feeling rushed to do more than
  one task at a time, they are incapable of
  handling all of that information at once, and
  performance will be effected.
• Neuro pathways are not connecting information
  together at a high speed or at all.

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Executive Functioning

• Monitoring Self Inhibitions
• Neuro-typical people can self talk
• Children with brain damage in executive
  functioning areas of the brain will tend to
  blurt out what they are thinking.
• Engage in self talk that is repetitive in nature
  at times not directly related to what is
  happening.

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Executive functioning and writing

• Many children do not show what they know when
  they have to write.
• It is important to find out how the child learns
  best and how he demonstrates what he knows.

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THEORY OF MIND(Cognitive)

• Modular view of cognition that suggests the
  capacity to understand the intentions of others
  AND it follows its own propriety development.

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THEORY OF MIND

• A special type of cognition that allows one to
  depict the psychological states of others
  (thoughts and beliefs).

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Theory of Mind

• Critical decoupling mechanism that allows the
  child to keep cognitive representations organized
  so his/her thoughts can easily be distinguished
  from the thoughts of others.
• A break down in this process leads to the
  social and pragmatic deficits in children with
  Aspergers Syndrome

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IMPLICATIONS

• Children with autism will have significant
  problems understanding the social world around
  them.
• They will be unable to predict the actions of
  others.

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Mind Reading

• Neuro typical people do a lot of mind reading
• We have the ability to predict what someone is
  going to say next based on the content of the
  conversation.
• We can read body language--this helps us read
  people.
• Inflection of tone helps us understand the
  context in which something is being said. Think
  of how many ways you can say the word Great.
  Each inflection of your voice changes its
  meaning.

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Non Verbal Language is 90 of our communication

• Children with Asperger Syndrome/autism have a
  very difficult time reading body language and our
  verbal inflections.

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Emotional Reaction

• When we have an emotional reaction to the
  behavior or words of those with Aspergers
  Syndrome, our reaction may not accurately reflect
  the intention or meaning of their behavior.

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• Intention of others
• Many children on the autism spectrum report
  being bullied. Bullies take advantage of their
  inability to read social cue or their
  overreaction to social situations.
• This is a very serious problem for kids on the
  spectrum. (More on that later)

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More on Theory of Mind

• Many children with Aspergers Syndrome can
  understand another persons mind to the extent
  that they may know what knowledge another person
  has.

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• THEORY OF MIND
• They can figure this out only when it is based on
  whether the other person has seen or heard
  something.

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THEORY OF MIND

• They recognize knowledge based on exposure or
  lack of exposure to information the same way they
  would know what was on an audio/video tape, based
  on whether the recorder was present or turned on.

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FACTUAL INFORMATION

• Children with Aspergers Syndrome have a theory
  of mind as it relates factual information that
  someone else has.

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• Can Learn to Identify Emotions
• They may learn (perhaps the way that they learn
  facts) what someone may feel in certain
  situations, but do not sense the other persons
  feelings or personal experience as it relates to
  the information.

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• AS children often have strong feelings and
  reactions themselves.
• However, they often do not recognize or
  understand someone elses emotional experience.

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DIFFERENT FROM TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

• The classroom may be a difficult place for an AS
  child, and that child may be confusing or
  upsetting to others who do not understand him.

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• The Aspergers child may participate without
  anticipating or comprehending the response of
  others.

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How can we recognize theory of mind (TOM) issues
in Aspergers Syndrome?

• If the answer to these questions is yes your
  student may have TOM issues
• Do you have student that is always correct and
  can never be wrong?
• Do you have a student who cannot work in a group
  because they did not use the suggestion that they
  offered?
• Very Argumentative?

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What About Empathy?

• Empathy requires understanding the mind and the
  experience of another person.
• This is not really possible for those who
  understand as though they are receiving
  information, what others or most understand by
  feel and by identification.

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• EMPATHY
• Also includes awareness of your effect on
  others.
• It includes an awareness of what another person
  may be feeling as that person communicates with
  you or reacts to what you are saying.

