Autism in the Mainstream Classroom

April is characterised by autism awareness month, and the 2^nd of April is World Autism Awareness Day. The current stats for autism prevalence stand at around 2% of the world’s population  – that is around 140 million people. In South Africa, we can estimate that about 1  million people – so we are fairly certain that somewhere during your teaching career you will encounter a learner with autism.

Autism is a spectrum disorder and so we often encounter learners who are, what we would term, high functioning autistic. These children can generally cope with the academic aspect of school, but  find it hard to socialise, or are seen as rude because

 they don’t understand the social rules that we all pick up incidentally or naturally. We all know that when we are attending a course, we need to be quiet while the facilitator is talking, nobody told us this, we have picked it up incidentally through life.

So how can we help these learners that will inevitably find their way into our classroom?

1. Create a visual schedule

                This is simply providing the learner with a schedule at his level of learning. Learners with autism are typically visual learners, and so often verbal instructions are not processed. We therefore, need to provide them with a visual schedule, you can use objects, photographs, symbols or the written word – depending on the child’s level.

2. Provide structure and routine within your classroom

Structure and routine are two characteristics that are sometimes used to define the culture of autism. People with autism thrive on structure and routine.  This is why you need careful planning and structuring of your classroom. Make sure the learner with autism is aware of where they sit for different activities, and where different activities take place. If they find it difficult moving from one class to another, or even from the classroom to the toilet, provide them with a picture of the teacher they are going to, or the picture of the place they are going to. They can then give the picture to the next teacher, or place it in an envelope or box when they arrive at the specific place they need to be.

3. Provide them with a help card

         Autistic individuals and learners may get stuck on a task, and not know what to do. We can help them with this by providing a help card. Due to communication being a problem, this card may help them express their need for help. They can have it on their table and hold it up when they need to, or in their bag or a pocket, and put it on their table if they need help.

4. Keep your language short and simple

     Avoid using figurative language like “it’s raining cats and dogs”, or “keep your eye on the ball”. You may end up with the learner holding the ball up to his eye, or really expecting to see cats and dogs coming from the sky.

Due to the visual nature of autistic learners, when we give them an instruction, they often only hear the last part of the instruction, e.g. “Don’t run”, the learner will hear “run” and proceed to run, rather say “walk”

5. Provide opportunities for a break

       

      Sensory overload is a common issue that many with autism have to deal with. It happens when there is too much information around them, and they are unable to cope with the amount of information. And so we see a meltdown. Again, provide your learner with a break card, and give them the opportunity to use this card when they begin to feel overwhelmed – this may be as simple as going for a walk. Going to sit in a room where no one else is around, or maybe just some time on an iPad.

With these tips, we can help our autistic learners integrate into mainstream schools where they can learn and where we can also raise awareness, understanding and acceptance. But, we also need to support them socially. So look out for the next post on supporting learners socially in a mainstream school. 

Pictures from My Cute Graphics

Fine Motor Skills and why we should be incorporating them everyday

Our fine motor skills are the skills we use daily, but don’t think about. They are in use when we get dressed, do the dishes, tie our shoelaces, type an email, draw a picture, even eat food or a simple smile, and that conversation you had with your child? Well there are fine motor skills there as well. So, what exactly are they?

Most people know that they involve the small muscles in your hand, while few people realise it involves the small muscle movements in your face as well – your mouth, tongue and lips, as well as your feet.

Fine motor skills sometimes need a little help to develop. There are plenty of activities available on the internet for parents and teachers to have a look at, but many do not look at the implications of using fine motor skills, and why they need to be developed properly. Let’s have a look at typical development and how these skills develop naturally.

Fine Motor Development Skills by Age
0-6 Months	·      Reflexive grasp – this should be present at birth ·      Uncontrolled or Involuntary Reaching for objects ·       Voluntary grasp ·       Using 2 hands to grasp something (whole hands, also known as the 2 handed palmar grasp) ·       By 5 months, a 1 handed palmar grasp ·         Controlled reach by 5 months
6-12 Months	·         Reaches and grasps objects, puts them into their mouth ·         Able to release objects in a controlled manner ·         Development of the pincer grasp – using the forefinger and thumb to pick up small items ·         Moves items from one hand to the other hand ·         Is dropping and picking up toys
1-2 Years	·         Building a tower of 3 or more blocks ·         Can put pegs into a pegboard ·         Turning the pages in a book ·         Scribbling ·         Paints with whole arm movement ·         Beginning to feed themselves ·         Can hold and drink from cup independently
2-3 Years	·         Beginning to thread using large beads ·         Can now turn single pages in a book ·         Starting to cut with scissors ·         Can hold a crayon, not using the fist grip ·         Beginning to use dominant hand more and more ·         Uses wrist action to paint – no longer whole arm movement ·         Can roll and pull playdough ·         Can now eat without assistance
3-4 Years	·         Now able to build a tower with 9 blocks ·         Can copy a circle and a cross ·         Can make simple items with playdough – rolling into a snake ·         Uses the non-dominant hand to help
4-5 Years	·         Can cut on a line continuously ·         Copies a cross and a square ·         Can write their own name ·         Writes number 1-5 ·         Able to copy letters ·         Established dominant hand ·         Can get dressed and undressed independently
5-6 Years	·         Can cut out simple shapes ·         Can copy a triangle ·         Can also colour in between the lines ·         Is able to hold a pencil with the tripod grip – thumb, forefinger and index finger ·         Can glue paper ·         Able to draw a basic picture
6-7 Years	·         Able to form most letters and numbers ·         Can write on the line ·         Has control over pencil movements ·         Able to build Lego or similar building blocks ·         Can tie own shoelaces

Not only do these motor skills help us eventually with writing and tying our own shoelaces, they also have an impact on our cognitive functioning.

Our motor movements have been found, with the use of neuroimaging techniques, to be linked to the cognition centres of the brain. Fine motor skills have been found to be a strong indicator of later cognitive ability, particularly reading and math skills.

This is why they are important skills to develop, and when we see them lacking we need to help out. To help you out, we have developed a fine motor checklist with activities to help identify if there is a gap in the development process. 

Have fun getting to know your class

So you've had a few weeks to settle into school, and it's all going well,  but as teachers we really need to get to know who the little people are in our classes.

I often get to know the parents of my class well. Why? Well, quite simply they are the experts on their child, you can learn so much from them, and this is important because, we as adults do not go into jobs we don't like, we don't eat things we don't like, so why are we making children learn things that are not important to them?

Yes, there are parts of our job that we do not enjoy, and so there are parts of school that no one enjoys. But, why are teaching them to count using teddy bears when they like dinosaurs?

I therefore, find it incredibly important to find out what makes my learners tick. And, there are a few activities that you can use to do this.

There are games to play, and a simple google search will help you out there - I always like to start off with the concrete and consolidate with a worksheet or more abstract activity.
So for the concrete activity you can have a look at our hot air balloon activity, where you can make 3D hot air balloons to hang up in your class. This way, all the learners in your class can see what everyone else likes, and you may even see new friendships develop...

If you want something a little more simple, have a look at our getting to know your class book.

Most importantly, get to know your class! I find this one of the most important aspects of starting off your year well, you class will respect you more, for trying to teach them about what they are interested in, and quite simply they may enjoy class and school more...