Part 1. Scheduling - WordPress.com · Part 1. Scheduling Jennifer Lee ... (Dunlap & Fox, 1999) In the early years, ... The individualized education program (IEP)

Ms. Ada

Assistant

Ms. Selma

Self-Contained

Classroom

Teacher

Part 1. Scheduling Jennifer Lee

Meet…

Mr. Alvin

Assistant

Ms. Selma, Ms. Ada and Mr. Alvin

meet after school to talk about

instructing their eight students.

All three of them have a lot of questions

and concerns. They don’t know where

to start because their students are…

… all so different! Each student has

different strengths and weaknesses!

Where will they find the answers to their

questions?

Age Span Considerations: (Dunlap & Fox, 1999)

In the early years, instruction focuses on developing communication, social interaction, and adaptive behavior.

As the child ages, elementary programs may focus more on academic instruction in addition to teaching language and social interaction skills.

In elementary school, instruction should support the child's growth in skill areas that are delayed and promote growth in areas of strength.

Curriculum adaptations may be used to assist students in progressing in the traditional academic areas.

School programs should also focus on helping the student learn how to negotiate social environments and develop friendships.

“Base the curriculum on the student's individual characteristics, not on the label of autism. A diagnosis of autism does not indicate what or how to

teach” (Dunlap & Fox, 1999)

Introduction

After the grueling process of getting to know your students with ASD, their behaviors, their functions,

and also setting up your classroom just the way you and your students like it, you will be suddenly faced with yet

another challenge. In the classroom, learning has to happen, and you may be panicking about where to start!

There are countless approaches. Others may be advising you to just lecture at them! Others might say, “Let

them do what they want, they can’t learn,” but you know better. Every student needs an opportunity to learn,

and all students are capable of learning.

What is quite possibly the greatest challenge for teachers is identifying what subject, tasks and skills to

teach each student in the classroom. Students with ASD enter the

classroom with a range of different knowledge, foundational skills,

interests, and challenging behaviors. The goal of the teacher is to

identify each student’s present abilities, and target priority goals,

objectives and skills that need to be a part of their instruction. As a

teacher, you also want to make sure that your expectations of each

student remains high, and that you are instructing them on subjects and skills that will be functional, but also

challenging. You would not be an effective teacher if you failed to challenge your students and introduce new

information to them in order to help them achieve and grow! This part will be addressing these chief questions

about how to individualize the education for your students, increase the generalization of skills and information

learned, and make sure that you are constantly aware of the effectiveness of your teaching and the

performance of your students.

Deciding on What to Teach

The individualized education program

(IEP) is a legally binding document that should

be your first clue in uncovering what to teach

each student. The IEP includes information on

the student’s present levels of performance

(PLOP), or what knowledge or skills they have,

goals and objectives, and additional

information on the individual. The goals and

objectives will cover academic,

communication, social interaction, and

Teaching Communication and Socialization: (Heflin & Alaimo, 2007)

Receptive and expressive communication

Initiation and response to social bids

Recreation and leisure skills

Functional Communication Training (FCT)

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system

American Sign Language (ASL)

Teaching Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Self-Help Skills:

Toileting

Hygiene – brushing teeth and washing

Dressing – buttoning, zippering, and tying shoes

Eating – using a forks, spoons, and knives

Drinking – using a straw and cup

adaptive skills, and should all be considered when educating students with ASD. Based on these goals, intensive

instruction may be required. This instruction may not reflect what is appropriate for other students, and thus

may require the student to learn is a different learning environment. Writing objectives and using them to

collect data and evaluate student achievement will be discussed later on in this part.

Core curriculum should also be a part of instruction. The use

of AT, AAC, computer programs and other differentiated strategies

may be necessary to teach reading, writing, spelling and math to

your students. Considerations may also be made on what other

related service providers, such as the occupational therapist (OT), or

speech-language-pathologist (SLP), wish to have the student

improve on. Oftentimes, the OT would like the student to practice

their writing skills in the classroom, or the SLP may want the student

to generalize their skills by appropriately interacting with peers in

the classroom. Generalization of skills will also be discussed later in

this part.

“Encourage parents and other family members to participate

in the process of assessment, curriculum planning, instruction, and monitoring. They often have the most useful

information about the student's history and learning characteristics, so effective instruction should take

advantage of this vital resource” (Dunlap & Fox, 1999). Additional deficits you or other educators observe may

also be included as instructional targets.

