1. No category

Inclusion Strategies for Students
with Autism
Presented by MNPS Autism Team
A voice from a person with
autism:
“There is nothing more frustrating than
the lifelong accumulation of scars that
result from trying to be like normal
people and failing daily. It is especially
hard when your disability is invisible
like mine.”
By: Jerry Newport Your Life Is Not a Label
Welcome To The Training
Hi, welcome to the Inclusion Strategies
training. When you’re in this training
today you will hear lots of information.
When you hear lots of information it’s
best that you don’t panic or feel
overwhelmed. Your instructors are here
to help you.
If you start to feel panicked or
overwhelmed, you should stand-up and
stretch or walk in the hall or write
down why you are frustrated on a piece
of paper to share with your instructor
later.
We will take frequent breaks and we will
have a lunch break at around 11:30. At
the end of the day, you will get to go
home – and that’s good.
The rules for training are:
1. Have fun
2. Participate
3. Listen
4. Take a break when you need it.
Primary Characteristics
of Autism



Impaired Social Relating and
Reciprocity
Disordered Language and Communication
Development
Restricted Interests and Repetitive
Activities
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Autism
 Asperger’s Syndrome
 PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental
Delay-Not Otherwise Specified)
 Non-Verbal Learning Disorder

The Continuum of the Spectrum
Severe
autism
Low
cognitive
Low
verbal
Mild
autism
High
cognitive
High
verbal
Why Diagnose Autism?
Leads to appropriate treatment
planning and intervention
 Facilitates communication among
professionals and families
 Allows access to intervention
services
 Provides a means for parents to
become informed and to join support
networks

How can they be on the same spectrum?

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Student A
 Student B
IQ 140
 IQ 50
Fluent in 2
 Nonverbal
languages
 Group home
Masters from
 Supported work
Harvard
Violinist
Answer: They both
have sensory, social
and communication
problems.
Why Be Concerned?
 1990.....
1 in 2,000
 2000.....
1 in 600
 2004.....
1 in 275
 2007…..
1 in 150
70%
of people with
Autism are unemployed
The higher the functioning,
the higher the
unemployment!
http://modelmekids.com/autism-documentary.html
Objectives
1.
2.
3.
4.
To gain an understanding of Autism as it
relates to our classrooms.
To understand the social, sensory, and
communication difficulties associated
with autism and interventions used.
To the importance of visuals as it relates
to your classrooms.
To gain ideas on modifying activities to
include all students with ASD.
Activity #1
On the paper, list your honest concerns or
fears from your experience including
children on the spectrum in your
educational setting.
•What were set backs?
•What resources were available to you?
•Other?
•Get it out of your system!
IDEIA
Significant changes related to inclusion:
1997
Emphasis on process
“Wait to fail” model
Dual system
Lack of validity
Compliance
LD- IQ discrepancy
Mainstreaming
2004
Emphasis on results
Early intervention
Single system
Scientifically based
Student achievement
LD- RTI
Inclusion
Mainstreaming VS Inclusion
Mainstreaming


Students must “earn”
the opportunity to
participate in a
regular setting by
demonstrating the
ability to “keep up”
with the regular
classroom.
Students travel to the
services.
Inclusion


The commitment to
educate each child in
the regular classroom
setting, to the
maximum extent
appropriate.
Services are brought
to the student.
What is a modification?
A change in what is being taught to
the student or what is expected of
the student.
What is a accommodation?
A change that helps a student overcome
or work around their disability.
Inclusion: What does it
mean?
Inclusion Means:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Educating all children with disabilities
in regular classes regardless of their
condition
Supporting regular teachers and
principals
Involving students with disabilities in
age-appropriate classes
Taking parent’s concerns seriously
Providing an appropriate educational
program
Inclusion: What does it
mean?
Inclusion does NOT mean:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
“Dumping” students with disabilities into
regular programs with no preparation or
support
Ignoring student’s individual needs
Placing unreasonable demands on
teachers and administrators
Placing students with disabilities in
schools or classes that are not age
appropriate
Requiring that students be “ready” and
“earn” their way into regular classrooms
based on cognitive or social skills
Where do I find them?

Modifications can be found at the
bottom of the goal pages.

Accommodations can be found at
the bottom of the goal pages.

BOTH can also be found on the
modifications page of the IEP.
Where do we begin?


