Learning Diversity of Autistic Children in English Lessons - Assignment Example

Learning Diversity of Autistic Children in English Lessons Content Introduction…………………………………………………………….3 Appearance of Autism………………………………………………….3 Students with Autism: Reading Skills and Communication…………...4 Autism Spectrum Disorder……………………………………………..5 Teaching Students with Autism………………………………………..7 Spectrum Disorder……………………………………………………...7 Assessing Human with Autism Spectrum Disorder…………………….9 Inclusion…………………………………………………………………9 Adjustment for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder……………..12 Changing Teaching…………………………………………………..….12 Adjustment in Assessment…………………………………………….13 Conclusion………………………………………………………………14 Learning Diversity of Autistic Children in English Lessons Introduction Autism is a neurobehavioral disorder, which includes impairment in developmental language, communication skills, social interaction, and rigid, repetitive behaviors (Benaron, 2009). The disorder involves an extensive spectrum of levels, symptoms, and skills of impairment. It varies in severity that may limit normal life to a devastating disability, which can necessitate institutional care. Children with autism have problem communicating. They also have difficulty understanding the feelings and the thinking of other people. They may thus find it hard to express themselves either through facial expressions, touch, and gestures or words. A learner with autism with very sensitive body is pained by touches, sights, smells, and sounds, which are normal to others. Many individuals with autism have cognitive impairment to some degree. When compared to cognitive impairment that slow growth, individuals with autism may show uneven development of skills (Gleason & Ratner, 2012). They might have difficulty in areas communication but might also develop skills in other areas like solving mathematical problems, creating music, drawing, or memorizing facts. Therefore, they might test higher on nonverbal intelligence tests. This paper discusses learning diversity of autistic children in English lessons. Appearance of Autism Autism comes in the first three years of life. Some children portray signs from birth while others develop normally then suddenly slip into symptoms when aged between 18 and 36 months. Nonetheless, some people may not show any sign of symptoms until demands of the situation surpass their capabilities. Autism is four times more in boys than in girls. It knows no ethnic, social, or racial boundaries. Students with Autism: Reading Skills and Communication As mentioned above, autism is a disability that impairs socialization and communication. Students with autism experience challenge related to learning and reading. However, with targeted accommodation and interventions in reading instruction and assessment, they may become proficient readers. Therefore, understand the characters of the learners with autism are the firm important step for the development a practical instruction and appropriate assessment for them. Children with autism depict communication deficits, which may involve a total absence of the capacity to speak, along with focus on interests combine with repetitive patterns of behavior. The lack of an individual language skill can happen especially, in the area of conception of higher-level discourse that may also influence the reading compression ability. Some learners with autism depict hyperlexia that gifted ability to decode words with little capability to comprehend terms they are reading. The presence of hyperlexia can complicate the evaluation of reading ability in the student with autism as their high word reading skills can hide deficits (Hicks, Hicks & Abraham, 2008). Thousands of learners aged between 6 and 21 years receive special education services for autism. In 2014, about 1.4 percent received special education services in America, during this school year. The percentage has increased almost three times over the last decade when autism was comprising of half of one-percent in the prior decade. Four times as many as female were affected by autism. An estimate of about 4,500 English language learners (ELL’s) was offered special education due to autism in 2001-2002. The estimate of 1.3 percent school age ELL’s was identified to have autism. The difficulty of learning English and going through a form of disability complicates learning to read and to demonstrate reading abilities. While early reports postulated that approximately half of children with autism never develop spoken language, current estimates suggest that earlier diagnosis and intervention help 60 to 80 percent of children with autism to develop some spoken language. Around 20 percent are regarded to have high-functioning I.Q., scores within the average mark, and capacity to speak fluently. The group includes children having Asperger’s syndrome. While autism is the most noticeable label, the population of children has a spectrum of disability. Children have difficulty in communication, repetitive patterns of interests, activities, and movements, and difficulties in social interaction. Autism Spectrum Disorder Autism spectrum disorder refers to the complex group of disorders that are related and having the same autism-like characteristics. Asperger’s Syndrome is the existence of autism-like characteristics but intact language ability. It is characterized