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• CAN LEARN ABOUT OTHERS
• Asperger children can learn about others.
• Sometimes they study our minds and reactions, and
  find that cognitive understanding can help them
  cope with us.
• This is not the same as feeling or identifying
  with our experiences.

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• Assignments that deal with understanding
  feelings.
• How can their difficulty understanding emotions
  and feelings of others interfere with assignments
  that requires them to respond to emotional
  information?

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• Example
• Terry and Rich are on the same softball team in
  the town league. Rich knew that Terry had never
  gotten over the fact that he had once dated
  Terrys girlfriend. During the second inning,
  Rich made an error at third base and the other
  team scored a run. Back in the dugout Terry said
  to Rich, Nice play at third, Rich.

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• Fact Question Did Rich miss a play at third
  base?
• Belief question Was Terry giving Rich a
  compliment?
• Belief Question Did Rich believe what Terry said
  about the play at third?

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• Perspective Taking
• The ability to take perspective is essential for
  participation in any type of group (social or
  academic) as well as interpreting information
  that requires understanding of other peoples
  minds such as reading comprehension, history,
  social studies, etc.

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• Perspective Taking
• Weakness in perspective taking is a significant
  part of the diagnosis of social cognitive
  deficits.

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CENTRAL COHERENCE

• The process of constructing a higher meaning from
  diverse information.

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CENTRAL COHERENCE

• Asperger Syndrome children remember a lot of
  information.
• Little Professors when they share information in
  an area of interest.
• They generally do not judge certain facts to be
  more important than others.

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CENTRAL COHERENCE

• Knowing what is relatively more or less important
  to learn can be difficult or even impossible.
• They may already know more than the teacher
  expects them to learn, perhaps even more than the
  teacher knows, about a specific area.
• This is very annoying to teachers who do not
  understand the disability.

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Lets talk aboutHOMEWORK

• Identify the purpose of homework
• Identify the amount of time the student must
  spend on homework.
• Determine whether homework can be done after
  school or in school.
• Ensure that homework planner has enough room for
  writing assignments.

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HOMEWORK

• Decide
• Whether teacher will write in planner
• If teacher will prompt student to write in
  planner
• Who will review planner to ensure that all
  details are included in planner.

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Homework

• Homework should be presented in the same manner,
  same place each day.
• Provide models of homework
• Long division old way versus new way
• Parents report that homework can be frustrating
  for them their child screams,
• You dont know how to do it!

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Homework

• Recognize that homework is a family activity
• Some families CANNOT do homework

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HOMEWORK

• Provide enough specificity so that parents
  understand the assignment solely from the written
  information.
• Have teacher sign homework planner

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Homework

• Have a method in place for clarifying or
  obtaining homework.
• School hotline
• Peer system
• School web-based system
• Faxed or emailed assignments
• Require parent to sign the planner

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Homework

• Ensure that homework is turned in
• Homework is the passport to enter the classroom
• Develop a means of letting parents know that a
  homework assignment is not turned in ( same as
  in-class assignments).

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HOMEWORK

• A web based posting of homework turned in/not
  turned in makes the responsibility the parents.

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JOINT ATTENTION -Another part of autism to be
aware of

• Definition The ability to coordinate attention
  between people and objects. Loveland Landry (
  1986)
• An attentional state during which a child and a
  partner share an interest.

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COMPONENTS OF JOINT ATTENTION

• Sharing experiences
• Attention To some 3rd object or event apart from
  the two participants in the interaction.

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YOUNG CHILDREN WITH AUTISM HAVE

• Deficits in declarative pointing and showing
• Baron-Cohen (1989)
• Deficits in looking where others point
• Leekman et al. (1997)

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• Deficits in following eye gaze of others. They
  are not aware of where others are looking. This
  interferes with understanding what others are
  thinking about. What is the woman thinking about?
  How can you tell?

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THINK OF WAYS THIS CAN INTERFERE WITH A CHILD IN
YOUR CLASSROOM

• If a student has a difficult time following eye
  gaze or is not following social cues as to where
  they should be looking
• How would this interfere with learning in your
  classroom?
• What are social cues teachers give?

