Defining Engagement in Classroom Settings for Students on the Autism Spectrum Part 2

Emily Rubin Author

09/11/2016 Added

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As a result of this activity, participants will be able to identify: 1) Three critical elements of engagement that ensure a students’ access to the classroom curriculum. 2) Three domains of research-based instructional strategies for increasing engagement in students.

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[00:00:02.543]So, the first part of the universal design
[00:00:04.708]for learning framework is really fostering engagement,
[00:00:08.620]what we call Section A,
[00:00:10.307]and what we're gonna talk about today
[00:00:11.734]is how fostering investments in classroom lessons
[00:00:15.433]can really be supported by this particular domain
[00:00:18.192]of the universal design for learning framework.
[00:00:20.613]We need to get the emotional hook in classroom lessons.
[00:00:23.807]This is particularly necessary for children with...
[00:00:28.558]because of their genetic differences,
[00:00:30.461]less stimulation being around people,
[00:00:32.509]they may have less opiods and dopamine,
[00:00:34.802]they may not receive as much oxytocin
[00:00:37.179]and people, generally speaking, are kind of dull and boring,
[00:00:41.271]and now we want them to do academics,
[00:00:43.282]we want them to do this work,
[00:00:44.712]and all too often we've relied in the past on saying,
[00:00:47.253]"First do you your work and then you will be duly rewarded
[00:00:50.523]"with this particular opportunity
[00:00:52.050]"to go play on the computer or go bounce on a therapy ball
[00:00:55.185]"and have some fun or blow bubbles,"
[00:00:57.113]and then, generally speaking, what we would do
[00:00:58.458]is then the work would be rewarded
[00:01:00.325]by that child being engaged in solitary play
[00:01:02.905]that's really stimulating and wonderful and fun
[00:01:05.617]like being on the computer or bouncing on a ball.
[00:01:08.017]Frankly, it becomes a lot more fun to be isolated
[00:01:10.594]and to not be with people, so it shift us back here.
[00:01:14.153]If we wanna change that paradigm
[00:01:16.212]and we want children to not only
[00:01:18.300]learn their content standards,
[00:01:20.015]let's not rely so much on extrinsic reward,
[00:01:22.556]let's build the intrinsic reward into what we're doing,
[00:01:25.627]so if we're trying to teach them how to read,
[00:01:27.471]if we're trying to teach them math skills,
[00:01:29.358]we gotta get the emotional hook.
[00:01:31.037]Once we get the emotional hook,
[00:01:32.677]our children will like us more and like the math more
[00:01:35.300]which is the two things that will happen,
[00:01:36.596]and then what will happen is all those wonderful
[00:01:38.342]neurological connections that we made
[00:01:40.019]from as much stimulation as we can foster in their brains
[00:01:43.088]with the oxytocin cocktail.
[00:01:45.706]So, one way of doing that,
[00:01:46.810]I'm just gonna show you some examples,
[00:01:48.304]is fostering emotional investment
[00:01:49.900]through movement and role play.
[00:01:51.826]So, when we're reading like a read-aloud,
[00:01:54.114]as you see in this particular image,
[00:01:55.950]the words just seem to be jumping off that page
[00:01:58.157]into these kids hearts and they're getting out there
[00:02:00.854]and they're role playing, they're acting it out,
[00:02:02.410]they're clapping along with the story,
[00:02:04.923]possibly acting it out and turning toward a peer even
[00:02:07.902]and engaging in that role play.
[00:02:09.780]One of my favorite recent experiences
[00:02:11.787]in a preschool classroom was watching a teacher
[00:02:14.093]read a story about stomping in the rain puddles.
[00:02:16.790]She literally pulled out an umbrella,
[00:02:18.965]she pulled out rain boots,
[00:02:20.681]and the kids put on pretend rain boots if they wanted to,
[00:02:23.915]and then she had little spray bottles,
[00:02:25.344]and they would kind of climb under the umbrella,
[00:02:27.325]and she would spray on them,
[00:02:28.716]and they would read the next page,
[00:02:30.474]and it became a very dynamic activity
[00:02:32.897]of role play and emotional investment
[00:02:35.187]It made them love book time, made them love the written word
[00:02:38.337]because the written word has a sensory appeal to it
[00:02:40.712]when it comes to life like this.
[00:02:42.712]So, fostering investment through movement and role play
[00:02:45.439]is one of the key strategies I see as so effective
[00:02:48.593]in getting investment in.
[00:02:51.723]Again, we wanna get investment in other hands-on activities
[00:02:54.643]like math skills or handwriting skills.
[00:02:57.179]On the left here, you see a little fish tank
[00:02:59.344]with kind of pretend fishies and turtles and so forth.
[00:03:02.301]This was a team's effort to increase emotional investment
[00:03:05.437]in their math sorting task.
