Overcoming Autism Spectrum

Disorder
Dr. Shazia Iqbal Hashmi
Faculty Of Psychology & Education
Universiti Malaysia Sabah

What is ASD?
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a
developmental disorder that impacts the
way individuals communicate and interpret
their environment, often resulting in
challenges with social interactions and
processing information.

DSM-5 ASD Criteria

Persistent deficits in social communication and

social interaction across contexts
Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests
or activities
Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements,
Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to
routines, or ritualized patterns or verbal nonverbal
behavior
Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in
intensity or focus
Hyper or hypo reactivity to sensory input or unusual
interests

 Symptoms must be present in early

childhood
Symptoms cause clinically significant
impairment in social, occupational, or
other important areas of current
functioning

Famous people

Treatment for ASD

Treatments for ASD can be grouped into
different categories.
Behavior Programs
Education and
Learning Programs
Medications
Other Treatments
and Therapies

Behavior programs

These programs address social skills, attention,

sleep, play, anxiety, parent interaction, and
challenging behaviors.
Lovaas Model
Pivotal Response Training
Hanen More Than Word
Coping Cat
Facing Your Fears
are examples of this type of program.

Education and learning programs

These programs are offered in schools or other
learning centers.
Treatment and Education of Autistic and
Communication related handicapped Children
(TEACCH)
Other programs are classroom- or centerbased and use applied behavior analysis
(commonly known as ABA) strategies like
positive reinforcement.

 Medicines are sometime used to treat

ASD symptoms
Antipsychotics
Serotonin-reuptake inhibitors
Stimulants and other hyperactivity
Secretin
Chelation

Other treatments and therapies

Other types of treatments or therapies that
have been used for children with ASD, such as:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Speech and language therapy.

Music therapy.
Occupational therapy.
Acupuncture.
Vitamins and mineral supplements.
Massage therapy.
The Picture Exchange Communication System.
Responsive Prelinguistic Milieu Teaching.
Neurofeedback.

o Sleep education and training.

 How can you support students with ASD in

your classroom and school?

Structure is Key!
Make information
accessible
Spell out where homework
goes and where to get
materials for the day
Provide structure
Make task expectations
clear
Create a predictable
classroom

Consider potential auditory and

visual challenges
Sitting too close to:
Windows
Hallway door
Specific students

Radio playing
Messages flickering on TV screen
Fluorescent lights

Classroom Strategies
Talking to a child with autism:
Attention: make sure you get the childs attention before
talking to them.
Unnecessary Language: be short and to the point (For
example, instead of saying, You need to come and sit in
your seat like all the other children until its time to go
outside, point to the chair and say, Sit please.
Do vs. Dont: Tell the child what you want him/her to do
instead of what not to do. Avoid using dont because a
child with autism may not understand or catch the reversed
meaning of the statement beginning with dont.

Classroom Strategies

Priming
PECS
Visual Schedules
Visuals
Social Stories
5 point scale
Comic Strip Conversations/Cartooning
Power Cards

Priming
Priming is exposure to academic course
material or tasks before instruction
It gives students the chance to become
familiar with the material or skills, and
increases the likelihood they will learn and
use key concepts

Priming is most effective when it is built

into the students daily routine

PECS
PECS has six stages of implementation:
1.Physical exchange
2.Spontaneity increase
3.Training to discrimination
4.Structure of a sentence
5.Answer to the question What do you want?
6.Commenting

Visual Schedule
Providing a daily schedule in a visual
format will make the day predictable, ease
transitions, and reduce stress.
full day, may break the day into sections,
or display only a part of the day at a time.
may use photos, line drawings, picture
symbols or words
(Crissey, 2005).

Visual Schedule
Spelling

Lunch

Reading

Bathroom

Math

Recess

Bathroom

ABT

Activity

CCC Lab

Visuals
Other types of visual supports include:
reminders of what to do, such as posted rules
to do checklists,
charts displaying consequences for inappropriate actions.
Visually displaying free time or other choices helps the child to
understand the process of decision making.
Presenting a card is often easier for the child than asking for help. Using
simple cue cards for the child to give to an adult or to place in a certain
location may be helpful.
(Crissey, 2005, p. 4)

I need help

I need a
break

5 Point Scale(visual scale)

Can be used to help students reduce abstract
ideas such as emotions, feelings, or pain into
simple numbers
Can also be used to address behaviors such as
vocal volume, disrespect, etc.
Can be used to help student identify where they
can use certain behaviors. (e.g. vocal volume
level 5 is reserved for outside or in an extreme
emergency when there is no one near by that can
hear you)

Example
The scale:

What it looks like:

Yelling
(sirens, shouting, screaming, fire alarm)

Loud
(announcements over the intercom)

Conversation
(friends talking, easy to hear but not too loud)

Whisper
(have to be really close to hear, talk into ear)

No sound
(peaceful)

Example
Looks
Like
Kicking or hitting

Feels
Like
My head will
explode

I Can
Try to
Call my mom to go
home

Screaming or hitting Nervous

Go see Teacher

Quiet, rude talk

Bad mood, grumpy

Stay away from kids

Regular kid

Good

Enjoy it

Playing

A million bucks

Stay that way

Social Stories
Social Stories present appropriate social behavior in the form
of a book and include:
relevant social cues that a child might miss if not directly taught
specific behaviors/actions the child is to expect in a given situation
details for the child to know what is expected of him

Social stories may be used to:

address many different behaviors from fear, aggression, obsession, etc
teach routines and changes in routines
help teach students to understand their behaviors and the behaviors of
others
give step-by-step directions for completing a task
tell how to respond to a given situation

Writing a Social Story

Social stories include the following information:
1. who, what, and where
2. Statement of desired responses
3. Reaction and feelings of others involved

social stories need to be age and ability appropriate and use

terms like usually or sometimes instead of always

Social stories are typically written in present tense to describe

events as the take place, but may be written to describe events
that will take place in the future.

