Autism

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Autism

• Presented by Kevin Olshefski Dave Morgan
• April 10, 2007

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What is Autism?

• Autism is a developmental disability that
  significantly affects a students verbal and
  nonverbal communication, social interaction, and
  educational performance.
• It is generally evident before a child reaches
  the age of 3, but in some cases autism can be
  diagnosed as early as 18 months. and is manifest
  when a child engages in
• Repetitive activities
• Stereotyped movements
• Resists environmental change
• Changes in daily routines
• Displays unusual movements
• Resists environmental change or changes in daily
  routines
• Displays unusual respones to sensory experiences.

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What is Autism continued

• Not until the middle of the twentieth century was
  there a name for a disorder that now appears to
  affect an estimated 3.4 every 1,000 children ages
  3-10.
• Autism is a disorder that causes disruption in
  families and unfulfilled lives for many children.
• Autism is a severe form of a broader group of
  disorders referred to as pervasive developmental
  disorders.
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
  Disorders of the APA states that there are five
  discrete disorders that have their onset in
  childhood.
• Autistic disorder
• Retts disorder
• Childhood disintegrative disorder
• Aspergers disorder
• Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise
  specified.
• Educators often use the term Autism spectrum
  disorder when referring to some or all of these 5
  disorders.

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Autism Characteristics

• Autism has seven distinct characteristics
• Atypical language development
• Atypical social development
• Repetitive behavior
• Problem behavior
• The need for environmental predictability
• Sensory and movement disorders
• Differences in intellectual functioning

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Atypical language

• Autistic children have wide range of language
  ability. From some there is no verbal
  communication and for others they have a complex
  communication skills.
• They have a number of language impairments. Two
  of the more common ones are.
• Delayed language
• Focus attention on one topic only.
• Limit a communication topic to fewer than a
  couple of interactions.
• Use limited gestures to supplement verbal skills.
• Reverse pronouns (example A student looks as his
  mother and says, You want have lunch now,
  meaning that they, not the parent, wants to eat
  now.)
• Look away from the speaker rather than maintain
  eye contact.

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Atypical language continued

• Echolalia Which is a form of communication n
  which a student echoes other peoples language by
  constantly repeating a portion of what he or she
  hears.
• This type of communication tends to happen with
  almost all young children who are beginning to
  talk, whether you have autism or not, but it
  usually disappears around the age of 3. In the
  case of autistic children they maintain echolalia
  throughout their lives.
• Echolalia can be immediate or delayed
• Immediate The child may repeat what they have
  just heard because they are unaware of an
  appropriate response.
• Delayed Includes verbal repetitions that a
  student has previously heard during periods of
  time ranging from a few minutes to many years ago.

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Atypical social development

• APA have four criteria for diagnosing atypical
  social development.
• Impaired use of nonverbal behavior.
• Lack of peer relationships.
• Failure to spontaneously share enjoyment,
  interests, and achievements with others.
• Lack of reciprocity
• The theory of mind is just one explanation for
  delayed social development.
• People with autism do not understand that their
  own beliefs, desires, and intentions may differ
  from those of others.
• They have difficulty comprehending others
  feelings, preferences, and emotions even when
  other people directly say what they are feeling.

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Repetitve behavior

• Involves obsessions, tics, and perseveration.
• Obsessions Are persistent thoughts, impulses, or
  images of a repetitive nature that create
  anxiety.
• Tics Are involuntary, rapid movements that
  occurs without warning.
• Perseveration Includes verbalizations or
  behaviors that are repeated to an inappropriate
  extent.
• Repetitive acts involve repeated movements as
  well as repeated verbalization.
• Rocking back and forth, twirling objects, and/or
  waving fingers in front of their face.

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Problem Behavior

• Self-injurious, Aggression, tantrums, and
  property destruction.
• Self-injurious
• Head banging, biting, or scratching. These
  behaviors often persist into adulthood. They may
  also permanently injure themselves sometimes the
  self-injurious behavior may be life threatening.
• Pica, meaning eating non edible items.
• Aggression
• Similar to self-injurious behaviors, but instead
  the behavior is directed toward others.

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The need for environmental predictability

• Predictability and structure are important
  sources of security for many with autism.
• When their environment is disturbed they
  experience a high level of anxiety.
• Maintain a routine with the child
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Sensory and movenment Disorder

• Between 42 and 88
• Under or over responsiveness to sensory stimuli.

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Intellectual functioning

• Autism occurs in children with all levels of
  intelligence, ranging from students who are
  gifted to those who have mental retardation.
• 64 to 70 percent of children with autism also
  have mental retardation.
• Savant syndrome is unusual condition in which
  individuals display extraordinary abilites.
• http//www.sarahhatter.com/things/images/rain_man_
  219559.jpg

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Determining the Causes and Presence of Autism

• Caused by brain or biochemical dysfunction that
  occurs before, during or after birth.
• Many children receive the initial diagnosis of
  autism from an interdisciplinary evaluation team.
• Autistic children are given some of the same test
  given to students with mental retardation and
  students with multiple disabilities.
• Autism Diagnostic Interview
• Takes about 1 and ½ hours and focuses on three
  main areas. Social interaction, Communication and
  Language, and repetitive and stereotyped
  behaviors. Which represent 6 factors, spoken
  Language, social intent, compulsions,
  developmental milestones, savant skills, and
  sensory aversion.

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Classroom Accommodations

• Repetition of instruction
• Rephrasing questions
• Redirections to activities
• Modeling of tasks
• Reinforcement
• Visual cues to modify behaviors and for
  transition
• Visual learning strategies
• Sensory input with support from his aide.
• Assignments broken down to smaller tasks
• To view more please see handout.

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Instructional Strategies

• Early Childhood students
• Applied behavior analytic techniques,
• Teaching in natural environment such a childs
  home or health care center.
• Communication, sensory processing, motor
  planning, and shared affect with caregivers and
  peers.
• Elementary and Middle school students
• Positive behavior support
• Universal support
• Group support
• Individual support

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Instructional Strategies

• Secondary and Transition students
• Applied behavior analysis, uses the principles of
  operant psychology to develop techniques that
  reduce problem behavior or increase positive
  behavior.
• Discrete Trial training, three termed plan
• Discriminative stimulus, specific event or
  environment condition that elicits the desired
  response.
• Response, the behavior the student performs when
  discriminative stimulus is presented.
• Reinforcing stimulus, possibility that the
  response will be performed again.