[00:03:07.182]It had been a center where they had come
[00:03:08.834]and they were supposed to get the yellow teddy bears,
[00:03:10.794]and figure out how many of them,
[00:03:12.548]or three of them would go into the cup with the number 3.
[00:03:15.753]If there was five red teddy bears,
[00:03:17.659]it would go in the cup with the number 5,
[00:03:19.285]it was a sorting task,
[00:03:20.681]and the children really needed a lot of a hand over hand,
[00:03:23.834]a little prompting and encouragement
[00:03:25.684]until we gave them a fishing net,
[00:03:27.727]little fishing hats, some kids didn't like to wear the hat,
[00:03:30.433]but nonetheless, we give 'em a fishing net.
[00:03:32.088]They're scooping these little things out of the fish tank
[00:03:34.382]and then they get to count how many they caught,
[00:03:36.872]and it just became more exciting to them, more investment.
[00:03:41.382]They thought math was then more enjoyable
[00:03:43.993]and intrinsically rewarding.
[00:03:45.548]On the right hand side,
[00:03:46.981]you see that this child is learning handwriting.
[00:03:50.209]He's learning it through three-dimensional
[00:03:51.941]hands-on activities like molding the letter B
[00:03:54.401]out of modeling clay.
[00:03:56.071]We get the emotional investment that way
[00:03:58.361]and now people who are the deliverers
[00:04:00.653]of such academic lessons
[00:04:02.287]are also the deliverers of pleasure.
[00:04:04.584]We're going after that seeking and liking my teacher thing,
[00:04:07.686]that's a great way to earn that relationship.
[00:04:11.738]In this next example,
[00:04:12.845]I'm showing you very different children
[00:04:15.253]on side to side as we're stimulating
[00:04:17.119]their emotional investment in creating
[00:04:18.948]a collaborative product,
[00:04:21.214]Actually, the children on the right hand side
[00:04:22.960]are middles-schoolers,
[00:04:23.937]and they are very excited to create
[00:04:26.473]the product of a map of Georgia,
[00:04:28.483]and they're looking at the topographical status
[00:04:31.327]by painting the mountains versus the valleys
[00:04:33.987]using a different type of paint
[00:04:35.614]that would get more textured to show off
[00:04:37.950]the topography of that.
[00:04:39.427]They're using their device to look up Google Maps
[00:04:41.799]and find out the exact rivers and maps.
[00:04:44.087]This is something that's relevant for all learners
[00:04:46.452]including typically developing children,
[00:04:48.132]they need that emotional investment,
[00:04:50.069]but let's slip over to the left here,
[00:04:52.208]you have a child who's 16 years old,
[00:04:53.885]he's before words, he was autism,
[00:04:55.850]he doesn't have much connections with people yet.
[00:04:58.427]He's still learning that people are worth his while
[00:05:01.585]in terms of orienting toward us and initiating with us,
[00:05:04.743]and they really wanted him to learn
[00:05:06.751]how to sit at the table and do his work,
[00:05:09.039]but I said to them,
[00:05:10.019]"You gotta stimulate his emotional investment.
[00:05:11.944]"If he wants to sit at the table, he'll sit at the table,
[00:05:15.094]"so let's figure out what would he want to do,"
[00:05:17.389]and they kinda threw their hands in the air and they said,
[00:05:19.410]"All that he really wants to do is crumple up paper,"
[00:05:21.448]and so we talked and we brainstormed.
[00:05:23.290]We said, "Well, come up with a strategy then
[00:05:24.952]'for him to crumple up paper to create something
[00:05:27.940]"that might be of interest or use or interesting to him,
[00:05:30.886]"have a clear beginning and endpoint."
[00:05:32.561]And they created these particular art projects with him
[00:05:35.105]using crinkly and really cool textured tissue paper.
[00:05:38.955]He learned to make very colorful and pretty mosaics,
[00:05:42.199]and truly enjoyed and was invested in the product
[00:05:44.729]at the end of the road there.
[00:05:46.602]So, again, thinking about what are we doing
[00:05:48.673]with our students at the table,
[00:05:49.974]are they doing something meaningful,
[00:05:51.776]is it hands on, are we doing it together,
[00:05:53.873]that product is a really key factor.
[00:05:58.092]So, that was the category of fostering engagement
[00:06:01.615]and that's critical for that first I
[00:06:04.991]of our three Is of engagement,
[00:06:06.775]and that would be emotional investment,
[00:06:08.965]but we also need independence
[00:06:10.436]'cause a lot of our children seem to get disorganized,
[00:06:12.605]they seem a little prompt-dependent,
[00:06:14.132]we're using a lot of verbal modeling and verbal guidance
[00:06:16.629]to get them to do what they need to do,
[00:06:18.477]that is not a state of active engagement.