Illustrations may be included depending on the need of the

student.

Presenting Social Stories

Present the social story in a quiet place that is free from
distractions
Reread social story just before targeted situation
Review social story frequently until behavior diminishes
Keep the social story accessible to the student so
he/she can refer back to it as needed.
Never refer to the social story or attempt using the social
story when the child is in crisis/having a meltdown.

Comic Strip
Conversations/Cartooning
Comic Strip Conversations (aka: Cartooning) are visual systems used to
enhance the ability of children and youth with social-cognitive challenges to
understand their environment, including the hidden curriculum.

Steps for creating/using comic strip conversations:

Drawing: Begin by drawing the drawing the comic strip conversation. This
can be done by you or the student. Either way, artistic ability is not required;
stick figures work fine.
Guide with questions: The adult guides the students drawing or what
needs to be drawn by asking a series of questions:
Where are you?
Who else is there?
What did you do?
What did others do
(Myles, Trautman, & Schelvan, 2004, p. 28-29)

Insight: The adult shares his/her personal insights during the cartooning
process when the natural opportunity occurs. (NOTE: student should have
as much control as possible during the cartooning session and adults
should strive to achieve a balance between gathering insights into the
students perspective, while sharing accurate social information.
Provide sequence or structure: Use comic strip boxes in which the
student can draw the figures, particularly if the student has organizational
problems. This way boxes can be numbered if the events are drawn out of
sequence.
Summarize the cartoon: This allows participants to discuss the comic
strip in chronological order. The student should verbalize independently, as
much as possible, with the adult only clarifying as needed. Summarization
ensures that both the child and the adult have the same understanding of a
given situation.
Identify new solutions: The adult and student work together, again with
the student performing as independently as possible, to identify new
outcomes of the pictured event. The adult and student jointly analyze each
item, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each. The student
retains the list, which becomes a plan for future situations.
(Myles, Trautman, & Schelvan, 2004, p. 28-29)

Social Stories/Comic Strip

Conversations
Social stories and Comic Strip Conversations are techniques that were
created by Carol Gray. For more information about these techniques and
their creator visit: www.thegraycenter.org.

Power Cards
The power card strategy is a visual aid that incorporates the childs
special interest in teaching appropriate social interactions including:
routines
behavior expectations
the meaning of language
the hidden curriculum.
The Power Card Strategy consists of presenting on a single sheet or in
booklet form a short scenario, written in the first person, describing how
the childs hero solves a problem and a small card, the POWER CARD,
which recaps how the child can use the same strategy to solve a
similar
problem himself.
(Gagnon, 2001, p. 19)

Where Can the Power Card Strategy Be Used?

Power Cards are appropriate for behaviors/situations in which the student:
1. lacks understanding of what she/he is to do.
2. does not understand that he has choices.
3. has difficulty understanding that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between
a specific behavior and its consequence.
4. has difficulty remembering what to do without a prompt.
5. does not understand the perspective of others.
6. knows what to do when calm but cannot follow a give routine under stress.
7. needs a visual reminder to recall the behavioral expectation for the situation.
8. has difficulty generalizing.
9. is difficult to motivate and may be motivated only by the special interest.
10. has difficulty accepting directions from an adult
(Gagnon, 2001, p. 21-22)

Power Cards are NOT appropriate with/when the

student:
1. has sensory needs such as difficulty tolerating certain noises, smells, or
tastes.
2. Is extremely challenged cognitively and appears not to understand spoken
language at the sentence or paragraph level. (This doesnt mean that the
child has to be a reader.)
3. engages in the problem behavior only once.
4. The teacher or other adults do not have a positive relationship with the
child. Remember, the Power Card strategy is not a punishment. It should
not be perceived as negative in any way.
5. A child in crisis. When the child is in the rage stage, this technique will not
work.
6. does not have a well-developed area of interest. In order to buy into the
strategy, the child needs to want to follow the heros directions.
(Gagnon, 2001, p. 22)

Calm in Crisis/
How to Handle a Meltdown
Dont:
Loud voices
Negative statements/threats (e.g. You had your chance, You made your choice,
now you need to leave class)
Taking away preferred or comforting materials or activities
Physical redirection
Angry tone or body language
Punishments (e.g., You just lost your sticker on your behavior chart)
Do:
One of the most important skills a teacher can have is the ability to be calm and
comforting in a crisis or meltdown situation. A comforting teacher may:
talk softly and share encouraging words
repeat a calming phrase
or simply keep ones own body relaxed
(Kluth)

The more you try to control the situation, the less control you will have!

Things to Consider:
Its important to consider the following things:
Ask previous teachers and/or parents what typically occurs
when the child has a meltdown (does he/she throw things, hit,
kick, etc.)
Find out if there are triggers or warning signs that a meltdown
might occur and if so what are those triggers or warning signs
Talk with teachers, parents, administrators, etc and discuss
the best way to deescalate the situation
Determine when you should call for additional support

Have a Plan
Plan for what the other students should do (Drill and Practice):
Examples:
Develop a code word for clearing the room. Discuss this with your
class when the student is out of the room.
Develop a place they should go when they leave the room (e.g.
classroom across the hall, library, etc).
Designate a student who will go to the office, get another teacher,
etc. to notify someone
Make sure that everyone involved with the student is aware of the
plan

Additional Resources

www.scautism.org
www.autismspeaks.org
www.futurehorizons-autism.com
www.teacch.com/welcome.html
www.paulakluth.com
www.tonyatwood.com.au
www.thegraycenter.org/