Effective Education for Autism
Autism spectrum disorder is a complex abnormality generally manifesting before the age of 3. It specifically affects the parts of the brain responsible for communication and social interaction. Effective education for autism requires appropriate evaluations, well written Individual Education Plans, modifications to the curriculum, instruction designed to meet individual needs, and educational environments that reduce distractions.
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Evaluation
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An appropriate multidisciplinary evaluation is conducted by personnel qualified in their areas of expertise and familiar with autism. These professionals use a variety of appropriate standardized, developmental, and observational methods to gather information related to a child's level of functioning. The areas assessed include receptive and expressive language, speech production, communicative intent, and pragmatics or non-verbal communication.
Individualized Education Plan
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Information from the evaluation as well as parental concerns are used to develop Individualized Education Plan goals. An IEP for a child with autism includes goals related to communication, social interaction, behavior and emotional development, play and the use of free time. Goals are written to be observable and measurable. An IEP also addresses program modifications, such as environmental and instructional adaptations and the kinds of accommodations needed to enhance student learning.
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Curriculum
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A curriculum specifically for autism has a written statement of goals and philosophy from which instructional objectives, methods and activities are derived. It strives to support the highest level of independence possible at home and in school, vocational and community settings. The curriculum focuses on enhancing attention to social stimuli, functional communication and language, self-regulation, social relationships, imitation skills and vocational skills. Effective education for autism focuses attention on teaching the generalization of skills.
Instructional Practices
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Effective instructional practices for students with autism include integrating an assortment of developmentally and functionally appropriate strategies and learning opportunities into the curriculum in a meaningful way. Strategies to do this include providing multiple response opportunities; instructions that draw student attention and interest; motivation to stay engaged in activities; instruction on easy skills before moving to complex; multiple opportunities to practice skills in context; and a variety of instructional methods: individual, small group, large group, and peer-mediated.
Instructional Environments
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Effective educational environments are structured to take advantage of student strengths and eliminate issues that impede learning. It is effective practice to have the environment organized so that a student with autism can attend to relevant stimuli and not be distracted by potential attention grabbers. Organizing the learning environment into centers provides clear physical boundaries for activities. Posting schedules helps students know what is next so they can predict when changes in activities will occur.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Portrait of a styled children. Theme: education.. image by Andrey Kiselev from Fotolia.com
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Comments
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good information........
