Autism Coaches Meeting
November 11, 2014
Paired Squares Inclusion Activity
• Connects participants with the topic and each otherWhat
• Sets norms of participation
• Focuses the mental energy in the room
• Allows for all voices to be presentWhy
• Everyone finds a partner. Each pair locates another pair, and everyone sits together.
• After watching the video, share your concerns, ideas, and experiences related to the video.
How
Working at the Car Wash
What are the positives in your
educational programming for students
with autism in your district?
How are we
educationally
programming for
students with autism?
What are the concerns with your
educational programming for student
with autism in your district?
Do you still have autism coaches within
each of your buildings, or within your
district. If so, in what capacity are they
functioning?
If we created a county-wide network of
resourceful colleagues to call when you
needed ideas or strategies what topics
would you be comfortable in
discussing with colleagues?
Supporting Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders
Natalie Adair
St. Clair County RESA
Intervention Specialist/Autism Teacher Consultant
Adapted With Special From Huron County Teacher Consultants
The Big Ideas
• The goal for the child is always two-fold –
–To interact as a meaningful member of the family and the community
–To gain skills for independence
• Everyone needs to work together…parents, siblings, other support persons (relatives, friends, school, respite care providers, etc.)
Choose Your Battles Carefully!
• Autism doesn’t go away. . .
• Prioritize family needs and wishes
• Keep the big goals in mind: independence and socialization
• Use the characteristics of autism to your advantage
Use The Characteristics of Autism to Your Advantage
• Rely on routines
• Use areas of interest to motivate
• Capitalize on visual strengths
• Minimize the use of auditory (spoken) directions and verbal input
How Do We Make a Bridge?
• To connect their world to ours?
• To connect us with them?
• To connect their attention to what they should be doing in all environments?
High Learned Units and Opportunities for Active Engagement
Visual Supports
What are the EBPs for Students with ASD?
What Are Your Visual Supports?
• Clocks/Watches
• Calendars
• Signs in stores
• Road signs
• Price tags
• Phone books
• Maps
• Cookbooks/Recipes
• Agendas
• Checkbook register
• Car dashboard display
• Invitations
• Post-it notes
• Grocery lists
• Paycheck & stub
What Do Your Visuals Tell You….
• What you’ll be doing?
• Where you’ll be going?
• Who you’ll be seeing?
• Why you’re going there with them?
• When you’ll start and when you’ll be done?
• What’s expected of you?
Why Use Visual Supports?
• Proven in the research to:
–Reduce behavior problems
–Reduce child and family stress
– Increase learning of skills/knowledge
– Increase communication
– Increase interaction with those in the community
– Increase time spent in “quality of life” activities
But my child can talk…Are Visuals Really Necessary?
• Don’t assume he/she understands everything you say
• Assume competence but check for comprehension
• Stress and Frustration affect functioning
• Change of ability based on situation
• Change of location
Remember, YOU can talk just fine, and YOU still use MANY visual supports!
When we present information verbally, the words are available for a brief
moment.
When we present information visually it can be there for as long as the student
needs it.
Underlying principles
• Pair with minimal spoken
language
• Introduce during times of
low stress
• Use across
environments
• Use with assistance until
mastered
Before Universal Supports
Universal Supports Implemented
• Visual Schedule
– Predict Events
• Social Facts
– Library Visit
• Visual Prompts
– To assist with Transition
– To prompt next event
Walk In
Sit Down at Toy
Find a Book
Check out the Book
After Universal Supports
Underlying principles
Tell once
• Display picture/story/schedule/cue card
• Let it do the talking
• Let it do the reminding
• Let it help make the connection between the words and the meaning
Allow for the wait time and the processing to occur before you engage the student
What are some types?
• Written words
• Pictures and picture symbols
• Gestures
• Objects in the environment
• Arrangement of the environment
• Social stories
• Schedules, calendars, procedure cards
Schedules
• Must be age-appropriate
• Must be mobile…always available
• Help with transition times
• Can be made smaller as child ages
• Must be taught!!!
Let’s look at some…
Make them “changeable”
Mini-schedules and Procedures
• Break down a new, difficult, or multi-stepped activity into manageable parts
• Can be slowly adapted into less and less steps as child becomes proficient
• Let’s look at some…
Examples of mini-schedules to use at home
Teach play skills
Incorporating choices..
