The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

Some individuals on the autism spectrum have above-average intelligence, yet they may be struggling and even failing in the public schools. This session is about a classroom model that is helping these individuals be successful. We will discuss strategies for the individual who is smart but who still has many support needs. Autism is a spectrum of differences.  One part of that spectrum includes individuals whose intelligence is average or above, even brilliant.  Yet they these individuals may be very weak in their understanding and use of social skills.  They may alienate teachers, have no friends and be the target of teasing and bullying.  These individuals with Autism Spectrum Differences (ASD) may be poorly organized and lack a good sense of time.  This can result in assignments that are not turned in or late.  Written output appears to be a particular concern for these students.  Sometimes the use of computer can help those that have motor skill problems, but many individuals with ASD have heads full of information and have difficulty getting content on paper.  Even with their own problems, they do not tolerate others stupidity well.  They can see that many of the assignments that they are asked to do are busy work.  They recognize the teachers who do not know their subjects well.  They do not have the polite skills to tolerate and complete work that is meaningless and will be the first to tell the teacher that “She is boring.”  Or tell him “that he is wrong” about his information or interpretation.  If these students are not motivated by interest in the subject or relationship with the teacher, they often refuse to do the work.  Sometimes their report card is A+’s and F’s.  We often find ourselves with a student with a very high IQ, extremely high achievement scores but he is failing out of school.

It is important that the student with ASD has teachers who are aware of the ASD differences and the particular profile of each individual student.  Of course, we want each of these students to learn that in life, there are many times that you are going to have to do boring work or deal with a boss that you don’t like.  But in the meantime, we may have to bend some rules.  For instance, we had one brilliant student who scored A’s on all his tests but was failing because he did not hand in his homework.  Fortunately, he was on an IEP with an educational label of Autism.  We negotiated with the administration and the teacher and they wrote in his IEP that he was to be graded only on his tests.  If the goal of that class was that he learns the material, he did so.  There was also a goal that he get that credit so that he could graduate, and we saw that he did that, too. 

Besides modifications and adaptations of curriculum and grading systems which are typical for all disabilities, we found that our ASD students were being widely misinterpreted.  Their lack of social skills was being seen as rudeness.  Their tendency to say the honest truth rather than be a social fake, sometimes got them suspended from school.  They were balls of anxiety from overwhelming sensory and emotional input and they sometimes had meltdowns.  They needed a safe place to go.  We created district wide classrooms for each level (elementary, middle school, junior high and high school) as a home base.  These home bases were called the Differentiated Instruction rooms (DI rooms).  The DI rooms were staffed with a teacher who liked and understood students with ASD and had paraprofessional help.  Some students would only come to the DI room for a study hall.  The DI teacher would stay in touch with their teachers in their regular or honors classes and be sure that they were staying organized or problem solve when needed.

Other students might have one to several classes that they could not handle in the typical program.  The DI teacher might teach the regular content, or guide an independent study, or have that student take the class through an online curriculum.  There have been some students who were so traumatized by typical classroom participation that they spent most of their school days in the DI room.  Services were individualized according to student need.

As the schools collected yearly data, they found that the students in the DI room were some of the most improved in the school system.  Students who had been failing were now being successful and passing classes and attaining good grades.

In addition, many of these students had friends for the first time in their lives.  In the DI class, they met other students who were bright, unusual and had special interests.  They formed friendships, played games, shared books and computer programs and made plans to “hang out” after school.  Some of them had or attended birthday parties for the first time.

The DI instructors scheduled social skills instruction during study hall times, but they also integrated social skills and organization skills throughout their day.  The speech-language therapist came to the room to conduct pragmatic language lessons.  In the DI room, were areas where students could go to do get sensory input when needed or quiet spaces those students could retreat to.  Many students chose to come to the DI room when they first got to school, although that was not required.  Some students chose to have their lunch there with their friends and many checked in at the end of the day.  The teacher was their academic and emotional support person and the DI room was their refuge.

It would be ideal if we had a school system that accepted a wider range of learners and could adapt easily to their styles.  However, that is asking a lot of classroom teachers with large groups of students and difficulty truly giving differentiated instruction to each and every child.  Some of the adaptations could be done in the typical classroom, but only with a great deal of teacher training, extra time, resources and supports.  In the meantime, this special classroom is working not only for students with ASD, but some students with other diagnoses such as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorders and Emotionally Disorders have found their way home to the DI room.                One of the presenters of this session is a professional autism consultant who designed and  advocated for the DI rooms in the school system she worked in.  She is also a mother of a son         with autism whose life would have been greatly improved by this kind of caring support.  The       second presenter is the teacher of the DI classroom.  The other presenter is the teacher of this classroom.

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