1. Understanding Students with Autism
Chapter 11
Understanding Students with Autism
Each Power Point presentation can be viewed as transparencies or computer presentations. There are discussion questions and links to websites imbedded in each Power Point presentation to assist instructors and students. Please refer to the Instructors Manual for the complete list of ancillaries that support each chapter. The DVD and Companion Website all have video clips and other materials for an enriching multimedia instructional experience.

2. Defining Autism
IDEA: Autism is a developmental disability that affects children prior to the age of three in three areas:
Verbal & nonverbal communication
Social interaction
Academic performance
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)
Autism is a spectrum disorder, including Asperger’s Syndrome

3. Prevalence of Autism Greater public awareness
In 2003–2004, 132,333 students
Fewer students with Asperger Syndrome
Males outnumber females four to one
Increased prevalence in last decade
Different theories for the increase in prevalence:
Greater public awareness
More refined diagnostic procedures
The alleged negative effect of vaccines (especially containing mercury) on young children’s brain development
Discuss the prevalence of the disability and the dramatic growth it has undergone over the past decade. For discussion purposes you may want to access the 60 Minutes program title “To Vaccinate or Not” ( This offers a 60 Minutes expose on the issues surrounding vaccination and its possible tie to autism.

4. Characteristics of Autism
Language Development
Ranging from no verbal communication to complex communication
Delayed Language
Echolalia
Social Development
Delays in social interaction and social skills
Impaired use of nonverbal behavior
Lack of peer relationships
Failure to spontaneously share enjoyment, interests, and achievements
Lack of reciprocity

5. Characteristics of Autism
Repetitive behavior
Obsessions, tics, and perseverations
Problem behavior
Self-injurious behavior
Aggression
Need for environmental predictability
Sensory and movement disorders
Intellectual functioning
Savant syndrome

6. Determining the Causes
Historical perspectives on causes
“Refrigerator mothers”
Biomedical causes
Abnormalities in brain development
Neurochemistry
Genetic factors

7. Determining the Presence
Usually in early childhood
Often uses some of the same tests given to students with mental retardation and severe/multiple disabilities
Criteria may include:
Speech and language
Academic achievement
Cognitive functioning
Medical physical status
Autism Diagnostic Interview - Revised

8. Determining Supplementary Aids and Services
Address the domains of access, classroom, and task modifications
Access involves modifications to the community, campus, building, or classroom to ensure physical and cognitive access
Also design IEPs to provide “behavioral access”
The lunchroom is a frequent environment in which problem behaviors occur; consider modifications to seating
Include accommodations for before and after school and in the hall between classes
Develop visual schedules

9. Planning for Other Educational Needs
Provide students instructional supports that enable them to develop and maintain friendships
Promoting friendships
Include students in all areas
Use peer buddy programs
Use person-centered planning models that involve peers
Ensure peers learn about the goals of inclusion

10. Planning for Other Educational Needs
Students’ IEPs should address the following instructional areas:
Trustworthiness and loyalty
Conflict resolution
General friendship skills
Positive interaction style
Taking the perspective of others

11. Early Childhood Students
Early intervention and preschool programs use different approaches, including the following:
Applied behavior analytic techniques, such as discrete trial training
Incidental teaching in natural environments
Communication, sensory processing, motor planning, and shared affect with caregivers and peers
Social stories address the “hidden curriculum”

12. Elementary and Middle School Students
Positive behavior supports
Proactive, problem-solving, and data-based approach to improving appropriate behavior and achieving important academic, social, and communication outcomes
Instructs students to replace their problem behavior with appropriate behavior
Also seeks to rearrange school environments and change school systems to prevent students from engaging in problem behaviors
Primary goal of universal support is to create a positive learning context for all students

13. Secondary and Transition Students
The techniques underlying positive behavior support emerged from a set of strategies referred to as applied behavior analysis (ABA)
ABA uses the principles of operant psychology
Discrete trial training is based on the “three term contingency” outlined by applied behavior analysis:
Presentation of the discriminative stimulus (cue)
Presentation of the prompting stimulus (if needed)
The response
The reinforcing stimulus

14. Measuring Students’ Progress
Autism Screening Instrument for Educational Planning (ASIEP-2)
Measures progress in addressing other educational needs
Measure outcomes related to school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports
Direct counts of problem behavior
Problem behavior reported by environment or time of day
Indirect indicators of success
Data collection tools
School Wide Information System
School-Wide Evaluation Tool (SET)
Self-Assessment of Contextual Fit in Schools
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15. Making Accommodations for Assessment
Students with autism may perform better on standardized assessments when provided more frequent positive reinforcement
They may also perform better when assessments are administered by a familiar person
Presence of the examiner minimizes the students’ anxiety and stress associated with testing