SchaferAutismReport: Program Helps Autistic Students Discover Joys of Recess

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schafer wrote: Wednesday, October 8, 2008 Reader Supported Vol. 12 No. 144p In This Issue: • EDUCATIONProgram Helps Autistic Students Discover Joys of Recess • • PUBLIC HEALTHExperts Conclude

Pfizer Manipulated Studies of Epilepsy DrugDrug Co. to Pay $431 Million to Settle Whistleblower Suits • • • • • • • • • • • PEOPLEOregon Boy Found In Canal Flown to HospitalNYC Subway Fan Arrested For 26th TimeADVOCACYAutism Rally in Canada For Medicare Coverage ThursdayAutism Coverage Becomes An Issue In OklahomaObama vs. McCain on Disabilities IssuesCAREPolice in UK's Hampshire Launch Autism Alert CardMEDIAKOMU's Reynolds Wins Emmy for Autism SeriesPETA's Controversial New 'Got Autism?' Billboard Yanked How and Why We Started Bio-Medical Interventions At TwentyComputerWorld Editor's Notes: Asperger's OxymoronCOMMENTARYVoice of Congress: Amendments Target Autism Cases In DoD Send your LETTER The Autism Calendar or here: tinyurl.com/283dpa DO SOMETHING ABOUT AUTISM NOW SUBSCRIBE. . . ! . . . Read, then Forward the Schafer Autism Report.$35 for 1 year - 200 issues, or No Cost Review Sub.www.sarnet.org the Autism Calendartm hereHundreds of Local Autism Events Political Discussion Forum Heats Up As Vaccine Link To Autism Question SpreadsAn email discussion list has been created in response to the growing interest in the environmental causes of autism -- now more than 2,200 subscribers. Here is where to join: (Sponsored by the Schafer Autism Report) SAR Back Issues AUTISM IS TREATABLE Check here Today's SAR is provided through the support of paid subscription readers. - THANK YOU - EDUCATIONProgram Helps Autistic Students Discover Joys of Recess By Pat Kossan for The Arizona Republic. bit.ly/1Gf7n7 It was Katy Donmoyer's habit to spend recess alone, circling the perimeter of her sdale, Ariz., elementary school playground. Her sister, Leah, hovered silently near groups of playing children, who ignored her. Recently, however, the 9-year-old twins were taking turns jumping rope with classmates in the middle of Copper Ridge Elementary School's crowded and chaotic playground. To behavioral scientists, the change is more evidence that their new strategy to help autistic children fit into recess is working. To the twins' mother, it is hope her daughters will have a social life despite a disorder that makes it difficult for them to understand the give and take

of conversation, play and making friends. More schools across the country are training teachers and adding teaching assistants so more autistic children can learn in a regular classroom. But Copper Ridge is among the first to find ways for these children to successfully fit into the often-intimidating social mix of recess. In January, the school became an incubator for a new kind of recess in which students teach their autistic classmates about the joys of the playground. The autistic children teach them a little compassion. The program being refined on the playground could help create a blueprint for schools across the nation. It already has attracted the attention of

sdale parents, who increasingly seek to enroll their autistic children in the school. Parents want to ensure their autistic children do not end up like many: isolated by their peers, bullied and, as they get older, depressed. "You see your child progressing academically," said Donmoyer, the twins' mother. "But, more importantly, you realize: I want my child to be happy. I want my child to have friends. That was the piece that wasn't getting attention." Schools often use recess time to group autistic children in quiet spaces, where they can play games and learn the art of conversation, or they send them to the playground to drift. Donmoyer wanted a better option. She rallied parents, district officials and the community to raise cash to help her find one. The Phoenix-based Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center worked with her to create something better for the entire school. The center's coaches organize favorite activities of autistic students, such as a board game or a game of tag, on the playground. With a little encouragement, the games attract a variety of students. Coaches use the games to teach kids with autism and their classmates the skills they need to play together. "You are then positively impacting both the child with autism and the typical children because you're getting these kids to be compassionate toward each other," Donmoyer said. Other center staff members shoot

video or note the number of interactions and other changes in the behavior of all the children. They also track behavior and progress inside the classroom. Preliminary data show autistic students are initiating more contacts and other children are more responsive. The adults are learning a few things. For example, many were surprised that most children preferred organized games over free play during recess, said Openden, the autism center's clinical director, who began developing the new strategies a few years ago while a graduate student in Santa Barbara, Calif. Both in Santa Barbara and sdale, the structured games attracted both class clowns and the same kids most likely to bully, Openden said. What school officials noted immediately was a dip in the number of children referred to the principal for misbehaving during recess, and less classroom time spent settling playground spats. Helping an autistic child develop a relationship with a non-autistic child is good for both, said Wilczynski, executive director of the National Autism Center, based in Randolph, Mass. But research on the subject has been confined to special programs and special settings. "We need to see more research like what's going on in sdale, in a real-world setting," Wilczynski said. The Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center is creating a step-by-step manual that could help implement

similar programs in all sdale's elementary schools. Eventually, if research continues to show positive results, it is likely to be used in schools throughout the nation. For rest of today's SAR click here:www.sarnet.org/frm/forsar.htm Today's SAR is

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