Students with Asperger syndrome demonstrate poor social skills and fail working with their peers. If students with Asperger syndrome enroll in general classroom, teachers who working with them should find special approach to their education. In this paper, we are going to provide an annual educational goal and three functional objectives for a student with ASD (K- 12).
The annual goal: the main goal of education of a student with Asperger syndrome is to develop his/her social skills, such as develop communication skills, learn dealing with obsessive routines, and overcome physical clumsiness.
In this regard, a teacher should focus on the student’s interests and create an appropriate and predictable individual schedule (the tasks should consist of a number of simple steps with detailed instructions understandable for a student). At the same time, instructions should be constructed so that they could be implemented within classroom activities among other students.
Thus, the annual goal is to assist student becoming an independent member of the social environment, developing student’s social skills and enhance interaction with student’s peers through engaging him/her in structured social activities and providing step by step reinforcement of social behavior. The annual goal is related to emotional and communicational domains.
The learner, under consideration is a student with Asperger syndrome who does his study in general classroom. Mark is 15 years old and according to ICD-10 criteria, he has the syndromes that follow: lack of any clinically significant general delay in language or cognitive development; qualitative impairment in reciprocal social interaction as in autism and a restricted pattern of interests and behavior.
The presence of clumsiness, although not an established feature of the syndrome (Ghaziuddin, Metier, Ghaziuddin, Tsai, & Giordani 1993).
Considering his diagnosis, interests and current academic performance, the target behavior for this student is better interaction with peers in classroom, engaging in non-referential topics with other students, as well as with adults; student will be also developing expressive language skills and receptive language.
The conditions for such behavior are: thoughtful structure of setting assignments (Mark will be working cooperatively with other students in small groups); helping Mark understand the rules, educating parents, teachers and students in the classroom how to behave with mark.
Functional objectives
- Mark will develop understanding of dependence between his words and actions and their effect on other students, as well as parents and people with whom he communicates in daily life.
- Mark will engage in appropriate social activities and interactions initiated by his peers and will allow them to make changes in the activity.
- Mark will develop expressive and receptive language while relating information taken from different books and providing background statements without paying attention to details.
Factors considered when selecting this goal for the student include: Mark’s poor social adaptation, interest to reading books, hardships with providing general information.
The goal is functional because they presuppose students’, teachers’ and parents’ active participation in their realization, and encourage Mark to take practical actions to implement these goals.
Long-term goals for Mark’s education are further development of social and communication skills in order to help Mark become an independent member of society and teach him handle with his syndrome. They are related to the annual goal because they are related to the same (emotional and communicational) domains and present the final goal of Mark’s education.
Reference List
Ghaziuddin, N., Metier, L., Ghaziuddin, M., Tsai, L. & Giordani, B. 1993. “Three Siblings with Asperger Syndrome: A Family Case Study”, European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 44-49.