The IEP team needs to work
together to promote success for the
students in the classroom.
ALL members of the IEP team
need to help with modifications and
accommodations. It is not a one-
man job.
Curriculum Modifications
Steps for Modifying the
Curriculum
Can the student do the same activity at the
same level as peers?
.
If not….

Can the student do the same activity with
adapted expectations??
EXAMPLE: Less words on the spelling test

Can the student do the same activity with
adapted expectations and materials?
EXAMPLE: Matching the words to the pictures

Can the student do a similar activity but
with adapted expectations?
EXAMPLE: Words that are functional and in
the student’s daily environment

Can the student do a similar activity but
with adapted materials?
EXAMPLE: computer spelling program

Can the student do a different, parallel
activity?
EXAMPLE: learn a computer typing
program, write or put pictures in journal

Can the student do a different activity in a
different section of the room?
EXAMPLE: Water the plants, file for the
teacher

Can the student do a functional activity in
another part of the school?
EXAMPLE: help the librarian, office staff,
cafeteria workers, or a teacher in a younger
grade perform duties.
You have to get creative with modifications!!
Taken from: David Gaston, Olympia School District Olympia Washington
Mary A. Falvey, Ph. D. Professor-California State University, L.A.
Reading
Kindergarten Standard:
Recognize words that have the same
beginning and ending sounds.
IEP goal: Identify all upper case
and lowercase letters of the alphabet.
Reading
Accommodations: preferential
seating and visual schedule
How would you modify this goal in
the classroom?
Mathematics
2nd grade standard: use a variety
of strategies and representations
to add and subtract two-digit
whole numbers
IEP GOAL: The student will add
and subtract two-digit whole
numbers.
Mathematics

The accommodations are:
visuals, token system,
abbreviated assignments, extra
grade opportunities.

How would we modify this?
Language
7th grade Language: Identify the
correct use of prepositional phrases
(place correctly according to the
words they modify within the
sentence) within context.
IEP GOAL: The student will identify
prepositions in pictures.
Language

The accommodations are:
communication system, visuals,
abbreviated assignments, small
group instruction.

How would we modify this?
Visual Schedules and Supports
What are they?
How can I use them effectively?
Visual Supports
If I can't picture it.
I can't understand it.
-Albert Einstein
I THINK IN PICTURES. Words are like a
second language to me. I translate both
spoken and written words into full-color
movies, complete with sound, which run
like a VCR tape in my head.
-Temple Grandin
Visual Supports are an effective
instructional tool…

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“Visual supports organize a sequence of events,
enhancing the student’s ability to understand,
anticipate and participate in those events.
Visual supports supplement verbal instruction,
clarifying the information for the student and
increasing comprehension.
Visual supports can be used to cue communication,
providing reminders of what to do and say in a
situation.”
Visual Schedule: What is it?
A visual schedule is a set of objects,
pictures, or words that communicates a
series of activities or steps to the
activity.
A visual schedule fosters independence
in the child with autism because it
decreases the need for constant adult
attention.
Why do they work?

Children with autism have strength in
the ability to understand visual
information.

Schedules utilize this strength by
communicating information that helps
children predict and plan their
environment.
What can I use to make them?
Objects
Line
drawings
Photos
Written
lists
Word
cards
How do they look?

Supports can be used in any situation
and are going to vary WIDELY
depending on the child.

Can be presented in binders, paper, file
folders, schedule boards, etc.
Where do I start?
Decide the modality of the schedule.
 Choose what the child needs a
schedule for.
 Write down the steps of your chosen
routine on a piece of paper.
 Post the schedule up in a logical and
easy-to-see place.
 TEACH THE SCHEDULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Visual Schedules
Schedules should be arranged from a
"top-to-bottom" or "left-to-right"
format
• Child should have a way to manipulate
the schedule
• Child should have a place to put the
icon when they are finished with the
activity
•
When First Introducing
Schedules:
1. A “check schedule” card is
kept right next to the schedule.
When it is time for the student to
transition to the next activity the
card is handed to the student
with the request to “check your
schedule”. The student will bring
the card back to the place where
it belongs, thus bringing him to
his schedule.
NATHAN
2. Once the student is at
their schedule they can be
cued or physically assisted
to take the next card on the
schedule.
Nathan
3. The picture in their hand
tells them where they are
going. A “receiver envelope”
is kept at the site where the
activity will occur. The
student puts the picture in the
envelope and then he is right
there where the activity takes
place—transition complete!
Schedule Examples
Individualized
Circle Time Schedule
FIRST/THEN VISUAL
The first-then strategy allows the "first"
expectation (whether a task, activity or
assignment) to be modified, as needed. The
modification is in terms of task completion and
amount of prompting, in order to accommodate the
student's daily fluctuations in his ability to
process in-coming information. Then he can move
on to his next visually scheduled task/activity .
First Then Boards
Improve meaning of
abstract tasks with visuals
Teaching NO!!!!!
A red X or circle with a
line through it placed
on a picture gives the
child a visual of what
the word NO means.
What if you are thinking…?




