Bright and Verbal Students with Autism: Strategies for the General Education Classroom

Teri McGill Author

12/17/2021 Added

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Bright and Verbal

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[00:00:02.890]Welcome to the webinar,
[00:00:04.070]Bright and Verbal Students with Autism,
[00:00:06.050]Strategies for the General Education Classroom.
[00:00:08.970]My name is Teri McGill, and I am a regional coordinator
[00:00:11.870]for the Nebraska ASD network.
[00:00:14.090]Today's webinar will focus on individuals with autism
[00:00:17.240]who have average to above average cognitive abilities
[00:00:20.200]and average to above average verbal abilities.
[00:00:23.100]I will review some of the unique characteristics
[00:00:25.270]this group presents with
[00:00:26.850]along with strategies to support them
[00:00:28.650]in the general education classroom.
[00:00:32.380]What do I need to support
[00:00:33.720]my bright and verbal students with autism?
[00:00:35.940]Well, first and foremost, we must see the autism.
[00:00:39.220]Our bright and verbal students with autism
[00:00:41.300]spend the majority of their day
[00:00:42.940]in the general education classroom,
[00:00:45.160]and they look like every other student.
[00:00:47.770]So first and foremost, it is so important
[00:00:50.460]that every team member has a strong foundation
[00:00:53.200]of the characteristics of autism.
[00:00:57.130]Eric Schopler likes to talk about the ability
[00:00:59.470]to see the autism using an iceberg.
[00:01:01.850]The tip of the iceberg is what we see,
[00:01:03.840]the child and those observed behaviors.
[00:01:06.640]The base of the iceberg is the underlying deficits
[00:01:10.160]or characteristics of autism.
[00:01:12.950]If we don't take time to look deeper under the surface,
[00:01:16.800]we will struggle to understand the problematic behaviors
[00:01:20.500]or the skill deficits
[00:01:21.650]that our students with autism might have.
[00:01:26.780]So the first thing on your checklist
[00:01:28.400]needs to be understanding the characteristics.
[00:01:33.070]All students with autism,
[00:01:34.700]no matter where they present on the spectrum,
[00:01:36.680]have deficits in three areas,
[00:01:38.460]communication, social, and restricted interest
[00:01:41.660]in patterns of behavior.
[00:01:43.290]We're just going to do a quick review of these.
[00:01:45.760]In the area of communication,
[00:01:47.360]it's not the quantity of their language.
[00:01:49.210]It's actually the quality of their language.
[00:01:51.770]Our bright and verbal students, they have a lot to say
[00:01:54.610]and they talk to us a lot,
[00:01:56.330]but actually lack the understanding
[00:01:58.940]of those specific conversation rules,
[00:02:01.470]so they might be talking more at us than with us,
[00:02:04.860]because they don't have an understanding
[00:02:06.970]that in a conversation
[00:02:08.480]there should be turn-taking or reciprocity.
[00:02:11.820]Our students can also struggle to change the topic,
[00:02:15.090]so to move away from that special interest
[00:02:18.070]or preferred topic, and they may have difficulty
[00:02:21.020]comprehending abstract concepts,
[00:02:23.770]figurative language, and sarcasm.
[00:02:27.130]in the area of social,
[00:02:28.760]many of our bright and verbal students
[00:02:30.360]have difficulty understanding relationships and friendships.
[00:02:33.490]This can be a really big roadblock,
[00:02:35.700]because these students spend the majority of their time
[00:02:38.240]in the general education classroom
[00:02:40.400]with their neuro-typical peers.
[00:02:42.840]They can have difficulty reading body language
[00:02:45.170]and those nonverbal cues.
[00:02:47.210]They can struggle to predict events,
[00:02:49.400]and also struggle to understand the reactions of others
[00:02:53.200]to their own behavior, which means then
[00:02:55.810]they're generally not changing their behavior.
[00:02:58.960]Also understanding that things are not black and white.
[00:03:02.160]This is a group of individuals that really struggles
[00:03:05.910]with understanding that things could be one way
[00:03:08.290]or things could be another way.
[00:03:10.180]And then conversation style,
[00:03:11.880]often includes those cumbersome monologues
[00:03:14.440]related to special interest.
[00:03:16.520]I'm sure many of you that work with our bnv students
[00:03:19.010]have experienced that in the past.
[00:03:21.530]In the area of restricted interest and patterns of behavior,
[00:03:24.850]many of our bright and verbal student's
[00:03:26.800]special interest now might not be the same special interests
[00:03:30.280]they have a month from now,
[00:03:31.730]because they're oftentimes not permanent
[00:03:33.530]with this group of individuals.
[00:03:35.700]But their special interests
[00:03:37.640]can appear to be uncontrollable,
[00:03:39.830]and what we mean by that is they may have trouble
[00:03:42.170]turning off that special interest, and because of that,
[00:03:45.630]they can miss out on learning opportunities
[00:03:48.600]and social opportunities.
[00:03:50.770]The role of the special interest for our individuals
[00:03:53.130]with autism, along with you and I,
[00:03:55.710]is oftentimes fun and relaxation, and that stress reduction.
[00:04:01.400]For many of our individuals with autism,
[00:04:03.720]if they are anxious or they are feeling uncomfortable
[00:04:07.720]in a situation, or they're not able to predict
[00:04:09.890]what's going to happen, they could then roll
[00:04:12.730]into their special interests
[00:04:14.730]because it provides them comfort and security.
[00:04:21.750]Many of our bright and verbal children with autism
[00:04:25.370]often have a social maturity of somebody one third
[00:04:28.740]to two thirds of their age,
[00:04:30.450]so think about some of the students you are working with,
[00:04:33.630]and do they do things that sometimes make you think,
[00:04:36.977]"Hmm, they're acting a little younger than their age?"
[00:04:40.000]That's very possible.
[00:04:41.500]Autism is a social communication disorder,
[00:04:44.010]so even our bright and verbal students
[00:04:45.760]have significant deficits in the area of social.
[00:04:49.610]Many individuals with autism have a good rote memory,
[00:04:52.270]especially around that area of interest.
[00:04:54.500]They will spend a lot of time memorizing
[00:04:57.560]and looking up information
[00:04:58.960]on that special interest or preferred topic,
[00:05:02.070]and they can have difficulty
[00:05:03.260]when their facts are different from others.
[00:05:05.710]Our bright and verbal students oftentimes
[00:05:08.400]will struggle to understand
[00:05:09.800]the difference between a fact and an opinion.
[00:05:16.590]Willingness or a different brain.
[00:05:18.590]So what looks like won't,
[00:05:20.680]for many of our bright and verbal students,
[00:05:24.080]might actually be can't.
[00:05:26.560]So if a child is oppositional,
[00:05:29.560]choosing not to follow a direction or do something
[00:05:32.240]that you have asked them to do, it may not be defiance.
[00:05:35.870]It may actually be cognitive inflexibility.
[00:05:39.660]So remember when I said we have to look under the surface,
[00:05:43.430]We need to look deeper?
[00:05:45.340]At the tip of the surface,
[00:05:46.800]what we see is a child being oppositional,
[00:05:49.400]but below the surface lies those deficits
[00:05:53.320]and characteristics of autism,
[00:05:55.320]and one of those characteristics
[00:05:57.030]could be cognitive inflexibility,
[00:06:00.300]and because we now know that,
[00:06:02.470]we might be able to put a support or teach a skill
[00:06:05.770]to help our student be more successful or more flexible
[00:06:09.580]the next time around.
[00:06:11.290]Lack of will, okay, "He can do it if he wants to,"
[00:06:14.870]might actually be, under the surface,
[00:06:18.320]difficulty in shifting.
[00:06:20.420]Again, if we don't look under the surface,
[00:06:22.770]we may miss the opportunity to put a support in place
[00:06:25.960]or to teach a missing skill for our student.
[00:06:29.290]Lack of effort could actually be poor initiation
[00:06:31.900]or impaired planning.
[00:06:33.100]Those are executive functioning skills
[00:06:34.700]which can be difficult
[00:06:35.810]for many of our bright and verbal students.
[00:06:38.140]Inability or refusal to put good ideas on paper
[00:06:42.210]could be poor fine motor skills or disorganization.
[00:06:45.650]I actually had a gentleman with autism
[00:06:48.690]tell me "I know everything I want to write
[00:06:51.410]on a piece of paper,
[00:06:52.870]but when I put my pen to the paper,
[00:06:55.270]my hand has a fight with my brain,"
[00:06:58.150]so I try to always remember that
[00:07:00.200]when I am working with a student
[00:07:02.100]who's struggling to do their writing.