by presence of restricted activities and interest and impaired social interaction. However, people with Asperger syndrome usually do not have significant delay language. Pervasive Development Disorder-Not Otherwise Specific (PDD-NOS) is the collection of characteristics that portray autism, but are not severe or extensive. Diagnosis of PDD-NOS is done when the child does not meet the criteria for autism (Fredericks, 2008). The PDD-NOS is characterized by impairment of language, presence of repetitive behaviors, and impairment of social development. Rett syndrome which, is an of the genes speech and motor skills, which degenerates into age and additional neurological disorder. Childhood Disintegrative Disorder is a condition, which its development appears in the first few years of a child’s life and regresses with loss of speech and other skills before characteristics of autism become apparent. Along with the above variety of syndromes, children that have autism spectrum disorder can show a broad range of ranks of cognitive function, from superior levels of intellectual capacity to clearly impaired abilities. Children with autism spectrum disorders commonly experience problems in three critical areas with varying degrees of intensity, communication, restricted patterns of interest and behavior, and socialization (Lubetsky, Handen & McGonigle, 2011). The problems can lead to problems in comprehending social rules like taking turns, sharing, reading, and understanding the emotions of other individuals, and problems considering the perspective of others. Again, a child would have difficulty starting and maintaining a conversation and interaction with other people. Children that have autism spectrum disorders experience different levels of difficulties inferring the thoughts and the beliefs of others. For higher functioning children including those experiencing Asperger’s syndrome, deficits can cause difficulties in explaining behavior, and utilizing social conventions. Furthermore, it can cause difficulties in understanding emotions, separating facts from fiction, inferring others’ intentions, comprehending others’ perspective, predicting emotions and behaviors of others. In addition, it can cause difficulties in the comprehension of how behavior affects the way others feel and think. Teaching Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder Autism can manifest itself in several ways in school. For instance, higher functioning children having autism spectrum disorders usually have irregular development of cognitive skills with relative strengths in comprehending and processing written and visual information. Children experiencing autism can portray relative strength in their responds to written materials relative to the way they respond to speech. Even bright learners experiencing this disorder have problems with understanding multi-step commands, and incoherent attention to, and comprehension of verbal information (Murray, 2012). Again, they have difficulty comprehending verbal information that is presented rapidly, and necessity for attention to be directed to verbal information. Problems are usually time-consuming, as students with autism often experience problems with initiating work activities, screening out distractions, and completing activities independently. Transition can be hard for children with autism. They have a problem stopping an activity and starting another one. They also find it difficult to become flexible and shift attention. In regards to features that are likely to influence reading directly, children with Asperger’s syndrome and high-function children with autism spectrum can lack higher-level comprehension and thinking skills. The problem arises in spite of the above average or average good memory skills and intelligence. Many individuals with autism can decode words and vocabularies. However, this tendency can create a false impression that they understand what they are saying or reading. Instead, they might be just saying out what they heard or read without an idea about their real meaning. Some usual approaches recommended for teaching children with autism is reading to them. For instance, focusing on the interest of students and on what motivates students. Providing for reading material based on children’s personal interests. A child can get motivated by what he/she like most and pushing him/her to put more extra efforts. Nonetheless, attempts ought to be tried expand children’s interests to include more socially and age appropriate materials. More social and age appropriate material helps a child to adopt and connect with peers and to advancement in schools curriculum. Because of the reason that experiences of children with autism can be limited, reading materials are significant as it gives a child experience and promote understanding. Specific intervention meant to encourage reading understanding. It also helps a child develop the ability to read and comprehend graphic organizers, practicing summary, and creating anticipatory sets. These factors can help a child with autism. Teachers ought to check frequently comprehension with the understanding of the fact that children with autism, especially those with Asperger’s Syndrome or hyperlexia can decode proficiently without understanding anything. Teachers in Northern America usually utilize reading intervention for learners with