3 Ways to Encourage Participation of Students with ASD in the Classroom

Encouraging Participation of Students with ASD

12th January, 2015

Matt provides three practical tips on how to encourage students with ASD to participate in the classroom

In my last post, I began to unfold some of the basics that I have discovered for preparing a classroom for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), based on conversations I have had with integration aides and occupational therapists. Today I continue to explore the ways in which one can effectively teach a student with ASD, and today is about participation, both in set tasks and in classroom discussions. The strategies I will explain are by no means the only strategies; these are just a few that have come up in both my own practice and in discussions with professionals.

1. The NO HANDS UP Rule: When I first encountered this idea, it was in an article about new trends in education, and considering how entrenched our system seems to be in having students put their hands up I wasn’t surprised that I hadn’t heard of it before. Although this may have varying levels of success depending on the teacher, this strategy involves exactly what you think it does; removing ‘hands up’ responses in the classroom. We all know that the students who will regularly put up their hands in class are often those who already know the information; those who are unsure often will not respond for fear of embarrassment. This means that ‘hands up’ situations can be a source of anxiety for all students, and can be a particular issue for students with ASD. In classroom discussions, establishing the expectation that all students will respond (even if their response is ‘I’m not sure’) means that not only will you as a teacher gain a greater appreciation of the understanding of the class as a whole, but reduces anxiety when done in, for example, a circle. The student or students with ASD will know when it will be their turn to speak, and know that it is fine for them to be unsure, will reduce their anxiety at responding to classroom questions. It can even help any unsure students by showing them that others may be having issues as well.
2. Being Specific With Writing Activities: Often when asking students to complete writing activities, teachers will use open-ended prompts such as ‘What I did on the holidays’. This can be good for students in that it encourages students to write about something they know and enjoy, and through the fact that, in most cases, all students can write about something. However, such tasks can be a cause for anxiety in children with ASD due to their open-endedness; they often will not know where and how to start, and as such may not start at all. Although this may not always be appropriate for the whole class, making such writing prompts more specific and providing an opening sentence for all students to use can help to reduce anxiety as well as encourage participation in ASD students.
3. Integrating Computers into Classroom Activities: There is no shortage of talk, both in schools and university courses, about the benefits that technology can bring to a classroom. However, there are educational and participation benefits for students with ASD beyond that of those already established. Students with ASD tend to be predominantly visual learners; often they will not engage with verbal instruction alone. Computers present all information in the visual medium, and this medium can be tailored to suit the preferences of the individual, which will encourage their learning, increase their confidence and support participation. Furthermore, many educational programs can be attained that present problems in a structured fashion, with an identifiable start and finish and a set number of parts to complete; structure is important for students with ASD in all aspects of life, and such programs can be used to encourage independent work skills alongside the practice of other skills.

Thanks for checking this article out, and I hope that it has been useful to you. With our blog entering the New Year, I plan to continue writing about ASD, but also extend to other topics, the nature of which will, for now, remain a mystery. We will be releasing a new article every week for the next couple of months, so have a read. You might just learn something.

Signing off,
Matt

End of Placement

End of Placement

7th January, 2016

Nick discusses his placement experience and a different type of special need

Happy New Year to all fellow PSTs and others who are visitors to the blog, I hope your Christmas and New Years break was enjoyable!

It has been a few weeks since my placement block concluded, however, what a wonderful and interesting four weeks it was! This experience for me was one like no other. I was placed in a primary school where a large majority of students were English as Additional Language Learners (EAL). My work as an integration aide and previous placements has provided me some exposure to teaching EAL students, however, this placement involved me learning a lot of new ideas to better inform my overall teaching practice. Many new and interesting challenges arose throughout as it was during report writing time, and there were many extra curricular activities occurring within the school as well.

The most important idea that came out of the four weeks is the significance of modelling correct language, both written and oral. It is something that I have been aware of, but have not consciously implemented into my practice. My associate teacher placed a large emphasis on pausing at words students may find challenging and using their ‘detective skills’ to attempt to work out what the word means in context. Furthermore, I observed the importance of modelling correct language to students. I witnessed many students attempting to implement some new and challenging words into their writing that arose from class based discussion or simply from a word that was read in a book.

One of the absolute highlights for me from this placement was being able to read to the students regularly. This particular group of students were really engaged with teacher read alouds and subconsciously were able to learn a lot from what they were listening to. Asking the question “With a title like this, what do you think is going to happen?” instantly had hands flying up to answer. This inferring practice is an important part of reading comprehension, especially when teaching EAL students as it encourages them to think about what they are reading while reading it. A follow up question I asked throughout the text was; “What do you think will happen next?” Again students were extremely eager to make predictions based on what they had read already. Reading aloud to students is something I value highly as a future educator and will endeavour to do on a daily basis as I think a lot can be learnt from simply listening to a teacher read a text. Students were also able to use their text-to-text, text-to-self and text-to-world connections in order to enhance their ability to predict what they thought was going to happen next in the story.

