Looking at Needs for Students with ASD High School Point Person Training #3 January 17, 2013 Sabrina Beaudry & Pam Leonard

Looking at Needs for Students with ASD

High School Point Person Training #3January 17, 2013

Sabrina Beaudry & Pam Leonard

In Review:O We have emphasized the importance of

describing ASD on a global level, with a focus on the fact that those with ASD think differently (What does it look like for each individual student?).

O Last meeting, we emphasized the importance of supporting students with ASD across particular areas of need.

Supporting Students

Let’s have a discussion related to your homework!

What supports do you feel your student has in place?

Communication and

Language Supports

Sensory Regulation Supports

Social Emotional Supports

Social Thinking and

Social Communication Supports

SADNSupports

What are your thoughts?

Communication and

Language Supports



Social Thinking and


SADNSupports

MORE DISCUSSION

1. How independent is your student able to access & use the supports?

2. Do you feel more teaching to the supports is needed?

3. Do you see the supports being used/accessed across the day?

When Supports Are In Place

Communication and

Language Supports



Social Thinking and


It allows for expected behavior

Which allows for instructional control

SADNSupports

Today we will:O Again practice describing what individual students’

autism looks like.

O Use this knowledge of what it looks like, to determine specific student needs.

O Look at the global concept of social thinking needs and how to incorporate it into goals.

O Work from students’ specific needs to goal development.

O Discuss barriers in the high school environment.

To start, Let’s Bring Back our Observation Form

O We always want to start by describing our students’ autism…what do we see when we watch them?

O Remember the areas to consider:O CommunicationO SocialO Cognitive Style/ AcademicsO Emotional RegulationO Sensory

Communication Social Cognitive Style

Academic

Emotional

Regulation

Sensory

What Does it Look Like?

Introducing Katie:O Senior in high schoolO Planning on attending collegeO Takes all general education classes

with supportO Supportive familyO Has never dated & does not plan toO No typical peer friendsO Asperger’s Syndrome


Academic

Emotional

Regulation

Sensory

Will go on and on when telling a story/ unaware that others have lost interest.

Difficulty understanding abstract language

Difficulty always recognizing humor/sarcasm, and using it- she tries!

Does not request clarification or assistance when confused or when does not understand something someone has said to her (may ask about specific vocabulary)

Language processing is a weakness

May interrupt others/ has difficult waiting her turn to speak in a group

Enjoys being with peers, but has difficulty with perspective taking

Initiates conversation with others

Has great motivation to have friends & social relationships

Has great motivation to improve her social interactions

Although she thinks she is “helping”, she will point out others’ inappropriate behaviors or mistakes and gives feedback in a “lecturey” way.

Average intelligence- math is strength.

Reading comprehension is a weakness.

Expressive writing skills are a weakness.

Weak executive functioning (impulsive, poorly organized, difficulty remembering all tasks needed to be completed).

Perseverates on mistakes she makes.

Weak central coherence (difficulty picking out important details from the big picture- perseverates on incorrect details).

Asks a lot of questions about others’ behaviors/perspectives (Why someone would be upset about a situation)

When she thinks anyone (familiar or strangers) in her surrounding is sick, she will ask them if they are sick & well as other related questions, she may raise her fist & growl at the person.

Will use inappropriate comments or may “lecture” others if they interrupt her, do not hear her/ask her to repeat herself.

May demonstrate a vocal tic & twitch (sounds like throat clearing or a hiccup) when frustrated or upset with others.

Becomes giggly/laughs when she is able to “push others buttons” & they demonstrate inappropriate behavior.

Laughs/becomes silly when discussing her own inappropriate behavior.

Does not like to be touched

Does not like loud environments

Another example: Katie Looks Like:


Academic

Emotional

Regulation

Sensory

What Does it Look Like for Your Student?

Break

Now, let’s talk about needs…What does that mean?

O A lack of something requisite, desirable, or useful.

O A physiological or psychological requirement for the well being of an organism.

Determining Student Needs:

O Use the description of your student to determine his/her needs.

