Introduction
Since 1975 education has moved into another area as a result of the passage “Education for All Handicapped Children Act” (renamed “Individuals with Disabilities Education Act” in 1990), which implied teaching the students with special educational needs in mainstream schools (Lombardi & Butera, 1998). Although many schools have moved into the inclusive education, teaching students with special educational needs still remains a challenge for teachers and schools. The current paper will contribute to the existent literature regarding the inclusive education, by providing more information about the autistic students in an inclusive education. This paper discusses about the autistic children, as students with special educational needs because of their disabilities and of their different behaviors. The paper will provide a brief presentation of the autistic child and the challenges of educating and accommodating such a student, as well as effective educational approaches and instructional strategies meant to reduce autistic student’s weaknesses areas.
Supporting Paragraphs
Autistic Student
Tommy is a 9 years old student, in 3rd grade with identified autistic disabilities. Tommy seems shy, because he does not interact with other children, but in fact he feels more comfortable spending time on his own, following his regular routine, engaging in stereotyped activities. He is drawing circles on his notebook, while humming peacefully and he lines up his colored pencils in a certain order, always the same. Tommy does not speak much and overall he seems to have a passive behavior. On the other hand, he becomes distracted and very tensed when he is pulled out of his routine and distressed when he is in the center of the classroom’s attention. He shows little interest in the humanistic classes, but he has good mathematic abilities and he also seems to grow an interest in drawing, although it still must be more encouraged and sustained, through educators’ involvement. While he scores A and B+ in mathematics and drawing, he has D in literature and he does not show much interest in sport activities either.
The school where Tommy learns provides him with special designed instruction. There is a specialized teacher who assists the regular class teachers in designing instruction for Tommy and other children who have special educational needs, creating a working methodology for them and helping the regular educators to deliver the instructions to address the various needs of Tommy and of other students who have special learning needs (Bergson, Davidson, Harmon & Gill, 2008).
Because Tommy has problems in communicating, expressing himself, or understanding what people want to communicate through their body language (gestures, mimic, etc.), the school also provides him a speech and language therapist, helping him to be more receptive and more expressive (Koegel, Matos – Fredeen, Lang & Koegel, 2011). Likewise, there is also a specialized counselor and a physical therapist who observe the student and monitor the child’s behavior and how he responds to different social stimuli or motoric treatments. Moreover, because of his inability to accommodate in social interactions, Tommy has problems in going home with the bus, because the agitation and children teasing him causes him anxiety. This is why, school also provides transportation professionals for Tommy and other students with special educational needs (“Evidence – Based Practice”, 2011).
For accommodating the autistic children into the inclusive education, schools should also provide the regular students and their parents with literature and research for understanding what is autism or other disabilities that require special educational and how can they contribute to integrating children with various disabilities, including autism, among them (Bergeson et al., 2008).
Effective Educational Approaches for Teaching Students with Autism
Specialist educators promote specific educational approaches for children with special educational needs. As such, in dealing with autism, special educators recommend instructional approaches, task centered, which imply breaking the tasks in subtasks and approaching each of them gradually, or learning the students in trials or applying mnemonic approach (“Teaching Students with Autism”, 2005).
The visual approach is indicated to be another effective educational method for teaching students with autism. As such, research indicate that the autistic children have strong visual skills and this is a strength that should be used for developing their learning abilities. Activity schedules or calendars and other organizational methods are considered appropriate for individual students (Bergeson et al. 2008).
Tommy, as other autistic children, shows difficulties when it comes to abstract thinking, but he has good concrete thinking abilities, and he also responds positive to visual teaching methods. This is why, pictographic materials can represent an effective approach for leaning students to communicate, to develop self – control and to improve their abstract thinking (“Teaching Students with Autism”, 2011).
Instructional Strategies
Mnemonic or paraphrasing are considered efficient learning strategies, that teach students with special educational needs (including autism) how to improve their learning skills, by using specific memorizing techniques, which serve as guidelines that they follow when critical thinking or recalling information are required.
Scholars note that using acronym mnemonic strategies are very efficient tools for teachers, essential for teachers dealing with students with special educational needs (Lombardi & Butera, 1998). Mnemonic is considered systematic procedure used for strengthening the thinking competencies and the memory of individuals (Almeida, 2008). Using acronyms for prompting them what they need to do is the key to mnemonic educational strategy. The autistic children who learn any mnemonic strategy must be taught how to use it in different situations and the teachers’ task is to name the specific mnemonic strategy that they want the students with special educational needs to apply in various cases.
As such, by uttering PIRATES, the autistic children should automatically apply the strategy for which this acronym stands: “Prepare to succeed; Inspect the instructions; Read, remember and reduce each test question; Answer or abandon each question; Turn back when you get to the end of the test; Estimate answers on questions you did not answer; and Survey the entire test” (Lombardi & Butera, 19, p. 284).
Other mnemonic strategies are utilized for developing individualized thinking strategies, as the TACTIC strategy (Target a setting demand. Arrive at strategy steps. Create a remembering system. Translate for learning. Integrate with teaching steps and Continue development through use” (Lombardi & Butera, 1998, p. 286)) or for developing the students’ problem – solving abilities, such as SLANT (“Sit up. Learn forward. Activate your thinking. Name key information ad track the talker” (Lombardi & Butera, 1998, p. 285)).
Therefore, the acronym mnemonic strategies guide the autistic students on what strategy they should follow in a given situation. Just like pressing on a button, they associate the acronym they are prompted about with the specific thinking steps required by the given strategy and they approach the schools’ exercises that they are required to resolve.
Paraphrasing is another instructional strategy that has proven efficient educational environments, which implies reading a text and detailing the main ideas of the text, using students’ own words. Almeida finds that students’ learning improves when applying acronym mnemonics and paraphrasing combined, in a gaming environment (2008).
Conclusion
This paper discussed about the educational needs of children with autism. It investigated the case of a 9 years old autistic child, Tommy and the services that his school uses for responding or accommodating his needs. The current paper is important because it addresses effective educational approaches and learning strategies meant to minimize the weaknesses and improve the skills of autistic students.
References
Almeida, L., C. (2008) “The effects of different learning strategies to facilitate achievement of different educational objectives”. ProQuest Professional Education. Vol. 52, no. 3, pp 32 – 37.
Bergeson, T., Davidson, C., Harmon, B. & Gill, D., H. (2008) The educational aspects of autism spectrum disorders. Special Education, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction: Olympia.
Evidence – based practice and autism in the schools. (2011) National Autism Center: Massachusetts.
Koegel, L., Matos – Fredeen, R., Lang, R. & Koegel, R. (2011) “Interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders in inclusive school settings” Cognitive Behavioral Practice. Elsevier. doi:10.1016/j.cbpra.2010.11.003.
Lombardi, T. & Butera, G. (1998) “Mnemonics: strengthening thinking skills of students with special needs”. ProQuest Professional Education. Vol. 71, no. 5, pp. 284 – 286.
Teaching students with autism spectrum disorders (2005). New Brunswick Department of Education: Fredericton.
