Teaching Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders/ Pervasive Developmental Disorders

1. Teaching Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders/ Pervasive Developmental Disorders Chapter Six Presentation by Michael Hargarten & Tina Listerud

2. Introduction: • Students with Autism (ASD) have difficulty communicating, interacting with other people. • Some of these students also may have Mental Retardation. • Many also engage in challenging behavior (aggression, tantrums, self-injury). • Many are rigid in terms of talk& things they like to do. • Many get very upset when routine is interfered with.

3. Definitions of ASD and PDD: • Chapter Six Covers the above two conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder& • PDD-Pervasive Developmental Disorders. • PDD describes Five related disabilities incl. Autism, Rett Syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, Asperger Syndrome& PDD. • ASD is a sub-group of PDD& describes Autism& Asperger (which incorporate many same symptoms, differ in severity of expression). • All above disorders may have deficits in communication but • Students with Autism often lack typical language whereas • Students w/ Asperger have accelerated vocab. But are unable to use their lang. appropriately in conversations, education. • There is no identified causes, strategies for prevention or known cure.

4. Autism: • To be diagnosed with Autism, child must show features in 3 areas: • 1.) Six or more of any combo of poor eye contact, lack response, impairments in communication, repeating, robotic speech, gibberish. • 2.) Stereotypical behavior i.e. body rocking, hand flapping, finger movements, fascination of objects& parts. • 3.) Onset before age 3 (must not meet criteria for Retts or CDD).

5. Autism is a developmental disability-appears during first 3 years of life. • Considered very severe. • Range in ability level is varied. Some function independently. • No real physical features displayed. • Manifested in language& personal, social behavior.

6. A teacher’s Advice for Working with Students w/ Autism -6.1 • Don’t let the behavior overwhelm you. • Talk to student’s parents, other teachers. • Systematically expect more& more of the student. • Develop a picture& word schedule for daily activities. • Use peers to help redirect student’s behavior. • Student should feel like full member of the class.

7. Rett Syndrome: • To be diagnosed with Rett a student must have: • 1.) Normal prenatal, perinatal development. • 2.) Loss of skills occur btwn. 5-48 months. • 3.) Deceleration of head growth. • 4.) Loss of hand skills. • 5.) Loss of social engagement. • 6.) Poor trunk movements. • 7.) Severely impaired communication. • IS VERY RARE& OCCURS ONLY IN GIRLS!

8. Childhood Disintegrative Disorder: • To be diagnosed with CDD a child must have: • 1.) Normal development thru. Age 2. • 2.) Btwn. 2-10 child’s skills must regress in lang., social skills, bowel or bladder control, play or motor skills. • 3.) Must not meet criteria for PDD, schizophrenia.

9. Asperger Syndrome: • Child must exhibit behaviors in six areas (p. 147): • 1.) Impaired social interaction. • 2.) Stereotypical behavior. • 3.) Clinically significant impairment. • 4.) No significant delay in lang. • 5.) No delays in cognition. • 6.) Not meet criteria for schizophrenia.

10. Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD-NOS): • A child is diagnosed w/ PDD-NOS when: • 1.) Delays exhibited in soc. interaction, commun. • 2.) Stereotypical behaviors develop. • 3.) Does not meet criteria for other PDDs.

11. Prevalence of ASD: • ASD diagnosis have risen dramatically last 10 years. • ASD is now 6th most common disability in U.S. • In 2003, 141,022 ASD students recv’dSpec.Ed. Services. • This is SIX FOLD INCREASE in last 10 years. • Unclear why such big rise in diagnosis. • Some research indicates connection to measles-mumps vaccines.

12. Identification and Assessment-ASD Students: • Initial ident.& assess. most likely occurs before child attends school before age 3. • Teachers usually involved in ongoing assess.s& re-eval.s. • Assessment of contextual variables also important.

13. Curricular& Instructional Guidelines for ASD: • To develop effective instructional programs for ASD students, consider the following key processes: • 1.) Assess Preferences (p. 149). • 2.) Establish a Classroom Routine (p. 149). • 3.) Teach Communication Skills (p. 150). • 4.) Teach Social Skills i.e. social problem solving, social story interventions etc. (p. 152).

14. Tips for Teachers-6.3Working with Paraprofessionals: • Keep your Para informed. • Educate your Para. • Create a Schedule. • Communicate clearly. • Vary responsibilities (p. 155).

15. Addressing Challenging Behaviors: • Many students who are diagnosed w/ ASD engage in chall. behaviors i.e. • Self-injury or injury to others • Causes damage • Interferes w/ learning, socially isolates child • Disruption, aggression, non-compliance • Hitting, kicking, biting, head banging, eye poking.

16. Challenging behaviors are often a form of communication for students w/ disabilities. • Students use chall. behavior to obtain desired things i.e. pencils, computer time, attention, laughter. • They also use this behavior to escape non-preferred activities i.e. reading aloud, homework, non-favorite teacher. • Consequences of behavior is called functions of behavior (see Tips 6.4).

17. Tips for Teachers-6.4Managing Challenging Behaviors. • Understand why behaviors are occurring. • Be consistent. • All should be aware of student’s Behav. Intervention Plan. • Monitor challenging behaviors closely.

18. Functional Behavioral Assessments (FBA) • FBA helps determine functions of challenging behaviors in three steps: • 1.) Indirect assessments (parent& former teacher interviews, completion of rating scales etc.). • 2.) Direct assessments (observing& documenting sequence of behaviors around the chall. Behaviors i.e. ABC Analysis). • 3.) Functional analysis (manipulate one variable in classroom to determine its effects on chall. Behaviors).