A calming activity is an organized method for helping a child focus, thereby strengthening his ability to learn and interact. A visual schedule is a visual display that shows events or steps in the order they are supposed to occur. There are two types of visual schedules: (1) a schedule showing a sequence of activities for a period of the day, and (b) a schedule displaying the precise steps of one specific activity. The display is made using objects, words or graphics that represent different actions and activities — regardless which of these is used, the symbols should be easy for the child to understand. A successful activity schedule allows the child to see what activity is occurring in the present and what will happen for a specified period of time afterwards.

You can search for visual schedules and activity schedules in AutismPro to view details of these strategies, as well as a step-by-step procedure for tailoring these strategies to meet a particular child’s needs. AutismPro also has a number of calming activity strategy examples that you can access to better understand the concept and provide you with ideas of how you might incorporate them into the child’s routines.

In the case of our example of the student exhibiting ritualistic behaviors, either of these strategies (or a combination) may prove beneficial). Be sure to minimize time where the child doesn’t know what to do next, and try to teach and reward behavior that replaces his ritualistic behavior.  For example, teach and reward the student for turning on/off the computer or the light only when it makes sense to do so.

Let’s take a look at an example. Jessica is a high needs student who needs to be integrated as much as possible into the regular Grade 10 classroom activities. She is 15 years old and diagnosed with moderate autism. She reads, speaks, and comprehends at a grade one level. The class is comparing the Depression of the 1930’s and the World Recession of the 1990’s. What will Jessica do?

The teacher must first ask: “Can I transform this expectation into a highly structured task that is appropriate for Jessica’s existing skill level?” Examples of highly structured tasks include responding to directives, matching, identification, naming, sorting, multiple choice, and sequencing.

When teaching historical events, one approach is to create a visual timeline and do a sequencing activity with the student. The adapted objective then becomes to learn the sequence of important events in the Depression of the 1930’s and in the World Recession of the 1990’s.

In these highly structured tasks you can use repetition, prompting, and support strategies to ensure Jessica is successful with the activity and learns the objective. Even though the task may be different for the rest of the class, the objective is related, and the teacher can even use the same visual timeline in her discussions with the class.

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!

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.

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.

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.