Autism Blogger - The Online Autism Support Group

Public Schools & Autism

anamaria — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:17:56 -0500

I am interesting in hearing from parents and educators about programming and treatment options available to students with ASD in public schools that they view as being successful.

Visual Strategies Success Story

Autism Family Online — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:59:15 -0500

A visual strategies success story from a reader..."Even though my son is a teenager, he was still "climbing" into the car - putting his knees on the seat first, and then turning himself around and sitting down. We took pictures of him getting in the car "the right way" and the "the wrong way" and now he gets in the car "the right way" 99% of the time."

Question??? Please provide me with information.

Elizabeth O — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:54:07 -0500

We are no longer able to keep both my sons in their private school. So I have this plan. My seven year old was suppose to integate back to the public school this year (he had gone mute in the public system at age 4). He has just not been ready. I want to place him in a typical kindergarten classroom with a paraprofessional. I want to be his para. I know his needs and I want him to succeed. He is reading and will be more advanced than most kindergarteners. But, he still needs one on one help with working on his own. He has very few (if any) behavior issues and is a quiet child.

My questions is not should I do it. I did it part time with my first child who had autism, as a volunteer. I have three children with autism and this child is compromised the most by his autism. So the question is how do I convince the principle and then the district that it is a good idea? Is there any examples of this type of arrangement? I have to move quickly. Please respond with any suggestions. Sometimes the seemingly most insignificant detail can lead to a great outcome.

Best Day Ever

forthesakeofJOY — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:21:27 -0500

I am watching college football and my Alma mater is losing to the team that was our biggest gymnastics rival when I competed for Penn State. Yes, JoePa and the Nittany Lions are being outplayed by Ohio State. (Stupid Buckeyes.) Although I have nothing to do with the outcome of the game and I have no financial interest in who is the victor, I still want my team to win and the fact that they will lose has made me just a wee bit grumpy. I know this grumpy feeling will last approximately 64 seconds after the game actually ends, and then it will be gone. Because even though I wanted them to win, my mood for the day does not depend on it whatsoever.

Shift gears... Cooper currently has two favorite songs. One is titled "The Best Day Ever" and is sung by Spongebob Squarepants. The other song is "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter. Best Day Ever and Bad Day. I find it interesting that the extremes of "best" and "bad" are what appeals to him. It makes some sense though. He has trouble finding the middle ground. Usually he is at one or the other end of the emotional spectrum....Completely happy and satisfied or agitated and inconsolable. When he was younger, if he was having a day living in sad-ville everything would become all about getting us back into happyland. We would do everything we could to get him out of the funk.

On Wednesday of this week he had a really hard transition from school to home. By the time we got home he was in such a state that he and I sat on the landing of our stairs for a good 20 minutes. I just held him while he sobbed. At some point he said, "I'm sorry mom."
I said, "You have nothing to be sorry about." (big pause) Then I said, "I hate to see you cry."
His response was, "I know. Me too. I can't help it." read more »

Free Child Web Page

SkillSprout.com — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:30:21 -0500

Teaching Children with Autism Conversation

SkillSprout.com — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:26:47 -0500

By AmyShymansky on October 7th, 2009

The “art” of social conversation is a very abstact concept. How do we teach concreate learners, such as children with Autism Spectrum Disorders appropriate social language skills? By making it concrete of course! When developing an understanding of what appropriate social conversation “looks like” there are some rules and structures we can begin to develop to assist children with autism to develop appropriate conversation skills. Consider the following objectives when looking at building conversation skills in your child:

1) Develop rules, examples, and a lot of practice on how to initiate conversations with others. Teach your child to understand the intent of the conversation to assist in developing strategies to initiate the conversation. For example, when the intent is to build a relationship with the person we might consider learning more about the person or talking about things the person themself is interested in. When initiating a conversation in this type of a scenario we would teach a child to develop initiation statements based of interests of the conversation partner, or initiating based-off of asking questions to learn more about the conversation partner.

2) Additionally, consider directly teaching your child strategies to maintain and join conversations. Developing your child’s ability to ask questions and make statements within conversations.

3) If your child has perseverative topics of conversation consider developing his/her ability to monitor engagement in perseverative topics and discriminating when it is “ok” to engage in perseverative topics, and when it is not. Additionally, work on developing other topics of conversations that may be of interest to peers.