I don’t think I should modify or make excuses for
these kids. I know they can do it!
Saying that they know how to do
something is only DECLARATIVE
KNOWLEDGE.
I can teach mostly anyone the
facts necessary to learn how drive
a stick shift car. But, being able to
Doing
Thinking
say how to do something does not
mean you can do it.
What often keeps a child from
being successful are skills we
often do not teach…
It’s a continuum that requires
PROCEDURAL KNOWLEDGE.
Feeling
Bellini/2007
Remember…….
Being able to say how to
do it doesn’t mean you
can do it!
Social Skills and
Communication
Why
is it important?
What will it look like?
How am I involved?
What are Social Interaction
Skills?
By definition (Gresham & Elliot, 1995):
Socially acceptable learned behaviors
that enable a person to interact with
others in ways that elicit positive
responses and assist in avoiding
negative responses.
Social Impairments may Include:

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Social Anxiety and withdrawal
Difficulty recognizing the feelings and thoughts of others
Poor eye contact
Knowing how to start and maintain interactions
Has difficulty maintaining personal space
Lacks tact or appears rude
Lack of spontaneous sharing
Has difficulty making or keeping friends
Repetitive and idiosyncratic use of language
Restricted repertoire of activities/interests
Is naïve
Lack of joint attention (gestural and communicative)
Less involved in group activities then same-age peers
Difficulty understanding others’ non-verbal communication
Difficulty understanding jokes
Difficulty with understanding rules and losing at games
"My teacher says I'm rude.
I think I'm honest.
I don't understand why I can't tell
someone that they have bad
breath, ugly hair, or to go away
because I'm busy......"
Social Skills and Communication
Children with autism are:
“Self-appointed revealers of
the truth”
(Atwood)
Social Skills and Communication
In the public school setting, children
with autism are often integrated into the
general education classroom with the
hope that social skills will be absorbed
through proximity to “normal”
socialization. Instead, direct instruction
of specific skills combined with an
awareness of appropriate models is
required.
Stress in Persons’ with
Asperger’s
Aggression
Verbal / physical
Withdrawal / Shut down
Increased Obsession
Increased Stress / Anxiety
Anxiety
Triggers
Atwood, 1999
What happens without direct instruction?
Consequences of Poor Interventions:
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Poor Academic Performance
Peer Failure
Rejection
Isolation
Anxiety
Depression
Substance Abuse
Suicidal Thoughts
Violence Towards Self
or others.
Pathway of an ASD Child.

Bellini/2007
How do you start planning and
begin instruction?
5 Steps:
 Identify and assess areas of need
 Discern between skill acquisition
deficits and performance deficits
 Select appropriate intervention
strategies
 Implement intervention strategies
 Evaluate program and modify as
needed
*Source: Bellini, 2007
Goal Selection

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Most critical Skills that are commonly used
Ensure goals are in the child’s Zone of
Proximal Development
Goals should be positive
Goals should be realistic and represent a
challenge
Set criteria based on baseline data (e.g. if
the student engaged with another child at
recess for 2 % of the time then increase the
percentage)
Determine: Skill Acquisition
Deficit or Performance Deficit


Skill Acquisition Deficit: skill is absent
(will need to teach)
Performance Deficit: skill is in repertoire
but the child does not use the skills
(enhance performance)
Can the student do the skill with different
people in different settings?
The eyes are the window to our inner most thoughts…
So…what are they thinking?
Activity!!
Find a partner and stand across from
each other.
Activity!!

WHICH CONVERSATION DID YOU
FIND MORE COMFORTABLE?

WHY?
The Hidden Curriculum
by Brenda Smith Myles, Melissa L. Trautman, and
Ronda L. Schelvan

Refers to the set of rules that everyone
in the school knows, but that no one has
been directly taught:
 How
to dress
 What type of backpack to carry
 How to greet a peer
 Where to hang out between classes
 What games are acceptable to play
 Who to ignore
 Others?
Teachers Hidden Curriculum

Teacher Expectations
What students should do when the bell
rings
 How to travel from class to class in the
most direct way.
 The administrative structure.
 Which teachers will tolerate lateness
 Which teachers give homework.
 Which teachers place value on final
exams.

