Teaching and Tech Tinkerings of a Special Educator: autism

Showing posts with label autism. Show all posts

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Autism Visual Aids Series #1: Show, Don't Tell

"A picture is worth a thousand words."

- Napoleon Bonaparte

What are visual aids?

The vast majority of children with autism depend on visual aids for organization, behavior support, social skills development, and comprehension. That being said, so do people who are neurotypical (without autism.) So far this week, I have used several visual supports:

calendar
to do list
menu
lesson plans
city map
street signs
day planner
color-coding
diagrams
sticky notes
highlighting
grocery list
tv guide
store map

How do visual aids help students with autism spectrum disorders?

One of the characteristics of autism is impaired language. So expecting a person with autism to take in verbal directions, understand them, remember them, and then follow through on them is a bit unrealistic. I remember my friend and I being lost in Japan immediately after my arrival at the airport. We knew very little Japanese. When we pulled over for directions, I mustered up enough language to ask how to get to our destination. However, I could not understand the verbal directions the man gave us. He spoke too fast for my ability and there were words I did not know. Noticing my confused facial expression, the man drew us a map. That map got us home.

"I see and I remember."

-Confucius

Similar to the example above, our kids with autism spectrum disorders have difficulty with language. As in my own scenario, they may struggle to make sense of what is being said. Unfortunately, even if they are trying really hard to understand, spoken words disappear as they are produced. This transient nature of spoken language makes processing and remembering verbal language difficult. However, visual supports such as the written word or pictures, do not disappear. Further, drawings, photographs, and actual objects can represent ideas and remove the added step of the student having to construct meaning or come up with a mental image. You can re-read an item on a calendar as many times as you need to.

Future posts at Teaching and Tech Tinkerings will provide examples of visual aids designed to assist individuals with autism. Check back for images and descriptions of a picture schedule, a task list, and a first...then...grid.

Readers Respond

Are there any visual aids you cannot live without? Send a comment or respond to the poll. Results will be posted in the sidebar to the right and in the post below.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

5 Steps to Helping Kids Who Hate Noise

Fingernails screeching down a chalkboard. The booming bass on a car stereo. These are just a couple of sounds many people find irritating. For students with autism or other disabilities that affect sensory processing, many sounds that we take for granted can be difficult to ignore. The humming of fluorescent lights, the swishing and gurgling sounds of a flushing toilet, and the crackle that comes through the speakers for the morning announcements can be sources of angst for a child with noise sensitivity. Each child is unique, so what triggers one student may not bother the next and vice versa. The sounds not only lead to distraction, but may also induce a fight or flight response that brings about a meltdown.

1. Name the Noise
Help your student make a list of sounds that he finds so irritating that it interferes with his work, mood, or ability to interact with others.

2. Give the Reason for the Racket
For each sound, discuss why the sound occurs. For example, the fire alarm is loud and makes a strange sound so that people will want to leave the building. This is to keep us from staying in the building if there is a fire. The noise is to keep us safe.

3. Label the Noise as Passing or Persistent
Let the student know if an irritating sound that is currently present is likely to continue to occur. This is important because the student may want you to make the noise stop. Unfortunately, many of the sounds in the school setting that set off a student cannot be avoided. You cannot make Ava stop scratching her head because it irritates Brian. On the other hand, if a sound is in the environment temporarily, such as a fire alarm, then by all mean, emphasize the temporary nature of the sound. The point of working on the student's sound sensitivity is to learn coping strategies in a world filled with sound.

4. Teach the Use of Tools and Techniques
There are many tools and strategies that can help a student who is sensitive to sound. Here are some to try out:

noise-canceling headphones
earplugs
mp3 player with music the student enjoys and headphones
white noise machine
fan
putting hands over the ears (for sudden noises)
access to a quiet place (a part of the classroom, a pass to another room)

Be sure to work out a plan for where these items will be kept and who is responsible for implementing their use. Ideally, the student will become independent with their use. However, you may want to keep some items in teacher storage and have the student request their use (e.g. mp3 player, fan.) Noise-canceling headphones can be kept in the student's cubby, desk, locker, or other central storage location. Be clear about the expectations for storing, obtaining, caring for, and using these items. To avoid misunderstandings, specify if there are periods of time when and locations where these items cannot be used (e.g. when working on articulation during speech.) Congratulate the student for using strategies to cope with sounds in his environment!

5. Plan for Noisy Times
Some noise is predictable. For example, many students who are sensitive to noise bring their headphones to the cafeteria and the gym. These are places where students are louder and sounds echo off the walls. I had one student wear his headphones at recess and this enabled him to climb on the play structures. Without the headphones, he was too overwhelmed to climb and played alone most of the time.

Depending on your student's language and cognitive ability, you may wish to help him predict situations in which noise could become a trigger. Develop a graphic organizer or a cartoon that depicts:

the situational trigger (e.g. students sees the teacher getting ready to show a video clip),
the student thinking, "I think I'm going to hear some noise, but I know what I can do," and
the student using a tool or a technique to cope with the situational trigger (the student puts on noise-canceling headphones).

Plan for situations that may be too overwhelming. If there is an assembly with loud music running for 2 hours, then you might want to plan an exit strategy. Let the student know how he can communicate with you that he needs a break.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

11 Autism Treatments That Really Work- Part III

Five More Treatments That Earned the NAC Stamp of Approval

Here are the final five treatments recommended by the National Autism Center (NAC) in its recent report (2009.) To qualify as a recommended, or "established" treatment, the intervention had to undergo rigorous review.