4) Developing your child’s ability to ask questions to engage and expand conversations may also be a critical skill when developing his/her social language skills. read more »

Teaching Children with Autism to Answer WH Questions

SkillSprout.com — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:19:26 -0500

Teaching children with autism to answer wh ?’s questions is an imperative skill for improving comprehension and social language skills. Answering wh?’s can be broken down and taught using rules and concrete concepts. When teaching who, what, and where questions begin first by teaching rules.

Rules

Who =person
Where= place
When = time

Person, Place, Time

Once your child can list or describe the “rule” for the targeted wh ? begin developing the concepts of person, place, and time. Make sure you target the questions individually, for example first teach who, then where, etc. To begin developing your child’s concepts of person, place and time ask your child to list, or categorize “banks” of examples of each. For example, child “lists” 5-10 persons (siblings, parents, relatives, friends, teachers, etc). Be sure your child can list unfamiliar and generic (i.e. Mr. Smith, Johnny, etc.) community helpers (i.e. doctor, policeman, etc.).

Teach in a Sentence

Once your child is able to list or categorize familiar/unfamiliar persons,places, and times, begin using in a sentence and asking questions. You may need to have a visual of the rule present to pre-teach or error correct with your child.

Example:

Give your child a sentence, (example)”Mom when to the store.” , ask your child “who?”

Child responds “Mom” read more »

Insurance Coverage for Behavioral Services for Children with Autism

SkillSprout.com — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:14:52 -0500

Insurance Coverage for Behavioral Services for Children with Autism

By AmyShymansky on October 24th, 2009

Many state and federal initiatives are in place to end insurance discrimination for families with children with autism. The following link shares current information on your states current and pending legislation as well as prospective federal legislations.

http://www.autismvotes.org/site/c.frKNI3PCImE/b.3909861/k.B9DF/State_Initiatives.htm

Even if your state has laws in place to mandate insurance coverage for children with autism the process of getting services covered can be involved.

Below are some suggestions for simplifying the process:

1) Find a primary care physician who is supportive and understands the benefits of behavioral interventions for your child.

2) Contact your insurance company to find providers in your area, develop an understanding of the provider approval process.

3) Be persistent! Many insurance companies are just beginning to identify providers for these services. Find people within your insurance company who can answer your questions related to obtaining coverage. If necessary, identify billing codes to share with your insurance company related to your requested behavioral services to assist in quickly communicating your families needs.

Check out this link as an additional resource to assist in the process of obtaining insurance coverage for your child: read more »

Teaching Children with Autism to Answer and Ask Why Questions

SkillSprout.com — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:11:48 -0500

By AmyShymansky on October 26th, 2009

Quick Strategy: To assist children with autism in learning to answer and ask “why” questionsdevelop your child’s ability to understand cause and effect relationships.

Try using sequencing picture cards initially to assist in developing your child’s understanding of cause and effect relationships.

Purchase or develop sets of 3-5 pictures representing a sequence of events (EX: child running to school because he is missed his bus, etc.) Pair “why” questions with the sequenced events. EX: “Why is the child running to school?”, etc. Use pictures from the sequence to prompt appropriate responses. Use many examples of picture sequences to develop your child’s understanding of cause effect relationships.

http://blog.skillsprout.com/teaching-conversation-to-children-with-autism/teaching-children-with-autism-to-answer-and-ask-why-questions/

Teaching Children with Autism to Answer How Questions

SkillSprout.com — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:09:39 -0500

Teaching Children with Autism to Answer How Questions

By AmyShymansky on October 26th, 2009

Quick Strategy: To assist in teaching children with autism to answer and ask how questions develop their ability to describe steps in a process.

For example, ask your child to list or describe steps in the process to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. Use visuals if necessary. Be sure to consistently use and teach key phrases such as “first”, “next”, “last”, etc. to help provide a structure for your child to use when responding.

Once your child can describe steps in a process begin asking “how” questions, and pairing the description of the steps to the appropriate process. Use visuals initially to assist in correct responding if necessary. Fade visuals as your child begins to understand the concept of answering, and eventually asking how questions.

http://blog.skillsprout.com/uncategorized/teaching-children-with-autism-to-answer-how-questions/