[00:07:05.220]Sloppy or erratic work could be poor self-monitoring,
[00:07:08.000]again, another executive functioning piece,
[00:07:10.380]and then refusal to control outbursts could be overload.
[00:07:13.970]That student could be overloaded
[00:07:16.880]with everything that's going on in their environment
[00:07:19.550]and unable to regulate, and also unable
[00:07:22.680]to control their emotions.
[00:07:28.760]So being very verbal, something that we see a lot,
[00:07:31.550]especially with our bright and verbal students
[00:07:33.410]on the spectrum.
[00:07:34.580]This is a worksheet that a special education teacher
[00:07:37.110]shared with me, and the directions are
[00:07:39.880]write the following words in alphabetical order.
[00:07:42.140]So I want you to take a minute and look at this.
[00:07:43.860]What do you think this student did?
[00:07:49.320]The teacher and myself both had to admit
[00:07:51.380]that it took us a minute to figure it out,
[00:07:53.730]but this student wrote each of those words
[00:07:56.190]in alphabetical order,
[00:07:58.080]so the student definitely knows how to alphabetize,
[00:08:02.630]so that's not a problem, but we may want to go over
[00:08:04.075]those directions with this student again
[00:08:07.350]and walk them through what that means,
[00:08:09.400]because this student took those directions very literal.
[00:08:15.240]So we only touched on some of the characteristics of autism,
[00:08:18.520]but it's very important,
[00:08:19.720]if you are working with our students with autism,
[00:08:22.130]that you have a strong foundation of characteristics.
[00:08:25.060]So these are a variety of webinars
[00:08:27.050]that are available on the Nebraska ASD website,
[00:08:30.120]the Colorado Department of Ed website,
[00:08:32.140]and the Kansas TASN website.
[00:08:35.040]All of these webinars are free,
[00:08:36.880]and these are live links that you can go to on your PDF
[00:08:40.770]if you'd like to watch or view some of these webinars.
[00:08:45.490]Now we're going to talk about the unique mind
[00:08:47.360]of our individuals who are very bright and very verbal.
[00:08:51.680]There's three areas that we're going to touch on,
[00:08:53.660]theory of mind, executive functioning,
[00:08:56.030]and weak central coherence.
[00:08:59.410]So theory of mind is the ability to recognize
[00:09:02.020]and understand the thoughts, beliefs, desires,
[00:09:04.470]and intentions of other people
[00:09:06.410]in order to make sense of their behavior
[00:09:08.340]and predict what they are going to do next.
[00:09:11.200]What this might look like for some of your students
[00:09:14.210]who have deficits in this area
[00:09:16.470]is they may appear to be rude or disrespectful,
[00:09:18.770]so have you ever had a student say something
[00:09:21.050]that's given you pause?
[00:09:22.580]For example, I had a student with autism,
[00:09:25.440]very bright, very verbal, say to me one day,
[00:09:28.247]"Why did you let them do that to your hair?
[00:09:30.470]You need to go back and have your person fix it."
[00:09:33.610]So this student did not have any malice intent.
[00:09:39.150]They didn't at all.
[00:09:40.070]In their mind it was simply a fact.
[00:09:42.060]They didn't like the hair,
[00:09:43.660]they didn't like what happened with my hair
[00:09:45.680]and they felt like it needed to be changed back.
[00:09:48.630]So other examples of that is sometimes you'll have kids
[00:09:52.510]in the general education classroom
[00:09:54.920]and one of our bright and verbal students
[00:09:56.800]might make comments like "That's an ugly shirt,"
[00:09:59.860]or "Those shoes are gross," whatever it happens to be,
[00:10:03.530]and in making those comments to their peers,
[00:10:07.720]they cause negative behavioral interactions,
[00:10:11.100]because the peers aren't going to respond well to that.
[00:10:14.520]As adults, if we have a strong foundation
[00:10:17.330]of the characteristics of autism,
[00:10:19.070]we recognize that we should not take that personally.
[00:10:22.310]Instead, we need to use it as a teachable moment.
[00:10:25.260]Like, "You know what? That's not okay to say that.
[00:10:27.690]That hurts my feelings. It makes me sad.
[00:10:30.060]I won't want to be around you
[00:10:31.320]if you say things like that to me."
[00:10:33.230]We use it as a teachable moment,
[00:10:34.930]but remember that there's no malice intent,
[00:10:37.550]that it's rather, in the mind of an individual with autism,
[00:10:41.010]simply a statement of fact.
[00:10:43.160]Also, if there's deficits in theory of mind
[00:10:45.710]they might lack understanding that others
[00:10:47.690]may not have the same passions, interests, and desires.
[00:10:51.970]This can explain why some of our individuals with autism
[00:10:54.960]come up to us a lot and talk about their special interest
[00:10:58.270]over and over again, thinking possibly
[00:11:00.760]that we are as passionate about bonsai trees as they are,
[00:11:05.010]and oftentimes, we as adults will kinda hang out,
[00:11:09.210]and we'll listen to them talk about their special interest
[00:11:11.700]because we actually learn lots of stuff
[00:11:14.160]when we listen to them,
[00:11:15.650]but our second grade peers on the playground
[00:11:19.910]are oftentimes not gonna hang out
[00:11:22.070]to talk about bonsai trees,
[00:11:23.920]and so it's certainly something that we need to work on
[00:11:26.210]with our students who are bright and verbal.
[00:11:30.060]Another area is self-awareness.
[00:11:31.690]Self-awareness is the ability to step outside oneself
[00:11:35.700]to observe and evaluate one's own behavior,
[00:11:38.620]and when I read that statement
[00:11:40.080]and I think about the individuals that I've worked with
[00:11:42.350]in the past who are bright and verbal on the spectrum,
[00:11:45.380]I always note that that is definitely something
[00:11:48.300]that is difficult for so many of them.
[00:11:50.700]When you attach self-awareness to theory of mind,
[00:11:53.400]what you get is that understanding
[00:11:55.540]your own actions and behaviors
[00:11:57.370]and how they are viewed by others.
[00:11:59.880]So we're oftentimes spending a lot of time
[00:12:02.540]trying to figure out what other people are thinking
[00:12:05.980]and what other people are thinking about,
[00:12:08.080]about us in that situation and our behaviors.
[00:12:12.710]Also when we connect theory of mind and self-awareness,
[00:12:17.170]it allows us to make adjustments to our own behavior
[00:12:21.050]based on inferring other's perspectives
[00:12:23.470]and reading those non-verbal cues,
[00:12:26.070]so a really good example of this
[00:12:27.560]is that if you were at a table with a colleague
[00:12:31.160]and they scoot their chair over a little bit away from you,
[00:12:34.680]you then read that cue as,
[00:12:37.157]"Oh my gosh, I must be crowding them,"
[00:12:39.100]and then you scoot your chair over a little bit.
[00:12:41.610]We are always, always trained to read and infer
[00:12:45.170]what other people are thinking
[00:12:46.880]in order to adjust our behavior
[00:12:48.630]so that people will still want to be around us.
[00:12:54.220]Executive functioning, so here we have
[00:12:58.240]some executive functioning thinking skills
[00:13:00.410]and some executive functioning
[00:13:01.710]behavioral regulation skills.
[00:13:03.680]On the left side, planning, organization, time management,
[00:13:07.220]working memory, and metacognition,
[00:13:09.130]those are some thinking skills
[00:13:12.900]in the area of executive functioning.
[00:13:14.650]I think if you look at a lot of those
[00:13:16.230]and think about your bright and verbal students,
[00:13:18.630]there could be some struggles there for some of them,
[00:13:22.390]and then behavior regulation skills
[00:13:24.200]in the area of executive functioning, response inhibition.
[00:13:27.450]I know a lot of my bright and verbal students
[00:13:29.570]on the spectrum who really struggle with that one.
[00:13:32.470]Self-regulation of affect, task initiation, flexibility.
[00:13:37.250]We know that flexibility is part of their autism
[00:13:41.050]and it's something that many of our individuals
[00:13:43.290]struggle with, and it's also an executive functioning skill.
[00:13:47.070]And then goal directed persistence.
[00:13:49.590]Are your students able to persist through
[00:13:51.900]to complete an activity or an assignment
[00:13:55.450]in order to reach a goal?
[00:13:57.190]That can be very difficult
[00:13:58.420]for many of our bright and verbal students on the spectrum.
[00:14:02.280]Some things to remember about executive functioning skills,
[00:14:05.200]they are consistent with inconsistencies.
[00:14:08.420]So all the executive functioning skills work together.
[00:14:11.470]No skills work in isolation.
[00:14:13.800]For our students, it's not about do they have this skill,
[00:14:17.550]but it's about do they have the ability
[00:14:19.750]to access that skill at that moment when they need it?