“Educational programs for students with pervasive autism

often center on functional life skills, language or communication

skills, and social skills instruction,” but always remember that the

student should be the focus of instruction, and thus instruction

needs to reflect the student’s needs (“Strategies to help,” n.d.).

Look ahead and attempt to predict what knowledge and

skills your students might need. What you decide to teach your

students with ASD must be applicable to their present and future

lives in various environments, including school, home, the

community and future employment (Dunlap & Fox, 1999).

“Because many students with low functioning autism need to learn an alternate curriculum such as life skills and require extra time and repetition to learn new skills, they are often placed in self-contained classes. However, these students may be placed in general education classes for social skills interaction. Students with high functioning autism are usually placed in general education classes, where they excel

academically” (“Strategies to help,” n.d.).

Time for 1:1, Small Group and Whole Group Work and Settings

Every teacher is confronted with the problem of attempting to fit as much as possible into each school

day. Scheduling instructional time will depend on the overall schedule layout in your school. You will need to

plan specific instructional times around specials, recess, lunch, and whole group instruction by the SLP or OT,

and other individual pull-outs. Teaching students

individually or one-to-one, in small groups, and whole

group will need to be considered, whether you are in a

self-contained classroom or an inclusion classroom.

Teaching a student one-to-one with discrete trial training

(DTT) or peer tutoring, and in small groups with the use

of stations or cooperative learning (CL) are most

beneficial for students. This is because the instruction

may be more individualized, and the teacher is able to

provide specific attention to students who may require

additional guidance. Remember that the amount of time for the activities within those approaches to instruction

will need to be regulated.

Refer to section two, part two about establishing temporal structure in the classroom. Deciding on

what to teach and in what setting will depend greatly on the individual student. A student may perform better

or be more attentive with individualized instruction, where another student may not be as successful. Certain

subjects or tasks may be highly motivating for a student, and he or she may be able to complete it

independently or in a whole group setting. New or emerging skills may also need to be taught in an

individualized setting, so the student can receive the proper amount of feedback, corrections and reinforcement

to later perform the skill independently.

Although students with ASD may benefit from individual or small group instruction, it is still important

to use whole group instruction. All students should experience different methods of instruction, to allow them

to better adapt to diverse academic settings. This part will later discuss how to modify instruction when teaching

in whole group, small group or even one-to-one.

SMART Goals & Objectives: S pecific and descriptive M easurable A ttainable ad relevant R ealistic and relevant T ime limited (one year)

Components of a Behavioral Objective: (Alberto & Troutman, 2009) 1. Identify the learner 2. Identify the target behavior 3. Identify the conditions of the

intervention

4. Identify criteria for acceptable performance

Options for Collecting Data: (Alberto & Troutman, 2009)

Anecdotal reports

Permanent product recording o Worksheets o Quizzes and Tests o Homework

Checklists

Data charts

Standardized assessment tools

Writing Objectives and Collecting Data on Student Performance

The IEP of every student includes goals and objectives. Goals

are broader, and are applied for the entire year. Objectives reflect the

goals of the IEP and are more specific. Objectives can be considered as

the “chunked” steps that must be taken in order to reach the goal.

Objectives also give

teachers guidelines on how

the student’s performance is to be examined. An example of a goal

may be: “Aiden will master basic computation facts at the first-grade

level” (Alberto & Troutman, 2009). The objective for Aiden may be:

“Given a worksheet of 20 single-digit addition problems in the form 6

+ 2 and the written instruction ‘Find the sums,’ Aiden will complete

all problems with 90% accuracy for 3 consecutive math sessions”

(Alberto & Troutman, 2009).

Based on the student’s objective, you as a teacher will

collect data to measure whether the student is making progress

towards mastering the objective. For Aiden, the teacher may want

to collect the worksheets and score them. If Aiden gets at least 18

problems correct for 3 consecutive math sessions, then Aiden has

mastered that objective and can move onto another that will help

Aiden reach his overall, broad goal.