autism. Researchers have shown that various ways assist a child with autism face his/her difficulties. For instance, they can help them communicate knowledge. Computers, augmentative communication devices, touch screens, word processors, which are commonly regarded useful communication aides for some individuals with autism. In a similar manner, visual organizers like Venn diagrams, advance organizers, and flow charts help learners with autism in areas where literary information is of concerned. Direct teaching with words with numerous means or of figurative languages can promote improved understanding of literary materials. Learners who experience problems reading print can benefit from a teacher who reads aloud. Assessing Learners with Autism Spectrum Disorders Students with autism can struggle on the test because of several reasons. Where students with autism and screening evaluation are concerned, several provisions can need to be made. One of them is a requirement to attend a learner’s functional adjustment to the testing situation itself. The Committee on Educational Interventions for Children with Autism, which indicates that the outcomes of specific evaluation obtained in more substantially structured. Situations ought to e checked again in a broad context of more typical degrees of response and functioning and child’s daily real-life demand. The child’s adaptive behavior translates skills into real world settings. The committee also indicates that the behavior of a child differs due to settings like the degree of structure provided, complexity, and novelty of the environment. The recommendations point out the need to consider the social and communicative difficulties, a student with autism can experience. Inclusion The education and the general treatment of individuals with autism have experience tremendous changes since 1943. Education of a child with autism was done within a specialized psychiatric facility or specialized schools during that time. Due to the growth of knowledge, public school system now provides an appropriate environment for learning. The most commonly debate raised owing to the inclusion of children with disability and non-disable is whether a regular classroom teacher can provide required an amount of accommodation to learners with disabilities. Children with ASD are frequently known for their incompetence in social interactions and their inappropriateness (Gupta, (2004). However, inclusion of the children with ASD and those without is beneficial to both groups. First, it helps children with ASD to improve their socialization abilities just it teaches the rest to know and understand the importance and the need to live in a diverse society. Research has shown that peer can assist in teaching social skill to learners with autism. In order to make it successful, activities must be structured well while training has to be spread before so that the interactions between peers and students with autism. The best inclusion has supportive administrators, collaboration between school, and home, good communication, specialize training. Differentiating instruction in both special education setting and regular education setting has been proven to work as expected. Assignment ought to shortened or altered as per student in order for differentiation of instruction to successes. With inclusion, lessons would not be offered as before. For instance, in an English lesson, use of visual and other forms of demonstration would be increased the use of instruction is modified or reduced. The alterations are because children with ASD lack the abilities to learning in particular ways. Therefore, every change is significant. Children with autism profit a lot when parents and teachers support each other. Before a teacher plans a lesson, he/she should first consult with the parent of the child. It is important to acquire input from a parent. If possible, the input of a child with autism is necessary. A teacher should always watch out for the contribution of a child with autism. After the child completes his/her activity, the parent should notify the teacher so that he/she can share the results. Constant communication the child’s parents are important and create respect and trust. Successful inclusion of ordinary student with students ASD in a regular educational setting depends on the attitude and training of collaborators and educator and the severity of disability. Inclusion is the best approach for many students with ASD but is not considered the most products by all students. The first anticipation for the new school system is to ensure that enough paraprofessional support is given to help students in spite of the extra cost included. The second anticipation is the training of paraprofessional and professionals. Each grade level ought t have one regular educator to create a structured learning environment, which ASD require for academic success. Children with ASD expect more benefits from the inclusion as can their non-disabled peers. The greatest anticipation for the performance is from the implementation of NCLB and again due to the benefits of structured interaction. The support and attitude of people involved rather than only abilities of students will cause the success of the situation (Amaral, Dawson & Geschwind, 2011). Most triumphant programs developed by school systems are based on similar principles, which