4. The Numbers
1 in every 59 (as of 2018)
4 to 5 times more likely in boys
Research suggests environmental or genetic cause
25% of individuals with ASD are non-verbal
31% have an intellectual disability
The lifetime cost: $3.5-$5 million
Average yearly cost on a family $60,000
10. Characteristics of Autism
Deficits in Social-Emotional Reciprocity
Abnormal Social Approach
Failure of back and forth conversation
Total lack of initiation
11. Characteristics of Autism
Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for
social interaction
Poor verbal or non verbal skills
Abnormalities in eye contact and body language
Deficits in understanding and use of nonverbal
communication
Total lack of facial expressions or gestures
14. Theory of Mind
The notion that many individuals with ASD do not
understand that people have their own plans,
thoughts, points of view.
Many appear to have difficulty understanding
peoples’ beliefs, attitudes, and emotions.
15. Characteristics of Autism
Deficits in developing and maintaining
relationships, appropriate to developmental level
Unable to adjust behavior according to social contexts
Limited imaginative play or desire to make friends
In some cases no lack in interest in people in general
18. Characteristics of Autism
Stereotyped or repetitive speech, motor movements,
or use of objects
Echolalia
Hand Flapping
Spinning
19. Characteristics of Autism
Excessive adherence to routines, ritualized patterns of
verbal or nonverbal behavior, or excessive resistance
to change
Will exhibit a behavior in one place but not in another
Trouble with Transitions
28. “You don’t know what it feels like to be me, when you
can’t sit still because your legs feel like they are on fire
or it feels like a hundred ants are crawling up your
arms.”
-Carly Fleischmann
29. “Sensory sensitivities are very variable, among individuals
and within the same individual” –Temple Grandin”
39. Labels
“Do not get hung up on labels. Labels are useful for
obtaining services, to grant a child eligibility into
programs or for financial aid services. But the label
should never define the child, nor dictate what type of
program should be used with a child. Autism
Spectrum Disorders are varied and no two individuals
will manifest the same set of characteristics at the
same level of intensity.”
-Temple Grandin
Autism
40. Ilene Schwartz
“There is not a strategy that works for kids with Autism
that does not work for every child. What is different is
the intensity.”
56. Jasmine Lee O’Neil
“Autistic people are worth getting to know. They are
valuable just as they are. They can display innovative
thinking. Many times they use language in a delightful
fashion, such as the young man who referred to a hole
in his sock as a temporary loss of knitting. We
autistics all have our individual small quirks. These
are strong parts of our personalities. This is some of
what makes us who we are.”
57. Famous people with Autism
Daryl Hannah
Dan Aykroyd
Courtney Love
Albert Einstein
Susan Boyle
Temple Grandin
58. Temple Grandin
Adult with Autism who had adapted well
Due to hard work of parents and teachers
Communicates well on what it feels like to have
Autism
Sensory
Routines
Fears
Wrote “Thinking in Pictures”
60. Temple Grandin
“If a functional communication system has not been put in
place for a child, their only resource is behavior”
Difficult to grasp when we have difficulty reading the minds
of those with ASD.
“My emotions are all in the present. I can be angry but I
get over it quickly”
“Fear is the main emotion in Autism”
Socially (just even speaking)
Unpredictability
63. 2. Engage with Them
Don’t assume they understand all of what you say
Speak in short, clear, concise sentences. Use
specific language.
Ask clear, concise questions
Ask clarification questions to ensure
understanding
Use repetition
Give plenty of time to process
Use visual examples as needed.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
70. Changing your words
“Calm Down” “Sit in your seat, hands to self”
“You lost me” “I don’t understand your words”
“You crack me up” “You make me laugh”
And by the way…NEVER say “Use your words”
92. Autism Resource Team - Auburn
Date:
1st
period Homework
due
Yes No
Noise Scale
0-39% 40-79% 80-100%
On-Task Scale
0-39% 40-79% 80-100%
2nd
period
Homework
due
Yes No
Noise Scale
0-39% 40-79% 80-100%
On-Task Scale
0-39% 40-79% 80-100%
3rd
period Homework
due
Yes No
Noise Scale
0-39% 40-79% 80-100%
On-Task Scale
0-39% 40-79% 80-100%
4th
period Homework
due
Yes No
Noise Scale
0-39% 40-79% 80-100%
On-Task Scale
0-39% 40-79% 80-100%
5th
period Homework
due
Yes No
Noise Scale
0-39% 40-79% 80-100%
On-Task Scale
0-39% 40-79% 80-100%
6th
period Homework
due
Yes No
Noise Scale
0-39% 40-79% 80-100%
On-Task Scale
0-39% 40-79% 80-100%
93.
94.
95. Cheat Sheet for Supporting
Students with Autism
Make unpredictable events predictable
Make the vague clear
Make the uncomfortable tolerable
Make their effort worth it
Make their growth a priority
If you have more recent/relevant numbers, please put them in
“People speak to each other with their eyes but I don’t know what they are saying”
“I can look at you or I can listen to you, but I can’t do both.”
Both of these messages might come across the same to someone on the spectrum because the words are exactly the same.
I don’t pretend to be an expert in sensory processing, but this is how I like to think of it…..
Think of Sensory Processing like a series of nobs on a sound board. When each is aligned just perfectly, it creates an optimal output.
