Facilitating Evidence-Based Practice for Students with ASD

A Classroom Observation Tool for Building Quality Education

Christina R. Carnahan, Karen Alisa Lowrey

• Publisher: Brookes Publishing
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781681253015
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Educación inclusiva

With a growing population of children diagnosed with autism, there is a critical need for teachers and administrators to have a solid understanding of the evidence-based practices necessary for positive academic, behavioral, and social outcomes for thispopulation. Dr. Carnahan and Dr. Lowrey have created a framework that can be used to review and assess the current teaching environment to determine if the evidence-based practices are being implemented and offer strategies on how to improve the delivery of instruction to ensure that these students are being supported.

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Understanding the Learning and Behavioral Needs of Students With ASD

Christina R. Carnahan, Kate Doyle, and K. Alisa Lowrey

QUESTIONS THIS CHAPTER WILL ANSWER

1. How does autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affect thinking and behavior?

2. What are some challenges students with ASD face in school?

3. What are some basic supports and intervention strategies that can help students with ASD in the classroom?

ASD is characterized by differences in social-communication and repetitive behaviors or interests. Although these differences can pose challenges, individuals with ASD can be highly successful at home, at school, and in their communities when they are given the right supports (Mesibov, Shea, & Schopler, 2005). This chapter describes the cognitive profile common in ASD and how these characteristics influence engagement and learning at school. Understanding this profile will allow a school leader, classroom teacher, parent, or other support person to communicate about why the interventions described in this book are so important, which is critical for getting all team members invested in implementing best practices for students with ASD in classrooms, in schools, and across districts.

WHAT IS ASD?

Both diagnostic criteria and individual cognitive theories help explain the differences common in ASD (Williams et al., 2012). Together, the diagnostic and cognitive profile can result in the academic and social challenges sometimes seen in schools (Mesibov et al., 2005). A lot of ways an individual engages at school is a direct reflection of how ASD manifests in his or her life. If an individual with ASD acts in ways that seem disruptive or challenging, it can be helpful to remember the actions are often a direct manifestation of differences in how he or she perceives the environment.

ASD is a spectrum disorder resulting in a wide range of strengths and needs (Heflin & Simpson, 1998). Specific diagnostic criteria include social-communication challenges and circumscribed or narrow interests or behavior (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). The social-communication differences may manifest in schools as difficulty with relationships and verbal and nonverbal communication challenges such as appropriately using or interpreting vocabulary, gestures, or facial expressions. The terms repetitive behavior or restricted interests refer to a broad category of differences that can include verbal, physical, or cognitive behavior. For example, an individual with ASD may demonstrate repetitive body movement, engage in repeated conversation, or have thoughts dominated by a specific topic while in school.

The next section addresses the specific cognitive theories that inform how ASD is understood. First, it is important to remember that the strengths and needs of individuals with ASD change over the lifetime, just like all people (Mundy, Mastergeorge, & McIntyre, 2012). The characteristics or profile a child with ASD demonstrates today does not dictate how he or she will behave in the future. From this perspective, creating well-structured learning environments, systematically teaching and practicing social-communication skills, and ensuring access to meaningful, appropriately challenging academic tasks are the foundation for both social and academic success.

COGNITIVE THEORIES IN ASD

Three different theories are often used to describe the cognitive differences common in ASD—executive function (EF), theory of mind (ToM), and weak central coherence (WCC). No single perspective sufficiently explains the cognitive differences in ASD, but the theories collectively clarify some of the cognitive processing often seen in individual with ASD. In addition, these theories can be helpful when planning supportive, effective learning environments for students with ASD. The following sections describe the theories and provide basic strategies and supports that can be used for individuals with ASD. The list below introduces some of the important ideas regarding cognitive processing that will be discussed in the chapter.

• Understanding cognitive differences is the foundation for creating a supportive learning environment for students with ASD.

• Building positive social relationships and creating meaningful, appropriately challenging academic tasks are often the key steps related to promoting positive behavior and learning.

• ASD results in a wide range of strengths and needs across individuals.

• Three different cognitive theories have emerged to explain the behavioral differences ASD presents in individuals:

Executive function

Theory of mind

Weak central coherence

• The social transaction theory of autism also provides helpful insights into the social lives of individuals with ASD at school.

Executive Function

Austin is an eighth-grade student with ASD. He loves music, especially music that comes from nature, such as the sounds whales make. Austin also enjoys helping others, spending time with his family, and going on vacation. He seems to enjoy his academic classes, especially science and, specifically, the marine ecosystem. Austin attends general education classes in which he receives accommodations such as extra time on tests, assistance organizing his notes, and shortened homework assignments. He often struggles, however, to complete assignments, stay organized, and interact with his peers during small-group activities. Austin also participates in a social skills group each week that is led by a speech-language pathologist (SLP) and the school counselor.

