Examples Of A Community Based Project

Children with ASD usually have lower levels of social interaction compared to other students. They have lower levels of play behaviors and the behaviors may be idiosyncratic or unusual. Children that exhibit these behaviors usually have a harder time having successful social interactions with their peers. However, if teachers and parents are aware of and understand the progression of play skills then they can teach children with ASD at an early age appropriate play skills and behaviors. Once a child exhibits appropriate play skills and behaviors with toys, they have a better success rate of having appropriate interactions with their peers. Teachers can teach appropriate play skills by implementing visual structuring in their instruction.

Socialization deficits are a major source of impairment regardless of cognitive or language ability for individuals with ASD. Furthermore, social skill deficits do not remit with development. Indeed, impairment and distress may increase as children approach adolescence because the social milieu becomes more complex and the child becomes more aware of their social disability” (White, 2006, p. 1858) As Dr. White mentioned social deficiency is not a situation that goes away with age and can have lifelong effects if not addressed by an intervention to help the child to learn acceptable and expected social behavior. These social impairments manifest themselves in many varying ways and degrees such as “speech, linguistic conventions and interpersonal interaction.” (White, 2006, p. 1858) Problematic areas include impairments in turn-taking in conversation and the ability to understand other’s perspective, proper use of pitch and inflection in their speech, obsessively dwelling on certain topics, difficulty in expressing and understanding emotions, and difficulty with nonliteral language uses such as metaphor and sarcasm. These impairments make communication with others difficult and uncomfortable for the ASD child and can cause a cascading effect, causing them to withdrawal from social situation out of frustration with their inability and embarrassment, or cause peers to distance themselves from the ASD child because of this seemingly awkward behavior and

There is little research to examine experiences and needs of individuals with ASD, or proper and effective support systems such as educational and family support needed for young adults making this transition. Most information that is provided on this topic is based on professional’s experience and knowledge. It is essential more research is provided to develop programs to help individuals transition from secondary education to higher

Social communication is "the development of spontaneous, functional communication, emotional expression, and secure and trusting relationships with children and adults", emotional regulation is "the development of the ability to maintain a well-regulated emotional state to cope with everyday stress, and to be most available for learning and interacting", and transactional support is "the development and implementation of supports to help partners respond to the child's needs and interests, modify and adapt the environment, and provide tools to enhance learning" (The SCERTS Model, 2007). The usage of the SCERTS model in schools is continuously rising and proving to be beneficial. The SCERTS model is geared towards developing communication for those with ASD; this model is very useful for those with ASD because the model focuses on working with a child with ASD and pushing the child to work on main symptoms of ASD that are unfixable. Children with ASD typically have social and learning setbacks and behavioral issues, the SCERTS model focuses on ways for teachers to work with ASD and help students learn while coping with their communication skills and emotions.

Megan is a freshman in high school and was placed on the autism spectrum scale when she was five years old. Megan would be considered “high-functioning” on the autism scale, meaning that she has the potential to reach levels of cognitive function similar to her peers but lacks basic social skills. For instance, Megan often has difficulty initiating conversations with her peers as well as maintaining appropriate eye contact. Throughout the semester, I met with Megan once a week and worked with both Megan and her mother every other week. Initially, Megan was very shy, however, after some time she began to warm up to the idea of peer mentoring. After a few weeks, Megan and I began to make great strides toward the development of crucial social skills. As I formed a relationship with Megan and her mother, I began to gain insight on the unique details of their family structure, which in turn provided me with the opportunity to make observational connections between class discussions and this community service experience.

