Learner and Learning: The learner and learning standard was addressed by doing a case study on a student in our field placement classroom and also by covering the importance of collaborating with families. During this course, I worked at an autism learning center. Some of the students are non-verbal, so 95% of the lessons have to be tweaked in some way for these students. We (the teachers) also spend a little more time working with their parents to get a better understanding of how these children communicate. For example, one student will start pacing when he needs to have a bowel movement. Because he is not potty trained and on a special diet, it’s best to just let him pace. He will stop pacing when he is done. This is something that is great to know in order to prevent aggressive behavior (if we try to make him work during this time) and also to prevent messes (changing him before he is done). We have also learned from his mom that he has started approximating some number sounds and humming what sounds like the “ABC” song at home. This tells us he is “present” and retaining some of what we are working on in class. We have not seen these behaviors, so working with mom has been a great encouragement to us.
For this standard, I would place myself at the acceptable level. This was my first term in a classroom, so I am still new to this. I have a lot more to learn, but I am learning and growing and will continue to do so. My goal for developing greater proficiency is to spend
Children with autism gets confused very easily, especially in a big crowed school. One of the most crowded place in a school is the lunchroom. In a autistic school there “ lunchroom is designed to meant to improve the children's experience”(Kosta). Within a classroom a child with autism, will most likely get confused, so “ A special education teacher works with a classroom”(Bonnie).After a certain point in a autistics life they start being somewhat “functional” so in a autistic school they say “ students spend two years in an aspect school before transitioning to a more mainstream school”(Tim). Parents also, want to see their child have the care they need,”We are excited for Bo to have the opportunity to attend a local school that will meet this needs-parent”(Kosta).With a school that is dedicated to autistic students, the students
This case study focuses on Connor, a Year One student diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Observations and assessment of Connor’s specific needs, current level of performance and modifications to the learning and teaching environment currently being made to cater his individual needs will be analysed. Consequently, a range of teaching strategies, assessment strategies and resources to support Connor will be discussed and Individual Learning Plan (ILP) offered. Finally, a reflection on the strategies proposed and their influence on Connor’s learning needs will be detailed.
The term autism currently holds a meaning that is significantly different than when it was first adopted into our vocabulary in the 1960’s. The evolution of scientific discoveries within the field of autism research is remarkable and consistently improving. With the prevalence of autism continuing to reach sky rocketing numbers, the inclusion of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the school system is extremely important. Every child has the right to obtain an education and finding new methods that provide this for children with ASD is vital. Creating programs and techniques that can be personalized to a child is the key to them receiving the most out of their education. Discrete trial teaching, pivotal response treatment and picture
Looking at behavior of students with Autism Spectrum Disorders it can often be categorized in four broad categories. Attention/access is behavior that occurs so the child can obtain something that they want. (Heflin & Alaimo, 2011) Avoidance/Escape is a behavior that allows the child to escape something that is undesirable. (Heflin & Alaimo, 2011) Sensory-based is behavior that occurs to solicit pleasurable feedback. (Heflin & Alaimo, 2011) Pain attenuation is a behavior that so that a pain does not hurt so much not seen a lot in education. (Heflin & Alaimo, 2011) Three of the four behaviors will be addressed in how they manifest in the classroom, examples of these behaviors and recommendations to deal with behaviors.
The article entitled “Smooth Transitions: Helping Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder Navigate the School Day” written by Kara Hume, Melissa Sreckovic, Kate Snyder, and Christina R. Carnahan discusses an intervention plan for a fifth grader named Sara, who has autism spectrum disorder, in a general education classroom. In this classroom, there are two teachers that use the co-teaching model in order to reach the needs of the students with and without disabilities. Sara, who is on grade level academically, was showing several behavioral issues. She was not actively involving herself in the lessons, or talking to other students in the classroom. It was also noted that she would end up crying very frequently at different times throughout the day. Other behaviors included putting her head down on her desk and not responding what being asked a question or addressed in general. They observed the times of day that she displayed these behaviors and noticed that it was during the times of the day when transitions occurred. Her behaviors began to disrupt her learning due to time that it took to redirect her and get her back on task.
Room 213 is located in Lillington-Shawtown Elementary School (LSES), a diverse and mid-sized school located in the Harnett county seat of Lillington, North Carolina. A classroom of five students with moderate disabilities, this EC self-contained setting is spacious and well-organized to address the needs of the four boys and one girl who are taught by Ms. Hatcher and assisted by Ms. Parrish and Ms. Roper. Most of the students are either 4th or 5th graders, half of whom are returning for their second year with Ms. Hatcher; there is also one student who is currently homebound who may be joining the class in September pending the results of upcoming conferences. The students’ classifications include autism and intellectual disability- moderate and per the county’s designation the classroom is listed as an Autism Self-Contained classroom. All of the students received additional support from the school’s occupational and speech therapists and half of the class receives additional support services from the school’s physical therapist. All students are provided transportation services as well.
