AUTISM: A SPECTRUM OF TEACHING & LEARNING WITH ALL KINDS OF MINDS

1. AUTISM: A SPECTRUM OF TEACHING & LEARNING WITH ALL KINDS OF MINDS CAMILLE JONES May 11, 2012 EDSP 5306

2. OUR AGENDA(45 minutes) COMMUNICATION & TEACHING STRATEGIES INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES PREVALENCE DEFINITIONS SOCIAL SKILLS & STRATEGIES BEHAVIORAL ISSUES & STRATEGIES COLLABORATION WITH FAMILIES

3. Handouts contain:1) slides2) links to e-resources3) parent tools and more!

5. What is AUTISM? A DEFINITIONAL OVERVIEW “Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first 3 years of life and is the result of a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain, impacting development .” -Autism Society of America

6. IN GENERAL, AUTISM: • “Interferes with development of reasoning, social interaction, and communication skills • Is a “spectrum disorder” • has implications for an array of social, language, educational, sensory, behavioral, and medical issues

7. BRAIN-BASED DEFINITIONS

8. PYRAMID BEHAVIORSCHART - AUTISM

9. DEFINITIONS TIED TO TYPES OF DEFICITS • Three main criteria: • Qualitative impairment in social interaction • Qualitative impairment in communication • Restricted, repetitive, stereotypic patterns of behavior/ circumscribed interests, activities

10. Main categories: • Autism (Unusual behavior • in communication, • socialization, interests • and activities prior to 3 • years. • Asperger’s Disorder : • (Typical language • development without • delays or communication • impairments) DEFINITIONS TIED TO KEY CATEGORIES

11. Main categories (cont’d): • 3. Pervasive • Developmental • Disorder, Not Otherwise • Specified (PDD-NOS): used • when children meet some but • not all the criteria for the • other subtypes. • Rett’s Disorder: a genetic • disorder land type of PDD inked to one gene with behavioral similarities to autism but affects only females (fatal in males). DEFINITIONS TIED TO KEY CATEGORIES

12. DEFINITIONS TIED TO COMMON DEFICITS

13. PREVALENCE

14. PREVALENCE • The most recent statistics show that 1 in 110 children born in the United States is born with an ASD. This is a 600 percent increase in prevalence over the past two decades (Autism Speaks Inc, 2011). • One accepted prevalence rate for autism was four to five for every 10,000 births.Members of all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups are equally represented in the diagnosis statistics. However, boys are three to four times more likely to be diagnosed as having autism than their female counterparts. It is estimated that 1 in 70 boys in the United States are diagnosed with autism.

15. COMMUNICATION

16. COMMUNICATION Learners on the Spectrum may have difficulty: • Communicating wants and needs • Establishing shared attention with peers • Monitoring social signals  • Reading social cues • Responding to others’ stress • Reading others’ expression of emotion • Making social inferences • Understanding others’ perspectives

17. COMMUNICATION:KEY TEACHING STRATEGIES • DISCRETE TRIAL TRAINING • FUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATION TRAINING • SIGN LANGUAGE • PICTURE EXCHANGE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

18. THREE TEACHING STRATEGIES IN COMMUNICATION SKILLS • DISCRETE TRIAL TRAINING: a basic unit of ABA-type instruction teaching students to respond when there is some type of response requested. • FUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATION TRAINING; integrates communication with social skills by addressing functions like initiating asking questions, refusing commenting and asking for help. It is used for work related and social tasks in varied settings • SIGN LANGUAGE; using manual signs with spoken language plus signs can facilitate emergence of spoken language and augment communication (if motor skills permit this). • PICTURE EXCHANGE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM: using mands, nonspeaking students can use pictures to exchange for a desired item, to seek out communication once initially trained (takes two instructors initially ). Many vendors (see resources)

19. BEHAVIORAL DIFFICULTIES

20. BEHAVIORAL DIFFICULTIES Behavioral Difficulties usually have four broad functional motives: • Get (attention or access) • Avoid (escape) • Sensory-based • Stop the pain

21. BEHAVIORAL DIFFICULTIES& SENSORY BALANCE • Don’t Go NUTS! Learn if the child tends toward being under or over stimulated (see handout references on these systems) • Here are a few Environmental factors that can make certain learners on the Spectrum “NUTS” • Novelty • Unpredictability • Threatening • Sense that control is limited

22. BEHAVIORAL DIFFICULTIES: KEY TEACHING STRATEGIES • Antecedent Modifications • Pivotal Response Training • Functional Communication Training • Self-Management & • Applied Behavior Analysis

23. BEHAVIORAL DIFFICULTIES & APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS(ABA) • ABA is a treatment that looks to encourage positive and correct behaviors while simultaneously discouraging the negative behaviors associated with Autism. • ABA involves systematically manipulating the environment and subsequently observing and recording changes in behavior. It is implemented across both academic and social settings within school.

