Academics Presentation HANDOUT - New York University · Art Director Senior Copywriter 11 PHYSICAL ACTS CREATIVITY & IDEAS PROCESS Fiction Non-Fiction character knowledge situational

Understanding Academics

ASD Nest Program

Parent Workshop

December 9, 2009

Lauren Hough & Aaron Lanou

1


Unravelling the unique academic challenges

of students on the spectrum

2

Overview

Theoretical Frameworks

Academic Strengths

Academic Difficulties

Strategies

Q & A

3


4


Theory of Mind

Central Coherence Theory

Executive Functioning

5

Theory of Mind

The ability to recognize and interpret other

people’s thoughts, feelings, beliefs and intentions

empathy

mind-blindness

perspective taking

The Sally-Anne taskShe has… to “compute” other’s

intentions and states of mind, to try

to make algorithmic, explicit what for

the rest of us is second nature.

O. Sacks, 1995 p. 270

6

http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/System/8870/memory/sallyanne.gif

7

Central Coherence Theory

Difficulty conceptualizing the “big picture” or “gist”

Hyper-focus on details at the expense of the larger

context

Informal interview

Can’t see the forest for the trees?!

I can’t see the forest for the veins

on the leaves.

8

WHAT QUESTIONS COME TO MIND?

9

Executive Functioning

Organizing and coordinating multiple cognitive

tasks, such as:

recalling & applying information from memories

attention & self-monitoring

flexibility in problem solving

time management & prioritizing

abstract thinking

Company CEO

S. Shore in Attwood, 2007

Without appropriate support, the child

with Asperger’s Syndrome may feel he is

drowning in a million different sub-tasks.

10

CREATIVE ACCOUNTS

INFORMATION

TECHNOLOGY

Account Manager

Account Manager

Account Manager

Account Manager

CEO

Executive

Account Director

Account

Director

Account

Director

Executive

Creative Director

Executive IT

Director

Technology Specialist




IT

Manager

Creative

Director

Creative

Director

DesignerJunior

Copywriter

DesignerJunior

Copywriter

Art Director

Senior Copywriter

DesignerJunior

Copywriter

Art Director

Senior Copywriter

11

PHYSICAL ACTS CREATIVITY & IDEAS PROCESS

FictionNon-

Fictioncharacter

knowledgesituational knowledge

WRITING

Knowledge

of Genre

My Current

Idea

Brainstorm

Draft Revise

Edit

The Writing

ProcessBody

Coordination

Letter

formation

arm position

appropriate pressure

shouldersfinger

placement

PosturePencil Grip

Upper/lowercase

Upper/lowercase

Script Print

12

Academic Strengths

13

Academic Strengths:Reading

Word reading (hyperlexia)

Nonfiction

Recalling details

14

Academic Strengths:Writing

Creativity

Grammar & syntax

Extensive writing on topics of interest

15

Academic Strengths:Mathematics

Computation

Recall of basic facts

Following algorithmic procedures

16


Reading

17

Reading Challenges

1.Tracking a story / synthesizing text

2.Thinking about characters

3.Understanding figurative & higher-order language

18

Tracking a Story &Synthesizing Text

Recognizing narrative text structure

Finding the main idea

Determining the importance of details

Obtaining relevant information from pictures

Tracking a story across chapters

1

19 20

Thinking about Characters

Understanding character thoughts & feelings

Considering character motivation & intention

Inferring internal character traits

Making self-to-text connections

Drawing inferences independently

2

21

Understanding Figurative &Higher-Order Language

Recognizing multiple meanings of words

Gus makes a tape.

He says, “Gus, Gus, Gus…”

until the tape ends.Level H text (1st grade)

3

22


Understanding idioms & figures of speech

But you always say you’ll

handle it and Justin gets

away with murder.Level P text (3rd grade)

3

23


Making sense of similes & metaphors

And you ought to see his

room. Like Grandpa’s pig

pen!Level P text (3rd grade)

3

24


Interpreting figurative language

Jack watched with mounting

excitement. It might take a bird to hatch

eggs, but a boy could hatch a plan!Level Q text (4th grade)

3

25

“Emily looked down at the book. It had about a skillion pages. It would take forever to read. “Well…” she said. “Go ahead. Try it,” said Freddie. “I guess so,” Emily said. She went to Mrs. Baker’s desk. Too bad she didn’t have a skinnier book. She looked back. Freddie was talking to his friend Edward. Emily stuck the fat book on the book cart. She grabbed another one. It was much skinnier. She gave it to Mrs Baker. Mrs. Baker checked it out. “You like snakes?” she asked. “Yucks,” said Emily. Then she looked at the book. There was a snake on the cover. It was the kind with the fat neck. Its tooth was sticking out. “I mean, I love them,” Emily said.”

