Sunday, February 14, 2010
Autism Teaching No-No's
The National Autism Center has released its National Standards Report. What practices should educators, parents, and others avoid in treating students with autism?
- Academic Interventions (defined as traditional teaching methods such as providing cloze sentences and answering prereading questions)
- Auditory Integration Training
- Facilitated Communication
- Gluten- and Casein- Free Diets (which were determined to be harmful in some cases)
- Sensory Integration
Future posts at Teaching and Tech Tinkerings of a Special Educator will target "Established Treatments" and "Emerging Treatments." For a free copy of the
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2 comments:
Why did they say you should avoid sensory integration? My son has autism and has numerous sensory issues.
Also, what's up with no facilitated communication? I taught a child in preschool who had an electronic talker - it was the only way he could communicate.
There is not enough evidence at this time to support the effectiveness of the sensory integrative package. That does not mean that future studies will not support sensory integration.
Similarly, there is not enough evidence to support the effectiveness of facilitated communication (FC). However, there could be studies to do so in the future. I would use a great deal of caution here, though. As the Report notes, several professional organizations have taken stances against FC. I have added a link to an article that sheds some light on FC under "My Del.ici.ous Tags."
The National Autism Center's Report recommends waiting for further research before using "unestablished" treatments.
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