Autism Resources

Serving TTSD Students

We will provide a collaborative effort to support children, educators, and families in their educational journey.
Assist teachers in providing students the skills they need to help children to be successful in their homes, schools, and communities.
Include students in the general education setting, utilizing best-practice strategies, curricula, and materials for children with autism spectrum disorders.
Utilize a strength-based approach to address challenging behaviors and expand core curriculum to include communication and social skills.
Prioritize the supports needed for children with differing abilities to be instructed alongside their general education peers.

What is Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)?

An Autism Spectrum Disorder is a life-long disability generally evident before age three. It is a neurologically based disorder that affects the way a child communicates, interacts with people, and perceives and interacts with the world. It impacts the way a child processes, organizes, and integrates information.

Praise and Choices

Ten Proactive Strategies for Teaching & Maintaining Positive Behavior

Giving specific feedback is important for a child with ASD, as they typically take statements literally. An example of specific feedback is, "I like how you came in and sat down quietly." Rather than general praise, which can sound like "Good job" or "Thank you".

Giving students intermittent positive feedback is also important. An optimal rate of reinforcement to correction is a 4:1 ratio. That is, at least four positive communications are given for every one correction.

Another important strategy is offering choices. This will help to avoid power struggles and give the illusion the student has control over their school day. Choices can be offered within your control, such as, "Do you want to do 4 problems or 5?" or "Do you want to do this first or that?"

Socialization Strategies

Teaching social skills to students with ASD is extremely important and is beneficial not only for the student but for classmates as well. Classmates have been known to benefit from their experiences with students with ASD, developing a compassion for and an understanding of children with special needs. Their self-esteem is boosted by the positive role they take in helping a friend with autism learn.

Teachers can offer valuable support by providing specific social rules and facilitating and reinforcing positive social interactions. This can be done by posting specific social rules easily visible and understandable by all students, and reviewed periodically with the class. Teachers should recognize that a student with ASD may want to interact, but may not know how. Helping the student change topics of the conversation when necessary, rehearsing strategies for social interactions, and using classmates as peer models (e.g., video modeling of a desired social skill) are notable strategies, as well as providing “scripts” of what the student should do in particular social situations.

Social Visual Examples:

Reinforcement and Special Interests

Reinforcement

Another crucial strategy in developing and maintaining motivation in a student with ASD. A reinforcer is an object or activity that the student likes, which can be presented after a behavior to increase the frequency of that behavior in the future. Teachers may reinforce a non-preferred activity with a preferred activity, contingent upon task completion. For example, if a student has difficulty maintaining focus on a math assignment (non-preferred activity), she can spend five minutes using the computer (preferred activity) after completing her math work. Language used for this includes, "First_____, then _____".

The quicker the reinforcement is given after a student with ASD has completed a teacher-requested activity, the more powerful the reinforcer will be. If a teacher waits for two hours before delivering reinforcement for a completed activity, the student with ASD might not make the connection.

If you are not sure what motivates your student, you can use a reinforcer survey.

Special Areas of Interest

Students with ASD often have an intense and passionate level of focus on special areas of interest. It is important to note that the special interests are highly important and meaningful to the student, similar to an intense hobby.

Parents and educators are encouraged to support their students' intense interests. While special interests may seem strange or random to outsiders, they are incredibly meaningful to the child. They provide a source of recreation, allow the child to develop competence in a certain area, provide a safe haven during times of stress, which assists in avoiding meltdowns and sensory overloads, and improve self-esteem. Special interests can also be used as reinforcers.

Here are suggestions that can encourage and support the student in their special interests:

Finding books and toys related to the interest
Talking with the student about the interest (let the student earn time to talk about or study their interest)
Doing learning activities related to the interest and providing leadership opportunities
Modifying their work to allow their special interest (a writing prompt that includes their special interest)
Helping the student join a club related to the special interest (also provides the opportunity to socialize in a less intimidating setting)

Special interests may someday turn into a successful career or hobby.

Additional Examples of Reinforcement Tools

Social Stories

Social Stories are a concept devised by Carol Gray in 1991 to improve the social skills of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). ... Social stories model appropriate social interaction by describing a situation with relevant social cues, others' perspectives, and a suggested appropriate response.

More information about how to write a social story

Common Social Stories Used in TTSD Schools

Modeling and Daily Schedules

Although knowing the general characteristics of ASD is helpful, teaching strategies for students with ASD still need to be individualized. Children with ASD often have visual-spatial strengths. Knowing this, adults and caregivers can modify their instructional strategies in a number of ways.

Demonstrating and Modeling Expected Skills

First, adults should demonstrate and model expected skills. For example, if the teacher wants a student with ASD to place his book bag in his cubby when he gets to class in the morning, the teacher should demonstrate exactly how to do this.

Providing Visual Schedules

Next, adults should provide visual schedules of the day’s events in a location easily seen by the student. A visual schedule can be written out and/or paired with picture symbols to increase understanding. A teacher can also provide individual student schedules attached to the student’s desk for accessibility. If you need an individual visual schedule for a student, please contact your learning specialist.