Tips for Teaching Students with Autism

Recently I received this email and I wanted to share my answer.

“I read over some of your posts pertaining to autism. I'm neurodivergent myself, so I've been pretty acutely aware of and involved with the community for a while now. I'd like to say I'm better than the average person at understanding autistic kids, but I genuinely wonder if I would be overwhelmed to have an autistic student in a classroom setting with a bunch of other kids to attend to. Do you have any beginner advice or experience to share on teaching autistic students? I know autistic traits can be wildly varying, but I know they suffer a lot in the education system, so I want to be as equipped as possible to take care of them when it becomes my job.”

First of all, I want to thank you for going into the field of education! We need more teachers who can relate to some of the struggles our students go through. I don’t think you will be overwhelmed with an autistic student along with other students because you will be focusing on each student’s needs. I explain to my students that we are like a group of people in a grocery store. We all like and need different foods and no group of people gets the same exact foods at the same exact time. In the classroom, each student may have different needs at different times so it is important that we all be patient and understanding toward each other.

Many of my suggestions would actually benefit all students and not just students with autism.

I always recommend that the first thing teachers should do is contact the parents or caregivers of students with special needs. These people know their children the best. Ask what you think the student may have the most trouble with in the classroom. Ask if they have any suggestions to help the student transition into your new classroom. I’ve had one parent actually give me a “cheat sheet” that she wished more teachers would be willing to look at. This can save you a lot of time from trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t work for that student.

Depending on the age of the student, I would also get them to fill out or answer an interest survey. What motivates them? Do they like food and if so, what kind? What kind of things do they like to do? Do they like to make things with their hands? Do they prefer to listen to audio or watch a visual?

Develop a routine for you and the students which will help tremendously for all students, not just students with autism. I always posted a daily schedule so students would know what to expect during the day. If there was a change in the schedule or routine, I would make sure to announce it at the beginning of the day so all of the students have time to process it.

I think teaching can be overwhelming so it is important to stay organized and prepared. Gather necessary materials a few days ahead of time and don’t wait for last-minute preparation. This gives you a buffer in case an emergency arises. It also gives you time to focus on the lesson rather than gathering materials.

One very effective strategy that really helped all of my students was my “help square.” It was a small 4” x 4” thin foam square. One side was red glued to another side that was green. On the red side, I wrote “HELP” with a black marker and on the green side, I wrote “OK” with a black marker. I put this with the green side up on the corner of each student’s desk when they arrived. When they were working, if they needed help, they would turn it over to the red side. I could quickly glance around the room and see who needed help and go help them. This kept students from holding their hands up and constantly trying to catch my eye so I would come to help them. After I helped them, I would turn their block over to green.

Do you have any other suggestions for this person? Please share!

Teach Differently

In Your students are not like you. Accept it. Teach differently. From History Tech by glennw, he shows a great graphic of the Generation Z students. It is worth taking the time to look at it.

The author talks about how Generation Z students learn differently than when we were in school. I remember when I first started teaching and I taught the way that I learned. This, of course, did not turn out well and it wasn’t until I taught students in the way that they learned was I able to see any success. As long as we dig in our heels and insist on the attitude of  “that’s not the way I learned and it was good enough for me!”, we won’t be helping our students at all.

These students grew up differently than we did so they will learn differently. I’m sure that we learned differently than our parents did. Education is constantly evolving and if teachers don’t move with the evolution, they will become obsolete and useless.

I try to keep up with new technology that comes out. I talk with the students about what technology they are using and why they like it. I also ask them about what new technology do they see coming out. I let them share software, apps, and websites that they like. By engaging in this conversation, I can keep up with current trends and use this information in forming new teaching strategies.

I can look at the gaming platforms the students like and adapt them to use as reviews or assessments.

I can look at creative apps that they like and allow them to use them in order to show their understanding of the material they learn.

I can also ask the students to help brainstorm ways to use their favorite apps or software in the classroom to increase learning.

We need to remember that today’s student is learning differently than we learned and we need to teach differently than we used to teach.

What do you do to teach Generation Z students? Please share.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Creative Strategies for the Classroom Teacher

This Friday, I am presenting at the South Carolina Council for Exceptional Children. Here is the slide show that I’m presenting. I’m hoping that the attendees enjoy it! Contact me if you have any questions.