Another example of a goal for maladaptive behavior may

be: “Tanika will decrease out-of-seat behavior” (Alberto &

Troutman, 2009). The objective for Tanika may be: “In a 30-minute

period of science, Tanika will remain in her seat, unless given

permission by the teacher to leave, for five consecutive days” (Alberto & Troutman, 2009). For Tanika, the

teacher may collect frequency data, or tally the number of times Tanika leaves her seat in the 30-minute period.

The teacher may use a chart that segments the school day into 30-minute periods and provides space for the

teacher to make tallies.

Assessing whether a student is making gains, and also evaluating the effectiveness of your instruction

should be done throughout the day in many different ways. Through formative and summative assessments,

observations, checklists, work completed by the student, and information gathered from the classroom’s

educational assistants should help you measure your students’ progress. You should also reflect and find ways to

improve upon your instruction and the approaches you use to teach your specific classroom of students. You

want to make sure that the techniques you use during instruction are used because they reflect the learning

styles and needs of your students, and are not simply a technique that you are most comfortable with and

prefer.

Academic data can be collected less often than behavioral data. You want to provide the student with

time to learn the information before collecting data and making decisions. Behavioral data, data which is

collected on behaviors such as self-injurious behaviors, tantruming, or even social interactions, should be

collected frequently and sometimes daily.

Collecting data is meaningless, unless you analyze it. You may want to calculate percentages daily but

analyze the data you have acquired weekly. Analyzing data may involve graphing it to determine trends, or

discussing it with another educator or department head to better make sense of the data. Analyzing data will

help you make knowledgeable decisions about how to modify, improve or even terminate an instructional

approach or intervention. Analyzing data will also help inform you of whether or not a student has mastered his

or her objective and can move on to another.

Additional Information and Helpful Tips

The following portion will include additional information and some helpful tips that will guide you in

ensuring skills learned by your students are applied and thus generalized. There will also be additional

information and tear-outs that will help with writing objectives and collecting data based on the objectives of

each of your students.

Considerations when Generalizing Skills: (Alberto & Troutman, 2009)

Instruction – different directions

Materials – varied items, application of skills

Persons – family members and peers

Settings – classroom, specials, home, community

What to do When Your Students Aren’t Making Progress:

Evaluate your student’s performance on worksheets and other tasks to identify any areas of difficulties

Reflect on how you are presenting the information and what teaching approaches you are using

Reteach the misunderstood information or information that is difficult for the student in a one-to-one setting or in small groups

Provide the student with additional practice

Seek the help of other educators

Provide reinforcement or use methods to motivate the student during instruction

Consider other variables, such as environmental distractions, health and wellness, or sensory needs

Planning Instruction: (Heflin & Alaimo, 2007)

Identify valid educational goals

Identify and use effective strategies to teach

Evaluate the effectiveness of the instruction

Modify instruction based on data

Possible Instructional Approaches for Students with ASD:

Discrete Trial Training (DTT)

The Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH) Program

Cooperative Learning (CL)

Homogenous or Heterogeneous Small Groups

Dyads or Partners

One-to-One Teaching

Stations or Learning Centers

Independent Work

Peer-Tutoring

Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS)

Incidental Teaching

Project or Activity Based Teaching

Core Content Areas: (Heflin & Alaimo, 2007)

Reading

Spelling

Written Expression

Mathematics

Remember to enlist your educational assistants to help students in different groupings and instructional

approaches!

Planning to Generalize Skills:

Community Based Instructional (CBI) Trips o Library o Restaurants o Grocery Store

Artificially created situations that include: o Adults o Peers

Academic Modifications for the Inclusive Classroom: (Flynn, n.d.)

Adjust the number of problems a student must complete so students can better remain on task and do not feel overwhelmed

Allow additional time to complete assignments

Reteach skills or clarify information that students did not understand, and periodically return to learned skills

Accommodate any deficits, such as fine motor difficulties, by allowing the student to type up assignments

Allow students to use their AAC system and other appropriate forms of communication, such as Picture Exchange Communications System (PECS)

Provide students with additional help from an educational assistant or another peer, to help the student with taking notes or remaining on task

Provide any additional accommodations based on the student’s IEP

Make changes to the classroom environment to help the student

Provide students with choices

Motivate students by incorporating their interests

Other Considerations for the IEP and for Instruction:

