Fw: Prism: Helping You and Yours Get Back to School

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From: Autism NOW: The National Autism Resource and Information Center

Subject: Prism: Helping You and Yours Get Back to School

Prism: Helping You and Yours Get Back to School

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August Prism

Helping You and Yours Get Back to SchoolAugust can be a fun, yet hectic month for many families. These few remaining weeks of summer are often dedicated to taking last minute vacations, enjoying the warm weather and making preparations for back-to-school. Many people find themselves in the midst of transitioning from a flexible summer schedule to one with more structure, as a result of the arrival of a new school year.This month’s back-to-school issue of Prism offers great information and insight from three unique perspectives - a parent, a student and an educator. As a parent with years of experience, Director Tonia Ferguson offers suggestions to other parents on how to prepare your child for going back to school. In her article, Co-Director Amy Goodman, a self-advocate who holds a Master’s degree in Special Education, shares important information that every student with autism and other developmental disabilities should know when preparing for college. If you are an educator, you may want to check out the article written by Sladen and a team of teachers for recommendations on including children with autism in general education classrooms!

Five Tips for Leaving Summer BehindBy Tonia FergusonDirector, Autism NOW CenterSummer is almost over and for most kids, it's back to school time! Most parents look forward to their children’s days being filled with more structure and routines as they head back to school. However, many parents do not realize how much anxiety a child might feel when this time of year comes around.Transitioning back into the school routine may pose challenges not only for the child, but for parents as well. Since you cannot make school disappear, the best option is to make this transition as smooth as possible. To help your family deal with the franticness that can often accompany this time of year, here are a few tips that I’ve learned after 11 years of back-to-school preparations.Start talking about it. All the back-to-school commercials and sales on school supplies at local stores certainly make it hard to avoid back-to-school time. Casually ask about your child’s excitement or nerves and hear what they have to say.Slowly initiate structure. By mid-August, slowly start transitioning your family back into the school-year schedule. Begin changing evening routines such as pushing your child’s bedtime to an earlier time.Make it fun. Designate a special day for back to school shopping. When shopping for supplies, spend time looking at all of the choices, even the silly ones. After the first day of school, consider having a celebratory dinner or ice cream to celebrate.Pack up the night before. Mornings are not the time to rush around in search of missing homework, assignments or permission slips. After dinner each night, sit down with your child and discuss the needs for the next day. Make sure everything is in the right folder and placed in the right backpack. Don’t forget to make the school lunches as well!Above all, remain positive. The start of a new school year should be a fun and exciting time - not something to be dreaded. If we, as parents, have a good attitude toward a new school year, so too will our children.Best wishes for a successful, stress-free school year!

Incorporating Students with Autism in Your Classroom: Dennis’s Storyby Sladen with Kathy Alderton, Barbara Fisher, and Lankenau Including students with special needs in your classroom encourages acceptance of individual differences and more opportunities for students to develop friendships and respect for all people. However, for many teachers, having students with special needs – like autism and other developmental disabilities - can create additional challenges. In this article, a team of sixth-grade general education teachers offers stories and advice to assist you in incorporating students with autism and other developmental disabilities in your classroom. In particular, they discuss their experiences with Dennis, a student diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Dennis had an above average intellect but had difficulties socially, especially dealing with peers. This team’s goal was to assist Dennis in developing social skills and peer interpersonal skills. These experiences and advice cover many of the steps taken in incorporating students with autism into the general education classroom, including:

setting up a classroom to accommodate your student and entire class’s physical, environmental, curricular, and instructional needs; identifying student strengths and problem areas and brainstorming adaptations needed to effectively include student in classrooms; collaborating with other teachers, paraprofessionals, aides, and parents to support student; and evaluating the student’s progress and monitoring the effectiveness of adaptations. Meeting Classroom DemandsThe classroom design greatly impacts the ability for any student to learn. By carefully considering classroom demands, teachers may help reduce the impact of learning problems for students with special needs. Common considerations that teachers may need to think about include the physical organization of the classroom; classroom routines, rules, and culture; student groupings in a classroom; types of materials taught and assistive devices used; and methods used to teach skills to all students. For Dennis, the team had three different classroom options for placement. Each classroom had different classroom rules, routines, structures, and groups of students. The team decided to place Dennis in a classroom that had clear and structured rules and routines. This classroom would allow Dennis to more easily anticipate daily activities. Dennis was also placed in a class with peers that he previously worked well with and had befriended. This encouraged Dennis to feel more comfortable in a new classroom and grade. Additionally, when arranging the classroom seating plan, Dennis was strategically surrounded by other students that exhibited positive social behaviors so that he was able to observe positive models. These students helped Dennis learn positive social skills by working with him in group work, reminding him of classroom routines when necessary, and providing him the opportunity to test out interpersonal skills. Finally, the teaching team agreed to treat Dennis as they would any other student. They explained to him that they had the same behavioral expectations for him as they would have for any student in the class. This was a departure from previous years. In earlier grades, Dennis had been allowed to sit UNDER his desk when he chose to do so or to freely move about the room whenever he wanted to, causing a disturbance to other students. However, the team insisted that Dennis sit in his chair during class. The team’s expectations and peer modeling worked to improve this behavior. Identifying Students Strengths and Problem Areas to Determine Needed AdaptationsAll students - including those with special needs - have patterns of learning strengths and weaknesses. You will need to consider strengths and weaknesses that students may have academically, socially and emotionally, and physically. These strengths and weaknesses may be noted in a student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) or may become evident after working with the student. After identifying these strength and weaknesses, student learning needs should be reviewed and analyzed within the classroom structure. While the classroom structure may be amended to be more inclusive, mismatches may still occur. These mismatches may lead to the development of adaptations – accommodations that assist students in accessing class content or modifications to classroom content and performance outcomes – to minimize their impact on the student’s ability to learn and achieve IEP goals. Generally, adaptations should follow guidelines below:

Adaptations should address “won’t†and “can’t†problems differently. “Won’t†implies that the student could do what is expected but needs additional support; “can’t†implies that the student is not able to follow the classroom demand. For Dennis, the difference between “can’t†and “won’t†is best shown by his behavior of not wanting to go outside at recess because of his fear of bees. In previous years, teachers had allowed Dennis to stay inside the classroom during recess, assuming that he “can’t†go to recess because of this fear. However, the team learned that this was actually a “won’t†situation. Dennis needed to have someone recognize his great ability to spot and avoid bees on the playground. Seeing this, the team asked Dennis to take on the important task of counting the bees and informing the supervising teacher. From that day forward, Dennis would proudly go out to recess and report his bee count. Eventually, he asked to be relieved from bee count duty to play with other kids.

Adaptations should be as simple as possible. A good rule of thumb is to start off trying the intervention that requires the least additional teacher time and effort and positively impacts the student. Dennis had sensitivity to the sound of the buzzer on the fire alarm. When fire drills would occur in class, teachers in previous years had told him 3-5 hours before the drill that it would occur and let him leave class so that it did not upset him. This was problematic for two reasons. First, Dennis would stress the entire day until the fire drill occurred. Second, it did not resolve the issue of Dennis knowing how to properly respond in a fire drill. So, the team reviewed the steps and procedures for fire drills with Dennis as they would with the rest of the class, and the team told Dennis that we would not tell him beforehand when drills would occur. This way, he would stop worrying and would learn over the year to deal with the loudness and unexpectedness of the fire alarm.

Adaptations should be age-appropriate to the student and should have demonstrated effectiveness in the classroom. Another social skill that Dennis needed to develop was greeting adults. Previously, Dennis had greeted teachers and other adults by hugging them. However, the team knew that Dennis would need to work on this for future situations, and the fact that other students found this awkward was making it more difficult for Dennis to interact with others. The team explained to Dennis that shaking hands was a more acceptable greeting in this grade and taught him to shake hands with adults he came into contact with. By having this discussion and reinforcing it repeatedly when interacting with Dennis over a few weeks of the first semester, he caught on quickly to this social skill. Working Collaboratively with Other Teachers and Parents to Effectively Include Student in ClassroomNo teacher works with students in a vacuum – working with other teachers and parents is undoubtedly a normal part of your day. When you include students with special needs in your classroom, you will most likely continue to engage with teachers and parents. Additionally, you may also need to spend additional time working with a student’s parents, general and special education teachers, paraprofessionals, and aides to develop and monitor adaptations. In Dennis’s case, the teaching team regularly met 2-3 times a week to discuss all of our students, of which Dennis’s progress was a part. They also met every other week with Dennis’s special education teacher to discuss his progress. During these meetings, the team reviewed any adaptations needed for Dennis as well as the best ways to best meld together the work that the special education teacher and the team were doing. Finally, they met with Dennis’s parents several times during the first marking period to discuss classroom behavior and progress. As the year continued, the meetings with the parents and special education teacher occurred less frequently because Dennis was doing very well. Evaluating Student Progress and Monitoring Adaptation EffectivenessFinally, it is important to consider how you will evaluate how well the student is progressing as well as how effective the adaptation has been in minimizing the student’s challenges. Some common ways of doing this include through grades; observations; portfolios; performance assessments; and teacher, parent, and student ratings. For Dennis, the teaching team observed Dennis’s progress and discussed observations at team meetings 2-3 times a week. Additionally, the team gathered feedback from Dennis and his parents at parent-teacher conferences each grading period. Through this tracking, the teaching team was able to identify how well each adaptation was working for Dennis and how Dennis was faring in the classroom.

