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Teachers sometimes ask me, “How do I use ABA (i.e., Applied Behavior Analysis) in the classroom to teach academic subjects?” One approach suggests that a teacher must become familiar with the types of tasks that are suitable for a highly structured lesson, which is the essence of ABA. A teacher must then determine how their learning objectives can be made compatible with these tasks.
Examples of highly structured tasks include:
- Matching tasks (e.g., Matching geometric shapes to printed names for Math)
- Sorting tasks (e.g., Sorting pictures of different animals by single-word classifications like “mammal” or “reptile” for Science)
- Identification tasks (e.g., Asking the student to “Show me Texas” on a map for Social Studies)
- Sequencing tasks (e.g., Asking the student to “Show me what happens” by ordering images and text representing key events in a narrative for Language Arts)
- Multiple choice tasks (e.g., Formatting quizzes using “true or false” questions, or having the student select answers from 2-5 options)
Highly structured tasks can be helpful because the student is always expected to respond in the same way. Tasks must be designed in a way that clarifies what you are expecting the student to do and provide a visual foundation. This makes it easier for a student with autism to understand the activity and focus on the information being taught. Teachers can easily decrease or increase the level of difficulty by changing the number of possible responses, and altering the level of prompting and support given to the student.
Before preparing a new lesson, remember to ask yourself these key questions:
- Do I know how to teach the student to respond correctly without prompting?
- Do I know how to decrease or increase the difficulty level?
- Do I know what to do when the student is successful? (i.e., rewards)
- Do I know what to do when the student is not successful? (i.e., prompts)
- Do I know if the student is capable of meeting these expectations? (i.e., does he/she have the underlying skills needed to complete the task)
If you feel prepared for all of these scenarios, forge ahead. If you answered “no” to any of these questions, get help before designing the lesson!
Let me tell you a story about David. David is a student with autism who has many problem behaviors, including biting other people. His mother says he gets upset easily because he has a unique way of thinking and people at school don’t understand him. His teacher says he behaves this way because he doesn’t have the skills and behaviors needed to learn in the classroom. His psychologist says he does it because he has learned that biting means he can escape school lessons and leave the classroom.
Who is right? Is the biting behavior due to (a) emotional upset, a child-centered interpretation of the problem; (b) lack of skills, a developmental interpretation of the problem; or (c) anticipation of the escape consequences, a behavioral interpretation of the problem?
Is it possible that all of these people have a piece of the answer? Perhaps David gets so overwhelmed, he has to express this upset physically. Perhaps he gets so upset because he doesn’t understand what he is supposed to be doing in the classroom, due to a lack of skills. And perhaps he bites consistently because he knows this behavior leads to the desirable outcome of being removed from the classroom.
If you think about the biting behavior from these three different — yet complementary — approaches, it may change how you choose to address the problem. First, you might follow a child-centered approach and train people to interact with David in a certain way, giving him the supports he needs to feel as comfortable as possible. Second, you might follow a developmental approach and try to ensure that lessons are a good fit for his skills, providing any needed accommodations and adaptations. Third, you might follow a behavioral approach and change the consequences of the biting behavior — instead of removing him from the lesson, you might redirect him to a “break” request card for a short cooling off period, then redirecting him back to the lesson.
When we simplify ways to target problem behavior to a singular approach, child-centered, developmental, or behavioral, we risk an over-simplification of the issues. Autism is complex and so are the children who have it. We therefore need to be broad in our thinking and embrace a comprehensive set of strategies when looking for possible solutions to problem behavior in our students.
In my work with AutismPro, I’ve had the opportunity to travel the globe and learn how different regions think about autism. In Europe, I was struck by a common thread that I believe could be of great value to North American educators struggling with including students with autism. Europeans have a long history of being philosophers and poets. In the field of autism, that translates into an elegant truth about the basic requirements needed to teach a student with autism successfully.
