Teaching Strategies for Learners with Autism and Visual Impairments

For my new O&M specialists, and even for my experienced O&M specialist who might just need a few quick reminders about how to work with learners with autism spectrum disorder. What this episode be your little decaf coffee, quick chat about things that have worked for me in the past, and are also scientifically proven. We've got that going for us as well.

In this podcast episode:

• Introduction

• What is Autism Spectrum Disorder

• What to Expect

• Data Study on Learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder

• Teaching Strategies

1. The Importance of Routines
2. Offer Choices in a Structured Manner
3. Work with Team Members

• Recap

• Outro

Transcript of the Episode:

Introduction

Welcome back to the podcast, my friends. First, I want to let you know that we are playing around with some different things with the audio of this podcast episode, I have repositioned the microphone and gotten some new what I think is fancy equipment. It feels very surreal. And as a really good reminder to all of us that we can just start with what we have and then build up. However, I'm not totally satisfied with how it all sounds. And so we will keep playing with different things over the next few episodes. So if it sounds a little different today, that's why. 

But I couldn't help but come to you with some really impactful important information that I think will really help you along your journey working with learners who are on the autism spectrum. This podcast can't be a full workshop. It's just a podcast. But I can be your friend sitting over some coffee, a decaf Americano with a splash of almond milk, please, or some tea, who has been around the block, and has the luxury of having friends from all over the world to tell her stories, so that she can share some of her tips and resources with you. The fun thing about this is that this really is just two friends kind of gabbing except, I understand that it's a one way street until you slide into my DMs on Instagram, you can find me @alliedindependence there and on Facebook.

Now I'm going to share some resources today. Because this is a little science heavy, I wanted to make sure we got you the right information. And all of the resources can be found on our website, alliedindependenceonline.com/podcast. And then from there, you can just click the link to whichever podcast episode, ie. this one. And you'll be able to find all of the resources on and all of the links that we share about here in this exact episode. And in every episode, we always share the links. Also, I don't know if you know, but you can find the full transcript on the actual website. So for some reason, you want to be able to read this, you can go right ahead and do so. For now, I just want you to enjoy your drive or walk or whatever and let's go.

In this episode, we're going to get into what to expect with students with autism spectrum disorder, as well as what the data says, teaching strategies, and the importance of routines, which kind of falls under teaching strategies, but it's so big.

And if you like this information and you want to become a better teacher, I invite you to our webinar on April 7, where I'll be sharing a little bit about what to do after you get this information. And you've gotten some really great teaching strategies working and you're ready for your learner to generalise their skills. The generalisation of their skills is going to be what catapults them into independence. Let's face it, we can't hold their hands every day. We can't sing them songs to move their cane every day. Just like you can lead a horse to water but you can't make a drink. It's kind of the same thing. Until they are practising their skills without you there. They are not going to be nearly as successful as if you were there with that. To find more information about that you can go toalliedindependenceonline.com/training. There'll be two options for you to choose from on April 7.

What is Autism Spectrum Disorder

So first, let's define autism spectrum disorder. It's a neurological and development disorder that affects how people interact with others communicate, learn and behave. Although it can be diagnosed at any age, it is described as a developmental disorder because symptoms generally appear in the first two years of life. And it is a spectrum disorder because there's a wide variation of the type and severity of symptoms that people experience. I've had learners who were 13 and not potty trained, and are on the spectrum, to the point where that person would not say any consonance. Now, if you know who this person is, that your heart is just beaming right now, because we all loved that person so much. And on the other end of the spectrum, you can be somebody who is very intelligent, can have full conversations can have full relationships, maybe just need some modifications in order to adapt to the typical societal standards.

With autism, people of all genders, races, ethnicities, economic backgrounds, they all can be diagnosed with ASD. And although it's a lifelong disorder, there are treatments and services that can improve a person symptoms and daily functioning. Now, there's a whole litany of questions that your diag and the medical team can help you with. If your question is, Does my student have autism? Are they on the spectrum or not? I can't answer that for you. And for legal purposes, I'm not gonna even try.