[00:06:20.890]Our children tend to be very passive,
[00:06:22.728]they tend to be followers,
[00:06:24.619]and we want to see that they wanna learn
[00:06:26.594]and they wanna get to that next step all by themselves.
[00:06:29.420]So, the second section of
[00:06:30.931]universal design for learning which is B,
[00:06:33.387]what we call it, providing information in multiple ways,
[00:06:36.342]that we're not just verbally talking to kids,
[00:06:38.466]but we're getting a deeper comprehension
[00:06:40.229]by using visual supports, by using hands-on materials,
[00:06:43.787]props, manipulatives, by using rehearsal, role-pay,
[00:06:47.887]video images, whatever it takes to help children
[00:06:50.096]truly understand what the expectations are in the room,
[00:06:52.673]but also the concepts and academic lessons
[00:06:54.844]that we're trying to teach them as well.
[00:06:57.456]I had one teacher, for example, just yesterday
[00:06:59.509]gave me an example of teaching fusion to her 7th graders,
[00:07:02.996]and I mean, fusion, I don't even really know what that is,
[00:07:05.573]but after she explained what she did
[00:07:07.168]was just basically she had all the students stand up,
[00:07:09.448]move their desks to the center of the room,
[00:07:11.394]and she told them they were all molecules,
[00:07:13.451]and then she told them to get tighter and tighter
[00:07:15.502]and tighter together and now they're bumping off each other
[00:07:17.636]and causing a lot of friction, and that was fusion.
[00:07:20.836]Then she opened up the door and said,
[00:07:22.595]"Now, some of you can go out into the hallway,"
[00:07:24.357]and as they started to disperse,
[00:07:25.664]she said, "Now, we just diffused,"
[00:07:27.925]and they learned the concept of fusion
[00:07:30.011]by role play, by rehearsal,
[00:07:31.522]by feeling it through their whole body,
[00:07:33.203]that's just an example of providing information
[00:07:35.373]in different ways to get deeper comprehension
[00:07:37.633]and also, most importantly, to foster independence.
[00:07:42.151]So, here, the next step of fostering independence
[00:07:44.349]is making sure that we have visuals
[00:07:46.276]for sequencing our daily activities.
[00:07:48.276]This is one of the most tried and true
[00:07:49.748]evidence-based strategies,
[00:07:51.004]the use of visual supports for Time Tables
[00:07:52.927]and sequences across the table.
[00:07:54.729]So, a daily agenda is a critical tool
[00:07:56.613]for encouraging self-management,
[00:07:58.531]for encouraging independence,
[00:08:00.412]this particular example, I actually really like,
[00:08:03.490]an example of a Special Education classroom setting
[00:08:06.488]where it says, "Our Day,"
[00:08:08.077]and at the top of it, you'll see that it says, "Math Time,"
[00:08:10.772]but right next to it, it says, "jellybean Word Problems."
[00:08:14.702]And right below that,
[00:08:16.216]they're gonna have a movement break, then a snack,
[00:08:18.591]and later they're gonna have a writing activity,
[00:08:21.166]and when they have that writing activity,
[00:08:22.611]you'll notice right next to it,
[00:08:24.003]it says, "Oreo-Eating Videos."
[00:08:26.422]What did they do for writing the week before?
[00:08:28.392]They had written instructions on how to eat an Oreo cookie,
[00:08:31.381]then they filmed themselves reading their instructions,
[00:08:34.092]and today, they were gonna watch their videos,
[00:08:36.185]and actually follow their instructions.
[00:08:38.436]So, their writing project became something
[00:08:40.340]they could truly invest in and look forward to,
[00:08:43.008]and the second these Oreo-eating videos was done,
[00:08:45.675]the kids were literally raising their hands,
[00:08:47.421]saying "What do we get to write about next?"
[00:08:49.377]That's a great way to get stimulating
[00:08:51.061]their interest in writing,
[00:08:52.244]but also fostering their independence
[00:08:53.889]by getting excited about their day.
[00:08:57.391]The daily agenda is a great example of a tool
[00:08:59.571]that we would use to foster independence.
[00:09:03.423]The next example you see here is for older children,
[00:09:05.679]children who you might think
[00:09:07.030]you don't need visual supports anymore,
[00:09:08.710]they know the routine,
[00:09:10.478]but what we really want is independence.
[00:09:12.354]We don't want children following people's cues
[00:09:14.610]and following routines,
[00:09:15.863]we want children to self-manage themselves,
[00:09:17.874]we want them to plan ahead.
[00:09:19.471]It's so nice in a 3rd, 4th grade classroom
[00:09:21.641]to have a time-ordered agenda up on the wall
[00:09:24.053]to review with your students at the beginning of the day,
[00:09:26.632]then kind of ask, "Are you prepared for these things?
[00:09:28.881]"Are you excited about these things?
