Download Supporting ASD Students

SUPPORTING ASD
STUDENTS
CHALLENGING BEHAVIORS
AUTISM DEFINITION
• A developmental disability significantly affecting
verbal or nonverbal communication and social
interaction, general evident before age 3, which
adversely affects a child’s educational performance.
• Characteristics:
• - engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped
movements
• - resistance to environmental change or change in
daily routines
• - unusal response to sensory experiences.
CRITERIA FOR INITIAL
DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY
• Does this person have Autism or a PDD? If you don’t
have a diagnosis this might not relate.
• Evaluation includes a review of:
• Medical records
• Observation of the child’s behavior in multiple
environments
• In depth social history
• The following behaviors are documented
•
- Disturbances of speech, language cognitive, and
verbal communication. Speech may be absent or lack
communicative intent. There is a deficit in the capacity
to use language for social communication, both
receptively and expressively
CRITERIA CONT..
• Disturbance of the capacity to relate appropriately
to people, events or objects
• Deficit in the capacity to form relationships with
people. The capacity to use objects in an age
appropriate or functional manner may be absent,
arrested or delayed.
• The child may seek consistency in environmental
events to the point of exhibiting rigidity in routines.
CRITERIA CONT…
• The condition adversely affects the child’s
educational performance
• The Autism is not a result of an emotional disability
as defined in this document.
• The degrees and severity will vary with all individuals
with Autism.
CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR IS A FORM
OF COMMUNICATION
WHAT IS THE CHILD SAYING?
• Many behaviors observed in a person with impaired
ability to express himself, must be interpreted as
sincere attempts to communicate by a person who
may have no other means to do so.
Repa & Walker, 1983
• Because of frustration with communication, it is
more common among persons lacking verbal
abilities to display physical aggression, attention
seeking behaviors and self-injurious behavior
Talkington, 1971
OTHER BEHAVIORS THAT THE
CHILD MAY EXHIBIT
• Disturbance of developmental rates and
sequences
• The child may exhibit delays, arrests or
regressions in physical, social or learning skills
• Areas of precocious skill development may
also be present, while other skills may develop
at a normal rate or extremely depressed rates
• The order of acquisition doesn’t follow normal
patterns
OTHER BEHAVIORS THAT THE CHILD
MAY EXHIBIT…CONTINUED
• Disturbances of responses to stimuli
• The child’s behavior may range from being hyperactive to
being unresponsive to people and objects in their
• environment and can alternate between these two states
over periods ranging from hours to months.
• Disturbances may be apparent in auditory, visual,
olfactory, gustatory, tactile and kinesthetic responses.
• The child may respond to stimulation inappropriately and
in repetitive or non-meaningful ways.
WHAT BEHAVIORS
ARE YOU WORKING WITH?
• According to research synthesis examining 37 children on the
Autism Spectrum, the most common behaviors targeted for
interventions are tantrums (76%), aggression (59%), stimmingrepetitive movements or speech (14%), and self-injurious (11%),
with some individuals displaying more than one type of
problem behavior (Homer et al., 2002)
• Behaviors often lead to crisis situations
• Post crisis intervention is often difficult for problem solving for
the same reason it occurred:
•
•
•
•
Student’s lack of ability to communicate effectively
Poor social skills
Sensory related issues
Poor ability to generalize learned skills to all settings
STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS
ESCALATING BEHAVIORS
•
•
•
•
•
Premack
Verbal Challenge
Positive reinforcer
Use your body to “move” student vs. grabbing
Directive followed by two choices
• Verbal
• Written
• You choose, or I choose….5,4,3,2,1
• Consequence….make sure you can do what you
say
• Verbal/ Visual schedule
STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS
ESCALATING BEHAVIORS
•
•
•
•
Ignore undesired behaviors
Parallel talk: ignore student and talk with another adult
Activity: book, draw, candy, talk about what he will miss…
Sensory
• Deep Pressure
• Comforting item (fidget)
• Breathing
•
•
•
•
Name the student’s emotion
Write directive on paper, stop talking, point
Use a card – “I am frustrated” “ I need a break”
Visual- “I feel_________because_________
• I Feel: Happy, surprised, angry (Circle one)
GIVING DIRECTIVES
1.) Limit verbalizations
• Model what you want
• Use few words, calm quiet voice
“Now Tommy, you know where you are supposed to be, Get
over there, and sit on your bottom!”
