Autism: Interventions in the Classroom

Autism: Interventions in the Classroom Jordan Johnson Samford University

Autism: Interventions in the Classroom Introduction Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) describes a range of conditions classified as

neurodevelopmental disorders. This encompasses autism, Asperger syndrome, pervasive developmental disorder not other specified (PDD-NOS), childhood disintegrative disorder, and Rhett syndrome. Social deficits and communication difficulties, stereotyped or repetitive behaviors, interests and sometimes-cognitive delays characterize these disorders (Allen, Beckel-Mitchener, Belmonte, Boulanger, Carper, & Webb, 2004). Autism forms the core of the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Autism is characterized by delays or abnormal functioning before the age of three years old in one or more of the following behaviors: social interaction, communication, or restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities. Most parents will report symptoms occur within the first year of life, however diagnoses are normally made when the child is around three or four years old. Early signs of autism include, decreased looking faces, failure to turn when name is called, failure to show interests by showing or pointing, and delayed pretend play. In some cases the development of autism can be characterized by normal (or near-normal) development followed by loss or regression of skills in the first two to three years. The regression can occur in communication, social skills, cognitive skills, self-help skills, and/or loss of language (which happens to be the most common factor). With that being said, the two best predictors in autism are the absence of intellectual ability and the development of some communicative speech prior to five years of age.

Autism: Interventions in the Classroom Children with ASD suffer from impaired social interaction. This can occur as early as infancy, where a baby can be unresponsive to people or focus so intently on one object that they exclude all things around them. Or like stated earlier, children can develop autism overtimethey could develop normally and then become indifferent to social engagement. Some key signs of autism are failure to respond to name, avoiding eye contact with people, difficulty interpreting what others are thinking or feeling, not able to understand social cues, and lack of empathy, failure to play or interactive with other children, and they also tend to start speaking later in their development. Many children who suffer from autism also engage in repetitive movements, such as rocking back and

forth and/or twirling. They also may indulge in self-abusive behavior, such as biting him or her, or head banging. Also, children with autism tend to speak in a sing-song voice and have a narrow range of topics to talk about with no interest in whom they are speaking to (Anson, Mataix-Cols, Murphy, & Russell, 2005). It is also common for children with autism to have other occurring conditions as well, such as Fragile X syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, intellectual disabilities, seizures and epilepsy, Rhett syndrome, or even Smith-Lemli-Optiz syndrome (a cholesterol biosynthesis disorder (Allen, Beckel-Mitchener, Belmonte, Boulanger, Carper, & Webb, 2004). There is a wide variety of ways for autism to be diagnosedin fact some symptoms may be unrecognizable. Some early indicators are no babbling or pointing by the age of one, no single words by 16 months or two-word phrases by the age of two, no response to name, loss of language or social skills, poor eye contact, excessive lining of

Autism: Interventions in the Classroom objects, and/or no smiling or social responsiveness. While some later indicators include,

the childs impaired ability to make friends with peers because of their inability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others, absence of imaginative play, repetitive or unusual use of language, abnormal focus or intensity on one subject of interest, a preoccupation with specific objects, or strict adherence to a specific routine and schedule. Ways that medical physicians often screen for autism is by questionnaires or other screening instruments to gather more information about the childs developmental process and behavior. With some of the screenings depending on the parents observations, and sometimes the doctors and parents observations combined. If these screenings produce possible indications of an ASD there is a more in depth evaluation that takes place. These evaluations could require a multidisciplinary team, such as psychologist, neurologist, psychiatrist, speech therapists, and other professionals who can help diagnose ASD. This is when neurological assessments and comprehensive cognitive and language testing takes place. Depending on the severity of the results, some children with symptoms of autism can be diagnosed with other forms of ASD, for instance if the child has symptoms of ASD but not enough to be diagnosed with classical autism they will often be diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). Or if the child has autistic behavior but well-developed language skills the child will often be diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, and in the rare cases children can be diagnosed with childhood disintegrative disorderwhere they develop at a normal rate but then