A well-known ASD adult, Temple Grandin suggests caregivers of ASD children that if the environments are organized to the “think in pictures” nature of ASD children, learning will be a lot easier for such children. She explains this nature to the Language-based thinkers as she translates every word that she hears or reads into the pictures and even movies. (Grandin, 1996) According to literature reviews conducted by Dettmer (2000) and Meadan(2011), the researches up to date the papers were published, agreed on the success of using visual supports to aid ASD children to social interactions, sequence and organize their life, transitions between activities, maintain attention, auditory processing, and behavioral challenges (Dettmer et al.,

Research suggests that regardless of IQ, a majority of adults with ASD remain dependent upon their families or other services for support in adult life (Howlin, Goode, Hutton, and Rutter, 2004). In 2011, an estimated 71% of individuals with a developmental disability lived with a family caregiver (Braddock et al., 2013). Despite a this large percentage of individuals depending on their families for lifetime support, more than half (51%) have begun making plans for the long-term care of their son or daughter with a developmental disability in the event of a family crisis such as the failing health or death of a parent (Kaufman, Adams, & Campbell, 1991). Given the growing prevalence of ASD, the aging of adults with ASD, along with their continued reliance on caregiving support, it becomes important to not only identify the needs of this population but also how parental caregivers experience the task of permanency planning for their adult child with ASD. Permanency planning is the process of procuring long-term services for a person with a developmental

If students with ASD are not taught social emotional skills they will be greatly effected as adults. Research done has suggested that adults with ASD will often experience social isolation. Approximately one-half to two-thirds of these adults have no close friendships, and in the cases where friendships do occur they are often less close and less supportive than friendships had by adults in the general population (Orsmond, Shattuck, Cooper, Sterzing, and Anderson 2013). Studies have been done in Canadian and European populations and have found that fewer than half of adults with ASD participate in social events in the community such as attending church or special interest groups that would provide social opportunities (Orsmond, Shattuck,

By helping other professionals and families to adapt and evolve their understanding of ASD, you help the nation’s understanding of mental conditions grow and boost the prospects of more research in this field. Inspire the people around you for positive change.

His repertoire has increased by 2-3 word phrases, and he has started to show interest in others. He is now capable of recognizing familiar faces and maintaining eye contact during social interactions. By following the structure of Leo’s program and with the guidance of the Behavior Analyst, I have helped Leo accomplish his targeted goals. Therefore, similar to the Behavior Analyst on Leo’s case, I aim to provide children with ASD with the necessary skills to prosper and grow as individuals. I want to help these children close the gap of limitations by understanding the importance of using functional communication, engaging in appropriate behavior, and comprehending social norms. Hence, my experience working with the Behavior Analyst has helped solidify my passion for pursuing this profession.

Research designs will be a mixed measures design such as a combination of a typical experiment and other forms of non-experimental designs. Procedures will be used in this research will be audio and video recording, audio and video editing, researchers and confederate will observe children and their families, in addition to ask open and closed ended questions to children, parents, teachers, and school administrators. Younger children would benefit from play therapy, whereas older children would benefit from written and spoken journals in addition to additional learning time in respite care. What are the necessary steps, procedures, and funding to help these children, teens, and young adults with ASD to become overachievers in academic, vocational, and professional settings?

A recent study investigated the challenges and support needs of students with ASD in postsecondary education (Hees, Moyson, & Roeyers, 2015). The first challenge the researchers found were that the students with ASD struggled with the new situations and unexpected changes in college. These students found it very difficult to oversee the large amount of new information and choices they had to make. They are leaving behind what is familiar and transitioning into something completely new, which is not

There is little research to examine experiences and needs of individuals with ASD, or proper and effective support systems such as educational and family support needed for young adults making this transition. Most information that is provided on this topic is based on professional’s experience and knowledge. It is essential more research is provided to develop programs to help individuals transition from secondary education to higher education, this could decrease stress, anxiety as

To encourage the development of social skills students are encouraged to interact with one another throughout the day in a variety of methods, including partner work, small group activities, and large group activities. These teaching techniques enable autistic children to relate to their peers. As autistic children relate to their peers more they are more accepted and in turn continue to learn and acquire new and improved social skills.

The intention of this research paper was to investigate a specific activity group for youth on the autism spectrum. The group runs concurrently with a parent group and is funded through a respite funding provision.