[00:09:30.516]"What tools do you need right now,
[00:09:32.325]"so you can be independently making transitions
[00:09:34.539]"across the day into these various activities?"
[00:09:37.082]So, that's an example of keeping that daily agenda visual
[00:09:40.202]all the way through the school-age years.
[00:09:44.292]This example is a bit of a comic relief example
[00:09:47.196]in which we're still wanting to foster independence
[00:09:49.491]for visuals, for sequencing daily activities,
[00:09:51.497]sometimes we need to get a bit individualized.
[00:09:53.955]This particular student would say,
[00:09:55.622]"I don't care about your daily agenda,
[00:09:57.052]"I just wanna go home,"
[00:09:58.532]and so finally, we said, "All right.
[00:10:00.590]"This is gonna be the Escape from School Game.
[00:10:03.000]"Your daily agenda is gonna look like an escape plan."
[00:10:05.953]Step number seven is Exit, Go Home,
[00:10:08.820]and if we figure out where's step number one,
[00:10:10.746]how do we get out of here without anyone bothering us?
[00:10:13.074]Oh, we gotta go to Ms. Shank's class down here,
[00:10:15.485]step number one, and then we gotta sneak into music class
[00:10:18.479]which we really like 'cause music's super cool,
[00:10:20.854]and then we're gonna go to P.E,
[00:10:22.448]and then we're gonna have a pause,
[00:10:23.858]and we won't let anyone know we're on this escape plan
[00:10:26.157]and we'll go to lunch,
[00:10:27.015]and then we'll go back to Ms. Shank's class,
[00:10:28.487]and then we'll have like this reward,
[00:10:29.617]and we can miss our reward 'cause we really like that,
[00:10:31.846]and then at the end of the day, we're gonna go home,
[00:10:34.820]nobody will even know the other,
[00:10:36.270]and this is just an example,
[00:10:37.791]sometimes the individual schedules that we create
[00:10:41.156]do need to be individualized,
[00:10:43.985]tailored to their special interest,
[00:10:45.599]keep dropping in things throughout the day
[00:10:47.676]that are very pleasurable, that are non-negotiable,
[00:10:49.847]we're not taking those things away, they're on the schedule,
[00:10:52.431]it's gonna drive that child to stick with us
[00:10:54.479]and stay emotionally invested
[00:10:56.324]and independent throughout the day.
[00:11:00.618]Another step of fostering independence
[00:11:02.463]using information provided in different ways
[00:11:04.883]is something called a help box
[00:11:06.768]or defining the steps within a task,
[00:11:09.678]having those portable clipboards that go with a student
[00:11:12.484]to a center or to a task
[00:11:14.368]that have the steps within that task well-defined.
[00:11:17.816]If we don't have this, it's very like that we're relying
[00:11:20.878]on that child's own self-management skills,
[00:11:23.301]their comprehension of verbal instructions
[00:11:25.349]given seven to 10 minutes prior, no-no-no,
[00:11:28.471]we need to make sure that we have that
[00:11:29.647]written down for them,
[00:11:30.822]so they can independently engage
[00:11:32.465]with the target and materials
[00:11:33.619]that's gonna keep them in that active, engaged role,
[00:11:35.663]not waiting for instructions, but doing it themselves.
[00:11:38.989]So, not only defining the steps across the day,
[00:11:41.201]but the steps within the task
[00:11:43.047]are key elements of fostering independence.
[00:11:48.421]The next part of our providing information in multiple ways
[00:11:51.809]that's gonna foster independence
[00:11:53.182]is think about those group activities,
[00:11:55.195]how do we keep our kids independently engaging
[00:11:57.854]in the manner that we wish they would have stayed
[00:12:00.552]when they're in a large group activity,
[00:12:02.510]they're sitting on a rug, there's nothing on their lap,
[00:12:05.635]they're supposed to be paying attention to you
[00:12:07.583]and liking you, and therefore independently imitating
[00:12:11.066]your actions and so forth.
[00:12:12.618]It's gonna help us tremendously
[00:12:14.387]if we duplicate the visuals that we have in our hands
[00:12:17.215]and give that to the children themselves.
[00:12:19.383]In this example, you see a preschool group
[00:12:21.562]that has weather wheels for every student.
[00:12:23.982]The teacher had a weather wheel at the front of the group
[00:12:26.399]and simply put, we saw students were at a two
[00:12:28.814]on the engagement ladder, partial engaged,
[00:12:30.853]and several were emerging fleeting,
[00:12:32.611]but if we put the visual in their hands,
[00:12:34.615]they see it in their laps,
[00:12:36.051]they look up at her, "Wow, she's got the same visual as me.
[00:12:39.086]"Ooh, she's sliding it toward rainy.
[00:12:40.890]"Hm, maybe I'll do that, too."