What to Expect

Some of the symptoms that you may notice are things like making little or inconsistent eye contact, having difficulty in social settings, inability to recognise your facial expressions, and match them to your possible emotions, even if they have vision, having trouble understanding another person's point of view, restrictive or repetitive behaviours. And some of the strengths that I love with people who are on the spectrum is that oftentimes what I have found is that they're able to learn things in detail and remember information for long periods of time. Anecdotally, having a great understanding of dates, especially dates in the future, and being strong visual and auditory learners who might excel in math, science, music, or art.

Now, there are causes and risk factors that we're not going to go into today. Again, that's a diag and medical thing that you really want to get their opinion on. And as an O&M specialist, I like to follow what they say. So I'm not even going to go into that. So what can you expect when working with students who have autism or are on the autism spectrum, I find it not to just be a spectrum of one line, but a spectrum of a whole rainbow. And the learner can fit in different areas of that rainbow, depending on their functionality, their visual impairment, as well as where they are on the spectrum itself. So think of it last like a wine of functioning, and more like a 3D model, maybe like a cube. And if they have other impairments that might affect them as well.

Data Study on Learners on the Autism Spectrum Disorder

The data says that 1 in 68 children are identified with autism spectrum disorder right now. We can argue the cause behind the increase all day long, but we're not going to the key component here is that learners on the autism spectrum disorder are on the rise. And we as specialists need to be prepared to take them on. But does O&M work for students with visual impairments and autism? Well, luckily, the study that was done in 2013 that is everywhere, says yes.

There is a study done by Gense and Gense that shows a participants took less time to complete a route post-intervention, O&M intervention, than it took them prior. In that study, there were two students who were studied. And both conclusions came back the same. That orientation and mobility helps our learners with autism complete their routes faster than without O&M services.

Teaching Strategies
1. The Importance of Routines

Okay, let's get into your teaching strategies real quick. Now we know that students with autism plus visual impairments are going to be categorised as dual intellectual disabilities or multiple impair. In addition to the overlap and behaviour, there's a lack of diagnostic and assessment instruments that are suitable for people with autism and visual impairments. In 2005, Gense and Gense indicated that our students on the autism spectrum disorder presents a wide range of abilities. And what they looked at is where the learner was being taught. They said whereas a child might be best served in a curriculum that focuses on functional skills and their child's might be better served by full inclusion in a typical mainstream classroom. They also said that when designing IPS individualised education plans, as you know, for our students on Autism Spectrum Disorder, who also have visual impairments, it's crucial to incorporate all of the main difficulties arising from one or the other condition, as well as from the combination of them. They suggest, as you might have guessed, that the expanded core curriculum may be crucial for their learning, and better functioning. And each setting is vital to identify these needs early and to apply the most appropriate services.

And then on the day to day, and we've got a few really important things to know. The importance of routines. Now Millie Smith goes into this quite a bit and I've linked the resource for you. Your routines will allow your learner's to understand what's going on, help them feel safe within the activity so that they can anticipate what's about to happen, decrease their anxiety and allow their learning to go even deeper. I often give the analogy of the first time you travel somewhere, you're just following the route and you don't know where things are. And then the more and more you go there, you can see other landmarks, and you can tell where other things are that you weren't able to see the first time. That's how it is for our learners on the spectrum, they need to have the information of what's coming up. They also need to have a lot of consistency and routines. And if you want to change this up, you can do so with the support of the team, I would definitely speak with a speech and language pathologist. Definitely any behaviour specialist and the OT PT that they have on their team. And of course, their TVI and their normal teacher and do not forget the TA or PARA. The TA and PARA are often overlooked in our teams. And they are often the most crucial part of the team aside from the learner themselves and parents, because they spend the most time one on one with that learner. So setting up a routine, a calendar system, making sure it's consistent, making sure that that learner knows exactly what's going to be happening and coming up.

2. Offer Choices in a Structured Manner

When you offer choices, offer choices in a structured manner, and not too many. Start with just two and introduce those choices within the structure of the routine. So allow that choice section to be part of the routine. Again, when you're beginning to implement stuff like this, definitely work with your team in order to make sure that you're doing this appropriately for the learner so that way they have the best experience.