[00:14:24.060]And there's lots of things that can impair their ability
[00:14:28.910]to actually access those executive functioning skills.
[00:14:31.980]Stress can be one. Anxiety can be another.
[00:14:35.350]We know that many of our bright and verbal students
[00:14:37.910]who are in the general education classroom
[00:14:40.930]do have lots of anxiety for a variety of reasons,
[00:14:46.240]and those could impair their ability
[00:14:48.030]to access those executive functioning skills.
[00:14:51.370]Also, things like being overstimulated,
[00:14:54.690]overloaded in an environment,
[00:14:57.300]not feeling well, having their routine
[00:15:00.350]changed in the morning, not sleeping well last night,
[00:15:04.050]all of those things can impair their ability
[00:15:07.490]to access executive functioning skills.
[00:15:11.060]Think about when you've been in a stressful situation.
[00:15:14.770]I remember one time I was driving in my car
[00:15:17.810]and I was rear-ended by another car.
[00:15:20.190]Wasn't a serious accident, but it caused, obviously,
[00:15:24.610]lots of stress and lots of anxiety.
[00:15:27.300]I remember the police officer coming up and asking me
[00:15:30.190]for my license, my registration, and my proof of insurance,
[00:15:34.360]and I also remember sitting there thinking,
[00:15:36.697]"I have no idea where to find those things."
[00:15:39.870]At that moment, my anxiety level and stress levels
[00:15:43.490]were so high that I could not access
[00:15:45.630]those executive functioning skills.
[00:15:47.860]Then I remembered they were in the glove compartment,
[00:15:49.860]and then I pull out this stack of papers,
[00:15:51.760]I can't find one of them,
[00:15:53.860]and the police officer, I'm almost in tears,
[00:15:56.460]the police officer finally said,
[00:15:57.667]"I believe you that you have insurance. It's okay."
[00:16:00.880]I just really, really, truly
[00:16:02.430]could not function in that moment,
[00:16:04.610]so I think it's important that we think about
[00:16:06.350]when we've been in that situation,
[00:16:08.200]and then how so many of our students with autism
[00:16:12.170]in the general education classroom
[00:16:13.750]could be having some of those same difficulties.
[00:16:17.210]Executive function deficiencies often interfere
[00:16:21.210]with one's ability to demonstrate intelligence,
[00:16:24.260]and so if they're not able to access those skills,
[00:16:27.330]they cannot show you how smart they are.
[00:16:30.530]They can't show you how they are able to finish the work
[00:16:34.010]because of that inability to access those skills.
[00:16:40.510]That was such a quick overview of executive functioning.
[00:16:43.180]So again, here are some webinars
[00:16:44.800]that you can use these links and click on,
[00:16:46.950]or you can go to the Nebraska, Kansas, or Colorado websites
[00:16:51.210]to find these webinars
[00:16:53.500]and to learn more about executive functioning.
[00:16:57.670]Now let's talk just quickly about weak central coherence.
[00:17:01.230]Weak central coherence is the ability to see
[00:17:03.700]or attend to the details, but have difficulty perceiving
[00:17:06.620]or understanding the overall picture.
[00:17:09.250]So our individuals with autism who struggle in this area
[00:17:12.730]may learn those isolated facts
[00:17:14.710]but have difficulty with the overall analysis,
[00:17:18.010]have difficulty determining what is relevant,
[00:17:20.760]so when they're reading a passage
[00:17:22.870]and you ask them to tell you about what they read,
[00:17:25.240]they may be stuck on these minor details
[00:17:28.100]that really are not relevant in that passage,
[00:17:31.390]and then have difficulty being able to give you
[00:17:33.530]the big picture or understand what are the important parts
[00:17:38.090]that I should be talking about here.
[00:17:39.880]I've even seen this with our bright and verbal students
[00:17:42.090]when they've been trying to tell me
[00:17:43.330]about what they did over the weekend,
[00:17:45.590]and they give me all these little details
[00:17:47.440]that don't seem very relevant
[00:17:49.400]and really struggle to give me the big picture
[00:17:52.560]and those important details
[00:17:54.060]that would really help the listener
[00:17:56.070]understand what they did over the weekend.
[00:18:02.170]All right, so now that you have a foundation
[00:18:04.810]for some of the characteristics and some of the deficits
[00:18:08.670]you might see for some of our students
[00:18:10.360]who are bright and verbal, let's talk about the checklist
[00:18:13.520]of some of the needed supports.
[00:18:15.420]So although these students are very bright and very verbal,
[00:18:19.250]what I see a lot is people think
[00:18:20.970]that they don't need the supports,
[00:18:23.130]and especially visual supports,
[00:18:25.380]so we're going to talk about how that's not the case
[00:18:27.970]with some of our bright and verbal students.
[00:18:30.210]Even though they have a lot to say
[00:18:33.690]and they're really verbal,
[00:18:35.040]and they have strong cognitive skills,
[00:18:38.340]they still need supports throughout the day.
[00:18:43.520]Let's first talk about reinforcement.
[00:18:45.980]So reinforcement is so important.
[00:18:49.230]It's really our best tool for behavior change
[00:18:54.080]and to help our students improve in skill acquisition.
[00:18:57.970]90% of the effectiveness of a program is reinforcement.
[00:19:02.270]When you're working with students with autism,
[00:19:04.650]it's really, really important that they understand
[00:19:07.310]the paycheck for what they're doing,
[00:19:09.330]especially if it's something they're not interested in
[00:19:13.130]or don't see the need to learn.
[00:19:15.590]So I had a student once who did not like history class,
[00:19:20.150]and often said things like "It's not pertinent today,"
[00:19:24.657]"Has nothing to do with my life," "It's a waste of my time,"
[00:19:28.720]so one of the things that we needed to do
[00:19:31.050]was talk about why history was important,
[00:19:35.320]and in doing that, we were talking big picture.
[00:19:39.210]Remember what happens with big picture
[00:19:40.930]for a lot of our kids.
[00:19:42.600]You need history to graduate so that you can go to college.
[00:19:45.820]That's kind of big picture, right?
[00:19:48.120]Wasn't working with this guy,
[00:19:49.570]so instead, we knew he loved physics,
[00:19:52.600]so if he went to history and he followed along,
[00:19:57.250]did his work, then he earned time
[00:19:59.950]to work with a physics mentor from their town,
[00:20:03.560]and that worked great.
[00:20:05.450]He was willing to go to history
[00:20:07.560]in order to earn time to do physics,
[00:20:09.720]and in the end, he said to me,
[00:20:11.547]"You know, some of that stuff in history wasn't so bad,"
[00:20:14.980]so even though he didn't think it was relevant,
[00:20:18.210]he did the history so that he would be able
[00:20:21.410]to go to college, but more so
[00:20:23.820]so that he could work with his physics mentor.
[00:20:26.400]Reinforcement is what makes a behavior
[00:20:28.600]more likely to occur again in the future,
[00:20:31.020]so any time we teach a skill and we want it to happen again,
[00:20:35.340]we must reinforce it,
[00:20:36.990]and reinforcement should immediately follow
[00:20:38.900]the behavior you want to strengthen.
[00:20:42.780]You don't get the behavior you want,
[00:20:44.580]you get the behavior that you reinforce.
[00:20:46.900]That sounds super easy, but sometimes, we don't mean to,
[00:20:52.330]but sometimes we reinforce an inappropriate behavior,
[00:20:55.290]and then that behavior happens over and over again,
[00:20:58.040]so we have to be really careful that we're reinforcing
[00:21:00.570]only the behaviors that we want to happen again.
[00:21:04.070]Your reaction determines whether a behavior
[00:21:06.420]will happen again or not.
[00:21:07.950]To change student behavior, we have to change our behavior.
[00:21:11.460]We have to change how we respond to that.
[00:21:14.320]If you want more information on reinforcement,
[00:21:16.560]there is a link here for a reinforcement virtual strategy.
[00:21:19.730]Again, these are on Colorado, Kansas,
[00:21:22.280]and the Nebraska website.
[00:21:24.400]This is a very short video clip
[00:21:27.240]on the importance of reinforcement,
[00:21:29.070]describes reinforcement, shows some examples.
[00:21:31.450]There's also some written information
[00:21:33.390]about the importance of reinforcement,
[00:21:35.480]very short, very quick,
[00:21:37.770]so this is a great tool to use with other team members,
[00:21:40.860]your paraeducators, even your parents.
[00:21:45.780]So one part of reinforcement is actually pairing ourselves
[00:21:52.090]with that student's reinforcers,
[00:21:54.500]so it's really important
[00:21:55.760]with our bright and verbal students especially
[00:21:58.730]that we plan some time to pair,
[00:22:01.180]and by pairing, like I said,
[00:22:02.670]we're going to pair with that student
[00:22:04.460]and their preferred reinforcers, their special interests,
[00:22:08.710]and we do that in order to become relevant to them.
