Autism and Inclusive Education - help desperately needed!

[bloss]

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Wow bloss - inclusion in music education is my topic for a postgrad diploma - and I am with you on the NFI for this one (my inclusion is not just special needs in my defence). It seems so hard to write about a hypothetical child rather than a real one.

I guess a starting point is;

What would you normally do in a class at this level?
How would the boy as described be excluded from that because of what they have described?
What strategies would you try to overcome these so that he can be included.

At least this way you start on familiar territory and it gradually gets harder - also you can ask specific questions of the people who know.

The very best of British with it.

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But including him would not mean doing the same work - or would it.

Obviously it must be possible as they do use the term "successfully include".

Music is easier in this respect I suspect- for instance I could successfully include someone by getting them to provide the underpinning drum beat to a really much more complex melody played by some of the more gifted students, or if we were doing notation we could use different materials depending on the understanding and abilities of the students. Some could use computers, some writing scores, others using long and short bits of twigs, but they would all be doing notation.

I keep re-reading the OP and tbh can't for the life of me see how it would work! My 2 boys are much younger though so it's not something I have any RL experience of.

Things that come to mind are:

Does/would the boy have a full-time 1:1 LSA who knows him well (hypothetically of course). I suppose the first stage would be information-gathering. Speaking to the LSA/parents/other staff about which strategies have worked for them and which methods of communication are preferred/needed.

Layout of the classroom so that noise is reduced as much as possible so that boy can concentrate, eg no noisy fans/air-conditioning, not sitting him next to an open window or near to the chattiest pupils. Maybe arrangements for him to wear something to cover his hears while you are not giving instructions/info, eg headphones playing white noise, ear-mufflers etc.

An independent work-station to block out visual distractions (notso easy if changing classrooms for each lesson).

Visual learning rather than verbal instructions.

Somewhere to retreat to if it gets too much with a sensory overload.

Relating the work to his current obsessions (again not sure how that would work at secondary level).

Strategies to give as much warning as possible if changes to routine eg change of plans/teacher/seating arrangements

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I think even with an LSA it seems pretty unlikely tbh. I'm not even sure my ds1 will cope in a m/s secondary and he's verbal, HFA and with no SIB.

Presumably the hypothetical secondary isn't one with an autism unit attached?

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oh ffs tell them its impossible and he needs to be a special school learning appropriate life skills. A non-verbal 17 year old autistic boy does not need to be learning maths skills (how anyway??? you need complex language to be taught maths at this stage- he may work out complex stuff himself but he won't be instructed in it!) he needs to be learning communiction skills, he needs sensory work to help his noise sensitivities. Cocentration span of 2-3 minutes is high in a child like this without constant 1:1 help.

Would you get in trouble if you used this as an example of WHY he should be in special school.

I am utterly shocked that this is on a teaching degree, no wonder inclusion is so f*** it's all complete pie in the sky.

If you want to get an idea of how it can (in very very very rare) cases work then read Lucy's Story by Lucy Blackman. Lucy however uses facilitated communication to communicate which is very contentious (so your tutor may automatically not believe it- although in Lucy's case she can type independently now so it "true"). She did go to mainstream school in secondary level, too exams and went to university to do an english degree. She is pretty much non-verbal though (she's actually very like ds1). Ha ha your tutor won't know how to marke you suggesting the use of facilitated communication though

Seriously this little "real life" scenario is laughable. DS1 in a mainstream classroom was like this (except PECS/no signs/and shorter attention span) and he ended up spending most of each day being walked round and round the school by his LSA (like a dog!). Mainstream classrooms can't begin to deal with this sort of situation that in any way benefits the child "highly sensitive to noise"- right a mainstream classroom is just the IDEAL environment.

I'll lend you ds1 and the tutor teaching this class can "demonstrate" how it should be done. PMSL. First he'd have to keep ds1 in the room (ahh can't be done at mainstream- can at special school as the doors are designed to prevent pupils escaping).

gosh i hope that would never happen

threebob- not picking on youy- but just demonstrating why autism is different....

"for instance I could successfully include someone by getting them to provide the underpinning drum beat to a really much more complex melody played by some of the more gifted students"

Thiws just wouldn;t work with a child like this. Say you gave the drum to ds1 (who is very like this theoretical 17 year old) , he'd look at it, sniff it, maybebash it a few times, jump up and down, flap hands, open and close the door, then leg it out the room laughing.

To get him to join in you would need an LSA to practicaly sit on him, to hold his hand and hold the beater, to do the option for him, to say "ds1 do it", he'd do it maybe twice then drop it. The stand up. The LSA would have to say "ds1 sit down" pick up the beater, hold it in his hand and say "ds1 do it". Repeatedly.

WHich is why it won't work.

It owuld be great if you coould somehow turn this into what a success special education can be bloss. For example ds1 at mainstream didn't maange 2 mins in an assembly, he will now do an hour, (although sometimes has to go out and come baqck in, and frequently stands up so has to be sat back down again).

I'm still shocked that whoever wrote the quesiton thinks it could be in any way benefitting a child to be in that situation.

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bloss your talk about hands on stuff- some children may have a thing about making things so that could work (although whether they'd understand why they were doing it is a different thing). SOmeone like ds1 hates making stuff, he just won't, and won't be adult directed so if you took him over to measure the surface area and moved his hands though it he'd probably just try and walk away, and then you're into a situation where you either need to restrain him (!) or be unable to continue with your explanation.

Remember that autistic children often (especially at the level of this theoretical boy) base their behaviour on those around them. What everyone else in a classroom is doing is a complete irrelevance to ds1. If he wants to go off and touch a green box over the other side of the room he will, if he decides to sniff the tv he wil. 19 month old ds3 can be encouraged to "do it like ds2", ds1? never.

