Running Head: ASD TEACHING 1

Teaching Children with Autism

Andrew Smith
EDU 372
Instructor Lance
September 24, 2014
Teaching Children with Autism 2
Teaching Children with Autism
This research project is geared towards helping teachers and paraprofessionals in
teaching children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It is important for most, if not all,
teachers to be familiar with different methods of teaching these students, along with strategies
for helping other students with special needs. In todays schools, the trend is moving towards the
inclusion school model, where students with special needs are taught, and spend as much time as
possible, in a regular classroom setting along with their peers. In inclusion classrooms, there are
paraprofessionals to help as aides to the teacher in the teaching of these students; however, both
the teachers and the paraprofessionals work together to these further these students education.
Therefore, regular classroom teachers will also benefit from learning strategies and methods of
working with children with Autism, as well as other types of learning disorders. These strategies
can help the students by keeping them on track, getting them to return their attention to the work
when they do get distracted, and by reaching them when other methods of instruction fall short.
This is an important topic for all future teachers, as well as current teachers and
educators. To be able to teach to these students, educators must be aware of how these students
learn, and the best methods and strategies of how to reach them. Children with Autism can have
a difficult time in a typical classroom setting. The hallmark feature of ASD is impaired social
interaction, (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 2012, Par. 2). Other
symptoms of Autism can include being unresponsive to people, failure to respond to their name,
avoid eye contact with others, problems interpreting what others are thinking or how their
feeling, focusing intently on one thing, engaging in repetitive behaviors like tapping or rocking,
and self-abusive behavior. Most children with ASD also start speaking later than the average
child (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 2012). Teachers should know
Teaching Children with Autism 3
how to reach all of their students, and learning these methods and implementing them in the
teaching process can help them reach the students in new and more effective ways.
Annotated Bibliography
Allen, K. D., Wallace, D. P., Renes, D., Bowen, S. L., & Burke, R. V. (2010). Use of Video
Modeling to Teach Vocational Skills to Adolescents and Young Adults with Autism
Spectrum Disorders. Education & Treatment Of Children (West Virginia University
Press), 33(3), 339-349.
Many studies have been done with the use of video modeling to teach people with ASD,
for example, to develop general purchasing skills, daily living skills, and conversation skills. At
the time of this study, not much had been done with video modeling and developing vocational
skills. In this study, a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities and a local
private business collaborated to examine the effects of video modeling to teach vocational skills
to adolescents and young adults with ASD. The video model demonstrated how to wear the
costume, as well as how to entertain the customers in a retail setting, and observations were
recorded before and after the participants watched the model.
Through video modeling, all participants learned the target skills. Video modeling can be
used as an effective method of teaching new skills to a person with ASD so that they can become
more independent. This study has shown that video modeling can be an effective way of
teaching vocational skills to people with ASD, and could possibly be used to teach other types of
vocational skills. More research is being done to examine video modeling on more complex
vocational skills. The article examines its own shortcomings, as well. The researchers explain
that three of the four test subjects needed additional viewings of the model, and none did much
more than the minimum expectations.
Teaching Children with Autism 4
Charlop, M. H., Dennis, B., Carpenter, M. H., & Greenberg, A. L. (2010). Teaching socially
expressive behaviors to children with autism through video modeling. Education &
Treatment of Children, 33(3), 371-393. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/747781540?accountid=32521
A group of students, working on a senior thesis, conducted this study to examine the use
of video modeling to promote appropriate verbal comments, intonation, gestures, and facial
expressions during social interactions. Three boys with Autism, between the ages of 7 and 11,
who participated in after-school behavior therapy program, were chosen for this study because of
marked deficits in their socially expressive behaviors. Before modeling, all the children rarely
displayed any of the target behaviors. After modeling, all children showed marked increases in
appropriate social behaviors. This method of instruction led to rapid acquisition of appropriate
responses, as well as generalization of these behaviors so they appear in different settings with
different people.
A lot of the time, behaviors can be limited to a specific situation, or to a certain person.
For example, a child with Autism may be expressive in the home, or with their parents, but that
expressiveness may only be noticed in that place, and with that person. Generalizing these
behaviors can help a person with ASD to be more independent and to engage others more
successfully. Video modeling also showed capable of teaching multiple behaviors at once,
instead of teaching each category (verbal comments, intonation, gestures, and facial expressions)
separately. Video modeling has been found to be an effective method of instruction because
children with ASD are typically visual learners.