[00:22:12.150]We want to become as cool as Spider-Man,
[00:22:15.360]if that's their special interest,
[00:22:17.560]and when we do that, again, we are more relevant
[00:22:20.767]and our student is more apt to interact with us
[00:22:24.040]and we're more apt to see them following directions
[00:22:27.030]and doing the things that we need them to do.
[00:22:31.800]This will make more sense
[00:22:32.870]when we talk about some of these examples.
[00:22:35.140]So when we want to pair with our bright and verbal students,
[00:22:37.880]and this is at any age, whether they are littles
[00:22:41.630]or they are middle school or high school,
[00:22:44.490]we first, with our bright and verbal students,
[00:22:46.720]need to find out what their special interest is.
[00:22:49.720]We can just ask them, but I bet you won't have to ask,
[00:22:53.090]because if you're interacting at all with that student
[00:22:55.190]during the day, they have already told you
[00:22:57.540]about their special interest.
[00:22:59.600]We then need to learn about that special interest.
[00:23:02.040]We need to kind of become an expert in this area,
[00:23:05.040]and then set up a time to talk with the student
[00:23:07.110]about their special interest.
[00:23:09.230]Sometimes we talk about two by 10, two minutes for 10 days,
[00:23:13.350]so that you can build that relationship,
[00:23:15.940]pair with that student, and become relevant in their world.
[00:23:19.800]We want our student to think we are as cool
[00:23:22.330]as the things that they love.
[00:23:23.900]We want our student to think,
[00:23:25.257]"I want to hang out with that teacher
[00:23:27.450]because that teacher knows about car parts,
[00:23:30.950]or Spider-Man, or video games,"
[00:23:33.830]and by doing that, we then are going to have
[00:23:37.810]a better relationship with that student,
[00:23:39.440]and we know when we have better relationships
[00:23:41.730]we have better outcomes with our students.
[00:23:44.260]So you can have reinforcing items in your classroom.
[00:23:47.840]So if your kiddo, like I said, likes Spiderman,
[00:23:50.090]you get Spider-Man comic books,
[00:23:51.650]a Spider-Man poster for the classroom.
[00:23:53.950]If they like car part catalog,
[00:23:55.690]which is kind of funny, are car parts,
[00:23:57.570]because I've had a couple of my students
[00:24:00.050]who have liked these, and they like to go through
[00:24:02.210]and look at the different car parts,
[00:24:03.440]so that teacher, and I don't just mean
[00:24:05.960]special education teacher,
[00:24:07.220]I mean general education teacher,
[00:24:09.190]our specialist teachers, everyone on the team,
[00:24:12.740]needs to be pairing,
[00:24:14.040]so you can have car part magazines on your desk,
[00:24:17.020]on your shelf, pictures of the video games.
[00:24:20.570]Learn a little bit about them so you have some knowledge
[00:24:22.700]and you can talk with them about them,
[00:24:24.410]or I had a student once that liked to build models,
[00:24:27.660]so we had a teacher that went out
[00:24:29.390]and bought some model cars and model airplanes.
[00:24:31.470]He put them together. He had them on his shelf, in his desk.
[00:24:34.860]He even bought one and used it as a reinforcer.
[00:24:38.660]If you earn this many points, then you earn time
[00:24:41.050]and we will work to put the model car together.
[00:24:43.660]That is an amazing way to pair.
[00:24:46.110]You can have lunch or set up a break time
[00:24:48.200]to engage with the student
[00:24:49.580]and talk about their special interest.
[00:24:52.070]We want you to be excited about the things they love,
[00:24:55.290]and by doing that, you're going to find that that child
[00:24:58.340]runs to you and not away from you,
[00:25:00.230]which is how you evaluate whether or not
[00:25:02.300]we've paired with that student.
[00:25:04.490]If they are trying to avoid you,
[00:25:06.860]if they're younger, that generally means run away from you,
[00:25:09.570]if they're older, they're not coming to your class.
[00:25:11.840]They're looking down when they walk into the classroom,
[00:25:14.540]if they're doing those things,
[00:25:16.220]then you need to spend more time
[00:25:18.210]caring with them and their special interest.
[00:25:21.840]If they stop by to see you, if they greet you
[00:25:25.130]when they come in, if they participate in your class,
[00:25:28.010]if they give you fleeting glances of eye contact,
[00:25:31.360]those things are probably clues
[00:25:33.290]that you've done a good job pairing with that student.
[00:25:39.458]Here are some visuals
[00:25:40.460]for some individual reinforcement systems
[00:25:42.640]that we also use for our bright and verbal students.
[00:25:45.350]These are for our younger students, elementary age,
[00:25:48.060]and I'm gonna show you a video
[00:25:49.540]of a token system being run,
[00:25:51.500]so it can give you an example of how this might look.
[00:25:54.260]I'll also describe different ways
[00:25:55.760]it could look in a classroom.
[00:26:01.900]You have three tokens. One more for Goldfish.
[00:26:05.486]Keep working.
[00:26:10.159]Thanks for getting started right away.
[00:26:24.429]You are working so quickly
[00:26:26.040]and nice work page,
[00:26:27.430]look it, you earned Goldfish.
[00:26:35.369]Look, you're getting Goldfish again.
[00:26:38.216]Pick up your pencil and keep working.
[00:26:41.333]Okay, so this was a video that was done
[00:26:44.580]in order to not only show teachers
[00:26:47.100]how you could use a token system,
[00:26:48.540]but also to show parents.
[00:26:51.170]So in this video, mom is actually sitting
[00:26:55.030]right next to the student, or to the child,
[00:26:57.610]but in your classroom, you don't have to be
[00:26:59.570]right next to your student.
[00:27:01.070]Some of our kids have paraeducators nearby,
[00:27:03.630]which is fantastic,
[00:27:05.330]can have that token system sitting on the desk,
[00:27:08.010]and when you see that child display the target behavior,
[00:27:11.390]so working quickly and working quietly
[00:27:13.450]was this target behavior,
[00:27:15.020]then you can walk over and put a token on the card,
[00:27:17.420]so you don't have to be sitting right here.
[00:27:19.780]I know sometimes that stresses some people out
[00:27:22.500]because you have a classroom full of students,
[00:27:25.310]so you don't have to be sitting right here.
[00:27:27.510]Also, it's really important when we start a token system
[00:27:31.150]that we show the child what they're working for,
[00:27:33.240]generally they've picked that item,
[00:27:35.770]and then also we give out those tokens
[00:27:37.830]quickly when we start,
[00:27:39.600]and that is so the child can quickly contact
[00:27:42.240]that reinforcer, here it's fish crackers,
[00:27:44.920]and so that then they will buy into that system,
[00:27:47.950]and so initially, we do this very quickly,
[00:27:51.420]and then we start to thin that out,
[00:27:53.500]so we'll start giving those tokens out slower.
[00:27:55.730]We'll expect them to demonstrate that target behavior
[00:27:58.630]several times before we give them a token,
[00:28:01.400]or we might add more spots on the card
[00:28:04.120]and have them earn more tokens
[00:28:05.950]before they get that reinforcer.
[00:28:12.880]So here is a visual for a high school student,
[00:28:15.060]and it has pictures on it
[00:28:16.180]because this student wanted the pictures on it.
[00:28:18.700]So remember, I said even our bright and verbal students
[00:28:21.380]need pictures, especially if they are stressed or anxious
[00:28:25.120]or having a rough time.
[00:28:26.600]The pictures are often very helpful.
[00:28:28.640]This student has two paths on their reinforcement sheet.
[00:28:31.750]First one, bring materials,
[00:28:33.190]follow the class agenda, complete the work.
[00:28:35.600]They get a coupon for snacks in the cafeteria
[00:28:38.340]or health office, or time for MindCraft.
[00:28:41.670]But there's another path here.
[00:28:43.270]If this student is struggling any time during the day,
[00:28:46.680]they can go to the office and pick up a pass.
[00:28:49.470]Then they go to class.
[00:28:50.540]If it's not working, they can show the pass to the teacher
[00:28:53.720]and then go to either the office or the resource room.
[00:28:57.940]If they successfully give the teacher the pass,
[00:29:01.420]exit the room, go to their office or resource room,
[00:29:04.670]and complete work, they will also earn coupons,
[00:29:08.060]because we want to reinforce the fact that they regulated
[00:29:12.570]through a tough situation, they followed the plan,
[00:29:16.790]and they successfully exited the room
[00:29:19.080]and they completed work,
[00:29:20.980]so we want that to happen again, right?
