The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

In response to the rise of students who have difficulties effectively communicating and/or engaging in appropriate play and social skills, a new program has been developed. This program, which specifically focuses on the student’s classroom and communication skills, can now be added to the continuum of services offered in an early childhood setting. Designed to facilitate the learning of children in a public school setting, it specifically targets the needs of the students who are non-verbal and/or not table ready. This presentation will identify underbelly assessments and their effectiveness in building foundation classroom and communication skills for identified students that lead to obtaining adequate yearly progress under NCLB. This program was developed as an early childhood intervention for children who are non-verbal and/or not table ready, however with minor modifications it can be used as appropriate programming for children of all ages. We will demononstrate how to utilize state standards (foundation) as the framework for effective programming when meeting the educational needs of students who are non-verbal and/or not table ready.  Purposeful alignment of assessments, data collection, progress monitoring addressing the state standards will all be reviewed as integral components of what drives the design and implementation of an individualized educational program.  Only with ongoing data collection and effective assessments will an adult know the child’s present level of performance; the specificity of the child’s skill deficits; and be effective in the design of the program targeting the child's zone of proximal development so that a strong and supportive foundation can be laid.
Once the student’s demonstrated skills and the environmental demands are identified then we look for a successful curriculum match to promote effective programming for students with autism.  We believe this match is best made in a natural environment within a public school setting.  Least restrictive environment, including necessary level of adult support is identified.  Environment, instruction and support are all designed to promote student independency.  The adult adjusts their “teaching approach” to address the learning style of the child.  Depending on the child’s needs; the task at hand; the environment; all influences which method and/or strategy to teach with.
We will reveal the connection between the child’s behavior and their communication skills.  The total communication approach will be presented to encourage basic communication skills utilizing sign language, picture communication, verbal approximations and augmentative communication. Observation of which system the child gravitates towards is noted and then supported. Teaching the child multiple modalities to communicate will assist them to better understand and use language themselves, therefore teaching the child the power of communication!  Beginning communication skills will target the child’s wants and needs.

We will target the importance of teaching children table readiness skills by creating an table environment that is engaging.  We will also address the importance of teaching “wait time” and self regulation. We will illustrate the success of typical teacher-student face to face instruction vs adult prompting from behind the child. We will demonstrate basic behavior strategies that can be utilized to shape behavior for a desired outcome.  Review of what form the behavior is in and what function does it serve.  Explanation of the ABCs of a Functional Assessment- A: Antecedent – what happened before? B: Behavior – what did the child do? C: Consequence – what happened after?  This information is gathered and then analyzed in a way to develop an effective behavior intervention plan to promote appropriate behavior. For students that are non-verbal it is important to create a communication intervention as part of the behavior intervention plan.  This intervention is called Functional Communication Training (FCT).

Shaping behavior is an intervention strategy that can be instrumental in addressing behaviors that disrupt the child’s ability to learn in the natural environment.  First line of inventory is to figure out if you are asking the child to do something they “can’t do” or are you asking the child to do something they “won’t do”.  If it is something that the child “can’t do” then they teaching approach would be to teach the child the task itself.  In other words, where there is a skill deficit then the skill itself needs to be embedded into teaching.  If it is a case of the child “won’t do” then we need to address the behavior. Other key components to shaping behavior are investing time to build a positive relationship with the child as well as their parents. To promote an approach that is fluid between a child’s natural environments, both home and school. Given opportunities in both environments will increase the child’s generalization skills therefore leading to mastery of the skill.

We will also teach the power of reinforcers! Demonstration of how to use reinforcers to fade out hand-over-hand assistance and other prompt dependent behaviors.  In most cases, utilization of hand over hand assistance has reinforced “learned helplessness’ and prompt dependency.  Effective use of reinforcers can increase the student’s level of engagement, joint attention and classroom foundation skills.

The physical environment is an additional component to reflect on. What is the design of the child’s current learning environment?  Does the physical environment reflect the flow of the classroom instruction?  Is it easy to transition between activities?  Is the room child friendly?  Can you get the child’s reinforcer quickly?  How do you physically position yourself as a fundamental part of the physical environment?

Through the use of these various methodologies and strategies we are able to promote the child’s independence and learning in the classroom.

This program links individual student’s success with adequate yearly progress for an outcome of student learning that is evident in both the school and home environments.

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