NONSENSE WORD

NON-LITERAL

LANGUAGE PERSPECTIVE-

TAKING

DECEPTION

INFERENCEIRRELEVANT DETAILPERSPECTIVE-TAKING & LYINGPickle Puss by Patricia

Reilly Giff, pp. 4-7

26


Writing

27

Writing Challenges

1. Concept of writing

2. Organizing and prioritizing

3. Considering characters and audience

28

Concept of Writing

Understanding different genres

Recalling episodic memories

Revising and accepting critique

Appreciating writing as a process

1The Writing Process

Brainstorming

Organizing

Drafting

Revising

Editing

Publishing

29

Organizing & Prioritizing

Planning and organizing structure

Understanding details and the main idea

Managing time and self-monitoring

Completing long-term projects

2

30

Considering Characters & Audience

Considering thoughts and feelings

Understanding motivation and intention

“Showing versus telling”

Recognizing what your audience knows/needs to know

3

31


Math

32

1. Abstract concepts

2. Abstract skills

3. Word problems

4. Explaining thinking

Math Challenges

33

Abstract Concepts

Algebra

Geometry

1) 4 + x =

Evaluate if x = 2

2) Find the value of x:

2 + x = 6

1

1) Find the perimeter of

the regular polygon:

[not drawn to scale]

4 f

t

34

Abstract Skills

Rounding numbers

Estimating numbers

“Guessing & checking”

What is 3,200 + 700?

That’s 3,900.

Now make an estimate:

around what number is

4,250 + 2,824?

2

Hmmm… a million?

Yeah, around a million.

35

Word Problems

Envisioning

Identifying relevant information

Planning & executing multi-step problems

Mr. Arnold has 13 pencils and one

calculator for his students. Lisa needs

two pencils, Omar needs three pencils,

and Lyla needs five pencils. How many

pencils will Mr. Arnold have left?

3

36

Explaining Thinking

Checking work for accuracy

Trying alternate strategies

Explaining reasoning with words

4

If the answers came to us

slower, we’d have enough time

to be able to see how we

arrived at them.

M. Carley, 2008, p. 73

37

1) Solve the problem below.

PART A

The perimeter of the shape below is 22 cm.

Label the lengths of the missing sides.

[not drawn to scale]

PART B

Check your answer using a different strategy.

PART C

Explain how you solved the problem.

________________________________________

________________________________________

________________________________________

8 cm

__ cm

__ cm__ cm

38

Strengths

Readingword reading

nonfiction

recalling details

Writingcreativity

grammar & syntax

writing on topics of interest

Mathcomputation

recall of basic facts

algorithmic procedures

Challenges

Readingnarrative text structure

main idea

determining importance

information from pictures

tracking a story

Writingconcept of writing

organizing and prioritizing

characters and audience

Mathabstract concepts

abstract skills

word problems

explaining thinking

39

Academic Strategies

40

Instructional principles:

Visuals

Graphic organizers

Social-cognitive strategies

Academic Strategies

41

Benefits:

Use visual strength

Organize information

Concretize abstract concepts

Academic Strategies

42

Academic Strategies

Visuals

43

Visuals

Visual cues

Checklists

Color coding

Schedules & calendars

Graphic representations

44

Think about your

character

Think about

how your life relates to

the text

45 46

Problem Solving Helper Sheet1) Understand the problem

2) Make a plan

3) Do the plan

4) Look back

1) UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM

What do I KNOW?(what numbers the problem gives me)

What am I LOOKING FOR?(what my answer is about)

2) MAKE A PLAN

Which Strategy? (circle one)• Look for a pattern• Make a table• Draw a picture• Work backwards• Write an equation• Guess and check

Why is that a good strategy?

3) DO THE PLAN

Do you work here

4) LOOK BACK

Check your work Ask yourself:

DOES IT MAKE SENSE?