[00:29:23.140]We all need to know how to regulate through tough times.
[00:29:25.840]So we want that to happen again,
[00:29:28.080]so it's important that we also reinforce that.
[00:29:32.630]This was developed for a high school student,
[00:29:34.800]also has been used by many middle school students.
[00:29:37.440]The specific target behaviors on the right,
[00:29:39.480]and those are going to change for every student,
[00:29:41.720]also the things that the child is working for,
[00:29:44.110]their reinforcers, are listed over here on the top.
[00:29:47.560]So they chose those. They like to draw.
[00:29:50.370]This kiddo wanted time to think,
[00:29:52.760]which I thought was awesome,
[00:29:54.480]and then time to do make-believe comics website.
[00:29:57.650]So this situation, every teacher for every class
[00:30:01.853]that they went to could shade in or X off
[00:30:05.470]two minutes for handing in an overnight assignment,
[00:30:07.750]one minute for completing an assignment,
[00:30:10.250]a half a minute for starting an assignment
[00:30:12.250]or task independently, and also a half a minute
[00:30:15.530]for asking for help, which can be really hard
[00:30:18.140]for so many of our students.
[00:30:19.880]They also can give minutes for additional things.
[00:30:22.340]If something great, like this kiddo worked
[00:30:24.420]in a group and participated,
[00:30:26.400]they might want to give him an extra minute for that,
[00:30:28.960]and that was something that the child could,
[00:30:30.980]or something the teacher could choose to do.
[00:30:35.340]Let's talk about some more structures and visuals
[00:30:37.390]that we can use in the general education classroom.
[00:30:41.020]So change can be very difficult
[00:30:43.000]for many individuals with autism.
[00:30:45.070]This is a great quote by a gentleman,
[00:30:47.070]a young man, named Peter Berg.
[00:30:48.620]He was a middle school student with Asperger's syndrome,
[00:30:51.770]so one of our bright and verbal students.
[00:30:54.047]"Asperger's is like a vice on your brain,
[00:30:56.420]and each unexpected event is like another turn on the vice.
[00:30:59.970]It just keeps building
[00:31:01.550]until you feel like you're going to explode.
[00:31:04.210]Sometimes when you explode, it comes out the wrong way."
[00:31:07.890]This gives us such great insight
[00:31:10.780]on how unexpected events and change
[00:31:14.200]can affect so many of our students on the spectrum,
[00:31:18.860]including our bright and verbal students
[00:31:21.030]in the gen ed classroom,
[00:31:22.580]because there can be a lot of unexpected events
[00:31:25.590]that pop up in a gen ed classroom.
[00:31:29.390]So it's really important that we work on teaching our kids
[00:31:32.310]how to manage change.
[00:31:34.440]So in essence, we're teaching them how to be more flexible,
[00:31:37.980]so we want to visually show them the change,
[00:31:40.200]so not just verbally telling them,
[00:31:42.410]so I've had to say to some of my teams,
[00:31:45.237]"That doesn't count."
[00:31:47.060]even though they told me that they told the student
[00:31:49.740]six times about the change,
[00:31:51.870]I still had to say to them, "It doesn't count."
[00:31:55.180]You have to write it down. Words are transient.
[00:31:59.610]Visuals, those are permanent.
[00:32:02.290]They're right there in front of them.
[00:32:03.970]So you write down the change on a sticky note.
[00:32:05.990]These are bright and verbal students.
[00:32:07.790]For our upper elementary, middle, and high school kids,
[00:32:10.130]you don't need to make fancy pictures.
[00:32:12.220]Write it out, put it on their binder
[00:32:15.070]so they can process it throughout the day for that change.
[00:32:18.800]And then also show them how the change
[00:32:20.500]will impact the rest of their day.
[00:32:22.350]This is really important
[00:32:23.650]and I see this step being missed a lot.
[00:32:25.760]If something changes in the morning,
[00:32:27.760]you can have students who are bright and verbal
[00:32:29.960]not understand now what the rest of their day's
[00:32:32.450]gonna look like, which causes great anxiety,
[00:32:35.240]so make sure you show them how the rest of their day
[00:32:38.390]will be impacted, and then don't forget
[00:32:40.360]to provide reinforcement
[00:32:41.680]when the student manages the change,
[00:32:43.720]because we want that to happen again in the future.
[00:32:49.040]Here's some examples.
[00:32:50.700]So these are both written schedules
[00:32:52.330]for our bright and verbal kiddos in the gen ed classroom.
[00:32:55.070]The kiddo just checks off.
[00:32:56.210]The teacher on the left
[00:32:57.640]crossed off things and made the changes,
[00:32:59.840]also wrote the word change
[00:33:01.210]that that student could recognize,
[00:33:03.380]and then on the right, the student actually crossed out
[00:33:06.220]the middle section of the schedule, wrote field trip,
[00:33:09.640]and then it shows him,
[00:33:10.980]when he comes back from the field trip,
[00:33:12.670]he has lunch, library, reading, journal,
[00:33:15.790]afternoon chore, and home.
[00:33:17.610]So this student knows where the change is
[00:33:20.600]and also knows what's going to happen next.
[00:33:27.040]It's also super helpful with our students
[00:33:28.840]who are bright and verbal to provide structure
[00:33:31.110]or cues to help end an activity,
[00:33:33.390]so visual timers are things
[00:33:34.920]that lots of our students are using.
[00:33:37.150]These days, generally, they're always on a cell phone,
[00:33:39.320]which is fantastic, but be aware that timers don't work
[00:33:42.730]for all of our students.
[00:33:44.670]Sometimes we have students who get so hyper-focused
[00:33:48.040]in their preferred activity that they don't really feel
[00:33:50.770]that passage of time, so when you set the timer,
[00:33:54.260]the timer starts, they're not paying attention to the timer.
[00:33:57.040]They are hyper-focused on their computer game,
[00:33:59.240]their iPad, they're building Legos,
[00:34:01.770]whatever it happens to be, the timer rings,
[00:34:04.270]and you then hear, "No, you just set the timer."
[00:34:08.680]I don't know if you guys have ever heard that.
[00:34:09.930]I used to hear that all the time.
[00:34:12.260]So instead we want to provide a different type of cue
[00:34:16.600]to help them understand when it will be time to be done,
[00:34:19.180]so a countdown card and a one-more-minute card
[00:34:21.830]are ways we can do that.
[00:34:23.390]With a countdown card,
[00:34:24.730]the key to this is you engage the child
[00:34:27.640]every time you take off a number or cross off a number.
[00:34:30.940]That way, each time they're reminding themselves
[00:34:33.360]it's going to be time to finish.
[00:34:35.560]A one-more-minute card you use with a timer,
[00:34:38.840]and it allows the student some control.
[00:34:41.420]They can ask for one more minute,
[00:34:43.770]but when they are done with their one-more-minute card,
[00:34:46.160]the only card they have left
[00:34:47.920]is "I don't want to but I will,"
[00:34:49.770]which is a great life lesson
[00:34:51.600]because sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do.
[00:34:54.650]I have a quick video to show you on both of these.
[00:34:59.060]Here is the countdown card.
[00:35:03.240]I'm taking five off,
[00:35:05.190]four, three, two, one, then we'll be all done.
[00:35:11.410]So each time, we try to use the same language
[00:35:14.270]so this becomes a routine.
[00:35:15.900]Paige, four off.
[00:35:18.980]Three, two, one, then all done.
[00:35:21.860]If we can make this a routine,
[00:35:24.000]that is a strength for so many kids on the spectrum.
[00:35:27.530]I'm gonna slide this forward.
[00:35:36.680]It's one off. That means we're all done.
[00:35:40.130]I got through lunch time. Put your lid on.
[00:35:44.160]Nice job cleaning up, Paige, good for you.
[00:35:47.770]Okay, so because she ended the activity
[00:35:50.100]when we asked her to, we reinforce it,
[00:35:52.400]because remember, we want that
[00:35:53.950]to happen again in the future.
[00:35:56.320]Now we'll look at the countdown card.
[00:36:07.965]Paige, the bell rang. We're all done with Play-Doh.
[00:36:11.064]I don't want to.
[00:36:12.594]Do you have a one-more-minute card?
[00:36:14.580]Oh, great. I'll set the timer for one more minute.
[00:36:18.220]Now I will scoot this forward a little bit.
[00:36:25.140]One more minute is done. It's time to clean up.
[00:36:29.663]But I don't want to.
[00:36:31.030]Well, do you have a one-more-minute card?
[00:36:33.300]No, okay, well then what do you have to do?
[00:36:37.193]What do you have to give me?
[00:36:39.061]I don't want to, but I will.