O We can use the Autism 7 Considerations form to document these needs.

O The 7 considerations aligns closely with the areas of support that we discussed last training.

Autism 7 Considerations Form:

O ..\..\Point Person 10-11\Resources\autism consideration forms\AUTISM CONSIDERATIONS linear blank.docx

O This will be included in IEP Plus

ExampleO Katie's 7 considerations page

Your student’s needs:

O Fill in each area of need on the 7 considerations form for your student.

Now we’re back to supporting students!

O Here are Katie’s supports documented on the 7 considerations form.

O Katie's supports

Your Turn

O Add supports to your student’s 7 considerations form.

Back to Needs for a minute…Is there a theme?

O Do the majority of needs fall under one umbrella?

O Is there an over riding deficit area that affects all need areas?

O What is the root of the needs?

In recent research

Theory of mind, Central coherence, & Executive functioning are seen to

work together in their role of social learning development.

What are your thoughts about the article we gave you?

An Article to Read!

Read the article and thenhead to lunch…

Social Thinking-Social Learning Tree

What were your thoughts?

So what is social cognition?

O The “thinking” that we use to process, store and apply information about other people and social situations

O It is an intuitive process that most people are “hard-wired” at birth that allows us to learn through observation and trial and error

O It allows us to use the processes Theory of Mind, Central Coherence and Executive Function skills in a coordinated manner

The work of Michelle Garcia has outlined Four Principles of Social Thinking

O Our thoughts and emotions are strongly connected. How we think affects how we feel and how we behave affects how others think and feel.

O We think about people all the time, even when we have no plans to interact with them. We adjust our own behavior based on what we think the people around us are thinking.

O We “think with our eyes” to figure out other people’s thoughts, intentions, emotions

O When people learn how to think differently and flexibly they can think anywhere.

Source: Winner, M.G. (2007) Thinking About You, Thinking About Me. Think Social Publications, San Jose, Ca. www.socialthinking.com

There are 3 aspects to teaching Social Thinking skills:

1) Realize other people have a different frame of mind

2) Learn how to figure out what other people are

thinking and feeling

3) Use this knowledge to self-adjust your own

social behaviors to fit the social situation so

the other people view you favorably.

Another Way of thinking about Challenges of Social Thinking

Student with

IEP

Written Languag

e Learning Disabilit

y

Math LearningDisabilit

y

Social Learning Disabilit

y

Reading Learning Disabilit

y

Jill D. Kuzma 8/2010 - http://jillkuzma.wordpress.com

How do Social Cognitive Deficits impact students?

Jill D. Kuzma 8/2010 - http://jillkuzma.wordpress.com

Social SkillsEmotional SkillsAcademic SkillsBehavioral Skills

Organizational Skills

Kuzma, 2/2010 - http://jillkuzma.wordpress.com

Impact on Social Skills…expressing his opinions in class discussions.… showing tolerance for contrasting opinions of his classmates respectfully.…initiating work with a partner or enter a small group when the teacher requests students to do so independently.… understanding his role in cooperative group learning activities such as science labs, group projects, or book study circles.…interpreting non-verbal cues from the teacher during instruction.….understanding the impression he leaves with others.….showing interest in other people’s interests and experiences.

A student may have difficulty….


Impact on Emotional Skills

… showing tolerance for contrasting opinions of his classmates respectfully.…transitioning between activities independently.…calming himself if he becomes frustrated with his independent work.…expressing more abstract difficult feelings such as frustration, disappointment, embarrassment that may occur throughout the day.…with aspects of competitiveness – insists on winning or inflexible about rules.…with large emotional breakdowns to mild triggers – seem explosive or impulsive.



Impact on Academic Skills

….with reading comprehension, inferring character’s emotions and intensions in literacy activities.….exploring the main idea of a topic, especially with fiction.….sorting out relevant details versus details that are interesting, but not the most important.….interpreting and using figurative language in fiction, poetry, etc.….understanding their role in group learning projects….understanding and using appropriate math principles when presented with a problem….Being able to use knowledge gained previously and applying it to another subject area



Impact on Behavioral Skills

…calming himself when he becomes agitated by unexpected peer responses.…getting started on his work during a student work time.…handling disappointment or feelings of being excluded when he is not called on immediately or chosen by peers for partner work.….adjusting to slight changes in behavior expectations as he transitions between different teachers with varying styles.….completing obligatory tasks not of their own liking.