24. BEHAVIORAL DIFFICULTIES & APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS(ABA)- Benefits \ • ABA is recognized as an essential and scientifically valid method of educating and managing children with autism spectrum disorder. • Research has shown children with ASD can be expected to make significant progress when exposed to ABA.

25. BEHAVIORAL DIFFICULTIES & APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS(ABA) • A common characteristic of ASD is resistance to change. ABA is a highly useful and flexible method that can be applied in a variety of ways and setting for students with autism spectrum disorders (Simpson, 2001). Since it can be applied across settings, students can adapt to the instruction and not be distressed throughout the day. ABA can also be introduced and put into practice at the child’s home environment. • ABA has a “team approach” method which allows a greater amount of support for the student. The team is made up of professionals such as occupational therapists, social workers, teachers, and parents. The team individualizes the intervention based on the child’s specific needs.

26. SOCIAL

27. SOCIAL SKILLS & DEFICITS • Children with Autism can exhibit deficits in executive functioning, specifically with reference to these domains: • Planning • Organization • Flexibility • Self-monitoring

28. SOCIAL SKILLS: KEY TEACHING STRATEGIES • DIRECT TEACHING: consists of explaining a social skill, modeling the social skill and having the student practice the social skill) • SOCIAL STORIES: written from first person perspective to help students understand social situations and the perspectives of others. • CONCEPT MASTERY: Systematic sets of instructions that help students organize, understand recall and apply critical information -- using concept diagrams with definitions, characteristics and concept examples • SOCIAL AUTOPSIES: student completes social autopsies after a gaffe or error occurs; student and teacher work together to describe the circumstances; identify the social error ;who was hurt by it ; consider solutions ; and develop a plan to avoid this social error n the future.

29. COLLABORATING WITH FAMILIES

30. HOW TO EFFECTIVELY COLLABORATE WITH FAMILIES : • Emphasize the common goal • Keep in mind family concerns and issues may be apart from yours • Be sensitive to language , vocabulary, histories and family background • Get information-without being nosy • Focus on what you can do • Listen well • Honor confidentiality • Remain open to new approaches • Set SMART goals. • Help families solve their own problems- once a good relationship exists.

31. RELEVANT & PRACTICAL STRATEGIES for SCHOOL & HOME • USING ART to DEVELOP THE TOTAL LEARNER: • See A Louvre of Learning Ability PPT (click here) • See All Kinds of Artistic Minds – An Impression PPT (click here) • Using SCIENCE TO DEVELOP TOTAL LEARNER INTERESTS • See Science by the Spectrum (click here)

33. RESOURCES TO LEARN MORE • Heflin, Juane. Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Effective Instructional Practices. Pearson: 2007 • National Autism Association. National Autism Association, n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2011.Autism Speaks Inc. (2011). What is autism spectrum disorder. Retrieved from http://www.autismspeaks.org/

34. RESOURCES TO LEARN MORE • Stokes, S. (2011). Structured Teaching: Strategies for Supporting Students with Autism? In Special Education Services. Retrieved May 6, 2012, from http://www.specialed.us/autism/structure/str10.htmKluth, P. (2004, April). Autism, Autobiography, and Adaptations. Teaching Exceptional children, 42-47.

35. RESOURCES TO LEARN MORE • Wallin, J. M. (2004). Social Stories. In Polyxo.com. Retrieved May 4, 2012, from http://www.polyxo.com/socialstories/introduction.htmlDunlap, G., & Fox, L. (1999, October). Teaching Students with Autism . In Council for Exceptional Children. Retrieved May 7, 2012, from http://www.cec.sped.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=4185&CAT=none&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm

36. E-RESOURCES • Autism SpeaksU.S. Center for Disease Control • National Autism Association • www.decidewithequity.org • (See section on Autism with PPTs, resources and handouts.

37. MANY THANKS! ACCESS MORE PARENT RESOURCES HERE inalcotck@gmail.com