a scientific approach to designing, conducting and evaluating instruction based on empirically verified principles describing functional relations between events in the environment and learning.

-          Believe autism is amenable to change

-  individualized

Examples of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

-          Discrete Trial Training

-          Picture exchange communication systems (PECS)

-          Peer mediated interventions

-          Errorless discriminating learning

-          Self-management strategies

-          Functional communication training

-          Naturalistic language strategies

impairments in all social areas, particularly an inability to understand how to interact socially and appropriately

-          Mild end of autistic spectrum

-          Characteristics (repetitive and stereotype behavior, preoccupation with atypical things, pedantic speech, difficulty with motor activities)

-          Do not have general language delay

-          Most have average to above-average intelligence

  a neurobehavioral syndrome marked by qualitative impairments of social interaction and communication, and by restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior.

a group of five related developmental disorders that share common core deficits or difficulties in social relationships, communication, and ritualistic behavior; differentiated from one another primarily by the age of onset and severity of various symptom

-          Impaired social relationships, communication and language deficits, intellectual functioning, and unusual responsiveness to sensory stimuli are characteristics of autism spectrum disorders.

-          ASD refers to a related group of conditions that has also been known as pervasive developmental disorder (PDD).

5 subtypes of Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

-           includes autistic disorder

-           Asperger syndrome

-          Rett syndrome

-           Childhood disintegrative disorder

-           Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS)

 Autism is a developmental disability affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally before age 3, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

 marked by three defining features, with onset before age 3;

1.       Impaired social interaction

2.       Impaired communication

3.       Restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, & activities (e.g. persistently preoccupation with parts and objects)

people with extraordinary ability in an area such as memorization, mathematical calculations, or musical ability while functioning at the mental retardation level in all other areas

-          Very few persons have this ability

Intellectual Functioning

-          40%-80% meet diagnosis criteria of mental retardation

-          10%-15% have “splinter skills” superior performance in one area that are unexpected compared to other domains of function

Characteristics of ASD

-          Impaired social relationships

-          Communication and Language deficits- Many children with autism do not speak; echolia is common way of talking

-          Varying levels of intellectual functioning, uneven skill development

-          Unusual responsiveness to sensory stimuli

-          Insistence and sameness and perseveration (do it over and over again)

-          Ritualistic and stereotypic behavior

-          Aggressive or self-injurious behavior

Prevalence

-          Recent estimates

o   Autism occurs in as many as 30-121 in 10,000 people

o   Serious increases since the 1970’s, or better defined

-          Boys are affected about 4 times more often than girls

o   The lone exception here is Rett syndrome

-          Autism is the fastest-growing category in special education

Causes

-          The cause of autism is unknown

-          There is a clear biological origin of autism in the form of abnormal brain development, structure, and/or neurochemistry

-          No evidence of childhood vaccinations causing autism

Screening

-          Earlier diagnosis is highly correlated with dramatically better outcomes

-          Autism can be reliably diagnosed at 18 months of age

o   Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT)

o   Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT)

o   Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ)

o   Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ)

Educational Placement

-          Regular classroom

-          Resource Room and Special Classes

Uproven Interventions & Fads for ADS

-          Facilitated communication

-          Secreterian Therapy- vitamin & Canadian drug

Diagnosis

-          Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS)

-          Autism Diagnostic Interview- Revised

-          Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale- Generic

-          Asperger Syndrome Diagnostic Scale (ASDS)

Educational Approaches

-          Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention

-          Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

-          Picture Activity schedule

-          Social Stories

  power for contingencies of reinforcement, producing substantial and long-lasting behavior changes

                Four essential features

a.       Baited with irresistible reinforces into the trap

b.      Low effort response necessaryin in students repertoire is necessary to enter trap

c.       In side trap there are interrelated contingencies of reinforcement

Long term because student shows few, if any, satiation effects.

shares characteristic autistic disorder, but does not begin until after age 2 and sometimes not until age 10; medical complications are common; one type of autistic spectrum

One-on-one sessions during which a routinized sequence of contrived learning trials is presented as teacher and child sit at a table

an instructional format involving a series of three-part trials:

a.       An antecedent stimulus (e.g. flashcard with “2+2= ?”)

b.      Student response (e.g. “four”)

c.       Feedback (reinforcement for correct response; ignoring or correcting an incorrect response; and providing and a response prompt or ignoring nonresponses

 procedure used to control for expectancy effects by subjects and bias by researchers in studies evaluating the effects of a treatment or intervention

-          Have found no significant differences on any measure of language, behavior, or autism severity after treatment

  repetition of what other people have said as if echoing them; characteristic of some children with delayed development, autism, and communication disorders

-          About 50% of children with autism are mute, they do not speak but they humor occasionally utter simple sounds

a type of augmentative communication in which a “facilitator” provides assistance to someone in typing or pointing to vocabulary symbols

- Unproven intervention

a social communication skill in which two people interact with their shared environment in the same frame of reference. (e.g. child looking or turning head or eyes in the direction that someone is pointing)

-          Common deficit in young children with ASD

children who meet some but not all the criteria for autistic disorder are often diagnosed as having (PDD-NOS)

-          Boundaries of PDD-NOS are not well defined

-          Included in the autism spectrum disorders

 a form of self-injurious behavior in which the person ingests nonnutritive substances (e.g. dirt, rocks , sticks)

-          Some children with autism engage in pica

-          Exhibited by some persons with moderate and severe mental retardation

a distinct neurodevelopmental disorder of childhood characterized by normal early development followed by the loss of purposeful use of the hands, distinctive hand movements, slowed brain and head growth, gait abnormalities, seizures, and mental retardation

-          Begins between 5 and 30 months

-          Affects mostly females

-          Included in autism spectrum disorders

intervention for teaching social skills through stories accompanied by pictures depicting social situation from viewpoint of the student

-          An educational approach

-          A pattern of persistent and repetitive behaviors such as rocking the body when in a sitting position, twirling around, flapping the hands at the wrists, or humming a set of three or four notes over and over again

-          Some children with autism exhibit this

helped some children with autism learn communication, language, and social skills so that they have been able to succeed in general education classroom

encompass a wide variety of interventions that involve visual cues and prompts

are used to increase independence in selecting and carrying out a

sequence of activities in the classroom for students with autism

explain social situations and concepts, including expected behaviors of the persons involved, in a format understandable to an individual with ASD

-          Several studies have reported improvement of children’s behavior after systematic exposure to social stories

five strategies essential for providing effective education for young children with autism in inclusive classrooms

1. Teaching communication and social competence

2. using instructional strategies that maintain the class’s natural flow

3.  teaching and providing opportunities for independence

4. building a classroom community that includes all children

5.  promoting generalization and maintenance of skills  

Teaching communication and social competence to students with

autism in the general education classroom includes planning

opportunities for students with disabilities to interact directly with

typically developing peers

using naturalistic teaching procedures and using different cues and prompts to ensure that each child receives adequate support.

Building a classroom community that includes all children involves using activities that will engage children with a large range of abilities