Social Interaction Skills
Intervention Strategies
Classroom Interventions

What will it look like in your setting?
 Picture Cues
 Social Scripts
 Social Narratives
 Power Cards
 5 Point Scale
 Video Role Playing
 Relaxation Exercises
Intervention Strategies
Promote Skill Acquisition
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Teach perspective taking, social
rules, problem solving, and mind
reading
Discrete trial
Reciprocal strategies
Social narratives
Social Skills Picture Stories
Role-playing
Incidental Teaching
Sabotage
Power Cards
Structured Teaching
Self-Monitoring
Prompting
Video modeling
Promote Social Performance
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Reinforcement/motivation
Priming
Modifications
Game playing
Increase opportunities (practice)
Peer sensitivity training
Peer Mentoring
Self-Monitoring
Relaxation plans
Prompting
Video modeling
Social narratives
Activities to teach perspective taking,
social rules, problem solving, and mind
reading
Label and recognize emotions (How
does he feel? What is he thinking?)
 Understand emotions (Why is he
thinking that way….)
 Prediction of consequences (What will
happen?)
 Selection of alternative behaviors
 Thought bubble activities

Activities to teach perspective taking,
social rules, problem solving, and mind
reading

Interest inventories
(list of possible peer
interest that could be used for conversation
topics)
Mind reading activities (Howlin)
 If-then statements to infer the
thoughts and interests of others
 Software programs (Simon BaronCohen)
 Social scenarios ( what has happened)

Reciprocal Strategies (learning
back and forth exchanges)

Conversation game (mechanical at first and then make it
more natural)

Eden Conversation program

Newspaper Reporter

Eden Asking Questions program
(give child simple questions to
ask peer in order to get your student asking questions and increasing
interactions)
How do you keep them
motivated?

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should receive praise and social reinforcers, even
when receiving a more tangible reinforcer.
The type of reinforcer must be appropriate and
natural to the activity the student is doing and to
the level of student understanding.
Reinforcement can include a variety of items or
activities. Give the student CHOICES.
The teacher needs to make sure the reinforcing
consequence immediately follows the behavior or
skill being learned or increased so that the
relationship between the two is clear to the
student. However, be careful to not interrupt a
social interaction.
Social Skill Picture Cues
The depiction of various social skills – the
correct way to act with accompanying
text that explains what the children are
doing.
Social Scripts
A rehearsed, predetermined script
that the student with ASD follows
during a communicative exchange.

Scripts
Social Narratives
•
•
•
Written in first person and describes
how people feel and think in certain
situations.
Uses directive statements to show
students how to act in those situations
Read repeatedly until the child overlearns it and rereads before
problematic situation.
Power Cards
Help change an unwanted or inappropriate
behavior by capitalizing on the special interests
that characterize children and youth with AS. A
brief, motivational text related to a special
interest or a highly admired person is combined
with an illustration and made into a bookmarkor business card-sized POWER CARD that the
student can refer to whenever necessary. For
younger children the special interest or hero is
worked into a brief story.
Spongebob wants you to have friends.
He wants you to:
1. Look at your friends when you talk to
them
2. Wait your turn
3. Listen to your friends when they talk
to you
5 Point Scale
by Kari Dunn Buron and Mitzi Curtis
5 Point Scale
Kari Buron and Mitzi Curtis
• Provides a mutual definition of terms
 Simplifies language
 Breaks down unclear concepts
 Teaches recognition and cues for
internal feelings
 Promotes self-managing behavior or
emotional regulation
Anxiety Curve
5 POINT SCALES
Make small laminated scales for staff or
parents to carry with them to prompt the
person to remember the scale lesson. You can
hold up the small scale and touch the number
you think the person is at, then slide your finger
down the scale to the 2 or 1 level
Relaxation Ideas and Strategies

Yoga Poses
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Relaxation Scripts
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When My Worries Get to Big!
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Quiet Break Area

Teach child how to request a break
Relaxation Script
Relaxation Script
Sensory Strategies
The Senses
7 Senses
Vision
 Hearing
 Taste
 Smell
 Touch (tactile)
 Vestibular (Movement and
Balance)
 Proprioception (Body Position)

Sensory Processing
Most students are able to take
all of this information, ignore
things that don’t matter, and
attend to what is important
while remaining calm and
organized in order to learn.
 This process is called sensory
processing.

