Introduction
Children with disabilities have special needs, which is why they should be educated differently. Autistic children, for instance, demand an individual approach due to their problems with social interaction. Educators need to design special lesson plans and curricula to meet the needs of autistic children because numerous methods should sometimes be used before such a child understands what is explained to him/her.
They should be aware of these children’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as use them for their benefit. For instance, utilizing visual aids is one of the greatest means to facilitate autistic students’ comprehension of information (Farrell, 2006). This is why associations are the most appropriate way to help an autistic child to comprehend new information. A concrete example shows that an autistic student’s writing skills can be improved by means of a set of activities based on the associations; the implementation of these activities step-by-step can help to facilitate the autistic students’ comprehension and memorizing of information, as well as its reproduction in writing.
Accommodation Plan
The targeted student with disability is a student of the fifth grade. The boy is 11 years old and he is a verbal autistic child. The student does not lag behind the class significantly with his main academic strength being reading. His reading skills are better than those of other students in the class (with the same disability) though slightly worse than those which are required from the fifth grade students. The main area of his weakness is writing; the main problem which arises during writing assignments is lack of concentration and inability to draw parallels between what has been heard (read, seen) and what should be written. The student has a kinesthetic learning style, which is expressed through his better understanding of the object’s qualities through at least touching it.
A learning objective has to be set in order to improve the student’s writing skills. This objective cannot be directed towards perfection because it is hardly possible for an autistic child to acquire the writing skills of the same level as in case with an ordinary child. By the end of the experiment the student will demonstrate his ability to understand the information, to discuss it, and to reflect his ideas in writing.
Taking into account the disability of the student, no separate activity can be offered in order to meet the learning objective. Instead, a set of activities implemented step-by-step is better to use. Since the student in question has kinesthetic style of learning, multisensory learning seems to be the most appropriate and beneficial for him due to his visual learning (reading) being his major strength (Gabriels & Hill, 2002). If the student is able to read, he is able to perceive pictures/objects and interpret their meaning. The set of offered activities consists in playing associations through describing the qualities of given objects first orally and then in writing. The second stage of the experiment will consist in skipping the discussion stage and offering the student to write about the object at once.
These activities are likely to develop the writing skills of the student together with his ability to evaluate information. For instance, when seeing the object for the first time the student is able to evaluate its shape, color, size, etc, as well as to state whether the object is familiar to him. Another step (touching the object, smelling, and even tasting it) develops the student’s sensory, as well as reflective ability. The following step is more complicated, but the difficulties are likely to be eliminated if the discussions are used at the beginning of the experiment. The learning process could be diversified by showing the student a short film or movie; however, this variant should be used as a complication of the assignment after the previously discussed steps are successfully implemented.
During the activities the student will be shown an object and then let to touch it (as well as smell and taste if this is necessary and possible). After this, the discussion about the object will follow (the instructor’s help is required in the beginning) with the subsequent offering the student to write down what has been discussed. If this set of steps proves to be beneficial for meeting the learning objective, the discussion stage may be skipped. This will contribute into the student’s learning to write about the object at once after looking at it or touching it.
Reflective Analysis
After carrying out the experiment it became clear that the accommodation was quite successful. The first encounter of the student with the experiment showed almost no results. The student did not demonstrate any desire to take part in the experiment refusing to take the object, let alone examining it and trying to discuss its features. The experiment was repeated in an hour with the student himself getting interested in the object. The first object to show was a regular cup with pictures on it. The student recognized the object and even demonstrated how to use it. He readily entered into a conversation about the cup and even named some of its properties (mostly the colors on it). Writing about the cup at once was unsuccessful this is why spelling the colors of the cup first was offered to the student. He managed to write that the cup was green, white, red, and yellow, and even that it was round. However, the try to ask him to write about what is usually poured into a cup was unsuccessful, though the student mentioned this in the discussion. This proves once again that his visual perception is his strength. Nevertheless, by the end of the experiment the student understood the sense of the game and sometimes started identifying the objects even before he was asked about this. Reflecting about the objects was successful in most of the cases. Thus, for instance, the reflection about the clock was “The clock makes noise” and “I have a clock at home”. At this, the student even imitated the clock and the noises it produces. In the course of the experiment, the reflections about the objects were becoming more exhaustive; for instance, when shown a ball, the student wrote “I like playing with the ball”, which means that he not only knows what the ball is for, but can associate the object with certain activities and even state whether or not he likes these activities. By the end of the lesson, the description of the object was combined with the reflection about it and the student’s writings started including the objects’ properties (shape, color, size, smell) and the reflection about the objects. Complicating this task by asking the student to think about the variations of the objects’ color or shape was unsuccessful. Therefore, the experiment was successful for the biggest part, but the tries to diversify or complicate it failed.
