Nora Rinehart

Professor Joyce Barnes

ENG 1201

5 March 2019

Annotated Bibliography

My essay will strive to bring more awareness about autism in the classroom. There are

many kids who have autism and not enough people know what the kids go through everyday.

It’s hard to communicate with kids who have certain types of autism and I want my essay to

inform people about how they can help communicate and even interact with autistic children to

make the teacher and the student’s life better. Along with the speech barrier, autistic children

also have to go through bullying, they have a hard time making small everyday decisions and

they also learn at a different rate than average students do. I want this essay to clarify how

friends and family can be more supportive and better understanding of their child. I also want

people to know what people with autism and their caregivers go through on a daily basis at

home, school, and when they interact with the public (grocery shopping, movies, dinner, etc.).

Baker, Jed. Social Skills Training and Frustration Management: a Dynamic and Comprehensive

Presentation for Parents and Professionals Working with Individuals with Social Difficulties.

Future Horizons, 2006.

 Dr. Jed Baker wrote Social Skills Training and Frustration Management to give advice to

parents and teachers so they can help better support students with autism. Many children with

autism through fits and have meltdowns because they feel as though they are in crisis. Baker

writes step by step techniques that teachers and parents can quickly put into practice. The

techniques Baker gives in this book are to help adults eliminate severe meltdowns. The book

also shares techniques on how to build conversation skills, emotion management, employment

and even dating. It goes through the different stages of development and how autism either

gets worse or remains stagnant, the more a child develops and the older they get.

Dr. Jed Baker’s reasoning for writing this resource book is to help teachers and family

members understand the social and emotional functioning of their children with autism. This

article is for anyone who may associate or interact with autistic people of all ages and not just

school aged kids. I believe this article is meant to be informative to its readers.

Jed Baker is a credible psychologist and professor. Much of his information is based off

of psychological observations he has made in his many studies. The information that wasn’t

obtained by Baker, was provided by other researchers and psychologists, whom he gives credit

to in his book.

I will be using this article to give specific guaranteed techniques to anyone who may be

searching for ways to communicate and interact better with their loved ones, peers or students.

This article can help a sister without autism talk her sibling with autism out of a meltdown and

keep them calm. That was an example of many other reasons why I will be using this article.
Macmillan, Palgrave. “Stats and Facts.” Ambitious about Autism, 27 September 2017,

www.ambittiousaboutautism.org.uk/stats-and-facts.

Palgrave Macmillan wrote this article “Stats and Facts” for an emotional approach to

informing readers in the many problems children with autism face. Macmillan wants readers to

know the seriousness of these problems children face and how important it is that society works

as a team to demolish them. 1 in 59 children are diagnosed with autism and there is no medical

detection for it. Autism is more of a genetic disorder than anything. It isn’t caused by certain

chemicals or things in food, it isn’t caused by vaccines, and it isn’t caused by excessive phone

use. Most autistic children have an extremely hard time going to a normal public school. They

need assistance to complete tasks most of the day. Many autistic kids go to special schools to

ensure they get the assistance they need. Autistic kids are very intelligent, but they don’t like

being forced to do work such as tests or worksheets in class.

Palgrave Macmillan’s purpose for writing this article is to bring to attention the

statistics of autism in the classroom. Teachers and parents would both be a fitting audience

towards this source. Even fellow students if they were middle or high school aged students

interested in helping out their classmates. Macmillan is a pediatrician and an advocate for the

Ambitious about Autism charity for young people with autism. She backs her statistics up with
other credible sources and her own findings. This article was also written in 2017, making it

recent and relevant.

I will be using this article to cite statistics specifically for young people who have autism.

The topics I am going to share include success rates at an ordinary public school and how many

children are diagnosed with autism.

Marsh, Annabelle. “Home-PMC-NCBI.” Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports., U.S.

National

Library of Medicine, 2017, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc.

