Educator s Quarterly

Transcription

1 F A L L Educator s Quarterly THIS MONTH: AUTISM EDUCATION Recognizable Behaviors HOW DO I KNOW IT S AUTISM? Many wonder how to know if a child they care for is in fact autistic. The only way to know for certain is to seek a professional opinion, however, O. Ivar Lovaas, professor of psychology at UCLA, has expressed the following as indicators of autism in children: (a) serious failure to develop relationships with other people before 30 months of age, (b) problems in development of normal language, (c) ritualistic and obsessional behaviors ( insistence on sameness ) and (d) potential for normal intelligence (1). The major cause of autism is unknown; however, the underlying causes can be explored by the cumulative-risk, multiple-pathway model. This model recognizes that many factors come together to cause the disorder. For example, genetic or prenatal factors may create a vulnerability to physical and mental challenges, but there is also a developmental pathway with steps and degrees of severity (Greenspan and Wieder 4). The most recognizable behavior in children with Autism is selfstimulatory behaviors. Examples of self-stimulatory behaviors are rocking the body back and forth,, object manipulation (spinning a top, etc.), arm flapping, and others. (Koegel et al. 128). In addition to self-stimulatory behaviors, autistic children may also dislike certain sounds, textures, or being touched. Once they have become accustomed to a schedule or routine, some autistic children will be adamant about following the patterns they have already set. This principle is also applied to objects. If the objects have already been placed in a specific pattern, the autistic child will insist that the objects remain that way.

2 Educator s THE LOREM Quarterly IPSUMS FALL Fall Watch For Self-Injurious Behavior Of all of the behaviors of autistic children, the most disturbing is self-injurious behavior or SIB. Some Reasons for Self-Injurious Behavior Include: Frustration To obtain attention To escape or avoid a task Hypersensitivity to sound What can I do to better understand? According to Stephen M. Edelson, Ph. D, Autism Research Institute, the most effective way to determine motive for self-injurious behavior, is to conduct a functional analysis by evaluating what occurs immediately before and after the behavior. (Edelson) The Oakley s: A Family s Battle With Self-Injurious Behavior In October of 1995, a news station in California covered a story about the Oakley family, and their six year old son, Jamie, who suffered from selfinjurious behavior. His father explains that he began by striking his chin with his thumb then started slapping and punching himself. For a while, the treatment was to put a helmet on him and give him heavy doses of medication. This method was not successful, so the family tried a device called SIBIS. This device delivers a small electric shock each time the child performs a self-injurious behavior. The results they saw in Jamie were incredible. He became a completely different child. Many people saw this as inhumane, but his mother made the observation that delivering an extremely low shock to prevent her child from inflicting pain upon himself was far more humane than administering large doses of unsuccessful drugs and watching her son injure himself each day. (Maas) 2

3 Educator s THE LOREM Quarterly IPSUMS FALL Fall A Short Lesson in Special Education Lingo Exclusion: removing a child with special needs from the normal classroom and placing them in an alternate scenario Inclusion: to make accommodations and work with normal classroom special needs students in a Is It Possible to Incorporate Autistic Children into Normal Classrooms? Currently, there are two general categories in research to place autistic children in the conventional educational setting: the one-to-one teaching situation and the formation of special education classes exclusively for autistic children. Research has found that one-to-one teaching situations are extremely productive. These one-toone programs include teaching conversational speech, appropriate play, and the control of inappropriate behaviors. The foremost problem with executing this kind of an approach in the public school system is lack of funding. Koegel, Rincover and Egel formulated a method to integrate autistic students into classrooms with normal students, and performed an experiment. The subject, a 5-year old girl, who demonstrated inappropriate verbal behavior, was placed in a normal classroom in Santa Barbara, California. Her social behavior, self-stimulation, and verbal response to command were all observed and recorded. The recorded data showed improvement on all three levels, with exceptional results in verbal response, showing a steady, high rate of appropriate responses (Koegel and Rincover and Egel ). If there are positive outcomes, like the one mentioned above, then it is conceivable that other students will also respond well to being integrated into normal classrooms. 3

4 Education THE LOREM Quarterly IPSUMS FALL Fall Floortime Method The approach employs two goals. First, to follow the child s lead and by doing this, channel the child s personal interests. The child will feel closer to others when he feels that they participate in what he is interested in; and second, to comfortably bring the child into a shared world. Once a child can participate in a group, he can be challenged to master the fundamental abilities of communicating, relating, and thinking so he Applied Behavior Analysis Therapy Applied Behavior Analysis or ABA is best known for treating persons with autism, but it has also been proven effective for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, schizophrenia, and developmental delays. Trained therapists work one-onone with autistic children using exercises using methods called prompting and task analysis. Medication The majority of autistic children do not need to be medicated to control their behavior. However, in some cases, medicating a child can decrease negative behavior. Children who have a positive reaction to the medication will be able to interact better in education and social situations. Special Diets In addition to the aforementioned treatments, some doctors also suggest a special diet for autistic children. The most common restriction is to keep the child on a gluten-free diet. 4

5 Educator s THE LOREM Quarterly IPSUMS FALL Fall Educating Justin: A Look at Teaching Autistic Children At age 7, he is considered to have moderate autism because of intellect, and has severe apraxia of speech and is limited in peer relationships because of his lack of verbal communication. According to his mother, Shannon Spilker, Justin is currently homeschooled because of a lack of appropriate placement in public schools. There are many students just like Justin who deserve to be educated. The method the Spilker s have chosen for Justin is Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapy. Shannon Spilker shares, Because of Justin s severity of speech delay, we felt like maximized Applied Behavioral Analysis, one-on-one, therapy was the best option for him. So, he has 30 hours a week of ABA therapy. He has made tremendous progress and growth. When Justin meets with his therapist, they perform exercises where Justin will repeat sounds or actions that the therapist has given him. If Justin does not respond after being asked three times, the therapist gives him a prompt. An example being, if the task is to tap the table, the therapist will take Justin s hands and physically move them up and down to mimic the motion of tapping the table. Shannon expressed that she would love to have an autism classroom for Justin where he could be exposed to typical peers for limited amounts of time where acceptance and tolerance could be built up over time. However, to create a classroom limited to autistic children only, there must be consideration of student to teacher ratio. To conclude, Shannon Spilker shares one more thought. Justin has taught me to love the small things in life. He has taught me to slow down and celebrate every small step of progress. It still amazes me how much we know and love Justin, when he hasn t told us verbally one thing about himself I think that is amazing! (Spilker 3) Shannon is living her life one day at a time, constantly grateful for the fact that, even though it may be a struggle, she and her family are working at slowly, but surely, educating Justin. 5

6 EDUCATOR S QUARTERLY FALL 2010 Autism is Awesome! There is so much to learn about autism. There are many resources available to educators and parents to assist us in better understanding autistic children and learning how to communicate and identify with special needs children in our lives. It s all out there for us to discover, we just have to look! Educator s Quarterly 246 South 1 st West Rexburg, Idaho 83440