Our first speaker for SW 325 The Helping Professional in Health Settings class was Sharon Boudreaux. Sharon has a Master of Arts in Teaching of special education. She focused on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) for teaching children with autism and other forms of developmental setbacks. Sharon is currently the Director of Education Outreach at the Autism Center of North Mississippi (ACNM). The ACNM, which Sharon helped in creating and growing, provides educational and behavioral services to families and schools to help support children with autism spectrum disorders, developmental delays, learning difficulties, and challenging behaviors. The ACNM offers a multitude of services. Such services may include parent counseling, skill assessments, ABA therapy, services for schools, and parent and teacher training.
During the second quarter, Lisa Beresford and I have met weekly or sometime more. Our discussions for this quarter have been focusing on several different topics. First, we have discussed different transition activities and strategies that we can use to help the students to be successful. We have discussed transition plans (IEP portion), for students that want to attend the CTC next year, and also students that are graduating this year.
The No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act entail that students with disabilities or special needs to be open to the overall education and determine the progress of the child. Three unsurpassed practice strategies for supporting young children on the autism spectrum (including Asperger's Syndrome) in an early learning environment. The first strategy is reinforcement. Reinforcement is a critical strategy of evolving and maintaining the enthusiasm of this type of student. A teacher must use objective or actions that the students would like or enjoy that can be obtainable behavior. In my field experience observed I have seen the Pre-K teacher use the computer and smartboard to interact with the class as well
There has been a significant amount of progress in defining the rights of special education for students over the years. Special education assists students who require guidance as he or she is attempting to learn within a public education environment. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1 in 68 children are identified with autism, which is also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (“Facts about ASD”). According to Autism Society of Maryland, “Autism is a complex developmental disability’ signs typically appear during early childhood and affect a person’s ability to communicate, and interact with other individuals differently and to varying
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.
Trainers conduct an assessment that identifies the emerging skills and addresses them as the first teaching goals. Students begin by learning functional skills, and good work habits that enable them to function with little intervention provided they are within the TEACCH structure (Jordan, Jones and Murray, 1998). This is the most widely used approach for teaching autistic children. Visual information, predictability and structure help the children understand what they are supposed to do, where and when it should be done, and the order of doing the activity. Parents are also involved in the programme, and their work is to promote a feeling of competence and well-being among the children. They work as co-therapists and participate in home activities when TEACCH instructors make home visits (Jordan, Jones and Murray, 1998). Parents also provide home training for goals such as independent play, increasing communication, and toilet training. They are provided with parent support information that helps them learn strategies of effective training.
Without adequate training, the children display a little understanding of the time aspect, and they are often left behind in the class schedules. Hence, teachers who handle children with autism are advised to constantly remind them about the schedule. Another proposal is for them taking advantage of the effectiveness of picture schedules. Regarding this, children with autism make better use of pictures to help guide them through the transitions in the classroom (Harrower and Dunlap, 2001). An example of the use of pictures is where lunch time is labeled with a picture of students eating. For the child with autism, this picture would create a clearer indication and it would be more memorable for the coming
There is no doubt that raising a child with autism is challenging. There is endless research on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) but a very limited amount on the costs and benefits of caring for a person with the disorder. In order to gain a comprehensive perspective on the biggest challenges parents and caregivers of autistic children face, a look into the private lives of these families and close networks is necessary. The only way to give support and provide the much needed services required to help, one must ask them what the most difficult parts about managing autism are. Below examines three of the most common struggles these families face when trying to understand and help their autistic children develop into the capable people they are certainly able of becoming.
Being a special educator, there are different roles and responsibilities separate from a general education teacher. As a special ed teacher, you need to be able to be more flexible and open-minded when it comes to teaching. These students, whether in a self-contained classroom or an ICT class, will have such differing needs than their counterparts. While they may still have some same needs, most of them will be different and individual. Even though we may have several students with the same disability in our class, that doesn’t mean that we can treat them the same; each student has differing abilities that we must figure out individually. This is one huge problem that I see prevailing in schools today. Teachers tend to think that if a child has autism, they have the same issues and needs as another child with autism but this is not the case. One child might need headphones for noise-canceling features while the other child might be ok with sound but need more social interactions skills. The ability to discern what a child needs based on their own performance is a crucial aspect to supporting every student equally. As a special educator, we need to not only look at their deficits but their capabilities as well. To define someone by what they can’t do is such a negative point of view. If we go into the classroom trying to find what is wrong with a child, we may never notice what exceptional skills they may have. For example, in class when Mark Sarabian came to talk about the