[00:12:42.782]It's fostering their own independent thinking
[00:12:45.122]of matching their teacher
[00:12:46.679]and orienting toward their teacher,
[00:12:48.433]we call that proximal visuals.
[00:12:50.484]Those are really essential tools for fostering independence.
[00:12:56.060]I'm gonna show you another one of those examples
[00:12:57.659]'cause it's not just for preschoolers.
[00:12:59.459]Frankly, you also, if you've planned ahead,
[00:13:01.609]have printed the handouts for today's webinar
[00:13:03.732]and it's so nice to have those visual supports
[00:13:05.866]for yourself as well, those proximal visuals.
[00:13:08.360]In this example, the large group instruction time
[00:13:11.430]during a math lesson in a first grade classroom
[00:13:13.904]was leading children to be both emerging fleeting
[00:13:16.016]or partial engaged.
[00:13:17.495]It was hard to pay attention to the teacher
[00:13:19.249]at the front of the group
[00:13:20.192]and all they have is their hands and their bodies
[00:13:21.952]and there's nothing for them to do, but passively listen,
[00:13:24.977]but if we give them a chart that shows,
[00:13:27.025]"Hey, did you know that five pennies equals a nickel
[00:13:29.276]"and two nickels is a dime
[00:13:30.668]"and two dimes and a nickel is a quarter,"
[00:13:32.643]and it's right there in front of them,
[00:13:33.841]and as the teacher's giving instructions,
[00:13:35.359]they're independently tracking and problem-solving
[00:13:37.690]and thinking about the content standard.
[00:13:39.871]So, providing information in multiple ways
[00:13:41.767]is not just good for comprehension,
[00:13:43.225]but it does foster the child's independent ability
[00:13:46.016]to stay on task and to stay actively engaged
[00:13:48.796]in what they're learning.
[00:13:54.077]The other part of providing information in multiple ways
[00:13:56.866]is not just about sequencing the daily tasks,
[00:13:59.123]not just the steps within the task,
[00:14:00.697]or truly getting deep comprehension of academics,
[00:14:03.537]but of thinking about how difficult it is
[00:14:05.369]to understand people and social expectations.
[00:14:08.415]The idea of providing information in multiple ways
[00:14:10.536]can be really powerful for fostering independence
[00:14:13.198]for social cues like when is it my turn,
[00:14:16.276]when do I get to speak out in class?
[00:14:18.686]I know quite a few of students that I work with
[00:14:21.029]that just think it's their turn all the time,
[00:14:23.088]and they're blurting out all the time,
[00:14:24.689]but if we establish a system for turn-taking
[00:14:27.353]like a simple one,
[00:14:28.587]pulling those Popsicle sticks out of the can
[00:14:30.881]that child will know,
[00:14:32.193]"I wonder if my stick's gonna be called.
[00:14:33.543]"I wonder if my stick's gonna be called"
[00:14:35.272]instead of just raising their hand,
[00:14:36.874]they understand the turn-taking sequence.
[00:14:39.660]I had a couple of teachers say
[00:14:40.845]that there's some wonderful apps that you can get
[00:14:42.888]for your SMART Board or your Active Boards
[00:14:44.864]that just like spin the dice for whose turn it is.
[00:14:47.771]Again, it's unpredictable, but yet it's predictable
[00:14:51.505]that there will be an opportunity to take a turn
[00:14:53.790]and I better stay on my toes for it as well,
[00:14:55.973]and it will help me understand
[00:14:57.487]the social cues and the environment a bit more.
[00:15:02.228]Along those lines,
[00:15:03.663]providing information in multiple ways
[00:15:05.263]can be very helpful for more subtle social cues
[00:15:08.403]like vocal volume.
[00:15:09.841]I believe I talked about this one last week as well.
[00:15:12.952]It's such a particular issue in our classrooms
[00:15:15.273]'cause there's sometimes anywhere between
[00:15:16.785]16 or eight kids or 16 kids or 25 kids
[00:15:19.948]or 35 kids in a classroom,
[00:15:21.754]P.E, there might be 50 kids in a classroom,
[00:15:24.577]how do we modulate our vocal volume in those situations?
[00:15:27.850]All too often I hearing teachers modulate it
[00:15:30.203]by yelling themselves,
[00:15:31.761]so we're contributing to the volume out there,
[00:15:33.871]but what we really want our students to learn
[00:15:35.747]is how to independent with knowing
[00:15:37.995]and learning those social expectations,
[00:15:39.846]we can't be telling them,
[00:15:41.078]"You're too loud" or "Shush, quiet,"
[00:15:43.544]that's not actually fostering independence at all.
[00:15:46.056]If we want them to independently figure out
[00:15:48.350]where their vocal volume needs to be,
[00:15:49.907]we literally need to have visual supports for them.
[00:15:52.630]The one on the left shows a simple gauge
[00:15:55.620]that shows that if your vocal volume
[00:15:57.911]should be a zero at this particular given time,
[00:15:59.796]a one, a two, or a three,
[00:16:01.648]and that way students know where they should be.
