Paraprofessional Training Module

Transcription

1 Paraprofessional Training Module Module 8 One and one half hour module What is the Para Educator s Role in Education of Students with Autism? References: National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders

2 What will I learn from this presentation 1. Identify at least five core instructional strategies, (evidence-based practices, EBPs), that have been found to be successful in meeting the learning needs of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). 2. Identify two on-line resources for autism spectrum disorders and effective intervention strategies.

3 Evidence Based Practice An evidence based practice (EBP) is a practice for which there is scientifically-based research that demonstrates efficacy for use with children and youth with ASD.

4 Definition of Instructional Approaches ABA Applied Behavior Analysis. It is a science which attempts to understand and predict human behavior. ABA is the foundation of education therapy/intervention of choice for many students with Autism (ASD). Behavioral instructional procedures utilizing positive behavioral reinforcement strategies continue to provide the framework for teaching skills and decreasing behaviors that interfere with learning and optimal development.

5 Prompting Prompting procedures, paired with positive behavioral reinforcement strategies, are used to help another person learn and use new skills. Typically, adults provide prompts before or as a student attempts a new skill. Prompting procedures have two common elements: (1) procedures are used to help the individual with ASD learn a new skill. (2) prompts are systematically removed as the student learns the skill.

6 Prompting Five commonly used prompting procedures include: (1) Verbal prompts: statements made by instructional staff and families that help students acquire a specific skill (e.g. Put the red circle in the box. ). Consider the extent to which children/youth understand verbal instructions when using this strategy. (2) Gestural prompts: movements made by practitioners and families to cue students to use a skill or behavior (e.g. teacher points to the puzzle pieces that fit together).

7 Prompting (3) Model prompts: performing the behavior that the student is learning to do. (4) Physical prompts: touching students to help them engage in the target behavior (e.g. guiding student s hand to take the pencil from a peer). (5) Visual prompts: using visual, or written, cues of a specific event or activity to provide information about how to complete certain actions or sequence of actions (e.g. picture schedule).

8 Definition of Instructional Approaches Discrete Trial Training (DTT) is a method of teaching in which the adult uses adult-directed, massed trial instruction, reinforcers. DTT is a particularly strong method for developing a new response to a stimulus. Its limitations involve lack of reinforcement of learner spontaneity and difficulty with generalization.

9 Definition of Instructional Approaches Once a skill is learned in the DTT format, it is important to develop plans for teaching generalized use of the new skill across environments, materials and people, and also to develop teaching plans for learner initiation of the new skill. DTT can be used to teach students from early childhood through elementary school at all ability levels. Due to the intensive and repetitive nature of DTT, there is more evidence for using DTT with younger children (i.e., 2 to 9 years of age).

10 Definition of Instructional Approaches Structured Teaching is a visually based approach to creating highly structured environments that support individuals with autism in a variety of educational, community and home/living settings. Structured teaching is associated with the Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication Handicapped CHildren (TEACCH).

11 Structured Teaching The goal of structured teaching strategies is to create an environment that promotes independence (i.e., decreased need for adult support), by incorporating an understanding of the characteristics of autism and the strengths and interests of each individual. Visual supports and external organization serve as the basis for the interventions in a structured environment.

12 Structured Teaching There are five major components to structured teaching. These include: (1) Physical organization/visual boundaries (2) Schedules (3) Routines (4) Work systems (5) Task organization

13 Definition of Instructional Approaches Naturalistic Interventions make effective use of typical interactions between individuals with ASD and others in normal everyday settings (e.g. classroom, home, play-ground, community). Naturalistic interventions are considered childcentered and take place within the context of play, learning, and other on-going routines.

14 Definition of Instructional Approaches Pivotal Response Training (PRT), is a naturalistic behavioral intervention model that is often used to teach social skills. Intervention addresses the following pivotal areas of instruction: (1) student motivation, (2) responding to a variety of cues, (3) self-management, and (4) self-initiation.

15 Additional Approaches used with Students with ASD Social Stories (Gray, 1995) are used to describe social situations in some detail (highlighting relevant cues and offering examples of appropriate responding) and are aimed at helping individuals adjust to changes in routine, adapt their own behavior based on the social and physical cues of a situation, or to teach specific social skills or behaviors. They are individualized and typically are quite short, perhaps including pictures or other visual aides. In typical use, social stories are used as a pre-cursor to, or in anticipation of, upcoming events. They are portable and adaptable to nearly any setting.» Reference:

16 Additional Approaches used with Students with ASD Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), (Bondy and Frost, 1994), was developed as an alternative (aided) communication system. Learners use graphic symbols to communicate with others. There are six phases of PECS instruction: 1. Teaching the physically assisted exchange 2. Expanding spontaneity 3. Simultaneous discrimination of pictures 4. Building sentence structure 5. Responding to What do you want? 6. Commenting in response to a question PECS has been demonstrated in the research literature to promote speech development and production in previously nonverbal learners.

17 Academic Support Paraprofessional Assist the teacher with implementation of Evidence Based Practices (EBPs) Teach compensatory skills, for example, student has limited communication, teach a visual communication system utilizing alternative communication strategies. Provide direct instruction in academic areas (grade level or alternate curriculum through modifications)

18 On-line Resources National Professional Development Center On Autism Spectrum Disorders ( Autism Internet Modules (AIMS) (

19 Let s practice Accommodating then Modifying A Written Language Lesson In Small Groups..

20 Let s practice Accommodating then Modifying A Reading Lesson In Small Groups.

21 Let s practice Accommodating then Modifying A Math Lesson In Small Groups

22 Let s practice Communication using alternative methods In Small Groups

23 This is our FINAL Module CONGRATULATIONS!