Introduction
Autism spectrum disorder is best defined as a range of conditions characterized by difficulties with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication, as well as by unique strengths and differences. Autism isn’t a singular disability, there are many types of autism and they are all caused by different combinations of genetic and environmental factors.
Individuals with autism are said to have autism spectrum disorder for the word “spectrum” reflects the wide varieties of challenges and strengths possessed by each person with autism.
According to the Autism Speaks website, autism’s most-obvious signs tend to appear between two (2) and three (3) years of age. In some cases, it can be diagnosed as early as eighteen (18) months. Hence, many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are being educated alongside typically developing children from the time they’re in preschool.
It is of great importance to examine the best ways of educating children with autism. Our school systems have a rising population of students with ASD who need to be serviced appropriately. In 2007 the Center for Disease Control estimated that one (1) in eighty-eight (88) children enrolled in our public school system had autism but new numbers came in in 2012. In a 2012 telephone survey conducted by the government asked nearly 100,000 parents across the United States a range of health-related questions about children ages six (6) to seventeen (17) and found that one (1) in fifty (50) school-age children have autism spectrum disorder (ASD). “…the prevalence of diagnosed ASD in 2011–2012 was estimated to be 2.00% for children aged 6–17. This prevalence estimate (1 in 50) is significantly higher than the estimate (1.16%, or 1 in 86) for children in that age group in 2007” (Blumberg et al., 2013). The escalating number of children with autism indicates a need for more special education teachers and more funding for special education programs across the country.
Similar and Differing Perspectives
When it comes to servicing children with an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis, the parents are the ones who carry the main burden. Although the government has expanded support coverage for children with ASD, parents across the country continue to express difficulty finding the right services for their children and have many unmet needs when it comes to educating their children. An unmet need that parents experience on a global level is a lack of teachers who know enough about autism to educate students on the spectrum appropriately.
Shortage of Special Education Teachers
A study done in the United States to address the dilemma faced by educators to provide appropriate and effective education for higher functioning students with autism acknowledges that “Despite the fact that autism is a handicapping condition under the I.D.E.A., most school administrators and teachers have had little training or direct experience in dealing with autistic children” (Muskat & Redefer, 2012). Similarly, a study done in Canada to address the concerns of parents of children with autism yielded similar results. The Canadian study found that “lack of teacher knowledge about the nature of ASD and effective interventions have found to be major contributors to parent dissatisfaction” (Foy & Starr, 2012).
In terms of educating children with disabilities, the United States and Canada have different systems in place yet both systems are grounded on very similar principles. In the United States, special education is governed by federal legislation (IDEIA) which mandates that all states provide appropriate public education to all students with disabilities. In Canada however, there are no federal laws overseeing special education. Instead, each Canadian province has its own Education Act that governs school law and policy. Despite these two significant differences, Canada and the United States face some of the same challenges when it comes to educating children with autism.
A shortage of special educators is at the top of the list of challenges. In the United States, there is a shortage of special education teachers due to poor working conditions such as excessive paperwork, unmanageable caseloads, inadequate support and professional isolation. Another reason is insufficient funding for incentive programs for new teachers such as loan forgiveness. A third reason why there is a shortage of special educators in the United States is unaffordable higher education costs. Fourth, there is a short supply of special education teachers who are willing to work in rural, high poverty and high crime neighborhoods. Last, credentialing barriers in some states limit opportunities for re-specialization, re-licensure, or alternative routes to licensure of otherwise qualified teachers. In Canada, there is a shortage of special education teachers due to a low amount of education students willing to get certified in special education and also due to the provincial government’s Labour Market Outlook and Skills For Jobs Blueprint are does not collect key information such as the subject area that public school teachers are being hired to teach hence, no one knows how many special education teachers there are in the country.
In Canada, special education teachers are in such low supply that frustrated parents are resorting to homeschooling their children. Parents of children with autism suffer the most. Similar to the United States, Canada has seen significant increase in the enrollment of children with autism at the public school level. “In 2007- 2008 in Ontario, of a total of 191,899 students identified as exceptional in the province’s school system, 5.3% were identified as having ASD” (Foy & Starr, 2012). Both in Canada and in the United States, parents of children with autism feel that the need for specialized teacher training and knowledge of autism is their most pressing unmet need. Parents of children with autism in both countries expressed that they’d like to have staff that is able to manage their child’s behavior, help their child improve his/her social skills, and staff that can help their child fill academic gaps. What these parents are asking for is beyond reasonable, in the United States it is the law!