[00:16:04.062]As long as it's referenced and actively used,
[00:16:06.190]it can be a powerful tool.
[00:16:08.357]The example that you see on the right hand side,
[00:16:10.328]it's a little harder to see,
[00:16:11.931]it's called a volume control center,
[00:16:14.264]and this particular teacher designated a student helper
[00:16:17.446]in her class every week to be the volume control helper,
[00:16:20.900]and that on the right hand side,
[00:16:22.459]it said, "Where we should be for our vocal volume"
[00:16:25.163]and in the middle it said, Level 0, Level 1,
[00:16:27.564]Level 2, or Level 3,
[00:16:28.953]and they would vote before every activity.
[00:16:31.662]This activity is a test, where should we be?
[00:16:34.040]Should we all be Level 3 like we're outside
[00:16:36.091]cheering for a football game?
[00:16:37.637]Or should we be at a Level 0 where it's really quite quiet,
[00:16:40.754]and the students would vote on it,
[00:16:42.836]so giving them an understanding of the expectations
[00:16:45.044]of social situations.
[00:16:46.603]I'm gonna be a zero for a test.
[00:16:48.655]For like independent reading
[00:16:50.210]and like quiet independent time, maybe a one for a whisper,
[00:16:53.485]and then a two for group work, it's a talking voice.
[00:16:58.000]They would vote on it ahead of time
[00:16:59.353]and put the blue magnet of where we should be
[00:17:01.405]on the right hand side,
[00:17:02.837]and on the left hand side was where they actually were
[00:17:05.214]with a red magnet,
[00:17:06.444]and so if the teacher heard them getting a little too loud
[00:17:09.316]or on occasion, even too quiet for group work,
[00:17:12.099]she would take that red magnet off,
[00:17:14.062]hand it to the student helper
[00:17:15.484]who would walk around the classroom
[00:17:17.544]and indicate, "You know what?
[00:17:19.204]"I think we're mismatched right here."
[00:17:21.005]Either raise up your volume if you're not talking enough
[00:17:23.300]or bring down your volume if you're talking too much.
[00:17:26.082]The student helper would do this nonverbally
[00:17:28.252]by just showing them the red magnet.
[00:17:30.055]He would then go back up
[00:17:31.242]and put them as a match on the board.
[00:17:33.083]This was a school that was really into climate initiatives
[00:17:36.073]and having a wonderful positive behavior intervention
[00:17:38.400]support plan in place,
[00:17:39.706]so they would get class-wide tickets
[00:17:41.418]if their vocal volume expectations met
[00:17:43.562]at the end of their game.
[00:17:45.163]What I really like about these types of systems
[00:17:47.212]is that it's fostering the student's independence.
[00:17:49.216]They're learning about what their social expectations
[00:17:52.657]are for vocal volume
[00:17:53.841]and then they're able to independently achieve that
[00:17:56.141]with the visual structure we have in the classroom.
[00:18:02.376]Finally, the final domain
[00:18:04.416]of the universal design for learning framework
[00:18:06.835]is fostering expression in multiple ways.
[00:18:10.214]We need to recognize that some children love to talk.
[00:18:13.327]I'm one of those by the way, I love talking.
[00:18:16.620]Some children rather draw, some children rather write,
[00:18:19.913]some children like to role play and act it out,
[00:18:22.445]other kids really love the helper role,
[00:18:24.157]to be the teacher's pet and go and help other students.
[00:18:26.985]There's many different ways to get
[00:18:28.203]children expressing themselves.
[00:18:30.358]I refer to this as getting students to show what they know.
[00:18:33.837]So, we need to get the emotional hook,
[00:18:35.767]we need to get deeper comprehension,
[00:18:37.525]and then we need to get students
[00:18:38.610]to show what they know in every lesson plan.
[00:18:41.064]If we do that for all the lesson plan,
[00:18:42.413]we're gonna see more active engagement,
[00:18:44.341]so that's a key part of this.
[00:18:46.761]How do we do that?
[00:18:47.657]How do we foster and increase initiations?
[00:18:51.093]That's the whole concept of showing what you know,
[00:18:53.178]is get those students initiating,
[00:18:54.776]and as we talked about last week,
[00:18:56.540]I don't think there's anything more important
[00:18:58.139]than getting a child with autism initiating.
[00:19:00.141]We want them to connect with us,
[00:19:01.862]to find strong relationships, to build those connections
[00:19:05.018]and self-efficacy as they go up
[00:19:06.778]through the developmental stages.
[00:19:08.890]So, in this particular example,
[00:19:10.237]we wanna encourage initiations
[00:19:11.800]by giving frequent opportunities, number one,
[00:19:14.788]but also providing proximal visual support.
