Implications in the Classroom
While children with Autism may exhibit common characteristics, the symptoms vary tremendously in severity and presence from person to person. Autism is associated with a wide range of cognitive disabilities, sensory problems, and repetitive and unusual behaviours. Tantrums, self-harm, and aggression due to an inability to communicate are often associated with severe Autism. Milder forms of Autism present symptoms like social anxiety, awkwardness, and strange stimulatory behaviour. This section will briefly examine the wide range of difficulties that children with Autism face in relation to the classroom. It should be used as a guide to help understand the individual needs of students with Autism, rather than a broad categorization.
Social Skills
Students with Autism often have difficulty with social interactions. These difficulties can cause others to misunderstand their behaviour. Some examples are:
- Difficulty making eye contact and responding to eye contact
- Apprehension to being touched or held (especially at a young age)
- Inability to initiate social interactions
- Difficulty communicating and joining in with others (due to an inability to understand social conventions, figures of speech, sarcasm, facial and body expressions, "rules" of conversation, group interaction)
- Difficulty expressing feelings and empathizing with others
- Lack of understanding about "personal space" and other social "rules"
- Inability to converse, except about specific topics of interest
- Difficulty controlling emotion and excitement
- Preference to being alone rather than with others (including for play or work)
Linguistic/Language Development
Students with Autism often develop language skills at different rates than typical students. For students that are verbal, some language skills that develop naturally for typical students might need to be taught specifically, and even then many skills never develop. Some difficulties might include:
Some students with Autism never develop verbal communication skills and rely on sign language, gestures, or assistive technology. Without appropriate early intervention more than 40% of children with Autism will remain non-verbal permanently. These difficulties can lead to ostracization by classmates if misunderstood.
- Speech and language develop at irregular intervals, sometimes slowly, and sometimes not at all
- Difficulty regulating pitch, intonation, rhythm, and stress when speaking (sentences may sound scripted, louder/quieter than an expected volume, statements might sound like questions, etc.)
- Difficulty understanding directional terms
- Lack of sentence structure and completeness when speaking, even though vocabulary might be very advanced
- Echolalia (automatic repetition of what someone else says)
- Inability to imitate sounds and words
- Repeated phrases or scripts (sometimes from movies or music)
- Difficulty with pronouns and gender ("she" instead of "he", "you" instead of "I" etc.)
Some students with Autism never develop verbal communication skills and rely on sign language, gestures, or assistive technology. Without appropriate early intervention more than 40% of children with Autism will remain non-verbal permanently. These difficulties can lead to ostracization by classmates if misunderstood.
Behaviour
Children with Autism can exhibit varying levels of extreme or seemingly strange behaviour. Some of this behaviour is due to an inability to understand one's environment and the anxiety that accompanies that sense of helplessness. The following are some common behavioural traits of students with Autism:
Teachers must be careful to understand the antecedents that accompany the multitudes of behaviours for students with Autism. By understanding the reason for the behaviour, teachers can more effectively assess appropriate consequences, assistance, or preventative measures.
- Obsessive behaviour over a specific subject, object, idea, or desire, which can result in collecting, repetitive play, repetitive speech, or difficulty changing the subject
- Irrational anxiety or apparent lack of expected anxiety
- Ritualistic behaviour - actions that must be repeated over and over again
- Self-stimulatory behaviour - like rocking, flapping arms, head nodding, etc.
- Unusual movements or walking patterns, along with lack of body control when moving
- Reliance on specific routines accompanied by intense anxiety if typical routines are broken (even seemingly insignificant things like changing the order of classes, staying in for recess, not leaving when the bell rings, etc.)
- Difficulty transitioning from a preferred activity to a non-preferred activity
- Seemingly irrational outbursts (antecedent is often frustration due to overstimulation, unclear directions, escaping work, or seeking attention)
Teachers must be careful to understand the antecedents that accompany the multitudes of behaviours for students with Autism. By understanding the reason for the behaviour, teachers can more effectively assess appropriate consequences, assistance, or preventative measures.
Sensory Stimulation
Students with Autism sometimes have abnormal sensitivities to sensory stimulation. These sensitivities might include:
Teacher's should take these into consideration as a possible antecedent when determining the reasons for certain behaviours.
- Difficulty processing auditory and visual stimuli, which can lead to intense reactions to loud noises, inability to tune out "white noise," visual overstimulation, and difficulty keeping focused
- Unusual sensitivities to to each of the five senses (i.e. an itchy tag might be unbearable for a student, a fire alarm might cause intense anxiety, even slight smells might be impossible to ignore, etc.)
- High or low pain thresholds
Teacher's should take these into consideration as a possible antecedent when determining the reasons for certain behaviours.
In the Classroom
Students with Autism may present differing levels of ability depending on the subject and focus of different classes. Students may possess specific advanced skills, but lack other basic skills that develop naturally for typical students. The following are possible implications for the classroom:
- Typical teaching methods might be inadequate for some children with Autism due to the difficulties listed above
- Students may have difficulty with imaginative or interactive play
- Certain "natural" skills may need to be taught or broken down into small steps
- Inability to mimic behaviour or learn from the behaviour of others (sounds, movements etc.)
- Difficulty focusing appropriately on work, teacher, classmates, etc. (short attention span)
- Inability to share with others accompanied by intense anxiety when sharing is forced
- Difficulty with concepts of time, schedules, calendars etc.
- Lack of fine/gross motor skills
- Need for sensory "breaks" (inability to sit still for an extended period of time)
- Seemingly random outbursts
More Info
For more information visit Autism Society Canada, Calgary Autism or any of the links on the "What is Autism" page under Resources.
Below is a CBS News Story - "Families Struggle with Autism"
Below is a CBS News Story - "Families Struggle with Autism"