Every year there are more and more children born with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and there is more of a need for accommodation for their needs. “The future will likely present teachers with even more students with learning disabilities” (Gerstle and Walsh 35). With these numbers increasing, it is important for teachers and the people around them to understand their struggles and needs. Children and adults with ASD struggle in many areas. They have difficulties taking on daily activities that most people take for granted. There are variations in the severity of these disorders. Some people are very high functioning and have little to no problem performing daily activities, as well as completing complex ones. However, many people with ASD suffer from severe forms of the disorder and cannot care for themselves. No matter the severity, people with autism get support and some form of education, whether it be to care for themselves, or to become educated and eventually contribute to society. Those with moderate to high functioning ASD go to school and some eventually go on to further their education. Despite the struggles specific to each person, they can still be taught effective writing skills. To teach these individuals proper writing skills, it is crucial for educators to understand them and know how to teach them. There are many methods of teaching for educators to use to fit the specific needs of their students. Children and adults with autism spectrum disorders can still be taught effective writing skills through understanding and cooperation of teachers, proven methods of teaching and continuous support.
Informing teachers of the areas that students with autism spectrum disorder struggle in will better help them understand...
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Luiselli, James K. "Verbal Language and Communication." Teaching and Behavior Support for Children and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Practitioner's Guide. New York: Oxford UP, 2011. Print.
Pennington, Robert C., Melinda Jones Ault, John W. Schuster, Ann Sanders. “Using Simultaneous Prompting and Computer-Assisted Instruction to Teach Story Writing to Students with Autism.” Assistive Technology Outcomes and Benefits 7.1 (2010):24-38. ProQuest. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.
Pennington, Robert C., Monica E. Delano. “Writing Instruction for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Review of Literature.” Hammill Institute on Disabilities (2012): 158-167. Sage. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.
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Development of social skills is very important for children that are diagnosed with autism because of ...
Those with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) see the world in a diverse way; teachers and adults need to recognize this. Robison gives examples of his childhood where he misinterpreted information from others including social cues, as well as instructions. He was in these situations punished either socially or academically.
Wainer, Allison L. "The use of innovative computer technology for teaching social communication to individuals with autism spectrum disorders". Research in autism spectrum disorders , 5 (1), p. 96.
Incidental teaching focuses on child-initiated interactions. (Hall, 2013) Incidental teaching is used to increase skills of individuals with autism spectrum disorders. (Hall, 2013) A study done by Hart and Risley (1975) looked at the incidental teaching process used at the preschool age to aide in teaching language. Incidental teaching has been the most frequent strategy that has been used to teach language. When using incidental teaching a child’s request may be verbal or nonverbal. Examples include reaching for an object that is out of one’s reach, requesting food or a toy or calling an adult’s name. There is a series of decisions that an adult can use to respond to the child’s request. These choices include: if the occasion should be used for incidental teaching: if so then a choice regarding the language behavior that is obtained from the child, and then a choice has to be made concerning the cue that will be used to initiate instruction, the cur could be focus of attention by itself, or in addition to the focused attention a verbal cue as well. If the individual does not respond to the cue, then a choice concerning the degree of prompt to be used, the “fullest degree: a request for imitation; medium degree: a request for partial imitation, or minimal degree: a request for the terminal language behavior.” (Hart & Risley, 1975) This study was performed on boys and girls between the ages of four years old to five years old. The baseline procedures ensured that the children had a variety of vocabulary for use in sentences. The sentences that they were taught was “I want x so I can y.” The second step of the procedure was the use of incidental teaching of compound sentences directed to teachers. After thirty-six days of school, the incidental teaching began to occur when the children needed assistance in trying to get different preschool materials.
Sills, Caryl K. "Success for learning disabled writers across the curriculum." College Teaching 43 (Spring 95): 66-72.
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Children with autism have multiple characteristic impairments in their social interaction skills. This results from the lack of “Theory of Mind” in autistic individuals. Autistic children have difficulty interpreting what another person may be thinking or feeling. Social impairments may cause the child to act inappropriately in social interactions and prevent the children from truly taking part in interactions. The children have difficulty recognizing social cues and responding to cues. Autistic children have a hard time forming relationships as a result of these impairments. Social stories, Applied Behavior Analysis, and Pivotal Response Training are three therapy techniques that help children with autism learn appropriate social behavior. Social stories allow the children to practice the situation in a lower stress environment. Applied Behavior Analysis utilizes positive reinforce to teach desired skills. Pivotal Response Training allows the child to learn social skills while in a natural play environment. Learning social skills through these techniques enable the children to have more meaningful relationships and engage more in their community.
As a high school student, I worked with a thirteen-year-old boy named Ricky as a sign language tutor. Ricky had autism and did not acquire speech other than the word “ma”. A high population of children with autism does not acquire speech, and intervention is needed. Other methods of intervention exist, but teaching signs is one of the most useful ways of giving nonverbal children the power of communication. Although researchers often seek to solve problems, I approach this topic from the perspective of a teacher. Teachers must grapple with educating a higher percentage of children with communicative challenges due to a growing diagnosis of autism. Special education policy must work to support the needs of these students while giving teachers opportunities to practice appropriate interventions. The success of sign language instruction will vary among children, but invested parents and teachers may be able to help a child realize his or her communicative potential.
...ed instruction to teach use of speech-generating devices to students with autism in social game routines. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 27(1), 26-39. doi: 10.3109/07434618.2010.546810
Autism Spectrum Disorder allow students to struggle with reading comprehension and language development in the classroom. The article discusses about finding helpful reading skills for students to use to master and understand what the student is reading. Gately states, “often students have deficits in language and social cognition and difficulty interpreting and labeling emotions and incorporating or integrating each of these aspects of communication to gain meaning in social situations” (pg. 40). Combining these aspects in language arts can decrease the knowledge and lose a student when the student is not sure what they are reading about. The student is unable to make a connection while reading. The article mentions helpful strategies for
Problems with speech and language are one of the defining characteristics of the Autism Disorders. The difficulties that autistics have with speech and language are heterogenous and probably have a number of different causes even in the same individuals. The expressions of normal human speech requires the intent to communicate something. It requires the other individual understands a situation and how they are going to react to what is being communicated.
Warger, C. (2002). Helping students with disabilities succeed in state and district writing assignments. ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education, Council for Exceptional Children. 1-5. Retrieved October 3, 2004, from ERIC Digests full-text database.
Dempsey, I. & Foreman, P. ( 2001). A Review of Educational Approaches for Individuals with Autism. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 48 (1), 105-116.
...of ABA, which has “demonstrated efficacy in…reducing inappropriate behavior and in increasing communication, learning, and appropriate social behavior” (Satcher, 1999, as cited in Brams, 2008, p. 6). Because all skill domains have the ability to be effectively addressed through the use of one multi-method ABA model, the process of confronting the many debilitating issues of ASD is simplified. There is still room for advancements within ABA and the Autism community, but the continual expansion of programs and dedication to ABA research is leading to more promises for the struggling ASD community. For the future of ASD, the hope is not only to keep individuals in their homes and out of institutions, but more importantly to provide them with the possibility of independence and the ability to thrive far beyond all of Autism’s previous restrictions (Blane, 2011, p. 6).