Dr. Annabelle Marsh wrote many articles and case studies on the different effects that

ASD (autism spectrum disorder) has on individuals who are getting ready to start school or

transition to a different school. The main focus of this article is to identify factors that

encourage a positive start to school for children that have autism. In a study conducted of

about 150 five year olds, there were 64 autistic children and the rest were your “average” five

year old getting screened for kindergarten. The results of the study taken showed that all 64

autistic children minus 5 who were minorly autistic were far less emotionally ready than their

peers were for school. The children with ASD had more externalising behaviors and difficulties

with self-regulation that affected how they engage in school and interact with their teachers.
Dr. Marsh concludes the article by stating that children with ASD face a lot more challenges

transitioning into schools (public school). They also have challenges with social interaction.

Teachers and any other educational support staff would be a great audience for this

article. Dr. Marsh is trying to bring awareness to the fact that children with autism have a hard

time fitting in and transitioning into school. She wants teachers to know that they need to

understand that and be patient with their students. If more teachers read about her studies,

schools can be more comfortable for those students who need all the help they can get in

transitioning to other schools. Teachers need to get on the level of their students to understand

their thoughts and how their brains work.

Dr. Annabelle Marsh is a psychiatrist in Boston, Massachusetts. She is known for

conducting many studies of children with ASD and the effect it has on things such as school and

everyday life. The article was written in 2017 and all of the information she includes in her

article is cited and from her own studies she has conducted. The site is also published through a

credible publication. I would use this article in the portion of my essay where I need proof that

education in a typical school setting is really hard for autistic children. This article can also help

me credibly support my reasonings as to why school transitions are so hard for those students.

Saggers, Beth. “Supporting Students with Autism in the Classroom: What Teachers Need to
 Know. “The Conversation, The Conversation, 26 Sept. 2018, theconversation.com/

Supporting-students-with-autism-in-the-classroom-what-teachers-need-to-

Know-64814.

Beth Saggers writes about the impact of autism on a student’s life in The Conversation. Up

to 72% if students on the autism spectrum have additional mental health needs. Classrooms are

extremely social environments that depend heavily on being able to interact, socialise and

communicate effectively with other students. Because classrooms are so social, it can intensify

the stress, anxiety and depression that autistic students might experience. This can also worsen

their meltdowns. Teachers need to know the importance of inclusion, but they also need to

know that sometimes their students would rather work alone and not socialize with other

students. Inclusion is all about being proactive and meeting the needs of all students, but

because of how their brains are wired, students with autism often need time away from other

students and demands of the classroom. Students with autism can find tasks requiring a lot of

planning and organization such as homework, learning tasks and assessments very difficult. It

can also have a negative impact on their academic, social and cognitive abilities. Teachers and

other students need guidance and additional help so they can help other students transition,

adjust and function within their classrooms and schools.

Teachers and student are a perfect audience for this article. This article can supply them

with techniques and guidance they need to help students with autism cope with their

surroundings and be more successful in the classroom and socially with their peers. Saggers
wants to give individuals the knowledge to help students with autism fit in and transition into

school superbly.

This article was written and published in 2018, making the information recent and

relevant. Beth Saggers is a senior professor of Education and Autism at the Queensland

University of Technology. She is a key researcher in the Autism CRC and she receives funding

from the Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC). I would use this

source to support my claims and to show evidence on the effects transition and classroom

interaction/inclusion has on students with ASD.

Scott, Helen, et al. “Exploring Teachers’ Strategies for Including Children with Autism

Spectrum Disorder in Mainstream Classrooms.” Taylor and Francis Online, 2014,

www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13603116.2012758320.

Helen Scott’s “Exploring Teachers’ Strategies for Including Children with Autism Spectrum

Disorder in Mainstream Classrooms” is a published journal on 13 elementary school teachers

who have had or currently have students with autism. Scott observed all 13 teachers twice. Once

to see how they teach and interact with their students who have autism and another time after

teachers were given proven techniques to help with communication and inclusion between

their autistic students and other students. The questions being tested in her observation were:
How well do teachers handle students with ASD on their own? With help from professionals?

Are teachers truly comfortable with teaching students with ASD?

This journal would attract an audience of teachers and aides looking for help in their

own classrooms. The main idea of this article is to inform teachers that they aren’t alone if

they’re having problems with being able to interact with their students. This journal was written

so teacher everywhere can read different strategies that teachers made up for themselves and

psychologists made for teachers to use. After they read this article, hopefully it can help them in

their own classrooms.