Name: ___________________________

47

EXPLAIN YOUR MATH THINKING!

THE ANSWER IS ______________. I USED THE

________________________________STRATEGY.

I KNEW/NOTICED THAT____________________

__________________________________________.

FOR EXAMPLE, ___________________________.

THEREFORE, I ____________________________.

THAT IS HOW I ___________________________.

48

EDITING TOOLKIT

Spelling Punctuation Capitals Indenting Goal: ________

49

December 2009 December 2009 December 2009 December 2009 December 2009 December 2009 December 2009

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

!1 !2

Gathering

!3 !4 !5 !6 !7

!8 !9 !10

*topic due

Drafting

!11 !12 !13 !14

!15 !16

*draft due

Revising

!17 !18 !19 !20

*revisions due

Editing

!21

!22 !23 !24

*editing due

Publish

!25 !26 !27 !28

!29 !30 !31

WRITING

DUE

! ! ! !

50

+ =

What the text says

Your thinking INFERENCE

Graphic Representation of Making an Inference

51

Category 3 2 1 0

Work Shown Shows all work Shows some work Shows a little work Shows no work

Multiple Parts

of Questions

Answered all parts of

the question

Answered some parts

of the question

Answered one part of

the question

Did not answer the

question

Correct

SolutionSolution is correct

Solution is partially

correct, but work is

shown

Solution is partly

correct with a little

work shown

Solution is not correct

and no work is shown

Correct

Operation

Used and explained

correct operation

Used correct

operation, but did not

explain

Did not use correct

operation but showed

some work

Did not use correct

operation and showed

no work

Use Words in

Explanation

Explanation of answer

is clear and in words


is some what clear in

words


is not really clear but

is in words


is not included

RUBRIC FOR EXPLAINING YOUR WORK

ON THE STATE MATH TEST

52

The Six Levels of Knowledge

Thinking work: what is right and wrong?

judge

Difficulty Rating:

Thinking work: combine lots of thinking from

different places

put together

Difficulty Rating:

Thinking work: think about your thinking

think BIG

Difficulty Rating:

Thinking work: use your understanding in a new

way

use thinking

Difficulty Rating:

Thinking work: think a little more about the text

think a bit

Difficulty Rating:

Thinking work: find the answer “right there”

right there

Difficulty Rating:

Evaluate

Synthesize

Analyze

Apply

Understand

Remember

VISUAL REPRESENTATION

OF BLOOM’S TAXONOMY,

A WAY OF LEARNING ABOUT

LEVELS OF UNDERSTANDING

A TEXT

53

Academic Strategies

Graphic Organizers

54

Graphic Organizers

Timing:

Before instruction

During instruction

After instruction

55

WEB

Academic

Subjects

Reading Writing

MathSocial

Studies

small

moment

brainstorming

lists

capitalizing

proper nouns

56

©Teacher Created Resources, Inc. #3208 Graphic Organizers: Grades 4–8

In My Opinion . . . (Main Topics and Supporting Points)

Five-Paragraph Essay

Support/Proof DetailsSupport/Proof DetailsSupport/Proof Details

Summary/Conclusion

Main Idea, Introductory and Thesis Paragraph

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

FOR CLASSIC

FIVE-PARAGRAPH ESSAY

57

Name:____________________________________ Date:_________________

Difficulty Rating:

Understandthink a bit

My Conclusion

something I know about

that kind of situation

one thing right there

in the text

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER FOR “LEVELS OF KNOWLEDGE”

character says

“I guess so…”

when I say that,

it means that I’m

not totally

convinced I can

do it

the character

isn’t confident

that she can read

the book that the

boy picked out

for her

58

Name:____________________________________ Date:_________________

Difficulty Rating:

Synthesizeput together

My Conclusion

different things I know

from my life

different things I

thought about the text

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER FOR “LEVELS OF KNOWLEDGE”

Goldilocks went into

the house without

permission

It’s unfair that she

ate the bears’ food

and broke their stuff

I think the bears are

angry when they see

Goldilocks in the bed

When my sister breaks

my stuff, I get really

angry

You need to ask

permission to use other

people’s things

Goldilocks was

only thinking

about herself and

didn’t realize that

her actions

would have

consequences

that affected

other characters

Sometimes people have

things that are very

special to them

When you break things you

have to make it up to the

person it belonged to

59

Academic Strategies

Social-Cognitive

Strategies

60

Social-Cognitive Strategies

Social stories

Comic strip conversations

Social detective agency

61

Social Stories & Comic Strip Conversations

Carol Gray

Social story

process producing a short story that explains

a situation, concept, or expectation

Comic strip

dialogue and thought bubbles are used to

illustrate ongoing conversation and clarify

social situations

62

Social Story:Reading Comprehension

Emily looked down at the book. It had about a skillion pages.