state that all students do not look alike and thus should be taught according the approach, which is most beneficial to them (Quinn & Malone, 2011). No one strategy or program will profit all students, or not. Educators determine the effectiveness of the program used by the school system. Adjustment for students with an Autism Spectrum Disorder Changes in Teaching Learners with autism have unique needs that must be consider in order reducing inequality between students. Teamwork should be used with different responsibilities like designer, researcher, speaker, explained, and encourager. The size of classes should be small especially when instructions are being offered. Breaking tasks into achievable but small, increase the chance of learning new concepts and plans, and utilization of appropriate concrete example and additional modeling. Furthermore, the understanding level of students should regularly be checked, apart from instructions, gestural cues, and visual reminders ought to be utilized. In addition, learners with autism should be helped to understand questions asked. As mentioned earlier, children with autism have different needs. The condition effects differ in direction. Furthermore, they cause differently on a child. A teacher should thus avoid handling students in a similar manner. He/she must show a high degree of diversity in order to adapt oneself to the demands of every child. Apart from applying the above-stated approaches. The teacher ought to utilize Task Analysis, concrete and simple language, teach specific social skills, and give a child few choices. He/she ought to avoiding using sarcasm, and repeat instructions as he/she check whether students are understanding. Furthermore, he/she should provide clear direction when altering the lesson, avoid overstimulation, avoids the use of idioms, and provide a clear structure, which cannot confuse students. Adjustment in Assessment Just like while teaching, adjustment should be also done while assessing the students so as to place every student at level playing ground and thus reduce or limit unfairness. As mentions earlier, children with autism usually have difficulty with communication, comprehension, and socialization. These and other factors ought to be seriously considered to determine children with disabilities like the one caused by autism. A with disabilities are taught in regular educational classrooms as children without. Therefore, testing modification and testing should be frequently set to meet the needs of learners with special needs. Accommodation is the setting or activity that removes barriers brought about by a disability. Accommodation allows students with disabilities to have opportunities as those without disabilities. An accommodation does not alter the purpose of the assessment. Instead, it provides alternatives ways of teaching and testing a disability. Children with difficulties in reading and comprehending information ought to be accommodated by people. Accommodation should be designed based on depending on the complexity and the requirement of each. For instance, for a student with a difficulty in comprehension, a teacher can help him/her understand the issue so that she can be happy again. Testing accommodations have some problems. Children with disability usually perform better than non-disabled students. Accommodations can distort the accuracy of the test. Information contributes to the development of accommodations and assessment plans. Therefore, in order to have standardized accommodation, honest and ample information ought to be used. Conclusion Autism is a neurobehavioral disorder, which includes impairment in developmental language, communication skills, social interaction, and rigid, repetitive behaviors. Children having it passed through many difficulties. They have a problem of communicating. They also have difficulty understanding the feelings and the thinking of other people. They may thus find it hard to express themselves either through facial expressions, touch, and gestures or words. Due to its impact on language and communication, children with autism thus find hard starting English. They can be able to read it but might lack the ability to understand. A child helped professionally has a chance of between 60 to 80 percent to comprehend and to develop communication skills. However, the separation of non-disable student with disabled children has negative impacts. It especially affects children with autism as the presence of non-disable students as through them they can learn and improve their social and communication capacities. Therefore, the use inclusion approach can significantly help reduce the impacts of autism. Reference Amaral, D., Dawson, G., & Geschwind, D. H. (2011). Autism spectrum disorders. New York: Oxford University Press. Benaron, L. D. (2009). Autism. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. Gupta, V. B. (2004). Autistic spectrum disorders in children. New York: M. Dekker. Gleason, J. B., & Ratner, N. B. (2012). The development of language. Boston: Pearson Education. Fredericks, C. (2008). Autism. Detroit: Thomson Gale. Hicks, E., Hicks, J., & Abraham-Hicks Publications. (2008). The autistic revolution: Children in the time of awakening. San Antonio, TX: Abraham-Hicks Publications. Kaiser, B., & Rasminsky, J. S. (2012). 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