[00:36:40.650]Great job. Let's pick up so you can earn a marshmallow.
[00:36:43.890]So generally, you'll have to prompt that way
[00:36:46.070]when you first start this with a student,
[00:36:48.650]and so once she puts the Play-Doh away,
[00:36:51.600]we're going to reinforce,
[00:36:52.620]again, her preferred reinforcer is that marshmallow,
[00:36:55.240]because again, we want her to repeat that behavior
[00:36:58.760]when we end an activity next time.
[00:37:05.010]Cleaning up, so if you're working with our young children
[00:37:07.970]who are bright and verbal in a preschool
[00:37:09.610]or kindergarten classroom especially,
[00:37:11.210]but this could even go into first and second grade,
[00:37:14.000]cleanup time can be really rough.
[00:37:16.550]There's a lot of movement,
[00:37:18.130]a lot of noise during cleanup time,
[00:37:20.210]so what I prefer to do with a lot of these little ones
[00:37:22.710]is I actually do cleanup time a little bit early,
[00:37:26.750]provide them with a visual cue
[00:37:28.360]of how many items they need to pick up,
[00:37:30.270]so this is a kiddo that knows their numbers and letters,
[00:37:33.220]which is common with our young kids
[00:37:35.420]who are bright and verbal on the spectrum,
[00:37:37.470]and so he could read the four
[00:37:38.930]and knew he had to pick up four items.
[00:37:40.207]I'm gonna show you an example for a student
[00:37:42.540]that maybe doesn't recognize their numbers yet,
[00:37:46.360]and how you can do it with a student like that.
[00:37:49.970]Sally, you only need to pick up four balls.
[00:37:56.710]Yay, three more.
[00:38:01.411]Yay, two more.
[00:38:04.784]Good job. One more.
[00:38:08.322]Okay, all done.
[00:38:10.110]Awesome, so notice, after all done,
[00:38:12.510]there's still balls on the floor.
[00:38:14.310]As adults, we have to be okay with that.
[00:38:16.700]We asked them to pick up four,
[00:38:19.000]the child picked up four, we're going to reinforce that,
[00:38:22.740]and then we're going to move on,
[00:38:24.030]and generally what I will do for this is I will have them go
[00:38:26.410]to a quiet area and do an activity
[00:38:28.130]before I start cleanup time,
[00:38:30.170]or they might go on a working walk with another adult
[00:38:33.830]in order to remove them from the situation
[00:38:35.960]before we start cleanup time.
[00:38:37.780]Then we're going to slowly start using this same system
[00:38:40.620]during the actual cleanup time,
[00:38:42.670]so we're going to get there with teaching a student
[00:38:44.780]how to regulate through cleanup time,
[00:38:46.650]but that's probably not how we're going to start.
[00:38:52.760]For some of our older individuals who are bright and verbal,
[00:38:57.170]sometimes a script.
[00:38:59.769]Giving them something to say that is appropriate
[00:39:02.820]when you give a direction,
[00:39:04.340]and then we will of course reinforce.
[00:39:06.770]This is the size of like a business card or an index card.
[00:39:11.880]So when given a direction, you need to say, okay,
[00:39:15.230]start right away, do it in the right amount of time,
[00:39:18.250]and do it correctly.
[00:39:19.780]Then you earn your reinforcer.
[00:39:21.980]For some of our kids, we might just have on there
[00:39:24.930]say okay and start right away.
[00:39:27.080]That might be all our expectation is if they do that,
[00:39:30.430]we're going to reinforce.
[00:39:32.070]You have to teach this,
[00:39:33.530]so you can't just put this card in front of a student,
[00:39:35.930]no matter how bright or how verbal they are.
[00:39:38.380]You're still going to have to practice it, role-play it,
[00:39:42.060]and coach them in the natural environment
[00:39:44.070]to make sure that they can get through this
[00:39:45.800]and earn their reinforcer.
[00:39:49.980]Many of our individuals who are older on the spectrum
[00:39:53.010]who are in general education classrooms
[00:39:54.750]have to rotate from class to class,
[00:39:56.720]and that can be really confusing for a lot of our students.
[00:39:59.650]Every teacher has different rules,
[00:40:01.740]especially when kids arrive into class.
[00:40:04.130]Some teachers let them just converse with their friends
[00:40:07.910]and have a little downtime when they get to class,
[00:40:10.490]and others, you have to sit down and you have to do work
[00:40:13.440]that's on the board, work that's in your notebook or binder,
[00:40:16.570]whatever it happens to be,
[00:40:18.120]so this is inside a binder for one of our older students,
[00:40:21.680]and when they get to math class,
[00:40:23.330]they look at what is expected of them when they get there,
[00:40:26.360]they can check them off, they can cross them off,
[00:40:28.940]whatever they want to do that makes them feel comfortable.
[00:40:32.580]But this helps to, for them to know
[00:40:35.130]what the expected behaviors are at arrival for each class.
[00:40:40.710]Sometimes we might need to make a visual on the spot.
[00:40:43.690]One of our other coordinators actually did this
[00:40:45.630]with an elementary age student who's bright and verbal
[00:40:49.230]who was struggling with turning their computer off
[00:40:52.260]during work time.
[00:40:53.630]So during break, computer screen is on,
[00:40:56.470]but during work, the computer screen is off,
[00:40:59.550]but you have four choices on what that looks like.
[00:41:02.920]You can turn it off, you can cover the screen with paper,
[00:41:06.750]you can close the lid, or you can turn the computer around.
[00:41:10.920]So again, even with our bright and verbal students,
[00:41:14.060]drawing things out can be so helpful for them in the moment.
[00:41:21.200]Some of our kids need visual reminders on their desk,
[00:41:25.410]on their binders, whatever it happens to be.
[00:41:28.350]Now, if you have an upper elementary, middle,
[00:41:31.220]or high school student,
[00:41:33.650]you're not going to have these pictures on their desk
[00:41:35.730]or on their binders.
[00:41:36.850]Instead, you might have a sticky note that says,
[00:41:39.197]"Remember, raise your hand," or a sticky note that says,
[00:41:44.417]"Raise your hand and I will come over,"
[00:41:47.190]whatever it happens to be.
[00:41:49.410]Either way, no matter the age of the student,
[00:41:52.330]you have to teach these skills,
[00:41:53.860]so the visuals to help remind them to use the skill,
[00:41:56.960]but again, first we have to teach it.
[00:41:59.750]Red square green square can be super helpful.
[00:42:02.620]Remember I said those cumbersome monologues
[00:42:05.490]about their special interest?
[00:42:07.520]So one of the ways you can use a red square green square
[00:42:10.010]is the teacher could have a red square up,
[00:42:11.670]which means it's not talk time.
[00:42:14.030]This is not a time you can talk about your special interest.
[00:42:17.590]There's no reinforcement available at this time,
[00:42:19.850]which means I'm not going to reinforce you
[00:42:21.280]for talking about your special interests,
[00:42:23.620]but when the green square is up,
[00:42:25.980]there's reinforcement available,
[00:42:27.290]meaning you can come up
[00:42:28.420]and talk about your special interest at this time.
[00:42:31.670]Red squares, green squares,
[00:42:32.900]those are used to signify a lot of different behaviors,
[00:42:37.080]things that we can do at one time but not at another time,
[00:42:40.270]so that's just one example of how you can use them.
[00:42:46.290]So do any of you have students who like to negotiate?
[00:42:50.620]And some people might call it argue.
[00:42:53.160]So a lot of our bright and verbal students,
[00:42:55.420]oh my goodness, they are so smart.
[00:42:57.250]They want to negotiate, and they are so good at it
[00:43:00.940]that generally they'll end up negotiating right around
[00:43:04.560]to the point where they get what it is they're asking for,
[00:43:07.210]so it's really, really important that we teach our kids
[00:43:10.370]that some things are negotiable and some things are not.
[00:43:14.270]So this non-negotiable card here,
[00:43:16.010]the front of it said non-negotiable.
[00:43:17.470]The back of it says, stop, listen, and follow directions.
[00:43:21.420]This was actually made for a student
[00:43:23.530]who was doing some job coaching in the community
[00:43:27.220]and had his own ideas about how some things should be done,
[00:43:31.470]but the boss did not want some things done
[00:43:35.060]the way he wanted to do that,
[00:43:36.750]and so we needed to come up with a signal or a visual
[00:43:40.340]for him that would show him that at this time
[00:43:43.650]what you're doing is not negotiable.
[00:43:46.940]You need to do it this way,
[00:43:49.400]the way the boss asked us to do it,
[00:43:51.810]and there may be some other things during the day
[00:43:54.450]that are negotiable, and if you want to choose
[00:43:56.760]to do it a different way, you can do that.
