How Effective Is Integrating Social Communication Emotional Regulation

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) greatly emphasizes the participation of the child’s family during the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process. Parents and/or caregivers are considered one of the most essential members of their child’s IEP team. Their involvement benefits their child’s overall academic success. Unfortunately, full parental involvement does not always occur and there can be many different reasons for their nonparticipation. The IEP process can be a very overwhelming experience for families with children with special needs, especially for those who are culturally diverse. It is the job of the professionals and special education teachers to understand the importance of collaborating with family’s

In my personal story, I reviewed my own experience of being a parent to a child with an ASD diagnosis. As it was demonstrated both from the literature review and though my personal story, it is clear that facing an ASD diagnosis is a big crisis. Part of the crisis relates to the stigma of ASD. Parents face judgment and resentments toward their children from the general public as well as judgment on their parenting style. This judgment comes as a result of the typical appearance of most children with

Family systems theory is useful when working with families who are impacted by an ASD diagnosis. The family systems theory focuses on the shift of an individual perspective to a family systems perspective. Family is the most important support system for a child. Family is looked at as a unit, therefore by using the family systems theory the professionals are able to identify the family’s influences on the individual. The family system impacts a child’s development as family members affect the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of one another (Paylo, 2011).

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

Parents utilize a lot of time, energy, and finances into pursuing a diagnosis, working with school professionals, and receiving mental health services. Parents and siblings are also affected by the emotional and behavioral needs of the child with AS, such as an AS child needing more attention and support services than their siblings do. “Children with AS lack natural empathy, which interferes with the ability to be sensitive to the needs of others” (Polirstok & Houghteling, 2006, para 5), affecting family relationships. An AS child tends to withdrawal from social situations and from their own family, which tends to result in an Aspie perceiving oneself as a social failure leading to other mental health disorders, such as depression. Some parents feel isolated by their child’s difficulties and a diagnosis provided support systems, such as an Asperger parent support group. One research participant in the Calzada study stated, “Sometimes I mix with mothers of children with the same diagnosis and their children are in special schools but they’ve got the same label. I find that hard to understand. I look at their child and think they’re nothing like my child; I can’t see any similarities but they’ve got the same diagnosis.” (2006, para. 44). A lack of universality for parents seems to be a negative effect of removing the Asperger diagnosis from the DSM-5, resulting in feeling isolated and unsupported as a

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.

“One of the essential roles of special education teachers is coteaching and working with other professionals, as well as communicating with family members and between special education teachers and other school-related professionals(Vaughn & Bos, 2015, p. 114)”. With the importance of a least restrictive environment special education and general education teachers are working together in a classroom with varying levels and abilities of learners. It is vitally important to have an effective relationship between the two teachers while developing and implementing lesson plans for learners with special needs. The physical space and dynamics of the classroom should fit the needs of the students and the established procedures should ensure a highly functional environment. Importantly, educators need to communicate to families “encouragement about what they can do at home and about an effective plan for providing instructional supports for their child(Vaughn & Bos, 2015, p. 114)”.

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,

It is important that these trusted adults work with students, and the student’s parents, and the student’s teacher to ensure the child’s physical, emotional, and academic needs are met. It is important for the student and the student’s parents build a trusting relationship with the teacher and school, so they believe that the child’s best interests are in mind when additional testing for learning disabilities or behavioral issues. Students who have consistent adult support in the classroom and at home are most likely to stay on track

Accepting an ASD family is where society needs to focus. Accepting and helping that entire family is where the focus needs to be. Family functioning is an important source of support for any family with a special needs child. (American Psychological Association, pp. 232-252). “Interventions addressing the discrepancy in expectations can help contribute to improved mental health for parents.” (American Psychological Association, pp. 232-252). Parents need a guide, a place to start. Many parents are left fending for themselves. Better respite options need to be readily available. Workplaces need to be more flexibility to ensure a parent can still hold a job to aid any financial burden. (Diament, 2009) Programs on managing different situations and support groups need to be utilized. Many resort to Facebook and other social media groups to look for help and guidance. Many parents are just looking to vent and have a friend. Similar, their ASD child looks for a friend.

Transitioning to adulthood can be an extremely hard time for individuals diagnosed with ASD. Adulthood brings about new responsibilities and many lifestyle changes that can not be made smoothly unless the individual has been pushed to develop and grow properly, and given the opportunity to thrive. Families often succumb to the stress of trying to raise a child with a disability, which can lead to abuse, neglect, and overall lack of care of the individual. There tends to be a higher divorce rate among families with ASD. In fact, the divorce rate is five times higher than those families with “normal” childhood development (Van Hecke, 2010). This can be due to the added stress ASD can cause on the family. Added stress can come from confusing, often contradicting interventions that doctors often recommend to the family. On average, children with ASD are put through seven different intervention programs at one time, which clearly puts financial strain on most families (Magro, 2016). Sibling relationships also tend to deteriorate over time as they get older and are not able to keep bonds

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?

Several studies have been conducted which focuses the needs for a young child with ASD. The article by Brown et al. (2012) aims to discover the areas where there is an unmet need for information, services, and resources among the families of the school-aged child with ASD. The researchers use a cross-sectional survey to conduct the study among 101 Canadian families who have a school-aged child with ASD. The “Family Needs Questioner” (Siklos & Kerns, 2006, as cited in Brown et. al, 2012, p. 499) is used to complete the survey, and more questions are added by the researcher to further gather information about the family and their child with ASD (Brown et. al, 2012). The questionnaire has identified

From the first day a child is born, parents are there to nurture their child, to support them as they grow and develop. There is a lot to learn about raising a child under normal circumstances, but when a child has special needs parents must learn this whole new language of medical and special education terms (Overton, 2005). Parents enter this new world where navigating for the best interest of their child is riddled with challenges and obstacles that they need to somehow overcome. This is especially true when parents are dealing with the special education program in their child’s school.

The key to any successful school district is the administration. Teachers essentially provide structure, organization, and the background of a child’s future. To educate students with learning disabilities, it is essential that the staff has the training and resources needed for the appropriate people, place, and time (Lazarus) (What is Inclusion, 2001, n.p). It is unrealistic to expect that regular education teachers will always be aware of the latest research or be able to readily adapt the school's