What is Autism Autism Society of America

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What is Autism?Autism Society of America

• Complex developmental disability
• Typically appears during the first three years of
  life
• Result of a neurological disorder
• (Affects the normal functioning of the brain)
• Impacts development in
• social interaction
• communication skills, both verbal and non-verbal
• leisure or play activities

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What is Autism? American Psychiatric
Association's Diagnostic Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders

• One of five disorders under the umbrella of
• Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD) severe
  and pervasive impairment in several areas of
  development
• Autistic Disorder
• Asperger's Disorder
• Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD)
• Rett's Disorder
• PDD-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)
• Distinct diagnostic criteria in DSM-IV-TR

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What is Autism?

• A Spectrum Disorder
• Expression of symptoms varies widely
• Number
• Type
• Intensity
• Frequency
• Responsiveness to intervention
• Impact on life

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Prevalence

• 1 in 166 births (Centers for Disease Control
  Prevention, 2004)
• Increasing 10-17 percent/year
• (U.S. Department of Education)
• Affects four times more boys than girls
• Rate consistent across racial, economic, cultural
  and geographical groups

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Causes Expert Consensus

• Born with disorder or potential to develop it
• NOT bad parenting
• NOT mental illness
• NOT simple willfulness

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Causes Expert Disagreement

• Neurological damage
• Biochemical imbalance in brain
• Childhood vaccines
• Food and/or environmental allergies

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Issues in Sensory Integration

• Sensory system
• Sight, smell, taste, touch, vision, vestibular
  proprioceptive
• Sensory integration problems are common
• Sensory difficulties create need for child to
  regulate self to regain balance or comfortable
  state
• Behaviors typically seen in autism may result,
  for ex

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Typical Atypical Responses to Sensory
Information

• Resistance to change
• Apparent over-sensitivity or under-sensitivity to
  pain
• Regulatory problems
• Over-activity or under-activity
• Uneven gross/fine motor skills
• Difficulty expressing needs and feelings
• Repeating words, sounds or phrases

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Typical Atypical Responses to Sensory
Information

• Difficulty relating to people, objects, events
• Not wanting to cuddle or be cuddled
• Little or unusual eye contact
• Unresponsive to normal teaching methods
• Unusual play
• Limited play schemes and actions with objects
• Strong and unusual interests

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Common Behavioral Issues

• Not recognizing danger
• Non-responsive to verbal cues
• Refusal to dress
• Refusal to go into certain stores
• Not toilet trained

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Common Behavioral Issues

• Inappropriate attempts to engage with other
  children
• Repetitive body movements, odd gestures or
  noises, such as pushing on side of face or
  screaming
• Laughing or upset for reasons not apparent to
  others
• Tantrums
• Aloof manner

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Interventions

• General
• Structured environment program and staff that
  are consistent and predictable
• Visual presentation of learning tasks
• Specific teaching of skills, including social
  skills
• Interaction with non-disabled peers
• Multi-Sensory learning experiences
• Partnerships with families

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Interventions

• General
• Specific teaching
• Systematic
• Emphasize functional skills
• Role of incidental teaching
• Use of positive reinforcement selectively
  directed to shape a desired behavior
• Use special interests to open door of social
  interaction and broaden engagement

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Interventions

• Key Points
• Gently encourage
• Just right challenge
• Learning must be rewarding and NOT anxiety
  producing
• Teach everything- dont assume anything
• Consider communicative intent of interfering
  behaviors
• Replace, dont just try to extinguish,
  interfering behaviors

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Interventions

• Specific
• Visual structure
• Classroom or other environment
• Events of day
• Within each task
• School expectations (environment, program and
  task)
• Emotions
• Communications (to and from)

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Interventions

• Specific
• Prompting
• Hierarchy
• Wait time
• Social Stories
• Favorite activities, including with other
  children

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Interventions

• Specific
• Redirection
• Calm Place
• Signal to inform
• Prompt Hierarchy to assist
• Visuals
• Consider space and needs
• Length of calm time

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Interventions

• Think prevention
• Think independence
• In times of crisis, think non-verbal
• FBAs (Functional Behavioral Assessment)
• Educate school community about autism

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Think of the Lettuce

• If we plant lettuce seeds and tend them carefully
  and the plant doesnt turn out exactly as we
  thought it would,.
• We dont blame the lettuce!
• Adapted from the Thoughts of Thic Nhat Khan

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Think of the Sequoia Tree

• How can they grow so tall?
• They only grow in groves.
• Together, we will be that grove of support.

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Team Building
Go Team! Go Dustin!
I.E. P.

• Hopes and Fears
• What do you know?
• What would you like to know?

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Team Building

• Purpose of meetings (mission)
• Who else should we include?
• Plan for meetings (vision)
• Define roles of each team member

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Team Building

• Situation Cards
• Each person takes a turn pulling a card out of a
  pile.
• Person either
• Offers own ideas for what would/should happen in
  the situation
• Asks team for help.
• Team reaches consensus on procedures and policies
  for each of the cards or real-life situations.
• Use the discussion to further define roles and
  responsibilities for each team member and specify
  more details.

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Team Building

• How will we find out what we need to know?
• How will information be shared?
• How do I, as a professional, like information to
  be shared with me?

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Before the first day ofnew year . new student
.

• What needs to be done?
• How will it get done?
• How will we know if it has been successfully
  accomplished?