[00:43:59.200]So this was a way to signal when something was negotiable
[00:44:02.920]and when it wasn't at the job,
[00:44:05.730]but we also sometimes need to do that at school.
[00:44:08.080]We have kids that'll argue about assignments
[00:44:10.070]or try to negotiate how to do an assignment different.
[00:44:13.410]Well, you can use your non-negotiable card
[00:44:15.470]to say to them it's not negotiable.
[00:44:18.580]So remember, when it's not negotiable,
[00:44:20.930]you might need to stop, listen, and follow directions.
[00:44:24.840]When we have kids that will not stop,
[00:44:27.610]they keep coming back at us,
[00:44:29.430]you can use a visual stop sign,
[00:44:32.190]which means "I'm done talking."
[00:44:36.072]No matter what they say, you are still done talking.
[00:44:40.280]In this situation, as an adult, we must become good
[00:44:44.410]at having this second to last word.
[00:44:47.552]Okay, the second to last word, go Google that.
[00:44:50.120]There's an amazing gentleman that has a quick video
[00:44:52.460]on second to last word.
[00:44:54.330]It is awesome and I'm sorry I cannot remember his name,
[00:44:56.960]but if you just Google second to last word,
[00:44:58.820]that video will come up.
[00:45:01.420]But we need to get good at giving the direction
[00:45:06.100]and then ending the conversation, walking away,
[00:45:08.930]and yep, you know that your bright and verbal student
[00:45:11.500]will have something to say about that,
[00:45:13.080]but you're still going to walk away
[00:45:15.030]because we're gonna be okay
[00:45:17.060]with having the second to last word.
[00:45:20.020]When we do that, we avoid power struggles,
[00:45:22.840]and that's what we're trained to do here.
[00:45:25.260]So be aware that they will not be happy about it,
[00:45:29.410]but if you can continue to have this,
[00:45:32.000]just be good with the second to last word,
[00:45:35.120]it can work well for a lot of our students.
[00:45:39.190]Sometimes our students like to ask question
[00:45:41.240]after question after question,
[00:45:43.550]so sometimes you can provide a visual
[00:45:46.390]that shows them how many questions they get in class.
[00:45:49.430]So once they ask a question,
[00:45:50.980]they either have to turn the card over,
[00:45:52.720]the teacher walks by and slides the card off their desk,
[00:45:55.460]whatever it happens to be.
[00:45:57.200]Now, again, you're not going to put
[00:45:59.040]these cute question marks on an upper elementary,
[00:46:01.680]middle, or high school desk.
[00:46:03.330]Instead, you might have a sticky note with three boxes
[00:46:06.190]and they're gonna self-monitor.
[00:46:07.800]They're gonna cross off or check off
[00:46:09.370]when they've asked each of those questions.
[00:46:11.830]If the student continues to have questions
[00:46:14.540]and they're done with their question cards
[00:46:16.630]or they're done X'ing their boxes,
[00:46:19.250]now they need to put them in their question notebook.
[00:46:22.130]And then they can ask the teacher for a time
[00:46:24.430]to come back and ask their questions.
[00:46:29.990]Problem solving can be difficult
[00:46:31.530]for some of our individuals who are bright and verbal.
[00:46:34.220]I like this problem solving system
[00:46:37.350]that's done by Mataya and Owens,
[00:46:38.900]and the book that it comes from is there for you to see.
[00:46:42.240]You put the problem in the middle,
[00:46:43.500]and then the solutions are on the outside.
[00:46:45.250]You can change those up.
[00:46:46.450]You can use pictures if you want to,
[00:46:48.860]but the reason I like this is because there is an option
[00:46:52.240]on here to let it bother you,
[00:46:54.410]and in the real world, all of us have an option
[00:46:57.390]to let something bother us,
[00:47:00.690]but if we pick that option,
[00:47:03.110]there might be some consequences to that option.
[00:47:06.290]We might not sleep well.
[00:47:08.300]We might have a high level of stress or be very anxious,
[00:47:11.790]or for some of our kids, they may not be able
[00:47:13.970]to rejoin PE or rejoin recess
[00:47:17.560]if they're choosing to let it bother them,
[00:47:19.840]because they have not calmed themselves,
[00:47:22.340]they are not regulated,
[00:47:24.020]so they might need to do their calming routine,
[00:47:27.390]do their deep breathing for two minutes,
[00:47:30.360]but it is a choice for them to let something bother them.
[00:47:34.150]We just need to work through
[00:47:35.350]what the consequences of that choice might be.
[00:47:40.870]Priming and pre-teaching skills is so important.
[00:47:44.580]For some of our bright and verbal kids,
[00:47:46.500]group activities can be very difficult,
[00:47:49.470]so sometimes if we prime the activity,
[00:47:52.800]when they're in the group, they are much more successful,
[00:47:56.200]so prereading books that will be read
[00:47:58.780]in a large group in the classroom or the library,
[00:48:00.760]especially for our lower elementary kids, preschool kids,
[00:48:04.400]lots of our kids with autism will respond to the familiar,
[00:48:08.270]so if something is familiar,
[00:48:09.850]they're more apt to attend to that,
[00:48:11.960]so pre-reading those books can be really helpful.
[00:48:14.230]Pre-teaching vocabulary or pre-teaching writing topics.
[00:48:18.150]Let's look up that writing topic.
[00:48:20.750]Let's watch a video on that.
[00:48:22.680]Now we've got a picture in our head
[00:48:24.590]of what that topic's about,
[00:48:26.030]we may be more successful in writing.
[00:48:28.780]Pre-teach motor skills needed for an activity in PE class.
[00:48:32.750]PE can be very, a very rough spot for our kids to attend,
[00:48:37.310]because not only do you have the large group,
[00:48:39.750]lots of movement, lots of noise,
[00:48:41.940]big open area, bright lights, all can be tough,
[00:48:45.660]so instead we might pre-teach how to kick the ball
[00:48:49.080]and how to run to the base,
[00:48:50.670]so now when they do that in class,
[00:48:52.480]our student has already learned it
[00:48:54.110]and can be more successful.
[00:48:56.110]Pre-teach those expected social skills for the playground.
[00:48:59.630]Pre-teach a social question,
[00:49:02.030]so that day you want to ask your student
[00:49:04.810]to ask a question to appear,
[00:49:06.970]so you're going to pre-teach that before recess,
[00:49:10.330]before passing period.
[00:49:13.040]They could even do it before the class starts,
[00:49:16.030]so you might want to pre-teach it the class before,
[00:49:19.410]so that can really help our students be successful.
[00:49:22.700]Pre-teach directions for an activity or even lab work,
[00:49:26.140]so "Here's the things we're going to do in lab.
[00:49:28.130]This is going to be your job in lab,
[00:49:31.230]and this is what you need to do for your job.
[00:49:33.270]This is what's expected,"
[00:49:34.570]so now when they get into lab,
[00:49:36.290]and kids are kind of crazy during lab times,
[00:49:38.870]they're kind of fun activities,
[00:49:40.710]our student knows what they need to do.
[00:49:43.790]And then also of course pre-teaching songs
[00:49:45.860]for a unit coming up,
[00:49:47.880]for our young kids, pre-teaching actions to songs,
[00:49:50.740]those kinds of things can be helpful.
[00:49:54.210]A checking-in visual.
[00:49:55.270]Some of our kids have a really hard time asking for help,
[00:49:58.320]and so what they might do
[00:49:59.420]is just kind of hang out at their desk and not ask,
[00:50:02.190]so we had a middle school teacher who actually made
[00:50:04.850]the rings on the left for all of her students,
[00:50:07.530]so once she gave a direction,
[00:50:09.180]they knew they need to flip that card over
[00:50:11.330]to where they were, green, yellow, or red.
[00:50:14.630]You also could use a sticky note.
[00:50:16.280]I like to do this for my middle school
[00:50:17.860]and high school students.
[00:50:18.870]So you have a sticky, give them sticky notes
[00:50:20.950]for their binders or their computer bags,
[00:50:23.790]and if they have a question,
[00:50:24.970]they simply pull the sticky note out and put it on the desk.
[00:50:27.630]It doesn't say anything,
[00:50:29.210]it's just a sticky note on the desk,
[00:50:31.030]but it is a signal for the teacher
[00:50:32.560]that they are asking for help,
[00:50:34.460]so this is kind of a first step in helping our kids
[00:50:37.260]initiate asking for assistance.
[00:50:42.630]Some of our kids also need some structure
[00:50:44.980]and some support and visual clarity
[00:50:47.750]for some of their curriculum work,
[00:50:50.580]so first I'm going to show you how we can use
[00:50:52.330]a mini schedule, also how we can use some highlighter
[00:50:55.830]to help visually structure the worksheet for the student.