Eikeseth, S., & Hayward, D. W. (2009). The discrimination of object names and object sounds in
children with autism: A procedure for teaching verbal comprehension. Journal of Applied
Teaching Children with Autism 5
Behavior Analysis, 42(4), 807-12. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/225045504?accountid=32521
Two researchers, one from a Norwegian university, the other from the UK Young Autism
Project, collaborated on this project dealing with sound-object and name-object relations. Two
three-year-old preschoolers with Autism and severe language delays were selected for this study;
both were nonvocal but could accurately respond to simple instructions and match pictures and
objects. Because the children were able to match the sound of an instrument to the correct
instrument before being able to match the same instrument to its name, the researchers wanted to
determine if the sound-object relation could ease learning of the name-object relation. They
created a prompt-delay procedure to transfer the stimulus control to the name of the object.
The tests were carried out, and for one of the participants, the sound-object relations
greatly increased transfer of the name-object relation, so that it took a fraction of the trials to
master the correct response. For the other participant, it did not show much marked
improvement. More research will need to be conducted before this can be shown to be largely
effective. However, it does provide an alternative strategy for teachers of students with ASD if
other methods prove lacking for a particular student. Although this test has proved to be a bit
lacking, it does provide insight into name-object and sound-object relations, and how we could
use those to facilitate other learning.
Grow, L. L., Carr, J. E., Kodak, T. M., Jostad, C. M., & Kisamore, A. N. (2011). A comparison
of methods for teaching receptive labeling to children with autism spectrum disorders.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 44(3), 475-98. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/896736010?accountid=32521
Teaching Children with Autism 6
This study was conducted with three children, diagnosed with ASD, a seven-year-old girl
with pervasive developmental disorder, a four-year-old boy with autistic disorder, and another
four-year-old boy with autistic disorder and disruptive behavior disorder. The goal was to
determine which is a more effective method in the teaching of receptive labeling, the simple-
conditional method or the conditional-only method. The simple-conditional method uses
stimulus discrimination taught in isolation, then with conditional discrimination training, which
are distracters, before the student is expected to respond conditionally. The conditional-only
method involves the use of conditional discrimination training from the beginning.
The data from the results showed that the conditional-only method was a more effective
means of instruction for teaching auditory-visual conditional discriminations. This study has
given new insight into early intervention therapies in regards to receptive labeling, and has
shown reliability in the conditional-only method, as well as error patterns that occur during
testing using the simple-conditional method. Training sets taught using the conditional-only
method required fewer sessions to meet the mastery criterion (on average, 62% fewer sessions),
(491-492). This information helps in the designing of educational programs for children with
ASD, with fewer trials to mastery, the students can learn more in a shorter time.
Ramdoss, S., Lang, R., Mulloy, A., Franco, J., O'Reilly, M., Didden, R., & Lancioni, G. (2011).
Use of Computer-Based Interventions to Teach Communication Skills to Children with
Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review. Journal Of Behavioral Education,
20(1), 55-76.
A group of researchers conducted a review of studies and findings to examine computer-
based interventions (CBI) for the instruction of communication skills to children with ASD.
These researchers gathered numerous studies dealing with CBI for acquisition of communication
Teaching Children with Autism 7
skills, and compiled the results into a case study to examine the results. The subjects in these
studies were between three and fourteen years-old, most had mild to moderate Autism, and three
had severe Autism. All studies reported CBI was associated with participant improvement on
communication-related dependent variables, (P. 16, Par. 2). These findings are important, but
future research has been proposed to test CBI on more cases of children with severe Autism, as
well as testing the potential adverse effects of CBI.
CBI has a lot benefits for ASD instruction, but it also has its negative effects. Some
benefits of CBI include software programs that can be programmed that establish clear routines
and expectations, reduce distractions, and provide additional controls for the influence of autism-
specific characteristics such as stimulus overselectivity, (P. 2, Par. 5), as well as minimize the
effects of a high student-to-teacher ratio. However, there are concerns about CBI for instruction
with ASD because computer use can result in increased social isolation and less opportunities to
practice social interactions. Overall, CBI does seem a promising practice that warrants future
research, (P. 1, Par. 1).
Strain, P. S., Wilson, K., & Dunlap, G. (2011). Prevent-teach-reinforce: Addressing problem
behaviors of students with autism in general education classrooms. Behavioral Disorders,
36(3), 160-171. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/886544607?accountid=32521
Three elementary school students, two boys, ages 5 and 8, and a girl, age 9, diagnosed
with ASD and serious problem behaviors were subjects in this study to test the effectiveness of
the Prevent-Teach-Reinforce (PTR) method of behavior support in a general education setting.