Autism: Interventions in the Classroom suddenly regress between the ages of three and ten years old, with the start of showing marked autistic behaviors. There is no certainty to what causes autism however, it is likely that there is a parallel between both genetics and environmental factors. It is thought that autism is caused by irregularities in several regions of the brain, abnormal levels of serotonin, or other neurotransmitters of the brain. It has long been disproven that parental practices have any significance in being responsible for ASD. Instead it is thought that these

abnormalities could result from a disruption of normal brain development that is early on in the fetal development that is caused by defects in genes that control brain growth, which could have a connection with environmental factors or gene function. While it has also been noted that some people have a genetic predisposition to autism. Problem Some main question that parents who have children with autism have are, how will this effect their education? Will they be able to function in a classroom? How can I help them? While there are no clear-cut answers to any of these questions, there are ways to help your child and for educators to help your children as well. Through these interventions children can get the best possible care they need to make sure that they are reaching their full potential. Primary interventions for children with ASD include educational and behavioral approaches (Akshoomoff & Ruble, 2010)medication can be used coinciding with these approaches.

Autism: Interventions in the Classroom Research There are many successful interventions fro children with ASD such as, collaboration among family, school, and community resources, environmental support,

and interventions that target engagement, communication, social, and self-direction skills. Autism is a disability categorized under special education regulations (IDEA 2004). Public schools are also required to provide special education services for all children with disabilities starting at age 3. These special education services might include, speech and language therapies and programs to encourage socialization and readiness skills. While for older children, these programs might include, academic support, social skill training, and/or vocational skill development. The key to a successful Individualized Education Program (IEP) is consistency. Children need the consistency in these programs to keep them on a schedule and not throw them off. Ways in which these interventions can be the most effective are by first having a positive relationship between the educator and parents, since most of primary interventions for children with ASD are education and behavioraleducators most empower parents with knowledge and help parents be the best advocate for their child (Akshoomoff & Ruble, 2010). A strong educational program can be formed by the information shared about the childs progress, successful intervention, findings from assessments, and descriptions of current needs. In addition to these educational interventions educators must be aware of the stress level of parents who have children with ASD, they should make sure that they are supportive and understanding. Some recommendations for effective interventions are, immediate enrollment into intervention programs after a diagnosis is made, active participation in intensive

Autism: Interventions in the Classroom programming, planned and repeated teaching opportunities, family activities and parent

training, and making sure that there is ongoing assessment and evaluations taking place to measure progressmaking proper adjustments as needed (Bellini, Benner, Hopf, & Peters, 2007). Just like every other child, autistic students have individual learning styles, strengths and challenges. This selection of intervention strategy should be based on the students individualized assessment of needs, clear objectives, and ongoing monitoring of progress. These strategies, modifications, and adaptions used to help make children successful are called the environmental support. The environmental supports can be temporal meaning organizing the sequence of time, spatial is providing specific information about the organization of the environment, procedural which means clarifying the relationship of the steps of an activity between objects and people, and assertion which helps with initiation and exertion of control. Some ways to help kids through educational support is by providing supports to enhance understanding and problem solving. This helps students with cognition. Then there is the social aspect, which educators can provide direct social skills instruction, peer-mediated instruction, as well as teacher-mediated instruction. For communication issues, teachers can provide temporal, spatial, and procedural support to enhance new skill developmentthis means allowing time for processing information, which may mean teachers have to slow down the pace of the information that they give. Some tips for giving instruction include, giving directions one at a time, backing up directions with visual support, and providing support on a consistent basis (Akshoomoff & Ruble, 2010). And to keep students organized and help to teach them self-sufficiency you can give

