Title: Module 7: The Hidden Curriculum for Students with ASD
1Module 7 The Hidden Curriculum for Students with
ASD
2Module Overview
- What does the hidden curriculum mean?
- Hidden curriculum items
- Knowing what to teach
- Strategies for teaching the hidden curriculum
3What Does the Hidden Curriculum Mean?
- The hidden curriculum refers to the set of rules
or guidelines that are often not directly taught
but are assumed to be known (Hemmings, 2000) - For the most part, typically developing students
learn these social rules incidentally - If these rules or guidelines are not followed, it
can negatively impact a students social
interactions, school performance, and sometimes
safety (Myles, Trautman, Schelvan, 2004) - Students with ASD often have difficulty
understanding the hidden curriculum (Myles
Simpson, 2001) and require explicit instruction
for many of the hidden rules across school, home,
and community contexts.
4Hidden Curriculum Items
- It is not possible to provide a comprehensive
list of hidden curriculum items because there are
just too many. - The next slide lists some examples of hidden
curriculum items just to give you an idea of some
of the things that students with ASD dont always
learn incidentally
5Examples of Hidden Curriculum Items at School
(Myles, Trautman, Shelvan, 2004)
- Bathroom issues (ex. Quietly telling the teacher
that you need to use the bathroom instead of
shouting it out) - Locker room rules (ex. Dont stare at people who
are taking showers) - Recess and P.E. rules (ex. If throwing a ball to
someone, first call that persons name and wait
until he/she looks at you) - Lockers and the hallway (ex. Usually if you get
bumped into by someone, it is an accident) - Cafeteria (ex. Avoid bringing tuna fish to school
because it smells and other kids might not want
to sit next to you) - Assignments (ex. It is inappropriate to comment
on the quality of another students work) - Talking to your teacher (ex. Always use a polite
voice)
6Knowing what to teach
- Because all students with ASD are different when
it comes to which hidden curriculum rules they
understand and which ones they dont, you cannot
simply go down a list of items and begin teaching
each hidden curriculum item you can think of. - Instead, it is best to assess each child
individually to see where they are breaking
down. - For example, if you notice a student is often
picking her nose where everyone can see her, you
will want to teach her the hidden curriculum for
nose picking (really).
7Strategies for Teaching the Hidden Curriculum
8Safe Person (Myles, Trautman, Shelvan, 2004)
- It is important to identify a person who the
student feels comfortable discussing hidden
curriculum issues with. - This person should
- Respect the student
- Be able to listen without interrupting or judging
- Be able to take the perspective of the student
- Be able to problem solve without engaging in a
power struggle
9Social Autopsies (Rick Lavoie,
http//www.ricklavoie.com/competart.html )
- Social autopsies entail helping students analyze
social situations to figure out what went wrong
so they know what to do the next time they are in
a similar situation - The social autopsy should be done as close to the
time that the social error occurred as possible. - The teacher asks the student questions such as,
What happened?, Who was hurt? Why was that person
hurt? What could you have done differently? What
will you do next time? - Social autopsies should always be implemented in
a positive, supportive manner
10Steps of Teaching Social Rules(Bellini, 2008)
- Scott Bellini discusses the following steps for
teaching rules - Provide a clear description of the concept
- Include relevant contextual information
- Use multiple exemplars
- Make connections to the childs prior knowledge
- Include hands-on demonstrations and modeling
11Other Strategies
- The strategies discussed in Module 4 to teach
social skills are also helpful when teaching
hidden curriculum items. These include - Direct instruction
- Social stories
- Power cards
- Comic strip conversations
- The Incredible 5-Point Scale
- Video modeling
- Thought bubbles
12Journal Article
- Read the following journal article to learn more
about teaching the hidden curriculum - Myles, B. S., Simpson, R. L. (2001).
Understanding the hidden curriculum an essential
social skill for children and youth with Asperger
syndrome. Intervention in School and Clinic,
36(5), 279-286.
13Module 7 Activity
- Conduct an informal assessment on a student with
ASD to determine some hidden curriculum items
that student may not understand. - Provide a list of three hidden curriculum items
that you will teach the student and describe
which strategies you will use to teach each one.
Be specific in your explanation. For example,
instead of saying, I will use social stories,
include the actual social story you created and
describe how you will use it to teach the student
the hidden curriculum rule.
14References
- Bellini, S. (2008). Building social
relationships A systematic approach to teaching
social interaction skills to children and
adolescents with autism spectrum disorders and
other social difficulties. Shawnee Mission, KS
Autism Asperger Publishing. - Hemmings, A. (2000). The hidden curriculum
corridor. High School Journal, 83(2), 1-10. - Myles, B. S., Simpson, R. L. (2001).
Understanding the hidden curriculum an essential
social skill for children and youth with Asperger
syndrome. Intervention in School and Clinic,
36(5), 279-286. - Myles, B. S., Trautman, M. L., Schelvan, R. L.
(2004). The hidden curriculum Practical
solutions for understanding unstated rules in
social situations. Shawnee Mission, KS Autism
Asperger Publishing.