Sensory and Autism
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Sensory processing problems are very
prominent in children with autism
A child’s sensory deficits can severely
impact their level of functioning in the
classroom
Teachers need to be aware that a
child with autism needs some sensory
strategies in place to be successful in
the classroom
How is SPD related to
problems with learning?
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Difficulty cutting, coloring or gluing.
Difficulty with handwriting.
Poor attention span.
Difficulty focusing on speaker.
Difficulty staying or sitting in one location
( e.g. sitting on rugs or chairs with poor
back support).
Difficulty walking in a line.
Difficulty transitioning to the gym or
cafeteria.
Use Sensory Strategies to
Support Positive Behavior
Teach students to ask for needed
sensory breaks or sensory input
 Teach students to provide the
needed sensory input for
themselves in appropriate ways
 Never use sensory activities as
punishment (example: making the
child do excessive amounts of
activity or taking needed
activities away)

Sensory Strategies
They should be proactive
instead of reactive
 Make sure that your sensory
strategy is not reinforcing the
behavior that you are trying to
get rid of.

Support the Sensory Development of
All Children.
Behaviors are more likely to occur….
1.
In large spaces
2.
During unstructured tasks
3.
During poorly planned transitions
4.
When there is not an established
routine or schedule
5.
When the child is in close proximity to
others
6.
When the child is bored or understimulated
7.
During excessive wait times
8.
When there is environmental clutter
9.
When the child is unprepared for
change
Interventions
Sensory Strategies for the classroom
Strategies to increase alertness
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Carrying heavy objects (gallon
jugs filled with sand,
backpacks, heavy box, books
to library)
Crawling/Climbing: playground
equipment provides a variety
of climbing challenges
Moving chairs from on top of
table to floor
Pushing heavy objects
Drawing in clay
Jumping on floor or
trampoline, jumping rope,
jumping jacks
Hopscotch
Wheelbarrow walking
Pushing wall
Crunches
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Monkey bars, teeter totter,
walking uphill
Push/pull toys and
games: loaded boxes, wagons,
wheelbarrows, furniture,
vacuum, push broom.
Animal walks: crabwalk, frog
hop, duck walk, bear walk,
monkey walk, seal walk
Putting something in mouth
e.g. strongly flavored hard
candy, chewy candy
(starburst, hot tamales, Mike
and Ike) or gum
Crunchy foods e.g. pretzels,
Listening to up-beat music
Push ups
Moving chairs from floor to
top of table/desk
Calming Activities
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Keeping lights low and sitting “snuggled” in a small
space.
Scents such as lavender and vanilla may be calming.
Use oral input: sweet tastes/sucking are relaxing.
Drinking water out of a straw (sports bottle)
Listen to slow, rhythmical music.
Wrap child snugly in blanket or towel. (do not place
over child’s head)
Make a “quiet corner.” Have a tent with a beanbag
chair and blanket inside. Use only for quiet things
such as reading, or getting composure when upset.
Other Strategies
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Use headphones for children that have problem in loud spaces to help
block out noise
Have the child squeeze a ball/fidget toy to help the child focus on
tasks.
Taking notes to the office or books to the library.
Passing out or picking up worksheets or classroom materials.
A balloon filled with flour or rice. Double the balloon to make it
stronger.
A seal-tight baggie containing a small amount of Play Doh, Theraputty,
or modeling clay.
Hard objects can be placed in the baggie with the dough for tactile
feedback: pennies, pebbles, marbles, etc.
Koosh balls
Handling a fidget toy in the right hand stimulates the left side of the
brain for improved language processing during language arts class
Chewing firm gum, Gummy Bears, or licorice are great ways to give
the child deep pressure.
http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2006/autismschool/
ISO-8859
partner-pu
An important thing to
remember…
“People are always looking for the single
magic bullet that will totally change
everything. There is no single magic
bullet.”
By: Temple Grandin
Websites
www.speakingofspeech.com
 www.pyramidproducts.com (PECS)
 www.teacch.com
 www.mrsriley.com
 www.hubbardscupboard.org
 www.dltk-kids.com
 http://www.difflearn.com
 http://www.angelfire.com/pa5/as/astea
chersites.html

The End
Questions?
Ada.winford@mnps.org
Becky.brewster-sain@mnps.org