Top Tips for Teaching a Child with Autism

Introductions and Agenda

  • The webinar will cover five top tips for teaching children with autism (Autism Spectrum Disorder).
  • The term "child" applies to various age ranges.
  • The agenda includes introductions, objectives, history of teaching children with autism, the five tips, and a Q&A session.

Autism Awareness Month

  • April is Autism Awareness Month.
  • Encouragement to participate in community activities.

Objectives

  • Provide practical knowledge for effectively teaching children with autism.
  • Make teaching effective and fun.
  • Offer easy-to-implement strategies for motivating children with autism.

History of Teaching Children with Autism

  • Historically, effective educational interventions were lacking.
  • Teachers were often left to their own devices.
  • Children were often secluded in special schools or institutions.
  • Educators often believed limited progress was possible.
  • Many children went undiagnosed or received general labels.
  • Diagnostic measures were limited and depended on clinician experience.
  • Families in metropolitan areas near research universities may have had better access to care.
  • There were disagreements regarding treatment approaches for early intervention.
  • Reference to a paper by Travis Thompson (2002/2013) on Autism Research and Services for Young Children.

Progress in Teaching Children with Autism

  • Significant progress has been made.
  • Half of children receiving early intensive behavior intervention (EIBI) now participate in general education.
  • Research has increased significantly (4.13 times in the last decade).
  • There is increased availability of reliable and valid psychological assessments at a younger age.
  • Greater focus on parental and family engagement, empowering parents as teachers.
  • Sibling workshops (e.g., Sip Shops) provide support for siblings of children with autism.
  • Parents raising children with autism report the highest levels of stress among parents of children with disabilities.
  • More information and resources are available for teachers, including curricula and data tracking systems.
  • All individuals, regardless of functioning level, can learn.

What's Next

  • More research is needed on the transition from adolescence to adulthood.
  • Need for more support for updated, cost-effective, research-based practices in and outside of the United States.

Five Tips for Teaching Children with Autism

  • Motivation
  • Breaking skills down
  • Prompting
  • Incidental teaching
  • Technology

Tip 1: Motivation

  • Based on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).
  • ABA is a science where procedures are systematically applied to improve socially significant behaviors.
  • An ABA program involves breaking skills into small steps, using praise and rewards, and continuously measuring progress.
  • ABA is recognized as the most effective treatment for autism, leading to substantial, lasting improvements.

Positive Reinforcement

  • Positive reinforcement involves presenting a stimulus immediately after a response, increasing the likelihood of similar responses in the future.
  • We are more likely to repeat behaviors if something good happens afterward.

Applying Motivation to Teaching

  • Children with autism may need motivation to do programs, similar to how adults need motivation for work or school.
  • Reinforcers can include breaks, toys, paychecks, verbal praise, token boards, snacks, and unique items.

Finding Effective Reinforcers

  • Ask caregivers what the child likes to do at home.
  • Ask the child directly.
  • Observe what the child plays with.
  • Present a variety of items and note the child's preferences.
  • Use reinforcement inventories like the RAISD (Reinforcement Assessment for Individuals with Severe Disabilities).

Indicators that Reinforcers are Effective

  • The child looks for the reinforcer.
  • The child engages with the reinforcer.
  • The child smiles or shows interest.
  • The child repeats the behavior being taught.

Maintaining Motivation

  • Ask the child what they want.
  • Try different variations on a theme.
  • Encourage the child to try different things.
  • Pair praise with food and fade the food over time.

Decreasing Reinforcement

  • Fade reinforcement over time, saving it for more independent or better responses.
  • Example: Reinforce answering "What's your name?" initially, then add "How old are you?" before reinforcement.

Tip 2: Breaking Skills Down

  • Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT) is a teaching methodology under ABA involving breaking skills into teachable steps.
  • DTT has been shown to be an effective strategy.
  • Components of DTT include teaching colors one at a time, providing consequences (reinforcement or redirection) based on the child's response, and using prompts as needed.

Task Analysis

  • Task analysis involves breaking down a task into smaller parts.

  • This can also work for adults.

  • A study trained teachers to follow a task analysis to teach story-based literacy lessons to students with moderate to severe developmental disabilities.

  • The results indicated a relationship between teacher training and the number of lesson plan steps followed, with corresponding student increase in correct responses.

  • The most common approach is literally doing the steps yourself and writing them down.

  • Steps can be individualized.

  • Teach one step at a time.

  • Reduce your support and reinforcement over time.

Task Analysis Examples

  • Tying shoes
  • Morning routine
  • Checking email
  • Social skills (e.g., how to interject into a conversation)

Tip 3: Prompting

  • Prompting means anything you can do to help your child be successful or correctly respond to an instruction.

Prompting Techniques

  • Modifying the placement of teaching materials.
  • Verbally telling the child how to do the skill.
  • Providing a gesture (e.g., pointing).
  • Demonstrating or modeling a response.
  • Physically guiding (full or partial physical prompts).
  • Using visual aids like text or pictures.
  • Providing a verbal model.

General Rules for Using Prompting

  • Consider the skill being taught.
  • Consider the child's current skill level.
  • Experiment to find what works best.

Important Reminders About Prompts

  • Fade prompts over time.
  • Give better reinforcers for responses that require less prompting.
  • If a prompt doesn't work, go back to a prompt that worked before.
  • Make sure the whole team is on the same page.

Tip 4: Using Incidental Teaching

  • Incidental teaching is an effective way to teach by capturing the child's interest.

Implementing Incidental Teaching

  • Set up the environment to encourage the child's interest.
  • Start an activity and stop in the middle to prompt them to request more.
  • Play with a toy in front of the child.
  • Turn down the volume on their iPad.
  • Give them only some of the materials.
  • Watch for the child to show interest in the activity or item (reaching, asking, looking).

Engaging the Child

  • Ask and prompt a response related to that activity.
  • Ask them to count the items.
  • Have them tell you the color or location.
  • Ask them a question about it.

Rewarding and Encouraging Independence

  • Reward the child with the item or activity.
  • Fade prompting until the child can respond independently.

Tip 5: Technology

  • Technology is relevant, modern, and often less stigmatizing.
  • It is often very reinforcing and user-friendly, facilitating comprehension and engagement.

Using Technology Effectively

  • Use mobile devices for following schedules.
    *Activity schedules presented on devices are easier to carry and socially accepted
  • iPod: an iPod touch was used to teach an activity schedule utilizing independent leisure activities to four children with autism. It had increased on task behavior, and more importantly, it had generalized to novel settings and novel schedules.
  • Use video modeling and video self-modeling(taking pictures of the child, and teaching them how to perform a skill, by modeling).
    *Self and peer modeling proved more effective than adult models.
  • Consider the type of skill and the length of the video.
  • Use Bluetooth or cell phones. Bug in the ear technology was used to provide DTT feedback* on the accuracy of DTT implementation among teachers.
    • Self instruction manual,combined with self ear feedback was effective.
    • Teachers were able to give feedback from afar.
  • Cell phones can be used to teach young adults how to make purchases in a grocery store.
    * This will make the individual feel more independent*