Creative Strategies for Teachers from Successful Teaching

Original slideshow by Pat Hensley

High-Leverage Practice 6: Assessment

I am going to discuss High-Leverage Practices as mentioned on the CEC website organized around four aspects of practice. I hope you will join in the conversation!

“HLP6 - Use student assessment data, analyze instructional practices, and make necessary adjustments that improve student outcomes.”

It is important to regularly assess students’ progress, so you know what accommodations or modifications need to be made.

These assessments do not have to be formal assessments and may also be observations, inventories, oral or written.

If we don’t regularly assess our students, they may become frustrated at working at a level that is too hard for them and stop working. It is better to find out that they are having difficulties and then either move to a level where they are successful and slowly introduce more difficult tasks rather than give them too many difficult tasks all at once.

By assessing the students often, you may be able to step in and use instructional strategies that can help them be more successful.

Depending on the age of the student, you can even share your assessment data with the student and brainstorm ways that can help the student improve. Sometimes students would love to give input on their own instruction but are never asked. I find the insight from the student can be extremely helpful. This also teaches the student to be a self-advocate and to tell others what they need. Just because a student struggles does not mean that the student is stupid. Many of their peers and even some adults tend to equate struggling with stupidity and do the student a major injustice!

When making adjustments, you might have to try several different strategies until you find one that works. That is why frequent assessment and communication with the student is so important.

How do you decide on what adjustments need to be made? Please share.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Engaging Secondary School Students

I was recently invited to join a World Class Teachers Top Tips competition from The Bloggers Lounge. The prompt is:

“Together with World Class Teachers – a supply teaching agency who specialise in placing teachers from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, America and the UK into day-to-day and long-term teaching positions throughout London – we’re offering you the chance to win a World Class Teachers’ T-shirt PLUS one of two fantastic prizes*:

-          A Champagne London Eye experience for two (*UK Winners Only)

OR

-          A $50 Amazon gift voucher!

Plus, the lucky winner will be featured on the World Class Teachers’ blog AND the Bloggers’ Lounge!

We want you to write a blog post on your top 5 tips for keeping kids engaged in the classroom, via one of two categories of entry:

-          Top tips for keeping primary school children engaged

-          Top tips for keeping secondary school children engaged

Tips can be as creative or unusual as you like, but they must be tried and tested!”

I decided I wanted to enter and write about Top tips for keeping secondary school children engaged. I think this is an important topic because by the time students get to secondary school, many are disillusioned, bored, or frustrated with the system or their own lack of progress. I plan on listing some tips to help engage these students but the list is not in any order of importance. Many times one strategy will work for one student and not for another so I don’t believe that there is just one true tried method that works for all students. Since students have individual needs, their motivation will be very different from each other. In the classroom, I would try one thing and if that didn’t work, I would try another and as long as I didn’t give up, I truly believe that something will work to help the students find learning meaningful and relevant.

1. Call home often (at least every other week) and brag about the good things the student does. Many times students have fallen into the habit of acting bad in order to get attention. I try to break the cycle of bad behavior and replace it with trying to get attention by acting appropriately.

2. Survey the students to find out what way they learn best. Some students are visual learners and other may be auditory or tactile-kinesthetic. Students learn better if they are taught according to their learning style instead of the teacher’s learning style.

3. Offer several assessment options for students to show they have mastered the skills taught.

4. Develop a project and have the students work towards a final goal. Students can work in groups to figure out a way to reach the final goal. If students have something vested in the assignment, they are more engaged in the lesson.

5. Find out what topics students are interested in learning about. Many times academic skills can be incorporated into these topics. If the students are interested in the topic, they are more engaged in learning.

6. Find out what hobbies/interests that the student likes outside of the classroom. Learn a little bit about this in order to have a meaningful conversation with the student. Ask the student questions about this. Show the student that you care. If the student sees you care, not just about the classwork but about the student as a person, the student will work harder for you.

7. Go to extracurricular activities that students are involved in. This shows the students that you care and are willing to learn more about them as people and not just students.

8. Make sure lessons are meaningful and relevant. Tie the lesson to something in real life where students will use the skill. Invite speakers (in person or on Skype) who use the skill on the job.