This journal was published in 2014, but it’s still relatively recent. The journal was

published by Taylor and Francis. Helen Scott is a principal lecturer and a psychotherapist. She

dedicates majority of her curriculum and studies to ASD. I would use this article to stress the

importance of teachers having the right techniques and strategies in their classroom so they

and their other students came communicate, socialize, include and interact with fellow

students who have autism.

Smith, Lisa. “12 Things I’d Like Teachers to Understand about Autism.” Autism Speaks, Mar. 2015

www.autismspeaks.org/blog/12-things-id-teachers-understand-about-autism.

The author of this blog, Lisa Smith is a mother of seven children and two of her kids

have special needs. From her experience, Lisa faced many difficulties getting teachers to
understand how her son with autism functioned. She would always get emails from teachers

stating that her son wasn’t participating and he got upset quite easily. After a while, Lisa Smith

decided to start blogging about her son’s adventure with autism and school. Every year when

Tate got a new teacher, aide or camp counselor, Lisa would refer them to her blogs. The main

idea of this particular blog is to bring to light different levels of language barriers and sensory

issues that many teachers overlook. Autistic children don’t understand figurative language, so if

you were to tell an autistic child to “break a leg” instead of “good luck”, they’re going to be

extremely confused as to why you told them to break a leg. You must speak plainly around

autistic kids because it’ll be less confusing and stressful. Autistic kids also speak bluntly because

they don’t see it as being rude, they think that’s how everyone talks. Lisa urges readers of her

blog to not be upset or take anything they say personally and that it is a great idea to have a

sense of humor when working with autistic kids. Along with the problems around the language

barrier, there are also sensory problems that arise between autistic children. If kids know there

is a reward waiting for them, they will work very hard so they can get a reward. If there is a

threat or they feel as though there is a punishment coming, they will most likely shut down or

have a flare up of anxiety.

This blog would be great for teachers, aides, counselors, and even parents who may need

reassurance even about their own child and child rearing skills. This blog goes through 12 major

things all teachers should know about autistic children. Not only does it give 12 points, it also

thoroughly explains each point.

 Yes, this source is for a blog and most blogs aren’t ideal, but the information in this blog

came from a mother and her own personal experience. This information is first hand and very

useful to anyone who may need it. This blog was published and released onto

AutismSpeaks.org, a popular and well known website. The information included in the blog is

very relevant and it was released in 2015, also making it recent. I would use this source to

support my portion of language barriers in my research paper and also sensory issues portion.

Taylor, Kate. “For Children With Autism, No More Being Hushed.” The New York Times, The New

York Times, 14 June 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/06/14/nyregion/for-children-with-

Autism-no-more-being-hushed.html.

Kate Taylor wrote the article “For Children with Autism, No More Being Hushed” to talk

about a handful of schools in New York City and their teachers that help shape the minds of

autistic students. The main person this article is based off of is Dorothy Siegel. Siegel is a long

time advocate for special education and she had many thought on the education of students

with ASD. She doesn’t believe in paraprofessionals because they can sometimes seem

overbearing and they can serve as a distraction to the student they are assigned.

Paraprofessionals are teaching assistants who are assigned to one student whom they shadow

during their classes and activities. Paraprofessionals have the tendency to be forceful and

bothersome. They don’t help students interpret and understand. They nitpick everything the
student does rather than keeping the child out of trouble. Because she has clashed with the ways

of paraprofessionals, Siegel has been working on ways, through the years, to create a better way

to teach students with autism. She bagan ASD Nest, which is in 40 different schools across New

York City. ASD Nest aims to help autistic children understand the school environment and even

their own needs, so they can function in school and out of school. They even have educational

programs for autistic people 21+ years of age.

This article is great for parents looking for a school or school techniques they can apply

to help their child’s education. It is also great for teachers if they are looking for different ways

to help include all of their students in all lessons and class activities. The main part of this entire

article is to share the different techniques and strategies teachers in NYC have started using to

help educate people with autism.

Dorothy Siegel is an advocate for special education and she is also a former senior

researcher for the New York University Institute for Education and Social Policy. The article

was published by the New York Times and it was written in 2017. That makes reliable, recent

and a great source of information from observations, scientific study and personal experiences.

I would use this article for the base of my entire research paper. The information found in this

article is uncanny. There is so much to learn from this single article.