Parent Sharing Group

Federal and state laws require that educational programs for individuals with special needs including autism be designed to meet the unique needs of each student. Educational approaches are not one size fits all. What works for one child with ASD may have little of no impact on another.

The key to designing an appropriate program for an individual with ASD is to assess the individual’s current skill levels, identify current and future needs, and design a comprehensive intervention program to support skill acquisition using a variety of strategies that are considered best practices for individuals with ASD. Often the program includes techniques from a variety of educational approaches, various instructional strategies, and treatment methods. The following are examples of educational approaches for individuals on the spectrum.

• TEACCH – or Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children was developed at the University of North Carolina in the 1970’s. TEACCH is the first educational approach to be adopted by an entire state (NC). It focuses on maintenance of a highly structure learning environment and the use of schedules and other visual supports to assist the child to understand expectations and to function within the classroom.
• Floor Time – developed by Dr, Stanley Greenspan this approach focuses on the development of interaction skills through play. The approach is similar to play therapy in that it emphasizes the emotional development of the child within the context of play situations. Individuals who use Floor Time techniques when working with children on the spectrum follow the child’s lead and build on the child’s current skill levels.
• ABA – Applied Behavior Analysis has its root in the early work of B. F. Skinner who experimented with animals to demonstrate that rewards would increase the occurrence of behaviors. While ABA is actually a theory of behavior, not an educational technique, the acronym is frequently used to describe a treatment approach for ASD. Sometimes ABA is also referred to as Lovaas therapy or discrete trial training. Whether the technique is called ABA, Lovaas, or discrete trial training, the approach relies on the “stimulus, response, consequence” sequence for teaching skills to learners on the spectrum.
• Miller Method – was created in Boston during the 1990’s by Arnold Miller, Ph.D. and his wife Eileen Eller-Miller, M. A., CCC-SLP. The method is a cognitive-developmental systems approach for children on the autism spectrum. The Miller Method addresses body organization, social interaction, communication, and representation issues in both clinical and classroom settings.
• PECS – the Picture Exchange Communication System was developed in Delaware to facilitate the acquisition of communication skills in child and adults with ASD. Individuals are taught to exchange pictures of items or activities to gain assess to the something that they want or need.
• Social Stories – were developed by Carol Gray in the early 1990’s. This technique uses stories specifically written to teach social skills to individuals with ASD. Each story is designed to meet the unique needs of the learner and includes specific types of sentences to describe situations, teach emotions related to a situation, and teach appropriate responding.What Educational Methods are Effective for ASD?

Individuals with ASD typically require instructional strategies specifically designed to meet his/her unique needs. The following strategies are key components of programs for individuals with ASD. These strategies are necessary to facilitate skill acquisition by many learners on the spectrum. Strategies are effective across home, school, work, and community settings.

* Visual Supports ? The vast majority of individuals on the spectrum are visual learners (i.e.- they learn what they see not what they hear). However, most instructional information is auditory in nature. To help bridge that educational gap, most learners with ASD require visual supports. The following are examples of visual supports that are effective with child and adults with ASD.

Picture/word schedules
Picture/word cues
Picture/word calendars
Activity sequences
Visual timers
Graphic organizers
Information maps
Note taking outlines
Written directions
Communication boards

Biomedical interventions are frequently part of a comprehensive treatment program for individuals with ASD. Although there currently is not a cure for ASD, medical treatments are often indicated.

Although ASD is not caused by diet, there have been reports of some success in controlling certain symptoms using dietary interventions.

* Gluten / Casein Free Diet ? some individuals with ASD experience limited tolerance or allergies to certain foods especially the proteins gluten and casein, which are found in wheat, rye, oat, and dairy products. Parents and physicians have reported significant behavioral changes when these products were eliminated from the diets of allergy prone individuals on the spectrum. Eliminating gluten and casein from a diet can be challenging, often requiring the elimination of all prepared foods and the careful preparation of wheat, rye, oat, and dairy free meals and snacks. In addition, the diet must be strictly maintained for long-term effectiveness. However, some parents find that the benefits (i.e. ? behavioral changes) far outweigh the extra time and effort that it takes to maintain the diet. Continued research regarding allergies and ASD is still needed.

* Anti-Yeast Therapy ? some individuals with ASD appear to experience excessive yeast accumulations in their digestive systems. Some parents and physician have reported significant behavioral changes in individuals with ASD following anti-yeast therapy. The therapy includes the administration of probiotics such as nystatin and careful elimination of all fermented foods from the diet. Fermented foods that must be eliminated include in barley malt, vinegar, chocolate, pickles, soy sauce, beer, and aged cheeses.

* Sensory Integration Therapy (SI) - Individuals with ASD frequently have significant sensory challenges ? hypo- or hype- sensitivity to sound, touch, smells, taste, and visuals. In addition, they may experience difficulties with integrating sensory systems. SI can be a very effective intervention to remediate sensory issues. SI includes an assessment by a person training in SI techniques, usually an occupational therapist (OT). Following assessment, the OT typically develops an SI plan to be implemented daily by individuals who work directly with the child/adult with ASD. Appropriate implementation of a SI plan or sensory diet can be a critical component in the overall program for individuals on the spectrum.

* Occupational Therapy (OT) ? may play a critical role in programming for individuals with ASD. Often individuals on the spectrum have poor fine motor and/or daily living skills. Occupational therapists can assess both these areas of skill development and plan appropriate OT interventions to improve fine motor and/or daily living skills.

* Auditory Integration Therapy (AIT) ? may involve listening to specific sound frequencies to reduce the over-sensitivity to sound that is common among individuals with ASD. However, results have been mixed and the effectiveness of the therapy over time has been somewhat problematic.

* Physical Therapy (PT) ? some individuals with ASD many experience gross motor challenges. In that case, a PT assessment and intervention plan may be helpful.

Autism is described as a spectrum disorder because, although individuals with autism have many things in common:

• the number and kind of symptoms an individual demonstrates is variable
• severity of symptoms varies across individuals
• severity of symptoms can vary within an individual during his lifetime
• there can be unlimited combinations of symptoms in different individuals