Impact on Organization Skills

….. prioritizing steps to complete a multi-part assignment or long term project…keeping track of papers and class materials…turning in assignments that the child completed.… time management.


So we have talked about impact now what???

Time for goals!

Goal Development…O We want to use student needs to

develop goals.

O We want to prioritize goal areas.

O We want to write goals with social thinking in mind.

Prioritizing for Katie:O Perspective taking- with both adults &

peers

O Reading comprehension

O Expressive writing

O Organization for assignment completion

O Self Regulation of Emotions

Goal Area #1:Perspective Taking

Present Level: Katie is able to determine what another person may be thinking in a familiar situation/context, when she is prompted to pay attention to particular information (i.e. facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, etc.). She is independently able to interpret others’ thoughts in one on one or very small group situations with people that she is familiar with; however, she does not use this information to guide her own behavior/social communication. Same age peers are intuitively able to change their own behavior based on what others are doing/saying (perspective taking).

Goal: Improving observing & interpreting skills (MGW calls it listening with your

eyes)

By January 2014, In a structured small group setting (3-4 students),Katie will demonstrate the ability to independently change her own behavior based on the behaviors of others in the group 50% of the time.

Benchmarks:A. In a small group structured activity, Katie will use

perspective taking skills to accurately describe the behaviors of others, including: Body language, facial expressions, & tone of voice, ¾ opportunities.

B. In a small group structured activity, Katie will use perspective taking skills to accurately describe the behaviors of others (Body language, facial expressions, & tone of voice), and describe her interpretation of what they may be thinking 2/4 opportunities.

C. In a small group structured activity, Katie will use perspective taking skills to accurately describe the behaviors of others (Body language, facial expressions, & tone of voice), describe her interpretation of what they may be thinking, and appropriately change her own behavior as needed with adult prompting 3/4 opportunities.

D. GOAL…

Goal 2 Reading comprehension

O Present Level: When given a novel to read, Katie is able to read and answer basic Wh questions related to concrete facts. Deficits in Katie’s perspective taking impair her ability to answer inferential questions related to character development or be able to predict what may happen in a story. Same age peers are able to use inferential thinking to understand the characters’ perspective and predict outcome.

GOAL: To improve reading comprehension:

By January 2014, Katie will independently be able to use a social thinking tool (i.e social behavior map) to help her describe a character’s actions, how a character feels, and how a character’s actions impact others in the novel with 80% accuracy.

Benchmarks:A. After each reading assignment, Katie will independently complete a social behavior map related to designated characters in a novel with 50% accuracy.

B. After each reading assignment, Katie will independently complete a social behavior map related to designated characters in a novel with 60% accuracy.

C. After each reading assignment, Katie will independently complete a social behavior map related to designated characters in a novel with 70% accuracy.

D..GOAL…

Expected Behaviors that _______ Produces

How They Make Others Feel

Consequences He/She Experiences

How ____Feels About Himself/Herself

Unexpected Behaviors _______ Produces

How They Make Others Feel

Consequences He/She Experiences

How You Feel About Himself/Herself

Behaviors that are Unexpected

Social Behavior Map for _________, Chapt. 1

Behaviors that are Expected

Your Turn

O Based on your student’s needs, prioritize goal areas.

O Pick one goal area, and write a new goal keeping social thinking in mind.

Barriers:

Next Time?

O Now that we have characteristics, needs, and goals sorted out, we need to teach.

O We will talk about teaching across the day.

Homework

O Read “Change Your Ways” and bring your reflective thoughts back…

Documents

Looking at Needs for Students with ASD High School Point Person Training #3 January 17, 2013 Sabrina Beaudry & Pam Leonard