Autism: Interventions in the Classroom students schedules and task analysis to remind students of tasks and steps to be completed. The daily schedules come in handy because they provide students the ability to know what needs to be done on a consistent basis. These activities should also come with a reward system because it will help to keep the students focused on the tasks at

hand. Visuals are also really necessary because it backs up what you are saying verbally, which gives them a better understanding (Burack, Hayward, Iarocci, Kovshoff, Mottron, Ristic, & Shore, 2012). Another important aspect for these interventions is active engagement with the child. According to the National Research Council, active engagement is defined as sustained attention to an activity or person (Akshoomoff & Ruble, 2010). It is known that children with autism tend to have unusual interactions with objects/people, so as educators, who are spending the majority of the day with these children, it is important to adapt activities to encourage more appropriate involvement with such objects/people. Some examples of this might be, directly teaching the use of toys and objects, introducing appropriate activities to replace any inappropriate behaviors, and finding ways to make tasks more meaningful and motivating to the individual. And then there is the behavioral side of interventions. It can be frustrating at times to discipline a child with autism because typical disciplinary strategies dont always work. It is recommended that if the child has challenging behavior it is often necessary to consult with an ASD specialist. The specialist is able to work with both the parents and the teachers to administer a functional behavior assessment, also known as a FBA. This assessment can identify the underlying causes of behavior, the skills that the child needs to learn to replace the problem behavior, strategies to help the child develop the skills,

Autism: Interventions in the Classroom and ways in which to respond when problem behavior occurs. This assessment can help the educators have a better understanding of what the childs needs are. To work along side these interventions, some doctors may prescribe medication.

Medications are considered to be adjunctive therapy for children with ASD because they do not address the core symptoms, but may address behaviors that interfere with learning (Akshoomoff & Ruble, 2010). Some of these medications may alleviate some education and behavioral problems, but they will not fix the problems without the specific interventions mentioned above, and medication is not appropriate for all children who have ASD. Summary Autism has to do with the delays and abnormal functioning; these characteristics can be helped, maintained, and improved in the classroom through several types of interventions. Public schools are required to offer special education classes, but beyond that, educators can use different strategies to help their students as well as parents cope with this disability. Effective interventions include, immediate enrollment into intervention programs after a diagnosis is made, active participation in intensive programming, planned and repeated teaching opportunities, family activities and parent training, and making sure that there is ongoing assessment and evaluations taking place to measure progress making proper adjustments as needed. And behavior interventions deal with helping the child with the skills that the child needs to learn to replace the problem behavior, strategies to help the child develop the skills, and ways in which to respond when problem behavior occurs.

Autism: Interventions in the Classroom With all of that being said, the most important element to children being

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successful in the classroom; is the communication amongst the educator and the parents. It is important that both sides are monitoring the child and know how they are doing both educationally and behaviorally. Anything to advocate for their child is appreciated.

Autism: Interventions in the Classroom References

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Akshoomoff, N., & Ruble, L. A. (2010). Autism spectrum disorder: Intervention options for parents and educators. National association of school psychologists, Retrieved from http://www.nasponline.org/publications/cq/38/5/pdf/V38N5_AutismSpectrumDisor ders.pdf Allen, G., Beckel-Mitchener, A., Belmonte, M. K., Boulanger , L. M., Carper, R. A., & Webb, S. J. (2004). Autism and abnormal development of brain connectivity. The journal of neuroscience , 24(42), 9228-9231. Retrieved from http://www.jneurosci.org/content/24/42/9228.full.pdf+html

Anson, M., Mataix-Cols, D., Murphy, D. G. M., & Russell, A. J. (2005). Obsessions and compulsions in asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism. British journal of psychiatry, 186, 525-528. Retrieved from http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/186/6/525.full.pdf+html Bellini, S., Benner, L., Hopf, A., & Peters, J. K. (2007). A meta-analysis of schoolbased social skills interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders. Remedial and special education, 28(153), 153-162. Retrieved from http://rse.sagepub.com/content/28/3/153.full.pdf+html Burack, J. A., Hayward, D. A., Iarocci, G., Kovshoff, H., Mottron, L., Ristic, J., & Shore, D. I. (2012). Flexible visual processing in young adults with autism: The effects of implicit learning on a global-local task . Journal of autism & developmental disorders, 42, 2383-2392. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.samford.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=5 fd43701-59f8-4a6b-b364-c23b462e34f5%40sessionmgr15&vid=4&hid=19