If I had another chance to carry out this experiment, I would have introduced some changes into the lesson. Initially, the student was not given the information about the objects which were unfamiliar to him (this especially concerns the case with the cup and his not knowing what to pour into it). There are two variants how this could have been fixed. Firstly, I would pour some water into the cup thus demonstrating the answer. Since the student’s visual perception is better, he would have memorized it and reflected it in writing when asked about it. Moreover, he could be further asked about what else can be poured into the cup, which would contribute into the development of his logical thinking and further extended the answer given in writing. Another variant consists in the following: before the beginning of the discussion I would give the student several cards with short and simple descriptions of the objects (for instance, a spoon: plastic, white, used when eating). The information would be explicit, which would facilitate its comprehension and subsequent reproduction (Aarons & Gittens, 1999). He would read the cards and then try to reproduce the information when looking at the objects. This would be especially beneficial for spelling practice because the words would be perceived visually and even their spelling would be memorized. However, the activities which have been used were also beneficial for the student’s development of writing skills.
Improving the writing skills of the students in regular education classroom could be achieved through the like activities. Considering the fact that the regular students’ general reading and writing skills are better, the activities should be more complicated. For example, the pictures can be used instead of the objects (because describing the objects is too easy for the fifth grade). The students can be offered to describe two pictures separately and then to compare them. This can not only improve their writing skills, but give them an idea of a proper essay structure and make the flow of their thoughts more logical. In addition, the students can be offered to compile a story from the words written on the blackboard. If the students are of younger age (third grade, for instance) they could try to compile a story all together or in groups. The students of the fifth grade and older can do this task individually. One more assignment which is beneficial for the development of writing skills is offering the students to read a text or to watch a short film and then to write a reflection on it. Such an assignment can help to develop their writing skills, as well as their memory. Therefore, the ways to improve writing skills of the students in regular classroom education are more diverse than those which can be used in a special education classroom.
Despite this, teaching writing to autistic children is not limited to reflecting on the objects’ properties. Just like regular students can contrast pictures, autistic students can be offered to contrast objects, which can tangibly enrich their vocabulary. Such an activity can start with contrasting simple objects (an apple and a lemon) and end with something more difficult, such as finding relation between two objects (book and glasses). The objects may differ depending on the students’ age and cognitive level. Other writing assignments may include asking the students to draw a picture on a definite topic (for instance, Christmas) and then describe this picture in writing. At this, the description should contain some personal opinion regarding the subject of the picture. To facilitate the task, the students may be given a list of vocabulary to use or templates of the sentences. This will contribute greatly into the development of their writing skills.
Finally, similar activities can be used to improve the writing skills of the students with autism-related disorders, such as Asperger syndrome, PDD-NOS, etc. The kids with different Persuasive Developmental Disorders have one similar problem, namely deficiency in communication and social skills. All the activities related to finding associations can help children develop these skills, while teaching children to write down these reflections properly can help them improve their writing abilities. Thus, numerous activities can be designed to help the students with autism-related diseases to study.
In conclusion, it has been proved that writing skills of a verbal autistic child can be improved if a definite set of activities is implemented during the lesson of writing. The complexity of these activities depends on the age and cognitive level of the students, but their main benefit is that they can be adjusted to any group of children and to separate individuals within a group. The lesson activities discussed above can help to turn learning into entertainment and will facilitate an autistic child’s perception, memorizing, and reproducing of information, as well as arranging it into a writing form.
Reference List
Aarons, M. & Gittens, T. (1999). The handbook of autism: a guide for parents and professionals. New York: Routledge.
Blanc, R. & Volkers, H. (2007). What you should know about autism spectrum disorders: Signs, symptoms, diagnosis, treatments and effects on life. Maarheeze, NL: Cranendonck Coaching.
Farell, M. (2006). The effective teacher’s guide to autism and communication difficulties: Practical strategies. New York: Taylor & Francis.
Gabriels, R.L. & Hill, D.E. (2002). Autism: From research to individualized practice. New York: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.