So how does this fit in with special needs education? As discussed in previous blog posts, the term ‘special need’ is a specific educational requirement that a student may need to benefit their learning outcomes; EAL students fall into this category. To be an inclusive educator lessons must be adapted to incorporate each student within the learning space. A slight adaptation to a lesson such as pausing and discussing new words is an example of being inclusive to this particular special need.

As future educators I believe it is a fundamental requirement to incorporate simple practices like these into the learning space to ensure each student feels as though they are supported and included within ALL lessons and activities.

 - Nick

Who are these people?

Who are these people?

29th October, 2015

 Nick uses his personal work experience to discuss the role of an integration aide within the learning space and how future teachers can incorporate them into their teaching practice.

Including and incorporating all students within the learning space is of utmost importance. Within your class group there is a great likelihood of encountering a student with a special need; this will present many interesting and exciting challenges to you as the teacher. One of the greatest challenges that may be faced is how to include these students in every aspect of learning that takes place in the learning space.  In this situation you may be able to utilise the work of an education support staff member, specifically an integration aide.

The role of an integration aide varies from classroom to classroom depending on the needs of the student. As aides work alongside students with special needs it is important for them to be flexible in their approach to accommodate and ensure inclusion for each student. Some key roles of an integration aide are as follows:

• To ensure inclusion rather than isolation within the learning space.
• Collaborate with teachers to ensure delivery of educational programs to students with special needs.
• Be conscious of the classroom teacher’s expectations for the entire class group and support the teacher with carrying out these expectations.
• To be happy, friendly, warm, encouraging and supportive.

The idea of inclusion is something that is at the heart of my teaching philosophy and I am passionate about the notion of EVERY student feeling as though they are a part of the classroom environment. As an integration aide this means that when working with students in the learning space there is more to the role than assisting students in completing their ‘work’.  The idea of inclusion incorporates assisting students with social strategies as well as effective communication strategies. It may also mean providing students with assistance for mobility or other needs specific to that student to ensure they are able to actively engage within the learning space. These inclusion strategies may extend beyond the learning space into the playground.

How do I incorporate an integration aide into my classroom?

In my role as an integration aide I have been able to gain some insight into how teacher’s can best utilise an aide through collaborative practices. It is important to note that although your learning space may have students with special needs, an integration aide may not always be present, if at all.

Collaboration is vital within the school setting; whether it is between staff or with parents, it is the key to a successful learning environment. Teacher and integration aide collaboration is best achieved through effective and consistent communication to ensure the best outcomes are achieved for students. Allowing access to unit planners or weekly planners is a great way to ensure each party is working towards a common educational goal or outcome for the student. In particular, as a future teacher it is important to ensure these planners are specific to the learning goals of the child with special needs as well as being clear to anyone who reads them.  It is also important as the teacher to liaise with the aide during the session to ensure the student is on track. Alternatively, you can have a brief discussion post session to discuss how the student worked and what areas need to be improved on for the next session.

Overall it can be a great asset to have an education support member in your learning space. However, as discussed, it is vital that they be used effectively to ensure not only inclusion of the students, but to also assist them in achieving the best educational outcomes possible.

- Nick

5 Ways to Prepare Your Classroom for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

5 Ways to Prepare Your Classroom for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

20th October, 2015

Matt talks about creating a classroom space that caters to children with ASD and passes on some tips from an Occupational Therapist 

 

When I first set out to write about students with ASD and their unique position in the school environment, I originally planned to create a top-ten or top-five list of ways to engage with such students. Upon conducting some research, however, I found that this approach was at best short-sighted. Having recently assisted in the coordination of a social skills program for primary school students with ASD, I became aware of the variance in difficulties a teacher can face with ensuring that an environment is supportive for such students.

I find it important to mention that although the creation of classroom environments conducive to the learning of those with special needs has formed part of our teacher education, it is extremely vague. Not that it wasn’t useful; it taught us about the importance of doing so (though that is common sense). It was simply that it gave little attention to specific special needs. With ASD diagnoses becoming more common in the modern day, I personally feel that learning as much as we can about catering for diverse learning needs will prove useful in our future teaching careers.

Therefore, to do my best to comprehensively cover this topic, I have decided to write a series of articles, each of which will focus on tips and advice from a professional Occupational Therapist (OT) on how to integrate children with ASD safely into the school environment and thus best provide for their learning needs.

I decided to start from the beginning; how can one prepare their classroom to be (using classic university language) a safe, supportive and inclusive environment for children with ASD. These ways will refer to mostly physical aspects of the classroom; there will be more information at another time on classroom processes. To reiterate, this is not a top-five list; each of these is equally important.

