PRACTICAL INTERVENTIONS 

FOR CHILDREN WITH HIGH 
FUNCTIONING AUTISM AND 
ASPERGER'S SYNDROME

Monica Adler Werner
The Model Asperger Program
The Ivymount School
 “If you’ve me one person with 
autism, you’ve met one person 
with autism.”

Steven Shore, Ed.D. author and international leader in the field of autism 
and also lives with an autism spectrum disorder

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
What is an Autism Spectrum 
Disorder (ASD)? 

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 Aspergers/ HFA are pervasive 
developmental disorders (PDD)

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 HFA vs AS

Impairment in 
social interaction, 
restricted 
repetitive 
behavior

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 Co‐morbid Diagnoses 

z Anxiety Disorder
z Depression
z Bipolar Disorder
z ADD/ADHD
z Tourette syndrome
z OCD
APA, 2000

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
Social Cognition: Why do we care?

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 Social is 
everywhere:
Sitting in a class

Learning literature

Navigating the halls

Daily changes—substitutes 
to lunch menus

Interviewing

Checking out at the store

Asking for directions

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 The Brain is Different: 
Connections and Networks
z Different regions recruited for same tasks as typically 
developing individual

z Result is:
z Different behaviors
z Different processing speed

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
How is the brain different?

(Pelphrey et. al., 2007 & Schultz et. all., 2003) 

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
The key to understanding and working with 
people with HFA and Asperger Syndrome

Think CAN’T, not WON’T!

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
Educators Have Choices!

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
You need a relationship!

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 Goal: 
Independent Task Completion
Often the intervention 
Person addresses all three 
aspects of human 
performance. 

In all cases the goal is 
Environment Task
optimal independence 
with the fewest 
supports possible.
(Dunn, Brown, & McGuigan, 1994)
© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
What are some key areas of difficulty in the 
classroom?

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 Theory of Mind

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 Theory of Mind

The ability to know that other people have thoughts that 
are different from yours
z Ability to ascribe beliefs and desires to others in order to 
predict behavior
z Awareness of pretense, irony, deception, cause and 
effect, motivation

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
Sally and Ann 
scenarios (Baron‐
Cohen, 1985)

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 “Imagine what your world would be like if 
you were aware of physical things, but were 
blind to the existence of mental things. I 
mean, of course, blind to things like 
thoughts, beliefs, knowledge, desires, and 
intentions, which for most of us self‐
evidently underlies behavior.”

Simon Baron‐Cohen

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 Triangles

Courtesy of Francesca Happe, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College, London

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 Theory of Mind

Right now you 
What thoughts are  are giving me 
you giving others?  … thoughts 
because…

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
Literature, History….
What were the settler’s 
first thoughts about the 
Native Americans?

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 Social Perception

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 Detail 
oriented

Poor EF

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 Social Perception

z Teaching Opportunities

z What’s relevant to the SPANISH 
lesson in this picture? (main point vs. 
detail, suppress own perspective)

z Relationship between students 
(TOM, emotional reading)

z Literature Review‐ identifying the 
—Elena, ¿es tu disquete? main idea, summarizing a passage
—No, es el disquete de David.
© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
Executive Dysfunction

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
Areas of Challenge with EF

z Starring Roles: z Supporting Cast:
z Planning z Response inhibition
z Organization z Emotional regulation
z Time management z Task initiation
z Working memory z Flexibility
z Metacognition z Goal‐directed 
persistence

(Dawson & Guare, 2004)

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
Supporting Executive Functions

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 Supporting Executive Function in 
Classrooms

z Written rules, recipes, routines
z Tapes
z Technology
z Organized Notebooks
z Dry Erase boards (write, don’t talk)
z Checklists
z Talk out loud – narrate your experience (Winsler, 2006)
z Memorize it, make it automatic (repetition)

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 Goal‐Plan‐Do‐Check

GOAL: WHAT DO I WANT TO ACCOMPLISH?

PLAN: HOW AM I GOING TO ACCOMPLISH MY GOAL?

DO
PROBLEMS SOLUTIONS
1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
Check: HOW DID I DO?
Self rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Other Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

WHAT WORKED? WHAT DIDN'T WORK

1. 1.
2. 2.
WHAT WILL I TRY NEXT TIME?

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
Teaching Problem Solving 
“With, Not For”

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 Promote Independence
z Fade supports: start completely explicit then slowly cut 
back.  
z Don’t answer questions—guide students to “figure it 
out.”
z Socratic method
z Make direct links to individual student’s strengths and 
areas of challenge
z Set clear expectations congruent with student’s goals 
and “age aspirations.”
z Don’t lower your expectations: ask yourself, “would this 
fly in a typical classroom?”
© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 Live Out Loud
z Make the implicit explicit by verbalizing your 
actions.
z Agendas, Emotional Experience, Executive 
Function Task I am feeling 
frustrated 
because my 
I have miss placed  computer is 
my car keys. Ok last  running slow. I 
time I had them… am going to take 
a deep breath.

Myles, 2006

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
Videos—Opportunities

z Opportunities:
z Teach reading social 
cues and emotions in 
stills
z Teach TOM
z Teach deductive 
reasoning and inferring 
new vocabulary by 
using context

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 Preview the Plan

z Use visual supports
z Schedule
z Daily
z Of activities in a class
z List of materials
z Reminders of social 
expectation
z Teach routines
z Keep them simple
z Use technology

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 Simplify Language
z Be specific z Help students attend 
by…
“Wipe down your desk and  z Using their name before 
throw away all papers  asking a question
inside” rather than… z Tap gently on their desk 
before giving a direction
“Clean your desk”
z Combine visual and 
z Keep your language  verbal directions
concise z Have students 
z Teach non‐literal  paraphrase what you 
language (metaphors,  said
idioms)
© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
Strategies to Modify Academics: 
Special Education is Best Practice

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org
 A big thank you to…

Contributors and Resources

Contributors
Lynn Cannon
Katie Alexander, MS, OTR/L 
Laura Anthony, Ph.D (CNMC Collaborator) 
Lauren Kenworthy Ph.D
Resources have included:
CNMC 
Take 2

© The Model Asperger Program at The Ivymount School ▪ www.ivymount.org