[00:19:16.911]As yoU see on this student lap,
[00:19:18.836]he's got the alphabet board in front of him.
[00:19:20.920]The song they were actually singing was
[00:19:22.763]♫ Who let the A out
[00:19:24.405]♫ Ah, ah, ah, ah
[00:19:25.729]♫ Who let B out
[00:19:26.994]♫ Buh, buh, buh, buh
[00:19:28.304]It's a great song.
[00:19:29.289]I won't sing it 'cause I'm not a good singer,
[00:19:31.206]but every children in the class
[00:19:35.081]was given little alphabet boards,
[00:19:36.389]so as they were singing,
[00:19:37.415]if they didn't wanna sing themselves,
[00:19:38.768]they could point to the letters and follow along,
[00:19:41.219]so they could show what they know
[00:19:42.570]and they were initiating nonverbally
[00:19:44.652]even though they weren't really talking to their peers
[00:19:46.861]or talking to the group, they were participating
[00:19:48.640]and much more active participants.
[00:19:50.641]I'm a huge fan of having a proximal visual
[00:19:53.221]at circle times, during music time, during math lessons,
[00:19:56.608]anytime that student can be following along with you,
[00:19:59.239]the more initiations they're going to be making.
[00:20:02.924]Obviously, giving opportunities for students to share out
[00:20:05.459]for frequent initiations is another key factor.
[00:20:10.485]They need time for partner shares
[00:20:12.292]not necessarily in front of the whole group,
[00:20:14.132]could be just turn and share with your partner,
[00:20:16.635]making sure there's an opportunity
[00:20:18.126]If you're doing a wonderful math lesson
[00:20:19.763]where it's a real life application
[00:20:21.272]and they were kind of figuring out
[00:20:23.067]what it would cost to get a new car or something,
[00:20:25.078]and they decided they were gonna get a Camaro.
[00:20:26.757]This happened in one of my middle school classrooms
[00:20:28.296]the other day.
[00:20:29.165]He was really emotionally invested and very independent,
[00:20:32.147]but he didn't have an opportunity
[00:20:33.439]to initiate with his peers,
[00:20:34.858]so we gotta make sure that at the end of the work
[00:20:37.718]that there's a share out time to share with others
[00:20:40.248]what you budgeted for your car
[00:20:42.261]and what car you ended up picking out,
[00:20:44.111]so there is that opportunity for active...
[00:20:47.911]This is another example of a student
[00:20:50.755]whose initiations are being encouraged
[00:20:52.724]through the visual modality in a preschool lesson.
[00:20:55.574]He's going up there to choose the job for the day
[00:20:58.185]and he just simply has to take his photograph
[00:21:00.185]and stick it next to a verb and a noun,
[00:21:02.143]so he's creating that beautiful subject-verb-noun
[00:21:04.234]sentence structure I like to see
[00:21:05.870]of Joseph is picking line leader today,
[00:21:08.368]so giving him that opportunity to make that initiation.
[00:21:13.070]And as you see here,
[00:21:14.583]this is the Oreo-eating video cookies,
[00:21:17.237]so giving the opportunities for students to write out
[00:21:20.054]their stories about how to eat Oreo cookies
[00:21:22.806]and then view it for the class,
[00:21:24.080]but while the children are passively watching those videos,
[00:21:27.109]they need to fill out a compliment card
[00:21:29.396]as you see on the left hand side,
[00:21:31.194]is they need to compliment their friend's story
[00:21:33.098]and to talk about whether it was terrific,
[00:21:34.657]great, awesome, or fantastic,
[00:21:36.413]and then after they hear the instructions,
[00:21:38.786]they're gonna turn to their peer and compliment them,
[00:21:41.356]so making sure that they're not receiving it passively,
[00:21:43.388]but having that chance
[00:21:44.307]to be an active participant on the way out.
[00:21:47.867]This is an example at a middle school level
[00:21:49.703]of a science lab group.
[00:21:52.660]How do we get initiations going there
[00:21:54.399]to foster expression there?
[00:21:55.995]Having those visual supports once again,
[00:21:58.163]reminding students that they can talk to each other
[00:22:00.497]about who's gonna be the table inspector,
[00:22:02.544]the floor inspector, the supply inspector, the timekeeper?
[00:22:05.733]This is gonna give them something to talk about
[00:22:07.655]and a visual reminder that's gonna get
[00:22:09.237]their active engagement up,
[00:22:10.623]so they can operate more independently
[00:22:12.377]and be more invested in what they're doing
[00:22:13.808]in their science labs.
[00:22:17.062]And last, but not least, how do we foster initiations
[00:22:19.720]in relation to asking for help
[00:22:21.770]and for comfort and emotional expression?