• Make available whenever possible
• Making choices is empowering. It results in increased positive behavior, increased understanding of language and increased motivation
Sample choice boards
• Leisure time activities
• Restaurant food choices
• Daily activities (ex. cup, plate, toothbrush, clothing, etc.)
Make it changeable…don’t offer a choice that does not exist or that you can’t live with at the time
Visuals for Physical Structure
Communication
• Think about a time you had an disagreement with someone you care about
• What happened to your body during the disagreement?
• What does research say about our IQ during times of stress?
• Many behavior problems are caused by communication difficulties!
Strategies to Change Behavior
• Contracts
– First-Then
– Token Economy
– How Many Times and Done
• Social Stories
• Visual and auditory prompts
• Self-Management System
Changing behavior…
• Use contracts to get “undesirable” activities completed
Non-preferred activities must be followed by a preferred activity
• Give a visual prompt for how many or how long a child must do something
Always honor the contract!
Teach the use of
FIRST/THEN contracts
Slide down 5 times and then ALL DONE
5 4 3 2 1
How many times?
How Many To Do
Token Economy
My Train bookRaise my hand
Use nice words
• Social stories provide an individual with accurate
information about those situations that he/she may
find difficult or confusing
• The goal of the story is to increase the individual’s
understanding of, make him/her more comfortable in,
and possibly suggest some appropriate responses for
the situation in question
Social Stories
Social Stories
• Can be written by anyone
• Used to address many topics
• Read many times BEFORE target situation occurs
• Shortened version kept as a prompt after child has learned story
• Picture cues make them more effective
Social Stories on the Fly
• Pick a situation that you have encountered that could have had a social story for support.
• What did you have available to write on– Scrap paper (napkin, old envelope…)
– Notes on phone
– Checkbook
– Your hand
• Time to write one
Self-Management Systems
• An evidence-based intervention to help children independently regulate their own behaviors
• Children are taught to discriminate between appropriate and inappropriate behaviors, monitor their own behavior, take their own data, and reward themselves for behaving appropriately
Can be used to:
• Reduce inappropriate & interfering behaviors– Disruptive behaviors– Not completing school work or chores independently
• Increase social, adaptive, & language / communication skills– Giving compliments to others– Responding to others– Increasing on-task behavior– Initiating interactions– Increasing play skills– Conversing with others
Preparing the Self-Management System
1. Identify the target behavior to increase or decrease
2. Identify reinforcers that motivate the child
3. Develop a data collection system
4. Select a self-monitoring device
Example
• Target Behavior: Get dressed before timer sounds (10 times to get reward)
• Identify reinforcer: 30 minute computer game
• Develop data collection system:– Daily card, dry erase marker, timer set by self or
teacher
• Determine self-monitoring
device: 10 check marks on card Complete work before
timer sounds:
Reward: computer game
Examples of Self-Management Systems
Saying Hello to others:
Date: _________
When: Yes/No
Bus Driver
One kid on bus
Near door at school
By locker
Mrs. Jones
1 kid in math
Mr. Brown
1 kid in reading
Lunch lady
2 kids at lunch
Recess aid
Mr. Brown
Bus driver
Hands Down
In Summary…
• What do I want to change?
• What will I do/not do?
• Did I do it?
• Did I do it to this specification?
• Did I record it?
• Can I reward myself?
Incredible 5-Point Scale
Self-Management Examples
Using Timers
A timer can help focus a child’s attention to compete a task, reduce stress (how LONG do I have to do this?) and signify the end of an activity, providing for easier transitions.
Be consistent and teach your child to set them once he or she understands how it works. A timer is frequently a necessary addition to a schedule system and can facilitate success.
Visuals don’t argue..
Use them to answer the key questions we all have regarding work…
• What do I have to do?
• How long will I have to do it?
• How will I know when I’m done?
• What can I do or what do I get when I’m done?
• Interventionist – Natalie Adair and Rose Dore With Support from Lisa and Yvette
• Online Resources– Google Images– Word Documents– www.do2Learn.com– www.usevisualstrategies.com– www.tinsnips.org
• Apps– Model Me Kids- social skills videos– Easy Board– Social HD
• Additional Resources– Social Stories and Power Card Examples – From SCC RESA– Tasks Galore Books– Model Me Kids CD’s
Resources for Visuals