9. If a student is having a behavior problem, include the student in coming up with a solution. Develop a plan to improve behavior but include the input from the student.

10. Don’t take misbehavior personally. Look for the function of the behavior and do not see it as a personal affront. If a student misbehaves one day, make sure the next day is a new beginning. Do not hold grudges and make sure the student understands that they have a fresh new start.

I have done all of these things with my high school students over the years and had a lot of success by doing them. My students responded well to these strategies and I’m glad that I never gave up on them.

Image: 'New Beginning'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28451398@N02/2655832161
Found on flickrcc.net

Square Pegs

In One size does not fit all…, Paul Bogush asks,

“What are you doing for the square pegs?  What do you see in their future when they walk into your class?”

I think we need to make sure that we pay close attention to these square pegs. According to Fortune 500 magazines, many of the rich, famous, or in leadership positions were the square pegs in the classroom. These are the ones that learned to survive in the real world by developing coping skills from their school days.

I was one of the kids that tried to fit in to the round hole. I believe now, looking back, that I was really a square peg but I learned to adapt so that I could fit into a round hole. No one made exceptions for me and I was so determined to succeed that I found my own way to make myself fit. I was very self motivated and determined but many of the students in my classes did not have the same characteristics.

My husband would have been that kind of student who never fit in and never knew how to make himself fit in. He was considered a lousy student and deemed a failure. Luckily he went into the navy where failure wasn’t an option and learned coping skills (out of pure survival I think) that helped him succeed. Years later he went on to college and even became a judge. I share this story with many parents so they can realize that it is important not to give up on students who don’t fit the mold. Many parents don’t ever give up but it is really hard for them to convince the professionals not to give up.

I also learned many things from my husband on how to help my students fit in. Then I began to talk to other adults who felt like square pegs when they were growing up and I asked them for tips on how to help my students. Sometimes I opened up this discussion with my students and it is interesting that many of them have some ideas of how they can fit in better but feel like no one is listening to them. Allowing the student to give input actually empowers them and makes them feel more confident.

I’d love to be able to give you a laundry list of things that worked for every student but every student is different. Sometimes I had to try different things and if they didn’t work, I had to try something different. This sometimes took a lot of patience for both of us, the student and myself. I prepared the student for this possibility before we tried something so that the student didn’t feel like a failure if something didn’t work.

To find strategies that work, I had to take the time to survey the student and try to determine what style of learning works best for that student and in which situation. Sometimes a student may have different learning styles depending on the task the student is being asked to complete.

I also need to learn as many different strategies as possible so that when I when I need to try a specific strategy, I will have an assortment of things to try. It is like a construction worker who must have the right tools on hand to complete a project. If you don’t have the right tools, the end product might not turn out the best that it could.

This whole process will also help the students when they leave my classroom. They need to learn how to advocate for themselves and look for strategies that will work for them. Instead of sitting passively waiting for someone to help them, they will be able to take an active role in their own learning.

How do you help the square pegs in your classroom? Please share.

Image: 'unemployment was high in lego land'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73645804@N00/2472232245
Found on flickrcc.net

Driving out the Darkness

(Today’s post is for the letter D in the A-Z challenge.)
I believe that teaching my students how to learn is helping them drive away the darkness.
Many of my high school students were beaten down and frustrated by the time they got to me. I always felt like they believed they were in the land of darkness without any light. Many of them had extremely low self concepts and were biding their time until they were of age to quit school. They saw no reason to even try any more. Many of my students were objects of ridicule by their peers and were often bullied. Even some of their parents felt their children were just lazy or plain stupid.
That is why I introduced the class motto: I am a born winner! I felt that every person is born with a purpose and God doesn’t plan on them being losers. I asked every student to write that on their papers they turned in. I asked them to say that sentence aloud when asked. The class repeated it over and over again. It was time to turn their perceptions around. I needed them to start to believe it.
I started giving them work that was not baby work but I knew that they could be successful at. This built up their confidence levels. The more they were able to do, I slowly increased the difficulty. At times they wanted to slide back into self defeat but I wouldn’t let them. I pushed them over and over again. Slowly they began to realize how capable they were.
When we began to study a novel that students in the general classes were studying, they were amazed at what they could do. Of course, we read the novel together slower than they did in other classes but the discussions were very similar. My students were able to participate in some of the conversations at lunch that mentioned this novel. Suddenly they were on the same playing field as their peers.
Slowly my students began to stand straighter and hold their heads up higher. Slowly they realized that they were capable of so much more than others expected. Slowly they stopped allowing others to bully them and stood up for themselves. Slowly they began to see the light at the end of the tunnel and darkness was receding.
Suddenly they began to believe!
Many times over the past few years, I have come across former students who still remember our class motto. Some of them showed me that they have written it down and even still carry it in their wallets today. Some have even mentioned how it has helped them through difficult times of their adulthood. I’m so proud of them!
Do you have a class motto? If so, please share.
Image: 'Tunnel View... [Explored]'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41346951@N05/5481225210