[00:22:24.105]If we can get this part going,
[00:22:25.456]we're in really good business here
[00:22:27.341]because not only will they be paying attention to people
[00:22:29.658]and liking people,
[00:22:30.557]they will see us as a source of comfort and support
[00:22:33.363]when we are in distress and they need help.
[00:22:35.904]These are something called Emotion Key Rings
[00:22:37.774]in which a teacher might wear this
[00:22:39.987]and they might simply label,
[00:22:41.543]it looks like you're feeling tired,
[00:22:43.137]it looks like you're feeling kind of bored.
[00:22:44.728]On the backhand side of it then it says,
[00:22:46.888]"Well, here's what you can do about it"
[00:22:48.402]and then you give the student the choice.
[00:22:50.605]They can then initiate and actively problem-solve,
[00:22:53.263]"Hey, maybe I should ask the teacher
[00:22:54.937]"if she needs help passing out materials.
[00:22:56.720]"Maybe I should ask the teacher
[00:22:58.018]"if I can get a cold drink of water.
[00:23:00.110]"I can ask if I can have a brain break
[00:23:02.378]"or something like that,"
[00:23:03.650]so that I can initiate and actively problem-solve
[00:23:06.590]of how I'm gonna get through this lesson
[00:23:08.922]rather than slipping into that
[00:23:10.392]emerging-fleeting state of engagement.
[00:23:12.422]Emotion Key Rings can be powerful
[00:23:14.222]particularly at the elementary school age years.
[00:23:16.064]If you're working with middle school and high school kids,
[00:23:18.318]sometimes just referring to different charts on the wall
[00:23:22.233]if I'm feeling frustrated, here are my choices,
[00:23:24.624]so students can actively and independently problem-solve,
[00:23:27.817]"How do I take care of my needs,
[00:23:29.007]"how do I ask for help," and then go from there.
[00:23:31.879]And so what we just shared for you today
[00:23:34.193]in this part of the webinar
[00:23:35.833]was the use of the universal design for learning framework,
[00:23:38.308]a very research-based framework
[00:23:39.988]to look at how we design our lesson plans
[00:23:42.690]and arrange a different classroom settings,
[00:23:44.392]both self-contained as well as general education setting
[00:23:47.183]to help our students climb up the engagement ladder.
[00:23:49.926]If we focus on the three Is of engagement,
[00:23:52.426]we want our students to be independent,
[00:23:54.472]we want them to be invested,
[00:23:55.940]and we want them to initiate a lot.
[00:23:57.868]We need to think about strategies
[00:23:59.873]that are really helpful to foster those three areas.
[00:24:02.573]If we provide information in different ways,
[00:24:04.949]if we make sure they have visual supports,
[00:24:06.940]hands-on, role play, they're gonna be more independent.
[00:24:09.846]If we use activities that have the emotional hook
[00:24:12.507]like movement and music and role play
[00:24:16.073]and special interests and so forth,
[00:24:17.948]we're gonna get the emotional investment.
[00:24:19.503]We want intrinsic reward in what we're doing
[00:24:21.753]not relying on just do your work, don't like us,
[00:24:24.941]and go on to be alone and more happy,
[00:24:27.187]no-no-no, we want investment,
[00:24:28.768]and finally, we want students to show what they know
[00:24:31.017]and foster expression.
[00:24:32.411]Getting them initiating a lot
[00:24:33.801]equals a lot more high states of active engagement,
[00:24:36.505]and so as we look at future research directions
[00:24:39.436]in the field of autism,
[00:24:40.826]we see our kids in a wide range of academic settings
[00:24:43.738]from self-contained to general education environments.
[00:24:46.297]If we think about across those settings,
[00:24:48.706]what's important for all of our kids
[00:24:50.423]including more typically developing and diverse learners,
[00:24:53.262]it's engagement,
[00:24:54.311]and we need to define engagement in a way
[00:24:56.563]that's really meaningful not just following directions
[00:24:59.588]and being productive to task,
[00:25:01.311]but a child who's actively emotionally invested
[00:25:04.259]and independent and initiating quite a bit
[00:25:06.898]in our classroom environments.
[00:25:08.971]If you're interested in learning more
[00:25:10.486]about social emotional engagement,
[00:25:12.287]I would encourage you to think about coming to
[00:25:14.206]the Kansas Autism Providers conference on April 28, 2017.
[00:25:18.793]They have invited me for a full day presentation
[00:25:21.092]on some of the topics that I've been talking about
[00:25:22.762]the last couple of days.
[00:25:23.890]We'd love to see you there.
[00:25:26.091]There are additional references as well
[00:25:27.893]at the end of this particular handout packet
[00:25:30.372]and that student engagement letter sample
[00:25:32.420]is there for you to reference
[00:25:33.527]and to possibly use for your students as well.
[00:25:35.841]So, thank you for joining me today.

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Defining Engagement in Classroom Settings for Students on the Autism Spectrum Part 2

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