Here in North America, we both benefit and suffer from the struggle for normalcy. We want to make the child with autism as “normal” as possible, which results in a frenzy of intervention and a high degree of stress for everyone involved. The child benefits from intense intervention, which can lead to significant improvements in his ability to function normally with peers. However, the child can suffer when adults refuse to accept the idea of his autism and fail to understand that he learns and perceives things differently from others.
When we can accept these social and learning differences, then we can also accept that the student with autism may benefit from compensatory support strategies to help him learn and function.
For example, we can address the core social deficit with support strategies like Social Narratives and Video or Peer Modeling, which rely on the student’s need for clear explanations and visual models to understand what to do in different social situations. We can address the fundamental communication challenge with support strategies like Picture Exchange and Cue Cards, which visually cue the child about what to do and say to convey his message. We can address sensory issues that make it difficult for the child to stay calm and focused with support strategies like Adaptive Materials (e.g., a special cushion) and Calming Activities.
On the other hand, when we understand in depth the strengths inherent to autism — such as deep talents and interests (i.e., music, books, maps, etc.), visual associations (i.e., forming relationships between visual stimuli), gestalt and rote memory (i.e., memorizing strings and chunks of information), and concrete learning (i.e., learning from tangible experiences) — we can create all sorts of ideas on our own about how to support the student in the classroom.
For example, we can motivate the student to participate by ensuring that lessons include themes and materials that deeply interest him or appeal to his unique talents. We can teach him reading with word-picture matching tasks (i.e., visual associations). We can teach him what to do during transitions with concrete support strategies like Transition Objects associated with changing classes (e.g., squeeze ball).
Basically, here in North America we focus on methods and strategies and debate about whether they are “evidence-based.” In Europe, the focus is on understanding the individual student and autism. Their idea is that when you understand what it means for that student to have autism, all methods, strategies, and decisions follow naturally from there.
Tom is a three-year-old with autism. When I arrived at his home one day, he greeted me and said, “Hi G3245U!” which he knew to be my license plate number. Inside, I saw that his parents had covered the clocks on the stereo and microwave with masking tape. A wall clock had been turned around to cover it up. His parents explained they were trying to curb his ritualistic behavior of hyper-focusing on numbers. They also told me he would sit with a Reader’s Digest in the bathroom, but they weren’t sure how much he really understood.
It was clear that Tom’s parents saw his obsession with numbers as something negative that they had to suppress in order to encourage more normal social interaction. He often said the wrong things in social situations, never played with his brother, and had no friends. However, I saw things somewhat differently. Tom had an excellent memory for strings of numbers and letters, and he was strongly motivated to involve himself in activities concerning numeracy or literacy. This was both a talent and a springboard for development.
I happened to have a piano book with me — a song picture book with physical keys on the cover. There are colored numbers under each word in the song that correspond with the numbers on the piano keys. I introduced the toy to Tom and within seconds he was happily playing a tune correctly. I spoke to his mother and encouraged her to do several things:
a) enroll Tom in piano lessons
b) build on his interest in numeracy by using number-based games and songs to develop play between him and his brother, as well as other peers
c) build on his interest in reading with text-based cue cards, which could be used to cue appropriate social interaction, such as using appropriate greetings
His mother contacted me three years later to tell me about Tom’s progress. By turning what she saw as a weakness into a strength and building upon it, she had dramatically improved her view of her child and accelerated his social development. She explained that Tom gave his first concert at age 4 and even became a member of the band when he began school. Through the band, he had made new friends and become accepted by his peers. His talents in reading and numeracy had helped him develop a large variety of interests and he no longer obsessed over just numbers.
Although autism can bring weaknesses in social and communication development, it can also bring surprising strengths. Strong rote auditory memory means a child may have an excellent capacity for remembering musical tones and patterns, playing and tuning instruments, or for reading and performing poetry. Strong visual memory can lead to talents in art, computer modeling, mapping, and architecture. A strong ability to focus on and remember details can lead to talents in detecting errors and patterns, such as in quality assurance or decoding work.
When educators and parents can recognize these strengths in their children and build on them, the rewards for everyone are enormous.
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