On a global level but more specifically in Canada and in the United States, teacher training should be expanded to include some familiarity with all-disabling conditions as set forth in the I.D.E.I.A. While in the United States all teachers are now required to be certified in special education, an online certification does not give teachers the needed knowledge to help students with disabilities learn. Teachers who are already certified in special education and employed should be required to participate in on-going in-service training that addresses all disabling conditions by their school system.
Inclusion V.S. Self-Contained Classrooms for Students with ASD
Leaving aside the special education teacher shortage issue, another issue that greatly affects the education of students with autism is the educational setting that they’re in. While most education professionals believe that students with autism thrive when placed in their least restrictive environment, other education experts are still debating whether students with autism learn best in inclusion or self-contained classrooms. “The number of students with autism spectrum disorders being included in general education for instruction in core curriculum is rising each year. As of 2003, approximately 27% of all children with autism spent 80% of their full educational day in general education classrooms. The rising rates of inclusion have led some to question the effectiveness of this model, particularly for teaching academic skills” (Kurth & Mastergeorge, 2010).
A study done by the Center for Autism Research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia found that self-contained classrooms are often a better option for students with autism. According to this study, self-contained classrooms foster a learning environment that is able to support the child’s academic needs without frustrating the child. They offer a low student to teacher ratio which helps sustain the attention of all of the students in the classroom. Additional to this, self-contained classrooms allow multiple opportunities for students to practice new skills. Last, teachers in self-contained classrooms assess students with ASD in a tailored kind of way. For instance, special education teachers in self-contained classrooms assess students with autism using a VB-MAPP to test for verbal behavior, the Behavioral Characteristics Progression (BCP) to test for behavior that society deems appropriate, the Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills-Revised (ABLLS-R) to test for life skills, and many other test batteries throughout the year which helps track student progress. General education teachers in inclusion classes are unable to test students using such tests because they have simply never been trained to do so and even if they are trained to administer these tests they have too many students to be able to cater to a child with ASD.
On the flip side, there are many education professionals who strongly believe that students with ASD benefit more from being educated alongside typically developing peers in an inclusion classroom. According to Wiele (2011), fully inclusive classrooms are an ideal location for the implementation of social interaction interventions and behavioral interventions because of the availability of peers to interact with in a natural location.
General education classrooms are considered to be the least restrictive environment for most students with autism. Supporters of inclusive settings for students with autism state that inclusive classrooms allow for a great deal of generalization of skills within a natural setting. Furthermore, inclusive stings allow for children with ASD to learn appropriate (social) behavior from typically developing peers and it gives children with ASD the opportunity to learn and interact with typically developing children which is beneficial considering that they’ll spend their entire lives surrounded mostly by typically developing individuals.
Personally, I support inclusive settings and acknowledge that many students with autism benefit from this setting. However, I do not believe that inclusive classrooms are ideal for all students with autism.
An effective inclusion classroom offers structured lessons that address the learning style and needs of learners with ASD and average learners as well. More specifically, effective inclusion classrooms accommodate all learning styles, academic needs, sensory issues, and social issues as well. Effective inclusion programs do not throw students with ASD into regular classrooms and hope for the best but rather carefully select students with ASD who can function at similar levels to typically developing peers but need additional supports.
Children with ASD who possess an average to above average intellectual quotient (IQ) are usually good candidates for inclusive settings. On the other hand, students with ASD who have a low IQ, limited or impaired verbal abilities, children who are not trained to use the restroom, or children who have aggressive or disruptive behavior are not good candidates for inclusion programs. It is important for schools to create a checklist of traits that students with ASD must possess prior to being placed in inclusive settings. While the inclusion classroom is the least restrictive environment for most students with autism, some students on the autism spectrum require more restriction in order to thrive.
Students who are eligible for special education are entitled to any accommodations that are necessary to help them access the educational curriculum and meet the goals in their IEPs regardless of their educational setting. Teachers of inclusion classrooms are entitled to any training and other supports that they require to support all of the students in their classrooms. The educational setting of students with ASD is irrelevant as long as the student is rendered all of the supports needed for his/her learning and development.
Research-Based Teaching Practices for Students with ASD
“If you’ve met one individual with autism, you’ve met one individual with autism.” These are the famous words of Stephen Shore. Since autism spectrum disorders are a group of neurobiological disorders, no two people with autism are alike. Some individuals with autism can be severely affected and have difficulty with everyday life. Yet other individuals with autism can be mildly affected and may meet all common milestones such as speaking, walking, toileting, and creating friendships. While some individuals with autism may require daily living assistance throughout their lives, other individuals with autism are completely independent and may earn a degree, get married, and have children.