“Sit in your chair”
“Tommy! What are you supposed to be doing? You are driving
me crazy today! You know that isn’t safe.”
“Tommy, put the scissors down. Color your picture.”
“Tommy, get off that computer. What are you doing over there
when you know you are supposed to be doing your work?”
“Tommy, work first, then computer.”
TELL THEM WHAT TO DO
INSTEAD OF WHAT NOT TO DO
• Sarcasm doesn’t give a clear directive
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Stop running… Sit down
Quit picking your nose…blow your nose with a tissue
Quit humming!
Knock it off!
Helloooo, earth to Jeffrey
What are you supposed to be doing??
Am I your mother?
VISUAL SCHEDULE
2.) Refer to the schedule often to teach the use of it.
Tommy, look at your schedule. Now you ____________.
What is your schedule telling you to do?
• Parents frequently believe that a student will learn to follow
directives if they use a louder voice, explanations, and
exaggerated body language. It is better to give directives
that the student clearly understands. As language skills
increase, and the body language is taught, the student will
improve understanding more complex directives. When
correcting behaviors it is always best to use few words,
regardless of the age or skill level.
IGNORE UNDESIRED BEHAVIORS
THE FINE ART OF ACTIVE IGNORING
• Not looking at or giving attention to the person
exhibiting the undesired behaviors
•
•
•
•
Not reacting
Not touching
Not talking
Not even non-verbals
•
•
•
•
Raised eyebrows or glare
Frown
Hands on hips
Pointing
NEGATIVE ATTENTION
CAN BE REINFORCING
Telltale signs:
• The sideways glance to see who’s looking
• The exaggerated body language
• The overly projected tone of voice
Students with self esteem issues, low confidence, and
poor achievers, may crave attention in any form
Giving them negative attention will increase the
negative behavior.
How can you insure yourself against
giving negative attention?
WHEN A CHILD CAN’T READ WE TEACH HIM HOW__.
WHEN A CHILD CAN’T BEHAVE WE _______ HIM.
• The problem with (punishment) is that although
revoking privileges or spanking in order to stop a
behavior may temporarily cause the behavior to
cease (Nuzzolo-Gomez et al.,2002) the punishment
fails to address the cause of the behavior or teach
a more appropriate means of communicating a
need.
• Such reliance on negative consequences to gain
control of the child bypasses the fundamental issue
of, “Why is she hitting and how can we address
those concerns?” (Durand, 1993)
PARAPROFESSIONAL ROLE IN
FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT
• Functional assessment process:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Identify the behavior that needs to change
Collecting direct observation data on the behavior
Develop a hypothesis about the reason for the behavior
Develop an intervention to shape the behavior (shaping)
Evaluating the effectiveness of the behavior
Having the patience to see how the behavior changes and
being open to what the data indicates about this or new
behaviors (Montgomery & Montgomery, 2004)
We look at what the child is trying to “say” with the behavior
and teach them a better way to communicate it.
BEHAVIOR FUNCTIONS FOR ASD KIDS
• Social: attention, escape from social pressure, sense of
control, sanctuary
• Communicative: desire to communicate with others
• Sensory: escape from sensory overload, deep pressure,
oral fixation
• Routines: need for predictability, sameness
• Receptive: Clear explanations, visual or argumentative
communication
• Cognitive: (thinking) promoting, visual communication,
directed attention to detail
(Mesibov, 2004)
RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
1.) Name the behavior
2.) What is the function?
3.) Define a replacement behavior?
LOOKING FOR BEHAVIOR PATTERNS
RECIPE FOR SUCCESS HANDOUT
• When
antecedent occurs,
Amy will
behavior
in order
to function of the behavior. The is
most likely to occur if
setting/event.
SHAPING THE DESIRED BEHAVIOR
• Teacher lists steps to shape desired behavior
Student screams, “I hate math! I’m not doing it!”
SHAPING THE DESIRE BEHAVIOR
WHAT DOES THE PARA DO?
Name the behavior
Help the teacher gather baseline data
Provide input into the behavior assessment
Make sure you understand the “shaping behavior”
Reinforce the approximations
Ignore peripheral behaviors
Implement the direct teaching information to the
classroom
• Gather data assessing the strategies
• Relate classroom teacher concerns to SSD teacher.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
FOLLOW UP
• I will make myself available as much as I can to
attend meetings, help problem solve behavior and
if need be observe or push into a class sporadically.
Please let me know if you have any follow up questions.
Chris Preston
ext. 57672