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SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

• They dont understand the rules of
• Social proximity
• Eye Contact
• Gestures
• Posture
• Facial expressions
• Take things literally

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What do these eyes tell you?
How do you know that? Nothing has been said?
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• Children on the autism spectrum can have a
  difficult time reading our eyes- yet our eyes
  speak of our feelings and reactions.

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BULLYING

• 90 of participants reported extensive bullying
  with physical assault, of those
• 50 reported sexual harassment
• 50 of those cases occurring during class
• 47 during lunch
• 33 of participants perceived that they were not
  liked as well as their peers

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BULLYING

• When students reported bullying incidents, 33
  perceived bullying was likely to increase.

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Lets Understand Each Other

• It is helpful for those with autism to learn
  about us.
• It is helpful for us to Know about them.
• Being open to knowing that persons experience
  from his or her perspective can help with
  behavior management.

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How can wanting to understand help with the
moment?

• Knowing about the Asperger/autism mind does not
  necessarily mean understanding a particular
  childs meaning, behavior, and learning issues at
  any given time.
• Teachers are confronted by the need to handle
  situations in the moment.

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HOWEVER

• Knowing that there is something to understand
  allows the adult to consider whether there is a
  real need to respond immediately, such as when
  safety is a concern.

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REMEMBER TO BE KIND

• Remembering that there is something to
  understand, whether or not it is understood at
  the time, helps the adult to be kind, even when
  firm about important issues.

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CHECK THE INTENTIONS

• Consequences do not always have to be punishment.
• We can be sympathetic when a child is dealing
  with the consequence of something she did not
  intend.

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• ALIEN EXERCISE
• If we were to spend time in a very different
  culture, as we tried to learn what is
  appropriate, we might make faux pas or seem
  offensive, and we would misunderstand others.

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• ALIEN EXERCISE
• We would need to learn new skills, rules, and the
  meaning of our behavior to others.
• We would need to find a way to be with others,
  without trying to become one of them, which we
  really could not do.

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ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS

• Who would we want to help us?
• What would we need to help us describe the
  culture in a way that we could understand?

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List 3 things you would want your guides to
understand about you.

• 1.
• 2.
• 3.

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• Would you want them to see things from your
  perspective?
• How would this be helpful to you?

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• Please be the childs guide make every situation
  a teachable one!

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Things we can do

• WE CAN
• Accept what we do not understand without feeling
  overwhelmed or angry.
• Understand more
• Avoid alienating the child- Dont be the childs
  first bully. Children in the classroom follow the
  teachers lead.

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• Be the Guide -Set the Tone
• Give facts in an unemotional tone of voice.
• Be logical and sequential-they need logic for
  everything.
• Model positive acceptance.

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Before You ReactAsk yourself

• What could this behavior mean?
• How does it serve the child?
• Could it be an attempt to cope?

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• What appears to be an unwillingness to do an
  assignment or participate in a learning activity
  may have an important reason.

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• IF WE ASK HIM
• He may tell us
• Its too hard.
• I know this already.
• Its too loud.

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• When the child answers our questions like this
• It is not useful to see the ways that the childs
  answer seems wrong to us.
• It is useful to consider how his answers may be
  the right answer for him.

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• Is this purposeful disrespect?
• What they say and how they say it leads others to
  assume that they are communicating feeling or
  intend to affect the feelings of others.

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• They often do not recognize or understand this.
• They often do not understand what others
  experience.

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Sensory Deficits

• Child can be hypo- sensitive or hyper- sensitive
  to sound, light, smell, touch, or taste.
• REMEMBER
• Do not put a child with autism next to a noisy or
  busy area in your classroom.

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I leave you with this question?

• How would you like to live in this world with
  these challenges?

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• If you need further assistance, please feel free
  to get in touch with me. I will be more than
  happy to assist you.
• Kim Bennett 814-542-2501 ext 126
• kbennett_at_tiu11.org