Red Alert! Heads Up! Think Fast! and most importantly, ENJOY!
Teachers and support staff,
If you are receiving this letter you are about to be blessed with the gift of a student with Autism/Aspergers in your class. Truly, these are great kids with unique and fascinating ideas, but they often do take a gentle touch and some extra support. Many of you know this kind of kid well, many of you do not. Read below for some general traits (most certainly not all inclusive) that you may notice, and some suggestions for working with these kids. There are always some new ideas out there!
SMART. Kids in the high functioning range of autism that are in your classes often have very high IQ’s and excellent vocabularies. This can be confusing then, as a teacher, when you observe some of the issues below.
You Can use this to your advantage. These kids really appreciate acknowledgement of their intelligence. Start with this- it builds trust and will open the door for problem solving later. Use high level vocabulary- they like it!
RIGID. Rigidity/lack of flexibility is almost always present, even if it is very subtle. In younger kids we associate this mainly with problems with schedule changes/ teacher changes, fire drills etc. Our higher functioning kids have usually learned to cope with this, but any change in routine can still really increase their stress. Just as important, you will see this problem show up in their thinking and approach to problems. Example: student will come to a question/problem that they don’t understand, and will not be able to skip/move on from this, spending excessive time and frustration on this issue to the detriment of the assignment as a whole. Can lead to incomplete work or work simply not turned in.
You Can:
-When possible, provide information regarding changes in plans/schedules to this student ahead of time.
-teach/talk about the term “flexibility”. Give an example of how to be flexible in this case.- “This is a time to be flexible- and here are some options.”
-Make a rule. “The rule is if you are stuck for more than 3 minutes, you need to skip that question and go on to the next one.”
-Remind the student that partial credit is better than no credit- encourage them to turn in what they have done.
-Use the same child psychology you need to use with your spouse. Provide some boundaries and ideas, but let the kid think they came up with the new plan/ approach.
-When you see this student engaging in flexible behavior, provide that positive reinforcement. Let them know that they can have this skill. Use the actual word! “I see you changed your approach to that metals project- that shows great mental flexibility- well done.”
LITERAL . “You’ll want to get this down” says the teacher. This student does not understand that the teacher means “ take notes about this to study later”. “RULE POLICE” comes in here as well. For this student, if the rules of baseball are explained in PE, they are the rules. If two weeks later, the class is playing baseball, and the teacher is allowing students to be flexible with a rule or goof off a bit, this may be very stressful to our student. He might report/”tattle”, or become agitated and bossy- definitely not adding to his popularity.
You Can:
-Be Explicit. If a student is not following through or seeming to make connections, do some analysis of your language and approach. This student may need you to say “You should take notes about what I am talking about and be sure to keep them. You will need to study this information when it is time for the test.” Plan to be explicit a lot and repeatedly - this problem does not go away
-Explain the social nuance. “Johnny I know I taught you that 3 strikes are out, but I am trying to encourage those girls to keep trying, so for today they get more chances. Since I am the teacher, I can change the rules.”
Don’t these examples sound ridiculously literal for a high school age student? This is part of the autism/asperger disability- an inability to infer information from the circumstances around you, even if they are quite obvious.
WEIRD COMMENTS/BLURTING. Kids with this disorder do not take the perspective of others well. If the topic is the physical properties of a star, and the student has specific knowledge of greek mythology related to constellations, they may comment at length and at inappropriate times about this information even though it is only tangentially related to the topic. They do not realize that from the teacher’s perspective this is off topic and an interruption, and that from peer’s perspectives, this is just plain weird. Rigidity makes it hard for them to give up on their topic- lack of perspective makes it hard for them to realize they will suffer socially from this behavior.
You Can do some teaching, privately, about topic, and commenting in YOUR class- what you expect and don’t expect. Go ahead and let the student know that they are outside these boundaries- give specific examples. “I noticed you have a lot of information about stars and greek mythology. Awesome stuff, but in my class I want the discussion to be about my topic only, which today was on the physical makeup of stars. You will need to save your topic for another time, or keep your comments very short” Consider developing a signal with the student when you need to remind him he is off topic. This kind of discussion will probably need to happen more than once.
POOR GROUP WORKERS. Our student is smart and has good ideas but also rigid and inflexible, and does not do well listening to the other kid’s plan. This is another time you might observe agitation, or argumentative behavior.
You can :
-ask the student who he groups well with
-set up a group you think can work with him
-teach the concept of flexibility in a group setting
-assign the student his own specific role in the process, so that less interaction/compromise on his part is required.
TERRIBLE ORGANIZATION AND PLANNING. This includes organizing their stuff and keeping track of long term assignments, as well as thekind of planning required to put together an english paper. This seems to be intrinsic to most of these kids. Fine motor skills are generally poor, which makes writing a drag. “Executive skills”, which we all need to manage time, prioritize information or projects, and pull together complex information are weak. Poor work completion is common, and although a student may be an expert on the weapons of the civil war, they may have great difficulty understanding the cause and effect relationships that led to this war. And writing about it: phew! Much easier to write about the minutia and facts of the weapons used than organize an argument regarding the causes of the civil war.
You can:
-Over teach basic organization skills. If you are a study skills teacher, once a kid is set up in a system don’t assume he is good to go. Check materials/notebook systems often, allow time to reorganize.
-Have student tell you the plan. If the assignment has a rubric, ask them to break it down further- “ What days will you do the research? How long do you think it will take- put that in your planner. Now, when will do the graphing do you think?” etc, etc. If there isn’t a rubric, the student needs even more support with this. As the student becomes more independent you can back off, but expect to provide a lot of repetition. If this smart kid hasn’t picked up these skills on his own by now, he obviously needs you to be very explicit.
Check the IEP accommodations. You may need to allow extra time for assignments, retakes of tests or other supports such as GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS with labeled section to assist in organization of written work.
Shut Downs:
Known as melt downs when these kids were younger (and sometimes still), when overloaded or confused many ASD kids shut down. I have seen this look like: hood pulled over eyes; sitting at desk but staring into space, not doing work, verbal refusal, moving into a corner and ALWAYS limited ability to communicate and reason through the situation
You Can:
-Give the kid space. Backing these kids into a corner and being more authoritative is NOT an effective strategy. Give a clear statement with a limit: “I see you need some space. Check the clock. In 5 minutes I will check back in with you and see what we can do.
- Limit your verbal input. These kids are basically in a state of escalation and will NOT be able to reason and discuss at this time. This is really critical! Save that for later. When it is time to direct, again be clear: “OK, it’s been 5 minutes. Can I help you with this? No? OK, well I expect you will be getting back to work. If it will help, feel free to sit at the side table”. Walk away. Don’t engage! Leave it. If you try to push a kid at this point, he will absolutely go there for you!
-During non escalated times set clear boundaries with well thought out consequences, and then be very consistent. “The rule is no touching a peer or their stuff for any reason. If I see this there will be 1 warning. I will tell you this is your warning. If I see it again, the consequence will be X”.
-During non escalated times, talk about and when possible praise flexibility. Meltdowns come when kids feel they have no other options- those rigid minds shut down. Teach it when their minds are on!
Dear readers,
I hope you found this overview helpful. Times of transition are particularly stressful to kids on the spectrum and we can set them up for failure if we to not proactively address their needs early on. Once a system is established, as well as trust, these students can be so much fun and offer interesting points of view.
Sally Ann Chisholm
MCPS Speech Language Pathologist