Within our bodies we have similar nobs, our seven sensory systems, and when they are all properly aligned we have an optimal output with our body. If just one is off, it can make for a very challenging day-for example if family of skunks recently had recently fumigated the carpet in this room, you would have a very hard time concentrating on this presentation. But that is not the case- in fact so often when our nobs are off we are able to readjust without really thinking about it. If we are cold, we put on a coat, if our skin is dry, we put on lotion, if something is too loud we cover our ears or step away. We often times are able to readjust to create that optimal output, and often do it without thinking much about it at all.
Some of our students on the autism spectrum are born with sensory systems that are very misaligned, and some of our students on the spectrum have not yet learned what it takes to realign them. All of this is what we might call a “personal event” for a student, one that we can not measure internally, but one that can cause behaviors outwardly. What is important to remember is perspective some students may experience in going through “sensory overload.”
So if your student is expressing one of these behaviors, it is ok to ask “What are they experiencing inwardly that would make this a better alternative? What are they trying to communicate here?”
An adult with a disability
A visual test done for people with and without ASD. The white pluses are where people without ASD looked first. The black plusses are where people with ASD looked first. Stimulus-Overselectivity is when an individual sees the small details first long before they see the main picture or the big picture.
Some joke little red riding hood may have had a bit of autism. “Why Grandma, what big teeth you have, what big eyes you have…….” seeing the detail but missing the big picture that this is not grandma.
Think about what this means for a student sitting even in the front row of a classroom. The teacher may call on the student to “Give Me Five”
But “Give Me Five” is one detail of a very visually busy environment
While the teacher may want them cuing on this
The student may instead be fixated on the purple poster
Which may call for a need to de-clutter the white board or put essential visual cues in closer visual proximity to the student’s desk or just on their desk.
What we often forget is that students with Autism don’t struggle with one aspect of the disability at a time, they deal with all of it at the same time. So we wouldn’t be doing any justice for your learning if we did not provide you with the full autism experience.
Partner Up
When I say go, ask each other “How was your weekend?” Take turns responding, but no one can use the letter T in any of their words. Go.
Come back together. How did that feel? This is what it is like for our students who know what they want to say, but can’t find the words to say it fluently.
We are going to do this again, but this time everyone has to stand up. We are now going to replicate stimulus overselectivity on top of the communication challenge. Everyone needs to take one hand and make a small telescope out of it and put in on one eye, looking at your partner through it. With your other hand you need to cover your other eye. You will have the same conversation about how was your weekend without using the letter T. Go.
Come back together. Good news: there is more. If you don’t feel safe doing this final layer, please don’t, we don’t want people getting hurt. But if you are willing to brave the full ASD experience, do this. Stand up have the same telescoped conversation about how was your weekend without using the letter T, but this time before you start you need to spin in a circle three times and then while talking to help simulate self regulation you will need to rock back and forth while talking.
That is the autism experience!
We shouldn’t think about Autism too different than ourselves, we often display some of the symptoms ourselves. For example……
How often do you see this or experience this in public. People are trying to have a genuine conversation and someone snaps their phone out and starts playing with it. Not thinking how others are thinking!
Here is Patrick. For years he worked in a district supporting 22 schools, and for years he would walk into schools and get called Ben. Ben was also a special education administrator with a similar job who also went to the 22 schools, but the hard part for people was the look.
Because this is Ben. Stimulus Overselectivty- Cuting in on the wrong details. People picked up on our chrome domes before they looked at the bigger picture of who we were.
Many years ago Patrick worked as a seating host for the Seattle Mariners, and many times little kids would come up and ask him, “Hey, are you Jay Buener?” They would ask this because…….
This is Jay Buener. Stimlus Overselectivity. The important thing to remember, this can happen to all of us and……
Bald is beautiful, don’t you forget.
How mad are we when we have a plan of when we are going to leave to plan to drive somewhere on a certain timeline and we hop on the free way and WHAM! Unexpected rush hour! This was not a part of our schedule/routine!
Anyone here ever hear a song on their drive into work and it is stuck in your head all day?
Don’t Stop Believing by Journey?
Can’t Stop the Feelin’ by JT?
Backstreet Boys?
WHAM! Delayed Echolalia
How nervous do we get moving one big life event to another? Getting engaged, buying a home, having an empty nest, retirement? We all experience that anxiety. Some on the spectrum experience this anxiety on a day to day basis though, on small transitions, like going from recess to reading, from the school bus to the school, or from lunch to science.
Is there anybody who enjoys the sound of nails on a chalkboard? We all have our sensory challenges that we experience from time to time.
Adult with ASD
Patrick with Temple- as great as she is, she still has autism. So even though she understood that at some point Patrick wanted to document he was standing next to her, she saw no reason to smile and no reason to come to the other side of the table. There is no cure for autism, but there is certainly a lot that can be done that can help those on the spectrum better adapt to the world around them.
Another perspective of what it feels like for a person on the spectrum
Be exact with your words. Otherwise when you say something like “Happy Camper” they may think this….
When you say carpool, they may think this…
When you say brainstorm……
When you say the cat is out of the bag….
When you say break a leg……
When you say it is raining cats and dogs……
Be specific!
-what words might not go so well?
MindCraft Token Board
Rating the student’s classroom performance on a scale from their least favorite college team to their favorite…
Response Cost Football Game. When the student score a touchdown, they get a prize
Remember why you do what you do and why you should go the distance not just for one kid with one song, but for every kid that you support.