Peer Training Package

Peer trainers, classmates or siblings of children with autism, are responsible for "facilitating play and social interactions" with children with autism after they receive instruction.

A school counselor works with a group of teenagers in a social group after school. The group involves social outings for students with and without disabilities. Mirabelle, a 13-year-old with Asperger's syndrome, benefits from being paired with Lacita, a teenage peer helper who models social skills prior to and during the outings. Lacita also helps Mirabelle with conversation skills by directly telling her that it is time to change topics and letting her know what nonverbal cues she was giving that hinted at the conversation needing a topic switch.

Pivotal Response Treatment

Pivotal skills are behaviors that are critical and have a synergistic effect on a child's development. Examples include responding to multiple cues, improving motivation, and self-initiation (e.g. asking questions).

Photo by WoodleyWonderWorks at Flickr.com

Juan is a 5-year-old with autism. His teacher is working with him to increase his ability to respond to multiple cues. He is learning the names of his classmates. Because Juan is overselective to stimuli, he usually attends to one cue to the exclusion of others. For example, when he is shown a picture, shown a name in print, told the name, and shown the student in front of him, Juan only focuses on the printed name. Therefore, when he is just shown the picture of the student, he is unable to identify the student. The teacher emphasizes various stimuli by introducing and pairing only one of the stimuli with the actual student at a time. She eventually alternates the presented stimuli (printed name, spoken name, photo of the student) so Juan learns to respond to the multiple cues.

Schedules

The use of schedules, as intended by the National Autism Center's report, refers to breaking down activities into their steps and providing a list of these steps. A visual schedule may be in written, pictorial, photograph, or even object form.

A 4-year-old with autism is learning to wash his hands. Above the sink at home, his parents have posted photographs of the steps involved in washing his hands. As they are teaching him to wash his hands, they point to each step on the schedule.

Self-Management

Individuals are encouraged to regulate their own behavior by setting their own goals and recording how often behaviors occur (or do not occur.)

Tyrone, a middle school student with autism, works with a special education teacher to set goals for his behavior. He has been getting into trouble in English class for repeatedly calling out. He decides he wants to work on decreasing this behavior. He and his special education teacher develop a weekly sheet on which he will tally the number of times he calls out and the number of times he wants to call out but does not. They will review the results of the data at the end of each week.

Story-Based Intervention Package

Carol Gray's Social Stories^TM are the best-known story-based interventions used with individuals with autism. They are usually brief stories that assist a person in navigating a social situation. For a detailed explanation, visit The Gray Center.

Michael, a 7-year-old with autism, is going to the dentist. His parents write a story, which is accompanied by illustrations, to assist in alleviating his anxiety about the visit and to help him know how what his role is in the visit. Here is a paragraph from his story:

By Suat Eman
When the dentist is cleaning my teeth, I will keep my arms at my sides. The dentist likes my arms to be away from my mouth so she can see what she is doing. I will try to stay still. The dentist is able to be more gentle when I do not wiggle. She wants to be gentle.

Do you have a favorite intervention from the 11 Autism Treatments That Really Work? An experience with one of the treatments that you would like to share? Send a comment.

11 Autism Treatments That Really Work- Part I
11 Autism Treatments That Really Work- Part II

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

11 Autism Treatments That Really Work- Part II

Green Light to Three More Autism Treatments
I am including the next three treatments that earned the highest scores on the National Standards Report (2009, National Autism Center). I will name each treatment, briefly describe it, and provide a hypothetical scenario of how the treatment could be implemented. Treatments are listed in alphabetical order. For the first three of the eleven established treatments, refer to the previous post at Teaching and Tech Tinkerings.

Joint Attention Interventions

-interventions that target sharing an experience about an object or event by pointing to show the object or event, showing items or activities to another person, and following another person's eye gaze

Alicia is a six year old with autism. She is able to verbally ask for snacks she wants, but she does not yet point to items she is interested in. Her mother is teaching her to choose her snack by pointing to show the one she wants.

Modeling
-demonstrating a desired behavior to the individual with autism through live or video modeling

Students in a middle school attend a social skills group in which they view videos of students modeling appropriate social behavior.

Naturalistic Teaching Strategies
-interventions in which the teacher mostly follows the child's direction to teach functional skills such as self-care, communication, and community skills in the natural environment (e.g. incidental teaching, embedded teaching)

Antonio, a kindergartener with autism, has a few favorite toys in the play center. The speech therapist puts the toys out of Antonio's reach while playing with him and one of his classmates. Antonio's classmate models how to verbally request the favorite items.

Stay tuned to Teaching and Tech Tinkerings of a Special Educator for the remaining 5 established treatments.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Oh No! All That Snow!

The largest snowstorm in Northern Virginia's recorded history has created excitement for many students who, so far, have received two snow days. For students on the autism spectrum disorder (ASD), however, such an overwhelming change in schedule may be unwelcome. Students with ASD have difficulty with changes in routine- altering schedules, caregivers, locations of activities, and the activities themselves are enough to stir intense anxiety in many children with ASD.

How can we quell snow day fears of our students with ASD?
1) Be proactive. In advance of snow days, talk about what happens when school is canceled. Create social stories and review possible scenarios for early dismissal, delayed school opening, and school cancelations.
2) Provide students with a list of activities they can do at home on a snow day.
3) Provide a sample schedule for parents that they can use in the home on snow days.
4) Request that parents show their students visually on the calendar that school is canceled by crossing out the word or picture of school and drawing or writing "snow."
5) Model using schedules throughout the day in the classroom. Model crossing out items when they change and writing what the replacement activity will be.