Due to the differences from one student with autism to another, there is no cookie cutter teaching strategy that will work well for all students on the autism spectrum. The best teaching strategies for students with autism are those that are tailored individually and based on the needs of each child. “In 2006, the U.S. Department of Education funded the National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorder (NPDC), with the explicit goal of promoting educators’ use of evidence-based practices for children and youth with ASD” (Odom & Wong, 2015). After much research, NPDC found 27 distinct evidence-based practices that are effective for students with autism from birth to twenty-two (22) years of age. Again, not all of these strategies will work on all students with autism but chances are high that at least one of these strategies will be effective on any student with ASD. These twenty-seven strategies have been clustered according to difficulty. Strategies that were proven effective to improve behavior are listed under Fundamental Applied Behavior Analysis Techniques and the strategies are reinforcement, prompting, time delay, modeling, and task Analysis. Strategies that effectively modify inappropriate behavior are listed under Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports and the strategies are functional behavior assessment, antecedent-based intervention, extinction, response interruption/redirection, differential reinforcement of alternative, incompatible, or other behavior, and functional communication training. Strategies that improved communication with others are listed under the Social-Communication Interventions cluster and the strategies for this are social skills training, peer-mediated instruction and intervention, social narratives, structured play group, and picture exchange communication system. Strategies that proved efficient at supporting learning are listed under teaching strategies and those strategies are visual supports, discrete trial teaching, naturalistic intervention, parent-implemented intervention, pivotal response training, scripting, and exercise. The second to last cluster of strategies are the Cognitive Behavioral Interventions which help students with ASD make a connection between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The two strategies that were found effective for this are the self-management strategy and the cognitive behavioral intervention strategy. The last cluster made by the NPDC is the Technologically Oriented Interventions cluster which includes the technology-aided instruction and intervention and the video modeling strategies.
The Fundamental Applied Behavior Analysis Techniques cluster includes five strategies. Many professionals within the field of special education consider Applied Behavior Analysis to be a strategy of its own but it is not, this is actually the base to many other strategies. The first strategy within the Applied Behavior Analysis cluster is reinforcement. Reinforcement is a technique in which educators teach consequence. For example, if a child answers a question in a complete sentence the educator may give that child verbal praise to increase the chances of that behavior repeating itself. The second strategy under this cluster is the prompting strategy. When using this strategy teachers may assist a student in engaging in a desired behavior by providing an instruction or a gesture to serve as a prompt. The third strategy in this cluster is the time delay strategy. Some students with autism grow accustomed to prompts and in order to help them become independent, teachers have to wean them off of prompts using time delay. The fourth strategy in this cluster is the modeling strategy. Students with autism are visual learners and hence, they often learn an action by watching someone demonstrate what they should do. The fifth and final strategy within the Applied Behavior Analysis cluster is the task analysis strategy. This strategy involves taking apart difficult behaviors or tasks and arranging them into smaller, sequenced parts.
For instance, a teacher may identify the four steps needed to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and then specifically teach the student each step until the student is able to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich independently. The strategies within this cluster are often used in combination with other strategies within this cluster.
The second cluster is the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports cluster. This cluster contains six (6) strategies that focus on teaching students skills that they need to master in order to eliminate inappropriate behaviors and promote acceptable behavior. The first strategy within this cluster is the functional behavior assessment which is a strategy in which a teacher observes and records what happens right before and right after a problem behavior occurs in order to determine the cause of the behavior. The second strategy within this cluster is the antecedent-based intervention strategy. When applying this strategy, the teacher attempts to remove the trigger/s that causes a problem behavior to manifest itself. The third strategy is the extinction strategy which is used to help students with ASD eliminate problematic behavior by ignoring the student when he/she engages in the undesirable behavior and giving the student attention when he/she is engaging in desirable behavior. The fourth strategy is the Response Interruption/Redirection strategy which is used when problem behavior escalates from mild to moderate to severe. When this occurs teachers may use this strategy to deescalate as he/she calms down and returns to the regularly scheduled class activity. The fifth strategy in this cluster is the Differential Reinforcement of Alternative, Incompatible, or Other Behavior strategy. This strategy is used to encourage appropriate behavior in a way that is completely unrelated to the problem behavior. The last strategy in this cluster is the Functional Communication Training strategy. This strategy is used by educators when a student’s problem behavior seems to stem from frustration that the student is not being successful at communicating.