Austin walks about a mile home at the end of the school day. Some days it takes him more than 45 minutes to make the walk because he stops to look at pictures of whales on his smart phone or locate online videos of whales. Austin often ends up in tears when he arrives home because he has forgotten an important paper, cannot locate a textbook, or is generally overwhelmed.

Austin is like many adolescents with ASD. He understands the content of his academic classes, but he often struggles because of differences related to EF, which is the ability for people to direct their own attention to solve problems or engage in the day-to-day activities of their lives (Zelazo, Blair, & Willoughby, 2016). Executive function skills allow individuals to “mentally maintain a specified goal” even when distractions are present (Fisher & Happe, 2005, p. 757). EF is an essential aspect of regulating behavior and involves inhibiting responses, emotional control, task initiation, flexible thinking, and persistence (Bass, 2014). The EF challenges Austin faces influence his ability to organize all his materials throughout and at the end of the school day. He quickly becomes overwhelmed when he tries to gather everything he needs for homework, and his disorganization increases as he becomes overwhelmed. So, when he finally arrives home and opens his bag, the materials appear to be shoved in, with one item piled on top of the next.

EF also influences how individuals process and respond to social information. People have to direct their attention to what an individual is saying and doing, while also carefully attending to the environment, in order to understand the social cues of others. In addition, social sophistication requires understanding the rules of each setting, adjusting behavior accordingly, and quickly interpreting and responding to communication breakdowns. The challenges Austin faces in his classes are usually not related to academic activities. Rather, the social demands that vary from class to class are problematic. For example, Austin’s science class, which is generally his favorite, involves a lot of small-group and partner work. Austin becomes upset when his classmates do not follow the exact directions or stop listening when he begins talking about the music of whales. Thus, Austin is often anxious before science class, which, in turn, increases his difficulty paying attention, organizing his materials, and working with others. Although Austin is generally a flexible thinker, his ability to think flexibly during partner work significantly decreases. For example, in a recent small-group lab project, two group members were working on different parts of the experiment at the same time. Austin became increasingly upset, repeatedly telling his classmates, “We have to do one first. We have to do one first,” even when the teacher tried to reassure him the team could complete both steps at the same time. He became so upset that he struggled to regulate his emotions and nearly lost composure in front of his classmates.

Austin is typically able to function during the school day with minimal support. His EF regulation skills are diminished, however, under stress. Like most students with ASD, Austin would benefit from a variety of EF related interventions (Hill, 2004). Visual supports, including schedules, work systems, and video models, are often good options; they can be created flexibly, are portable, and can become more sophisticated as the student grows. Other important interventions include establishing well-organized, predictable environments, teaching flexibility, and helping the students learn strategies for recognizing and managing anxiety.

Linking Anxiety and Executive Function Anxiety is often a major co-occurring challenge for children and young people with ASD (Hollocks et al., 2014). In the example, Austin was hyperfocused on following the directions in a science lab, although it was just fine for the students to complete two steps at once. Theories of anxiety are tied to EF theory; competition between goal-directed attention and perceived negative stimuli or information in the environment exists when an individual is anxious. If a student has an elevated level of anxiety, then there may be a hyperattentiveness to the negative information. Emotions and stress can negatively influence a student’s ability to regulate his or her attention and behavior (Zelazo et al., 2016). Thus, supporting students to be flexible and calm needs to be a daily consideration for the education team when serving students with ASD who experience anxiety.

Theory of Mind

Tori is a second-grade student with ASD who has a strong interest in animals, especially giraffes. She reads every book and watches every video her parents and teachers can find. Tori often finds ways to bring the conversation back to giraffes when she talks with peers and school staff, and she will sometimes continue the conversation when a peer walks away.

Ms. Jones, Tori’s language arts teacher, explains to the students that they will be working in small groups to create a diorama about a book they read as a class that was about going to summer camp. Ms. Jones talks with the students about how she expects them to work collaboratively to create the diorama, providing explicit directions. After giving the directions, Ms. Jones directs the students to break into small groups and begin working.

Ms. Jones begins circling the classroom once the children begin working. She notices that Tori is sitting with her back to the group, using the materials to create an elaborate giraffe structure. Ms. Jones casually sits down with the group and begins listening to the conversation. When Ms. Jones asks Tori to join the group, Tori explains that she is excited about a new giraffe video her mom borrowed from the library and wants to build a giraffe to go with the video. Tori’s peers then chime in, expressing...