3. Work with Team Members

Well, every learner with autism is going to be so different from the next. But those key things are very important. Their IEP needs to be tailored to both sets of their needs. They need to be in the right educational setting. And of course, they need to have the right goals. Everybody needs to have the right goals. And they need to have consistent routines. And choices can be included in those routines, but I would have them be specific part of the routine. Some lessons that have worked really well for a low functioning learners are things like a route delivery, where you know that a person is going to be at that room or at that desk at that exact time. Or there's a replacement person for them. Things such as maybe even recycling, taking out the trash, delivering attendance, things that have a purpose that the learner can wrap their head around why we are doing this, let's still get some out of their classroom. Scheduling your lesson at a time when the learner might actually want to see you might be helpful.

I once had a learner, oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm about to say this. My… he was like 13. And I scheduled our lesson at the very end of the day. And at this time, you have to understand our entire school was a multi million dollar construction zone. That was about the size of a small college campus. And my task I assigned myself because I scheduled this learner was to get him from his classroom, and then bring him to his dorm. Well, little did I know that his private time was scheduled right before I showed up. Yeah, so when you take a 13 year old boy ahead of his private time, and you expect him to walk a very long distance that changes all the time due to construction and is very loud; let's just say that he was not happy with me. It took us both a while to figure out the best behaviour strategy for me to learn and understand and implement. By the end of the year, it was better. But man, I think the first like six months, he was like, why does this girl keep taking me away from private time. Cause nobody wanted to do.

For low functioning learners on the autism spectrum disorder, I've also found that push in services work really well. If you can get to the learners class and push in, when they are walking to PE when they are walking to the cafeteria, go through the line with them. Things that might be able to be shorter bursts of time, instead of pulling them out to do things that might seem arbitrary, have seemed to work very well. Now with my learners, who are higher on the spectrum, we had a little bit more flexibility. We could go off campus, but interacting with the public had to be very scripted, and very practised. So soliciting assistance was practised multiple times and given multiple options of things that might happen.

And then of course, practising many times to what's going to happen, and how they are going to act, when out in the community and things do not go their way. Grocery shopping, could be a much longer adventure than you are planning on it. If for some reason, the produce department does not have the very specific kind of green apple that the learner is typically used to getting. Or if they hear something like the sound of a fridge that isn't typically on, you might need to have another way to get them out of the grocery store.

Recap

Now, these are all things that you just set up, and you make sure that you have on hand and keep talking with the team about. I don't want this to scare you, or anybody from working with students who have autism, or are on autism spectrum because they really are a fantastic and magnificent group of learners to work with. I have love, love, love, love loved it. So I got something out of this today. And I hope that it was just a good refresher and a good reminder. And I hope that you have something to contribute.

You're welcome to get up with me on Instagram @alliedindependence. I would absolutely love to hear from you take a screenshot of this episode and share it with me. And also, if you're interested in taking that next step forward with us, come to your workshop on Apr 7 and I will be teaching you our 21st century collaboration methods. So that way you can help your learners generalise their skills so that they can become more independent, faster without you burning. Alright, and I hope that you can use this information to take a step forward and I will see you next week.

Outro

You know that feeling when you've been rushing around all day. Your kids need food your students need to be scheduled. It's five minutes before your next lesson, and you have no plans. Teaching during a pandemic has had many challenges. Wouldn't you agree? One of which being it takes so much longer to plan for a remote O&M lesson, then he did to plan for a face to face lesson. But that's not a problem anymore because my friend we have got you covered. Your Allied Independence community stepped up. And we've bundled together eight remote O&M lesson plans that can be taught virtually or distance all created by your community and customisable to your individual students unique needs in five minutes or less. You want ‘em? I know you do. All you have to do is go to Allied Independence online.com forward slash remote R E M O T E and grab your copy. Eight free O&M lesson plans so you can start spending your time doing what you do best and that my friend is teaching.