(Volkmar & Weisner, 2009)

o Social Skills and Difficulties

Social skills teaching methods

Understanding social cues/emotions

Appropriate social responding, initiation

Teaching social routines

Explicit teaching regarding social problem solving o Emotional and Self-Organization Skills

Increasing awareness of feelings/emotions

Using appropriate strategies to deal with anxiety and problem situations o Communication and Language Skills

Using augmentative communication if appropriate

Increasing complexity of spoken/written communication

Increasing self-expressions (and self-advocacy)

Understanding social language (nonverbal cues, prosody, voice volume)

Conversational and pragmatic skills (starting and stopping a conversation, responding to cues, learning figurative/nonliteral language)

o Organizational Skills

Visual, written organizers (schedules/ lists/ color codes)

Working independently for longer periods

Management of materials ad tasks (including self-correction)

Learning when to ask for help

Keyboarding (as appropriate) and computer resources o Behavioral and Sensory Issues

Address specific behavior problems or sensory issues

Increase flexibility and ability to deal with transitions

Resources and Additional Information for Teachers:

20 Classroom Modifications for Students with Autism:

http://tcsps.sharpschool.net/UserFiles/Servers/Server_981069/File/Migrated%20Docume

nts/20_classrm_modifications_for_students_with_autism.pdf

Curriculum Planning for an Inclusive Classroom:

http://www.autismtoday.com/articles/Curriculum_Planning_for_an_Inclusive_Classroom%

20.htm

Data Collection Charts: http://www.cindysautisticsupport.com/data.html

The Importance of Generalization: http://drchris.teachtown.com/2009/06/18/the-

importance-of-generalization/

Individualized Educational Support Strategies for Students with Autism in Inclusive

Classroom Settings: http://www.sig.hawaii.edu/products/briefs/EPB_Autism.pdf

Instructional Management Tips for Teachers of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder

(ASD): http://www.casenex.com/casenex/cecReadings/instructionalManagementTips.pdf

National Autism Center – Educator’s Manual: http://www.nationalautismcenter.org/learning/practitioner.

National Standards Report - National Autism Center: www.nationalautismcenter.org/pdf/NAC%20Standards%20Report.pdf

Volkmar, F. R., & Wiesner, L. A. (2009). A practical guide to autism: What every parent, family member, and teacher needs to know. Wiley & Sons: New York.

Writing behavioral objectives: http://www.education.com/reference/article/behavioral-

objectives/

continued…

http://www.nationalautismcenter.org/pdf/NAC%20Standards%20Report.pdf

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References

Alberto, P.A. & Troutman, A.C. (2009). Applied behavior analysis for teachers (8th ed.). Upper Saddle

River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Dunlap, G., & Fox, L. (1999, October). Teaching students with autism. Retrieved September, 2012, from

Council for Exceptional Children website: http://www.cec.sped.org/AM/

Template.cfm?Section=Home&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=4185

Flynn, S. (n.d.). Inclusion strategies for students with autism spectrum disorders. Retrieved September,

2012, from Learn NC website: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/every-learner/6692

Guide to measures of student learning for administrators and teachers. (2012). Retrieved September,

2012, from Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website:


Heflin, L. J. & Alaimo, D. F. (2007) Students with autism spectrum disorders: Effective instructional

practices. Upper Saddle River: Pearson

Progress monitoring. (n.d.). Retrieved September, 2012, from Montgomery County Intermediate Unit

website: http://www.mciu.org/Divisions/SpecialEducation/EarlyInterventionOverview/

ProgressMonitoringTools/tabid/296/Default.aspx

Strategies to help students with autism. (n.d.). Retrieved September, 2012, from Council for

Exceptional Children website: http://www.cec.sped.org/AM/Template.cfm?

Section=Advanced_Search&template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=2424

Volkmar, F. R., & Wiesner, L. A. (2009). A practical guide to autism: What every parent, family member,

and teacher needs to know. Wiley & Sons: New York

Writing measurable and observable learner outcomes assessment of learning outcomes. (n.d.).

Retrieved September, 2012, from Wisconsin Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology

Association website: http://www.wisha.org/CE/

Writing%20Learning%20Outcomes%20and%20Assessment%20of.pdf

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Part 1. Scheduling - WordPress.com · Part 1. Scheduling Jennifer Lee ... (Dunlap & Fox, 1999) In the early years, ... The individualized education program (IEP)