[00:51:03.720]Okay, Paige, now we're going to work on some reading.
[00:51:05.570]Let's look at what we have to do.
[00:51:07.040]You first have to do what? Write your name.
[00:51:11.340]And then we need to use a marker
[00:51:13.530]and you need to trace the word pig and the word can.
[00:51:16.750]You don't have to do these down here,
[00:51:18.520]just the ones in yellow.
[00:51:20.490]Then you're going to glue the correct picture
[00:51:24.360]in each of the boxes.
[00:51:26.454]Remember, you don't have to do this part,
[00:51:28.020]so you just do this part.
[00:51:29.270]So first we're going to do our steps,
[00:51:32.260]and then what will you earn?
[00:51:34.066]Marshmallows.
[00:51:34.899]Marshmallows. Good job.
[00:51:36.600]Which color marker would you like to use?
[00:51:38.663]Pink.
[00:51:40.120]So what's the first step?
[00:51:42.720]Write your name. Good job.
[00:51:53.050]Perfect. Now please move.
[00:51:54.730]You're all done with step one, so move that where?
[00:51:56.830]Over to, all done, great job. Step two.
[00:52:02.650]Move forward just a little bit.
[00:52:11.150]So after she finishes each of those steps here,
[00:52:14.020]you can see that she's finished two steps.
[00:52:15.930]She still has one left to do.
[00:52:17.960]Then she will earn her reinforcer.
[00:52:20.240]Now, this is a video of how you would teach
[00:52:22.610]using a mini schedule,
[00:52:24.160]but the goal with having a mini schedule
[00:52:25.900]would be that that student could do this independently,
[00:52:28.630]so you would set up the mini schedule,
[00:52:30.380]give them some quick directions,
[00:52:32.810]and then the adult would be able to move away,
[00:52:35.330]but I wanted to show you how you might start using
[00:52:37.920]a mini schedule for some work, curriculum work,
[00:52:40.480]for some of your students,
[00:52:41.580]and obviously this is one for a younger student,
[00:52:43.940]kindergarten age student.
[00:52:49.840]Highlighters are amazing.
[00:52:51.490]I also love green and red dots.
[00:52:53.250]So on this worksheet, green means go, red means stop.
[00:52:57.050]When you get to red, you can take a quick break,
[00:52:59.520]get a drink of water.
[00:53:00.770]When you come back, you're going to find the green dot again
[00:53:04.040]and get started until you get to the red dot.
[00:53:06.840]On the right, the student has directions
[00:53:09.990]to only do the green problems,
[00:53:11.610]and then they have a key here,
[00:53:13.410]so it helps them to know how to average the numbers,
[00:53:17.030]so that's an important step to increase independence
[00:53:20.290]when our kids are working.
[00:53:24.530]Tracing and writing can be a tough thing
[00:53:27.160]for some of our students,
[00:53:29.129]so be sure that when you're doing tracing
[00:53:31.460]that you're actually stating that prompt.
[00:53:33.630]So we initially have them trace the seven,
[00:53:35.830]then the dashed lines, then connect the dots,
[00:53:38.150]then write the seven on their own,
[00:53:40.130]and on the right is just a simple file folder
[00:53:42.550]that's cut into three sections,
[00:53:44.300]so visually the student does not get overwhelmed
[00:53:46.690]by that whole worksheet.
[00:53:48.940]They open the first section and do the highlighted problems
[00:53:51.760]and take a quick break.
[00:53:53.200]When they come back, they're going to open up
[00:53:54.890]the middle section, do those highlighted problems,
[00:53:57.640]and take a break, so this way they're only looking at
[00:54:00.170]one part of the worksheet at a time.
[00:54:05.410]Sometimes our kids struggle to leave a worksheet undone,
[00:54:09.080]or to leave a task undone,
[00:54:11.010]so ahead of time, this student has a note
[00:54:14.550]that said they will do one and two in class,
[00:54:17.360]but they will finish three and four in study hall,
[00:54:20.890]so sometimes it's not enough to tell them
[00:54:22.900]to finish it later.
[00:54:24.190]Sometimes we need to help them know when later is,
[00:54:28.170]so I call it later with a plan,
[00:54:31.090]so finish three and four in study hall,
[00:54:34.690]so when will they do it?
[00:54:36.220]On the right is a to-do list with a worksheet,
[00:54:39.480]so do the yellow highlighted shapes, take a break,
[00:54:42.100]do the orange highlighted shapes, and then take a break.
[00:54:47.310]I read, you read, this is a really great strategy.
[00:54:50.930]Even if you tell a student that you're going to read,
[00:54:53.600]them being able to visually see how much they have to read
[00:54:56.810]and then when you're going to read
[00:54:58.190]can be really, really helpful.
[00:55:00.190]So, Mrs. Smith's gonna read the yellow
[00:55:02.580]and John is gonna read the red.
[00:55:08.630]Structuring a writing activity using visuals,
[00:55:11.310]so using pictures to help these young students
[00:55:14.130]with their writing can be really effective.
[00:55:17.030]This teacher specifically picked pictures
[00:55:20.210]that she knows her students know about.
[00:55:22.200]One of the boys there likes soccer.
[00:55:24.310]One of the girls at the table
[00:55:25.440]that you cannot see does dance,
[00:55:27.750]so she picks those pictures intentionally
[00:55:30.730]because they've had those experiences,
[00:55:32.500]which means it's going to be easier for them
[00:55:34.230]to write about it.
[00:55:35.550]You also can have families send pictures from home.
[00:55:37.990]That's a really great way.
[00:55:39.650]You also can add an I-write-you-write
[00:55:41.740]if your student struggles with writing,
[00:55:43.820]so you can add yellow highlighter
[00:55:45.670]for where the student writes
[00:55:47.260]and you could do pink highlighter where you write.
[00:55:52.760]Then this one is considering
[00:55:54.180]some different options for writing,
[00:55:56.070]and of course the favorite option is on the right there.
[00:55:58.660]I think this is ingenious.
[00:56:00.010]This was not my idea.
[00:56:01.110]It was another teacher's idea, using a label maker.
[00:56:04.220]The child types out the answer, it prints out,
[00:56:07.200]they peel off the back, and stick it on their paper.
[00:56:10.100]I think this would be highly motivating
[00:56:12.150]for a lot of our bright and verbal students.
[00:56:18.040]This is a strategy that's by Sarah Ward.
[00:56:21.910]She has done a few of the executive functioning webinars
[00:56:24.640]that you have links for in the PDF.
[00:56:27.260]This is a week long project,
[00:56:29.640]and the teacher and the student sit down
[00:56:31.650]and break the project down into small steps,
[00:56:34.740]and then they put the small steps on the calendar
[00:56:38.180]for the day the child needs to do those steps.
[00:56:40.950]Do not make the steps too big.
[00:56:42.490]Remember we're breaking the project down into small steps,
[00:56:46.730]but if the student on Monday doesn't complete that task,
[00:56:49.930]do you see what happens?
[00:56:52.070]It moves to Tuesday.
[00:56:55.000]If they don't do any of the work
[00:56:56.620]on this project on Tuesday or Wednesday,
[00:56:59.170]they've now all moved over to Thursday,
[00:57:01.550]and the project's due on Friday,
[00:57:03.500]so this is a way for a student to visually see
[00:57:07.060]what they have to do, and if they don't do it,
[00:57:11.410]it doesn't really go away.
[00:57:13.320]It just moves to the next day,
[00:57:15.580]and then things start to pile up.
[00:57:17.890]Now, we're not trying to cause great anxiety
[00:57:20.120]for our student, but we want them to have a visual way
[00:57:22.880]to see the importance of completing
[00:57:24.970]these small steps along the way,
[00:57:27.620]so they don't all pile up at the end.
[00:57:33.390]Final tip, fairness is not giving everyone the same thing.
[00:57:37.030]Fairness is giving the individual what they need to succeed.
[00:57:40.110]This is so important,
[00:57:41.570]especially for our bright and verbal students
[00:57:43.560]who are in the general ed classroom
[00:57:45.630]and who look like every other student.
[00:57:48.160]Sometimes we forget that they need extra supports.
[00:57:51.430]They need social skills taught to them.
[00:57:54.370]They need some visuals to remind them throughout the day,
[00:57:57.940]even though the other kids may not need that,
[00:58:00.860]so remembering that fairness
[00:58:02.920]is not giving everyone the same thing.
[00:58:05.190]It's giving that individual what they need to succeed.
[00:58:10.470]Thank you so much for taking the time to watch this webinar.

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Bright and Verbal Students with Autism: Strategies for the General Education Classroom

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