The third cluster is the Social Communication Interventions cluster. This cluster contains five (5) strategies that enhance the social communication skills of students with autism. The first strategy within this cluster is the Social Skills Training strategy in which social skills are directly taught in small-groups. The second strategy in this cluster is the Peer-Mediated Instruction and Intervention strategy. When applying this strategy educators train typically developing students to give support to a student with ASD such as a peer buddy helping a student with ASD memorize his/her times tables by recording them as they say the times table aloud and then playing back the video for them. The third strategy in this cluster is the Social Narratives strategy in which a peer buddy or an educator helps a student with autism participate in social interactions by writing a short story about a social situation that explains the situation and how the student with ASD should act and/or say during specific circumstances. The fourth strategy that is illustrated in this cluster is the Structured Playgroup strategy. When using this strategy an educator arrange a situation that encourages play and interactions. The final strategy within this cluster is the Picture Exchange Communication System strategy. This strategy promotes communication for nonverbal students with autism. When applying this strategy, teachers help students exchange pictures for items that they want. Once the student points to a desired item the teacher will engage in verbal communication and swap a picture card for the desired item.
The fourth cluster is the Teaching Strategies cluster which is composed of seven (7) strategies. The first strategy is the Visual Supports strategy which includes teachers using illustrations and other manipulatives when teaching. The second strategy in this cluster is the Discrete Trial Teaching strategy in which educators teach using simplified and structured steps. Rather than teaching an entire skill at once the teacher breaks down a concept and builds on it using discrete trials one step at a time. The third strategy under this cluster is the Naturalistic Intervention strategy which helps learners communicate and become more social using environmental arrangements and interaction techniques. The fourth strategy supported by this cluster is the Parent-Implemented Intervention strategy. When applying this strategy teachers or other education professionals train parents so that they can increase positive learning opportunities and acquisition of important skills at home. The fifth strategy of this cluster is the Pivotal Response Training strategy which is a naturalistic intervention that instead of targeting individual behaviors one at a time, it targets pivotal areas of a child’s development, such as motivation, response to multiple cues, self-management, and social initiations. The sixth strategy of this cluster is the Scripting strategy. Since students with autism often engage in echolalia this strategy helps replace echolalia with a script. When using this strategy, teachers teach role play with students what they should say during specific activities throughout the day which promotes social interaction. The final strategy in this cluster is exercise which is when teachers engage students in physical activity in order to decrease hyper activity.
The fifth cluster created by the NPDC is the Cognitive Behavioral Interventions strategy which consists of two strategies. The first strategy is the Self-Management strategy which is used by teachers to teach students with ASD to recognize when they are engaging in desired behavior so that they could monitor or record the behavior and/or reward themselves after they have performed a specific criterion correctly. The second and final strategy within this cluster is the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention strategy which concentrates on the student with ASD learning how to be aware of his own thoughts and emotions and to admit the existence of negative thoughts or emotions so that he/she could change his/her thinking and behavior.
The sixth cluster created by the NPDC is the Technologically Oriented Interventions cluster which consists of two strategies. This cluster focuses on getting students with ASD to appropriately use technology that enhances their communication, learning, and many opther essential skills. The first strategy within this cluster is the Technology-aided and Intervention strategy. Teachers use this strategy by engaging students in computer-assisted instruction and getting students with ASD to use speech-generating devices, smartphones, tablets and other pieces of technology to participate and complete assignments. The final strategy in this cluster is the Video Modeling strategy in which students watch a video demonstration of the correct way to perform a skill or behavior immediately before they will be in a situation where they should use that skill. The teacher or a peer is often the person modeling the behavior shown in the video.
Regardless of the strategy used by teachers to aid students with ASD meet their academic and behavioral goals, teachers should always make sure that the strategies they use are research-based strategies.
Conclusion
Students with autism spectrum disorder need certified special educators who teach them in their least restrictive environment using research-based practices that are tailored to their specific needs. It is recommended that special educators are sensitive to the unique attributes of all learners with ASD. Teachers must be knowledgeable of students who dislike making eye contact; students who have impaired social interaction skills; students who have trouble interpreting others’ feelings; students who need sensory input; students who have a preference for repetitive activities; students who become preoccupied with specific objects or activities; students who lack imaginative activity; students who are soothed by actions such as hand flapping, rocking, or flicking objects; and students who are sensitive to touch or other external stimuli. Besides knowing his/her students, special educators have to advocate for their students and celebrate all victories big and small. As Temple Grandin once said “There needs to be a lot more emphasis on what a child can do instead of what he cannot do”.
References
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About the Author
Mrs. Michelle Noviot currently teaches a fifth grade self-contained special education class at Saint Brendan Elementary Catholic School in Miami, Florida. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Exceptional Student Education from Miami Dade College in December of 2012 and graduated with a Master in Special Education from Florida International University in May of 2017. Mrs. Noviot’s goal is to help children with autism spectrum disorders learn to their full potential and come out of themselves and fully integrate into society.