It would take forever to read. “Well…” she said. “Go ahead.

Try it,” said Freddie. “I guess so,” Emily said. She went to

Mrs. Baker’s desk. Too bad she didn’t have a skinnier book.

She looked back. Freddie was talking to his friend Edward.

Emily stuck the fat book on the book cart. She grabbed

another one. It was much skinnier. She gave it to Mrs Baker.

Mrs. Baker checked it out. “You like snakes?” she asked.

“Yucks,” said Emily. Then she looked at the book. There was

a snake on the cover. It was the kind with the fat neck. Its

tooth was sticking out. “I mean, I love them,” Emily said.

63

Social Story:Reading Comprehension

In this paragraph, Emily and her classmates are at the library checking

out books. Emily finds a book with lots of pages. Another student,

Freddie, convinces her to check out that book, even though she thinks

that it’s too long for her. Then, when Freddie is not looking, she grabs a

different, shorter book.

Many people feel embarrassed when others see or might see that

something is hard for them. Sometimes students get embarrassed when

they can’t do things that their classmates can do. In our classroom,

sometimes people may feel embarrassed when they get a math fact

wrong or when they miss a word on their spelling test. In this situation,

Emily takes the book Freddie suggests because she feels embarrassed

and does not want him to know that she thinks that the book is too long.

Then she waits until he looks away to grab a different book so that he will

not know that she needed a shorter book.

64

Comic Strip Conversations

65

Comic Strip Conversations

66

Social Detective Agency

Michelle Garcia Winner

using the framework of a mystery to teach

social thinking

recognizing and interpreting clues

using clues to make “smart guesses”

trying to figure out other people’s plans

67

Social Detective Agency Use clues to...

• figure out others’

thoughts & feelings

• make smart

guesses about

other’s plans

EYE CLUES FACIAL CLUES

GESTURAL

CLUES

BODY CLUES WORD CLUES

LITERAL

vs.

f igurat ive

68

Social Detective Agency

PROBLEM

STRATEGY 1

STRATEGY 2

STRATEGY 3

OLD STRATEGY

NEW STRATEGY

CHECKING

STRATEGY

YOU CAN TRY TO BE SUPER FLEXIBLE AND TRY OUT NEW STRATEGIES!

69


Q & A

70

ReferencesAttwood, T. (2007) The Complete Guide to Asperger Syndrome. Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley

Publishers.

Carley, M. (2008) Asperger’s from the Inside Out. New York: Penguin Group.

Goodman, G. & Williams, C. M. (2007) Interventions for increasing the academic engagement of

students with autism spectrum disorders in inclusive classrooms. Teaching Exceptional Children,

July/August, 53-61.

Gately, S.E. (2008) Facilitating reading comprehension for students on the autism spectrum.

Teaching Exceptional Children 40(3), 40-45.

Gray, C. (2000) The New Social Story Book. Arlington, TX: Future Horizons, Inc.

Gray, C. (1994) Comic Strip Conversations. Arlington, TX: Future Horizons, Inc.

Joliffe, T. & Baron-Cohen, S. (2001) A test of central coherence theory: Can adults with high-

functioning autism or Asperger syndrome integrate fragments of an object? Cognitive

Neuropsychology, 6(3), 193-216.

Latner, E. & Watson, L. R. (2008) Promoting literacy in students with ASD: The basics for the SLP.

Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 39, 33-43.

Sacks, O. (1995) Anthropologist on Mars. New York, NY: Vintage Books.

Winner, M. G. (2005) Think Social: A social thinking curriculum for school-age students. San Jose,

California: Michelle Garcia Winner.

71

Documents

Academics Presentation HANDOUT - New York University · Art Director Senior Copywriter 11 PHYSICAL ACTS CREATIVITY & IDEAS PROCESS Fiction Non-Fiction character knowledge situational