Put out a call for Christie,- she's taught children with this level of autism for years (in a SLD/PMLD school), so would be able to help with wonderful lesson plans.

One thought - the idea of inclusion is obviously to teach to an appropriate level for the child. Maybe they could do something completely different with their 1:1. DS1's work on bigger and smaller for example involves building up blocks in the soft play area, following a PECS worksheet "get 1 yellow block"- the lesson included colour, shapes and big one- following a worksheet.

One thing you could do is browse OFSTED reports for SLD schools- they often include a brief description of sample lessons and if might give you an idea of the sorts of ways you could make the curriculum accessible - they still have to follow the national curriculum but are very clever at manipulating it to be useful

No way would he be fluent in algebra - in an intructable sense. Well the only person I've come across who would have been- and who has this level of disability is Lucy Blackman. So it can happen, but is very rare.

Yes turning this sort of assignment around is often very risky! Perhaps after you've finished question them more on it.

The classic way to approach teaching an autistic child would be as CT described, remove distractions, provide lots of visual reinforcement, use PECS to back up instructions. PECSed out instructions (rather than verbal).

For practical tips I'd really browse OFSTED reports and put a call out tp Christie. She has years of experience.

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Totaly agree with everything that JJ has said. I have worked with several children with ASD....at various levels. I teach science in secondary and I don't think that this boy could be meaningfully included into a Mainstream school.

Like JJ I feel that this boy needs to be learning life skills..unless as you say he is a mathematical savant Bloss.

I feel the right answer to this esaay is, 'He needs a place in a special school' However I bet next months wages they would fail you if you had the audacity to be honest.

If I were to be placed in this situation my initial response (after panic!) wouls be to try to develop this young man's use of pecs by trying to tie them into his current obcessions.

My understanding of the NC is that you can addapt it to meet a child's needs. So if you are supposed to e teaching ks3, but a child has not sucessfuly completed KS2, you can stay on topic, but teach it at the appropriate level. TBH your greatest difficulty here is his fixation on oncessions. I think you will have to work with these, feeding you topic into them whenever you can.

You will also have to think about what is going to happen to this child at break and lunchtimes....potentialy the most awful times of the ay for him if he cannot cope with changes in routine. He needs to have a quiet area when he can seek sanctuary.

As his teacher I would be keen to contact, the SENCO, CAMHs ( crap often I know JJ but you have to do what you can), see if there is an autism outreach worker that you can contact for advice....put all this into the essay....they will be looking to make sure that you know who to ask for help and support, partucularly when a child is on SA plus or statemented.

Christie is the person to talk to.

I'll cut and paste some stuff on maths from school reports and IEPS etc here, to give you some idea of how they go about it. Obviously ds1 is 7, but to be honest I'm not sure the approach changes that much throughout the school, it still appears to follow the same aims/methods.

"mathematical development as an area aims to develop awareness of shape, of positions, of patters and number. Maths work has aimed to deal with these concepts in situations which come natually to the learning process and esnure they arise from situaitons where use of number/colour/shape is of a functional nature. Colour requests have been incorporated into the I want requests ds1 makes for food but that's about it at the moment........... To maintain his ability to stay focussed on these tasks we have also had to combine TEACCH style work with the I am working for strategy...........We have started to make a point of his doing more than he wants to offer. This is not because he finds the activity stressful - or difficult for that matter. IN an attempt to get round this barrier we have attemoted to place ds1 more in control of the activity. Alright you don't like being told to blue compare bear on the strip.......you tell me what sequence of colours you want ME to follow..... It does work or was working. DS1 was beginning to actually make an attempt at making a pattern, selecting a colour felt tip and making a mark on a bit of paper. This represented- and still represents - huge progress."

from and IEP. "ds1 to be involved in counting activities through involvement in our daily jobs such as counting for drinks at snack time and counting up children for dinners"

then it mentions TEACCH work, stacking and sorting "adults around him to be using maths language of "more" and "less" in this and other situations."

Notice how the functionality of concepts is emphasised.

hope that's some help towards the type of approaches used- I think it gives a flavour of the classroom.

pecs australia The I want and I am working for bits mentioned in the report are all PECS based.

SIB is self injurous behavour (so when frustrated ds1 hits himself, or will headbut the floor, or - new one- bit his hand.) Fairly ommon in children with ASD- and may occur frequently throughout the day (especially in noisy mainstream classrooms! ) .

A child such as the one described is unlikely to be working at level 1 of the national curriculum. He may but but the majority of children at ds1's school leave still on p levels.

oh if you look at the pecs australia site they have some lesson plans. The attributes section is worth looking at- quite a good way to teach some mathematical concepts (so for example at home with ds1 I get different coloured/shaped boxes- put a choc button in one (which he sees) and he then has to give me a PECS request "I want silver star" (out of a choice of silver or gold, star or square), he gets the silver star opens it for his choccy. If he asks for silver sqaure he gets the silver square- but there's no choccy inside.

attributes is under "iep objectives" rather than lesson plans.....

Jimjams - I should have made it clear that I was not talking about this hypothetical boy and music, just how I include able and less able children (which is my research). Thank you for making your points to me gently.

I do teach two 5 year autistic boys and I would not attempt to teach them with other children, as they benefit far more from this "positive exclusion".

I don't think bloss's hypothetical situation is possible either.

I suspect its the sort of thing they want to see in Bloss' assignment anyway threebob - and as its theoretical I suppose it doesn't really matter. Anyone entering SLD teaching with this sort of assignment as preparation would realise within minutes they'd been duped anyway

Christie - I love the role toast plays in an SLD school Toasters must be one of the most necessary bits of teaching equipment (and lovely to see it tranfer home as well- ds1 will spread his own toast now )