A Practical Guide for Teachers of Students with an Autism Spectrum Disorder in Secondary Education

Elaine Keane, Trevor Clark, Debra Costley, Kathleen Lane

• Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781849053105
• eBook ISBN: 9780857006462
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Index: Psychology

Students on the autism spectrum often face difficulties in the secondary education environment that result from a lack of awareness on the part of their teachers and peers. This guide acquaints teachers with all the information and practical tools needed to understand and support their students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

The book presents specific, ready-to-use classroom initiatives with example worksheets, checklists and timetables to help students keep organised with their school work. It also covers general obstacles such as social situations, anxiety, mental health issues and extracurricular activities and how adults can help. Guidance about the leaving school stage and how to ensure the teen is equipped to make the best possible decisions about their future is included.

Packed with useful information and examples, this book will be a lifesaving resource for teachers, and everyone else working in secondary education, who want to help their students with autism to stay focused and positive at school.

PART I

Unravelling Autism Spectrum Disorder, Associated Features and Theories of Thinking and Learning

Chapter 1

Characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder and the Impact on the Student

WHAT IS AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER?

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex lifelong developmental disability that affects the person in all areas of life, throughout life. It is a dysfunction of some parts of the central nervous system that affects how the individual processes (takes in and stores) information in the brain. According to Uta Frith (1989) ASD is a ‘disorder that affects all of mental development...[s]ymptoms...look very different at different ages. Certain features will not become apparent until later: others disappear with time’ (p.1).

Diagnostic classification of ASD in accordance with DSM-IV denotes impairments in the following three areas (American Psychiatric Association, 2000, section 299):

1. reciprocal social interaction

2. verbal and non-verbal communication

3. restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviour, interests and activities.

Recent research (Baranek, Parham and Bodfish, 2005) indicates disturbances in sensory processing as another key feature. Intellectual disability is not part of the defining criteria for ASD; IQ can range from severe intellectual disability to the gifted range of intellectual functioning and there is wide range of presentation (Reitzel and Szatmari, 2003).

PREVALENCE

Research in the USA has shown that about 1 in 110 children has an autism spectrum disorder and that it is more prevalent in boys than girls (Boyle et al., 2011). There has been much discussion in the last decade concerning the apparent increase in cases of ASD. This increase may be due to the broadening of the concept of ASD, increased recognition and community awareness. Some writers have cautioned the risks of ASD being over-diagnosed to include anyone with odd and troublesome personality, who does not readily fit into any other category (Berney, 2000).

It is not the individual characteristics that are important for a diagnosis of autism, but the overall pattern of underlying difficulties, whereby all three aspects of the triad of impairments (reciprocal social interaction; verbal and non-verbal communication; and restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviour, interests and activities) are present to some degree.

Although sharing underlying characteristics, the relative severity of each characteristic, the presence of other non-core characteristics, personality, intellectual functioning, environment and educational history all contribute to a student’s learning and support needs.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ASD

At this time, there is still no medical test to diagnose ASD, so a diagnosis is based on the presence of a cluster of behavioural characteristics or indicators that signal the common developmental discrepancies. It is important to remember that there is no single behaviour that is indicative of ASD, nor will any student present with all of the behaviours commonly listed. It is the pattern of indicators from each behavioural category that is significant. Some indicators may be strong, others more mild. Some of the behaviours that indicate ASD are typically seen at specific stages of normal development. The significant difference in ASD is the intensity of the behaviour and the persistence of the behaviour beyond the normal developmental stage.

Research findings on ASD indicate that underlying impairments in perceptual processing and socio-emotional relating among individuals, leads to atypical development that impacts on the person’s social competence, communication and patterns of behaviour.

It is therefore important to understand how difficulties in the following areas affect functional ability in students with ASD at high school:

• sensory processing and cognition

• socio-emotional relating

• language and communication

• special interests, routines and emotional regulation

• information processing/learning styles.

Table 1.1 shows potential impacts of the main characteristics of autism on the student.

Table 1.1: Characteristics of ASD and the impact on the student

VERBAL AND NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION	RECIPROCAL SOCIAL INTERACTION	REPETITIVE AND RESTRICTED BEHAVIOURS AND INTERESTS
• Expressive and receptive language difficulties.	• There is reduced use of social perception cues.	• Most individuals with autism present with restricted repetitive and stereotypical patterns of behaviour, interests and activities.
• Difficulty with voice tone, volume, pace of speech, etc.	• Difficulty in distinguishing age, sex and socially related characteristics in people, treating everyone the same.	• Obsessions and the desire for routines usually emerge between the age of two and three, and follow a developmental course characterized by simple repetitive routines in younger or less able children and the development of special interests in higher-functioning older children and adolescents.
• There may be limited use of gestures to express interpersonal feelings or elicit joint attention, i.e. communication for communication’s sake.	• May not tune in to other people – difficulty with sharing attention and activities.	• Individuals with ASD usually prefer to engage in routines and solo pursuits. This is hardly surprising given their atypical learning style and problems with socio-emotional relating and communication.
• Problems with processing complex or abstract verbal language.	• Poor awareness of how others perceive their actions. This leads to difficulty in understanding and taking account of what other people know/don’t know.	• It may not always be change per se that is problematic for individuals with ASD but, rather, problems with organization, sensory overload and/or unpredictability.
• Difficulties with processing from multiple senses, e.g. listening and giving eye gaze...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Introduction
• Part I: Unravelling Autism Spectrum Disorder, Associated Features and Theories of Thinking and Learning
• Part II: Implications of Autism Spectrum Disorder and Associated Features for High School Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Part III: How to Combat Common Obstacles Experienced by High School Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Suggestions and Strategies
• Part IV: Post High School ... Where To Next?
• Appendix 1: The Causes of Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Appendix 2: Resources
• Appendix 3: Outline of Research Methods
• References
• Further Reading