1. Bags/Lockers: As most of us can recall from our schooling days, when students go to the ‘bag area’, whether to hang up their bags, retrieve their lunch or leave school for the day, it is loud and chaotic, with students arguing, pushing and generally causing a ruckus as they try to be the first to reach their luggage. One of the first facts people learn about children with ASD is that they can become distressed when exposed to uncomfortably loud noise, and many children with ASD also dislike being touched or crowded. To avoid this as best as possible, set aside a specific bag hook or locker at the end of a row, so that the student can access their belongings without being fully subjected to the chaos.
2. Quiet Area: If your student is starting to become overwhelmed, it is important that they have a place to retreat to, where they can begin to calm down. This can be a designated area of the classroom such as a reading corner or a quiet table, or a space just outside the classroom like the hallway, an office or similar. This will depend on the preferences and requirements of the student. It may also be useful to, in the classroom, seat your student near their quiet area so that they can access it quickly and easily if needed.
3. Schedules and Timetables: Predictability and routine are very important in an ASD-friendly classroom; sudden or unexpected change, as well as not knowing what is coming next or how long activities will take, is very distressing for most such students. Schedules and timetables should therefore be prominent in your classroom and presented in a variety of formats. To further alleviate student anxiety, students can be provided with a timer to support the student and allow them to keep track of the length of activities. According to my OT consultant, these schedules are absolutely ESSENTIAL no matter the age of your student.
4. Sensory tools or objects: Tools that engage the senses, particularly the tactile sense, are very useful for helping children with ASD to maintain focus on activities, process information and keep calm. These could include safely chewable items such as pen/pencil toppers and chewy necklaces, or toys known as ‘fidget toys’ which are often bendable. If you are worried that students will become distracted, I can assure you that I have seen these in use; although sometimes they can distract other children and make it appear that a student is not listening to you when in use, it does sharpen focus, as the children in my focus group were able to easily recall information given to them as they engaged with their sensory tools.
5. Seating Position in the Classroom: This aspect does not just involve their seat at a table; this also includes seating during time on the mat, assembly and school events. It is important to optimally position your student according to a number of factors; who they are sitting with, how close they are to distractions (such as the bookshelves or computers, depending on their interests), proximity to the teacher and to sensory distractions; these can include areas of greater/lesser light, louder noise or hanging objects. As aforementioned in discussion of quiet areas, some students will prefer to be close to a door so that they can leave if required.

Although it is not simple or easy to prepare a classroom to be safe and supportive for students with ASD, with adequate preparation many uncomfortable and anxiety-inducing situations can be avoided. I hope that you have found these classroom preparation tips useful. Check out next time, where I will discuss five ways to design classroom procedures and processes to be inclusive of children with ASD.

-Matt

Students with Special Needs

Students with special needs - They do exist... Don’t they?

8th October, 2015

 Nick provides an outline of the different types of special needs that a teacher may encounter within their learning space.

I was sitting in a lecture last week listening to the lecturer discussing all these BRILLIANT lesson ideas that we could use with our future students. However, I thought to myself “how are the students with special needs catered for and included in these lessons?” The lecturer seemed to be presenting the ideas based on the assumption that every student fits into a perfect box, when in reality we know that this is not the case.

It is inevitable that in our learning space we will have the opportunity and in my opinion the absolute pleasure of working with one or more students with a special need. In my three years of studying primary school teaching this important area of education seems to be neglected and there is a sense it is ignored, as if students with special needs do not exist. This leaves placement as the only time in which a preservice teacher may gain some knowledge and experience in the area of special needs education. Catering to students with special needs can be a challenge and requires careful and explicit planning in order to set these students up for success in their learning. As the teacher if you are able to effectively modify and adapt your lessons to be inclusive to the needs of these students the results can be amazing.

What is a special need?
A Special need is an umbrella term and can be summarised as a specific educational requirement that a particular student may need in order to benefit their learning outcomes. It is often viewed as what a student can’t do, when in reality students with special needs can achieve outstanding educational results. As I mentioned, special needs is an umbrella term for many different forms of diagnosis and can often be associated with a negative as students with special needs require individual planning. In my experience students with special needs can significantly enrich the learning of other students within the learning space as well as create many advantages and unique learning opportunities for all students.

In your classroom you may have a diverse range of special needs for example:
             •    Students who have higher ability
             •    English as an Additional language learners
             •    Students with learning disabilities
             •    Students with hearing or visual impairments
             •    Students with muscular mobility and muscular disorders
             •    Students with emotional difficulties
             •    Students with social communication disorders
             •    Developmental disorders
             •    Neurological disorders
             •    Students with particular food allergies
             •    Students with behavioural difficulties

This is just a short overview of some of the special needs you may encounter when teaching. Within some of the above dot points there are many specific special needs which as an effective teacher you will need to accommodate for to ensure inclusion of all students. My aim in my next few posts is to examine some of the dot points above and provide some information on prevalent special needs you may encounter in your future learning space.

- Nick