The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

The primary purpose of this workshop will be to assist attendees in understanding the interrelationships among the learning styles, emotional regulation and behavior challenges in children with autism spectrum disorders. Many of the behavior challenges exhibited in our classrooms, home and community settings can be explained, in part, through our increased understanding of a) how our children learn based on the core challenges of ASD, and b) how our children may become emotionally dysregulated when our teaching methods and strategies do not consider nor match up with these learning styles (Prizant, Wetherby, Rubin, Laurent, & Rydell, 2006). These potential mismatches may subsequently lead toward a high level of child anxiety, distress and coping behaviors, which in some cases result in "behavior challenges."

This workshop will first review and describe 10 learning styles common to children on the autism spectrum.  To illustrate these learning styles, we will review The Learning Style Assessment Based on Core Challenges of ASD protocol (Rydell & Folan, 2009) that has been developed and used at the Rocky Mountain Autism Center to a) assess the child’s learning style and b) provide specific guidelines for program development and intervention. These assessment/intervention components are based on, and derived from, the core challenges literature in ASD (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2006; National Research Council, 2001; Prizant, Wetherby, Rubin, Laurent, & Rydell, 2006).

Learning Style Components and Continuum

1. Object vs. People Orientation – Is the child with ASD a) primarily focused on objects, sensory-seeking and/or manipulation; or b) can he/she learn through social models and demonstrations while remaining emotionally regulated?

2. Awareness and Understanding of Social Cues – Does the child with ASD a) attain social cues primarily from one individual or b) is he/she able to attain social cues from a group while remaining emotionally regulated?

3. Interaction Style – Does the child with ASD a) have an equal balance among initiating, maintaining and responding to others in social interactions while remaining emotionally regulated; or b) primarily interact using one modality?

4. Interaction Style (Behavior vs. Language) -  Does the child with ASD have an equal balance among initiating, maintaining and responding to others in social interactions while remaining emotionally regulated primarily through a) behavioral means or b) both language and behavioral means?

5. Level of Flexibility with Objects, Activities and People – Does the child with ASD a) interact with objects or partners in a rigid/repetitive/inflexible manner or b) in a flexible/spontaneous manner while remaining emotionally regulated?

6. Verbal/Symbolic Communication Style – Does the child with ASD a) primarily use non-purposeful, pre-intentional actions toward others; or b) use purposeful, intentional communicative acts while remaining emotionally regulated?

7. Learns through Social Modeling/Demonstration/Rehearsal – Does the child with ASD a) demonstrate little or no response to a partner’s attempts of modeling/demonstration of skills or b) is he/she responsive to the partner’s modeling/demonstration attempts while remaining emotionally regulated?

8. Transitions – Does the child with ASD a) demonstrate difficulty shifting attention and resist the partner’s attempt to change an activity, event or location; or b) shift to a new activity, event or location in a cooperative manner while remaining emotionally regulated?

9. Executive Function – Does the child with ASD a) demonstrate difficulty establishing and maintaining focus in order to complete a task, or b) is he/she able to make and execute a logical plan in sequenced steps until completion while remaining emotionally regulated?

10. Distance Learning – Is the child with ASD able to a) act on and respond to a partner or situational cue only at a close distance, or b) at increasing distances beyond close proximity while remaining emotionally regulated?

The presentation will offer specific examples that describe each of the 10 Learning Style Components outlined above and the child characteristics of each learning style component. For instance, examples will be given of a child who may be on either end of the developmental continuum of Object vs. People Orientation or Awareness and Understanding of Social Cues, etc.