PTR looks at the individual student, what their problem behaviors are, and creates a program to
target those behaviors so they become either less frequent or extinct. Throughout the program,
Teaching Children with Autism 8
there is ongoing evaluation to examine whether the goals are being met, or if different
procedures to deal with problem behaviors should be used. Results indicated that problem
behaviors were reduced and engagement was increased for all of the participants, (P. 1, Par. 1).
This study has given teachers and paraprofessionals a proven method of combating
problem behaviors, and getting students with ASD to actively engage in classroom activities, that
can be used in a general education setting in an inclusion classroom. Many students with Autism
have a difficult time in this type of setting because of problem behaviors, so this method could
help more students with ASD transition better into an inclusion classroom. This study has shown
where future research should be done regarding PTR, for example: examining the variables that
contribute to fidelity of the overall process and, especially, the variables that affect sustained
implementation over extended periods of time, (P.11, Par. 2). A larger, and more varied,
participant group should also be used next time in the next study.
Conclusion
These studies have furthered the research into effective methods for teaching to children
with ASD, both in a segregated special education class, as well as an inclusion class. From the
information gathered, teachers and paraprofessionals, as well as others involved in the teaching
and care of these students can design teaching and behavior plans that can be used to increase
engaging behaviors and reduce disruptive ones. Findings have shown positive results for video
modeling in many areas of instruction, such as the development of vocational skills, and in
promoting appropriate verbal comments, intonation, gestures, and facial expressions during
social interactions. Research also examined different types of instruction, such as the simple-
conditional method or the conditional-only method for receptive labeling, the reliability of the
PTR method of behavior support, and a method of teaching name-object relations.
Teaching Children with Autism 9
This research will help in preparing general education and special education teachers, as
well as paraprofessionals, in the instruction of students with ASD. It gives them a variety of
possible methods be used during instruction, so that alternate methods can be implemented if
others are not working. There are strategies to lesson disruptive and behavioral issues as well, to
increase the students success in an inclusive classroom. As a current tutor for children with
ASD, this research has proven itself in the increased effectiveness of my instruction, and as a
future teacher, it will allow me to become an efficient instructor in an inclusion or special needs
class.

Teaching Children with Autism 10
References
Allen, K. D., Wallace, D. P., Renes, D., Bowen, S. L., & Burke, R. V. (2010). Use of Video
Modeling to Teach Vocational Skills to Adolescents and Young Adults with Autism
Spectrum Disorders. Education & Treatment Of Children (West Virginia University
Press), 33(3), 339-349.
Charlop, M. H., Dennis, B., Carpenter, M. H., & Greenberg, A. L. (2010). Teaching socially
expressive behaviors to children with autism through video modeling. Education &
Treatment of Children, 33(3), 371-393. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/747781540?accountid=32521
Eikeseth, S., & Hayward, D. W. (2009). The discrimination of object names and object sounds in
children with autism: A procedure for teaching verbal comprehension. Journal of Applied
Behavior Analysis, 42(4), 807-12. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/225045504?accountid=32521
Grow, L. L., Carr, J. E., Kodak, T. M., Jostad, C. M., & Kisamore, A. N. (2011). A comparison
of methods for teaching receptive labeling to children with autism spectrum disorders.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 44(3), 475-98. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/896736010?accountid=32521
Harris, S. L. (1984). The family and the autistic child: A behavioral perspective.
Family Relations, 33(1), 127-134.
Mazurik-Charles, R., & Stefanou, C. (2010). Using paraprofessionals to teach social skills to
children with autism spectrum disorders in the general education classroom.
Journal of Instructional Psychology, 37(2), 161-169. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/613382553?accountid=32521
Teaching Children with Autism 11
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. (2012, October 17). Autism fact sheet.
Retrieved from http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm#198193082
Ramdoss, S., Lang, R., Mulloy, A., Franco, J., O'Reilly, M., Didden, R., & Lancioni, G. (2011).
Use of Computer-Based Interventions to Teach Communication Skills to Children with
Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review. Journal Of Behavioral Education,
20(1), 55-76.
Strain, P. S., Wilson, K., & Dunlap, G. (2011). Prevent-teach-reinforce: Addressing problem
behaviors of students with autism in general education classrooms. Behavioral Disorders,
36(3), 160-171. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/886544607?accountid=32521