After Dennis left sixth grade, he continued onto junior high, high school, and a university. There, he successfully received his bachelor’s degree and lives and works in his community. The team is always excited to see his progress and thankful that they may have helped Dennis learn social skills needed throughout his life. We hope that Dennis’s stories, the teaching team’s experiences, and this general advice will help any teacher working to incorporate students with autism and other developmental disabilities in their classroom. *Dennis is a real student whose name was changed to ensure confidentiality.

Preparing for College for Individuals with ASD and Other Disabilitiesby Amy GoodmanCo-Director, Autism NOW CenterAugust is back-to-school month and for students who plan on attending college in the near future, we hope that you use this time to think and plan ahead. Students with autism and other developmental disabilities may have to take extra steps when it comes to preparing for college such as applying for disability support services; therefore, it is important to start the planning process early on. This article will provide an overview of the admissions process and offer suggestions to help make it a smooth one.The Admissions ProcessStudents are often encouraged to start thinking and planning for college during their junior year of high school since the admissions process, which consists of multiple steps, requires a good amount of preparation. Below are the major tasks that students will need to complete for admissions into college:

Noting/making important deadlines for the SATs/PSATs or other test if appropriate Filling out college applications and writing accompanying essays Requesting letters of recommendations from teachers/adults Submitting college applications, either electronically or by mail Learning about financial aid options and thinking about how to pay for college Checking with colleges to make sure applications are complete Responding to the acceptance letter to notify the college/university of your choice that you plan on attending Preparing for the college tours Asking for accommodations, if necessary Obtaining medical records from a doctor Applying for housing needs Applying to disability support services Staying OrganizedTo make sense of the steps listed above, it is always helpful to make a plan or a checklist. Write down the tasks that you need to complete, along with their deadlines to ensure that you submit applications and other documents in a timely manner, and check tasks off as you complete them.Keep everything organized in a folder labeled “College/University.†Within the folder, you can create sub-folders with labels such as “Test Scores/Applications,†“Letters of Recommendation,†and “Essays.†If it is helpful for you, mark the deadline on top of each folder and highlight them. Another way to keep track of deadlines is to have a wall calendar specifically dedicated to due dates and deadlines for submitting materials. Place this calendar somewhere that you can easily view it. Saving Time and EnergyStaying organized can save you a lot of time and energy! Below are a few other time-saving tips to always keep in mind as you are working through your college applications:

Make sure to keep multiple copies of original documents that you are sending. Read the directions carefully before filling out the application. Read the entire application to make sure you understand the questions being asked and that you have all relevant information you need before starting. Fill out applications completely. Never leave anything blank, as it can create delays and issues in processing. Pay attention to detail. Ask someone to read through your application and essay before you send it. Having a second pair of eyes to review the information can eliminate typos and spelling errors. Call or e-mail to confirm that your application was received by the correct person, so that you are aware if your application gets lost or misplaced. Remember, it is never too early to start planning ahead for college! Preparing for college may feel like an overwhelming task; therefore, do not hesitate to reach out to others for help. Your guidance counselor is a good person to go to. Set up an appointment to meet with him/her and bring your parents or guardian along to discuss your options and the steps you need to take. Additionally, the “In The Classroom†section of the Autism NOW Website (www.autismnow.org) offers great information about going to college. Another good resource filled with useful information and personal experiences is “Navigating College: A Handbook on Self-Advocacy Written for Autistic Students by Autistic Adults,†jointly produced by Autism NOW and The Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN).Good luck with this process and best wishes for getting accepted into the college or university of your choice!

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