Strategies for Online Learning

Last week I had a guest post about the Benefits of Online Degrees for People with Disabilities and Eduardo Peirano left a comment about the disadvantages of this which led to his post on elearning for Students with Disabilities. If you have a chance, please read the points he makes about what is necessary for students with disabilities to be successful with elearning. He gives links to research that supports the points he makes.

I really appreciate Eduardo making this points because it made me realize that when sharing broad ideas as was mentioned in the guest post, I need to follow up with specific strategies to support the ideas mentioned. In Eduardo’s post, I left the following comment:

“This was an awesome post!! Thank you so much for joining the conversation! You make a lot of great points and I appreciate the links to support your ideas. I love when someone makes me think about something from different perspectives. I think you are absolutely right that without the right kind of support and accommodations, online learning could be extremely difficult for students with disabilities. Now I am going to think of some more specifics! (I think I feel another blog post coming on!)”

Now I need to think of ways to implement the things that he mentions.

I know at Furman University where I teach graduate courses, there is a disability coordinator to help those with disabilities reach success. In my syllabus I addressed this by stating,

“If you have a disability that may have some impact on your work in this class, and for which you may require accommodations, please see the instructor or Furman’s Disabilities Services Coordinator, so that such accommodations may be arranged. In order to receive appropriate accommodations this term, it is imperative that you contact the Disabilities Services Coordinator or the instructor in a timely manner.”

I believe if students are going for an online degree, the university offering this degree needs to have a disabilities coordinator to help them. Not only does this person need to be available but also easily accessible. If students have to jump through too many hoops to get help, they will not seek help and just end up frustrated.

Before a student actually takes a course in their field, there needs to be some basic computer instruction to make sure they have the skills needed to complete the course requirements. Specific skills should be identified and the student needs to show that these skills can be mastered before course work can begin. Students need to know how to research for information on the computer. They also need to know critical thinking skills so they can weed through the multitude of information out there in cyberspace and know what is valuable and what is not. A task analysis for each skill needs to be created. These need to be made available for the student to carry with them either as a hard copy or maybe something put on their ipod or cell phone. This will make a great reference tool for them when needed.

Online instructors need to be aware of the possibility of having students with disabilities in their class. Then they need to work with the disabilities services coordinator to see how they can modify the curriculum so that the student can meet the objectives of the class. Many times in public schools, teachers are very reluctant to do this. Material needs to be offered in a visual and an auditory format. If the information is just in one format or the other, the learning style of the student may be ignored. In my course, I am offering information using slideshare with audio, and voicethread with audio.

Universal Design for Learning is a must. In fact, I think this is important for all students and not just students with disabilities. In the course that I am teaching, I have three students who are currently teaching, one who does substitute teaching, and one who has not been in the classroom at all. I cannot expect them all to learn the same way because of their different backgrounds. A lot of the information is online and I need to make sure that all of my students are comfortable in their computer skills to access this information. I will first take a survey so I can see what my student’s beginning level may be.

If the university wants to encourage students with disabilities to attend their school, these are necessary to help a student with disabilities succeed.

Do you know of specific strategies to help students with disabilities succeed in getting an online degree? Please share.

Posted on the Successful Teaching Blog by loonyhiker (successfulteaching at gmail dot com).

Original image: 'IMG_4356a'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22077905@N00/1584698904 by: John Martinez Pavliga