Overcoming My Difficulty In Teaching An Autistic Child Aged Four Years Old At Kalam Kudus Kindergarten Kopo Permai Bandung.

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ABSTRACT

Tugas Akhir ini berisi pembahasan masalah yang saya hadapi selama saya menjadi asisten wali kelas di TKK Kalam Kudus Kopo Permai Bandung. Dalam Tugas Akhir ini, saya membahas tentang kesulitan saya dalam

menangani seorang anak autis di TKK Kalam Kudus Bandung. Ada

beberapa penyebab munculnya masalah tersebut seperti anak tersebut sulit untuk berkonsenterasi dengan banyak hal disekelilingnya dan saya tidak siap untuk mengajar anak ini; karena saya tidak mempunyai persiapan khusus untuk mengajar anak ini. Beberapa penyebab tersebut memunculkan dampak lain bagi saya. Dampak tersebut antara lain saya menjadi lelah dalam menghadapi anak ini dan ia menjadi marah ketika kondisi kelas menjadi riuh dan sangat tidak kondusif.

Saya memiliki tiga solusi untuk menyelesaikan masalah ini. Pertama, saya akan memakai visual aids untuk mengajar anak autis ini. Kedua, saya akan mencoba membangun hubungan dengan orang tua anak autis ini. Ketiga, saya akan menggunakan sistem reward untuk anak ini, agar lebih memotivasi anak ini dalam pembelajarannya di sekolah.

Hasil penelitian menunjukkan masalah ini dapat diselesaikan dengan tiga solusi. Saya memilih untuk menggabungkan ketiga solusi tersebut

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Teaching is one of the exciting things for me. I always get

excited when I have an opportunity to teach someone, especially

children. In teaching I can share my knowledge and have some fun

at the same time. During my internship, I decided to be a teacher

assistant and taught the children in Kalam Kudus Kindergarten. In

that period, I faced something that I never thought before. I had to

deal with a four-year-old autistic child. I felt interested to know more

about this child. According to a book entitled Children with Autism,

it is said that “Autism is physical disorder of the brain that causes a

lifelong development disability” (5). Smith explains autistic children

have several characteristics, such as having very little or no eye

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understanding group interactions (par.1). Based on my experience

at my internship, I found that when the homeroom teacher said

something to her, she often had no eye contact to the teacher; as if

she did not listen to what the teacher said. Another condition, when

the students made group work and tried to make an exercise, this

autistic child did not do her exercise but she played toys alone at

the corner of the class. Based on that theory and also the

experience that I got, I am sure this child has the characteristics of

autism. Besides, I also got a confirmation about this child’s

condition from the homeroom teacher, Miss Nita. She told me that

this child had an autistic syndrome since she was in Nursery class.

According to this fact, I am more convinced that she is an autistic

child.

Becoming a teacher assistant at a class with the autistic child

made me interested to learn more about autism. Handling an

autistic child is not an easy job to do. As a teacher assistant I need

to teach the lesson and handle the child. It is even more

challenging when this child did not give any response or she was

just often silent without showing any focus in her eyes. I found out

that she also played something by herself, such as playing with her

chair in the class when the others were doing their tasks. I really

wanted to know more about this child, especially how to teach this

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In this term paper, I am interested in analyzing this problem

to find the solutions of the problem. Based on my internship

experience, I think teaching an autistic child is quite challenging. I

am going to analyze this problem systematically to find the best

solution in teaching the autistic child. Therefore, I do some research

to find the best solutions for this problem.

B. Identification of the Problem

There are some questions that I use in analyzing this problem:

1. Why did I have difficulty in teaching an autistic child at Kalam

Kudus Kindergarten?

2. How did this problem influence the teaching and learning

process?

3. How could I overcome this problem?

C. Objectives and Benefits of the Study

The objectives of the study are to identify the causes of the

problem in teaching an autistic child at Kalam Kudus Kindergarten,

to find out how this problem influences the teaching process and to

find the best solution to teach the autistic child. In addition, there

are several benefits of the study. First, the institution, especially the

teachers at Kalam Kudus Kindergarten will know how to handle the

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school. Another benefit is for the readers who face the same

problem as I do, so that they will know the solutions to solve the

problem. Moreover, for me I can find solutions in teaching the

autistic child if I become a teacher in the future.

D. Description of the Institution

Based on the data from Sekolah Kristen Kalam Kudus official

website, Kalam Kudus Bandung is a school which has integrity in

love and discipline in teaching the students. Kalam Kudus

Kindergarten Kopo Permai is established in 1989. It is located in

Kopo Permai F-14 number 2-4 Bandung.

This school is under the Foundation of Kalam Kudus formerly

led by Ps. Andrew Wusan. Along the time, kindergarten curriculum

is constantly evolving. Since 2011, Kalam Kudus kindergarten

applied i-learning system designed specifically by Kalam Kudus

Indonesia Foundation to develop children’s existing potentials.

Children will have the freedom to have experiments and also able to

enjoy and express their curiosity. There are many facilities in this

school such as five general classrooms, one computer lab, one

small and big auditorium, outdoor and indoor children playgrounds.

Kalam Kudus Kindergarten has ten teachers including one

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Not only have great teachers but this school also have great staff

like cleaning service and baby sitter for the children at school.

E. Methods of the Study

The methods applied for the study are library and field

research. The data for library research was taken from books and

articles on the Internet. Furthermore, the date or field research are

taken from my observation. The observation data are written in my

internship journal. I wrote the journal based on my teaching

experience during my internship at Kalam Kudus Kindergarten from

January 20 until 21 February 2014. Last, I also add some interviews

with the teacher to get some more information. The data is used to

analyze the causes, the effects and to find the best solutions.

F. Limitation of the Study

In this term paper, the subject of the research is I as a

teacher assistant at Kalam Kudus Kindergarten. The study focuses

on how I teach one autistic girl, aged 4 years old, in TK-A Kalam

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G. Organization of Term Paper

The term paper is divided into four chapters. Chapter One is

the Introduction, which contains of the Background of the Study,

Identification of the Problem, Objectives and Benefits of the Study,

Description of The Institution, Methods of the Study, Limitation of

the Study, and Organization of the Term Paper. Chapter Two is the

Problem Analysis, which contains the analysis of the causes of the

problem and also the effects of the problem. Chapter Three is the

Potential Solution which describes three solutions, with the positive

and negative effects of the solutions.

Chapter Four is the conclusion, in which I will give the best

solutions and the conclusion of the previous chapters. The last part

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CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

In this chapter I would like to explain about the best solutions for the

problem that I found when I did my internship at Kalam Kudus

Kindergarten Bandung. The problem that I had is difficulty in teaching an

autistic child in Kindergarten A class. I find two causes of the problem.

First, the child was easily disturbed by many things around her. The next

cause is I, as a teacher, am not ready to teach this autistic child. The

problem also has two effects, which are I was tired enough to face this

child in class and the child became angry when the class was too noisy.

To solve this problem, I have three potential solutions. The first potential

solution is I will teach using the visual aids. The second potential solution

is I will try to build a relationship with the autistic child’s parents. Then the

third potential solution is I will give a reward for this child.

The best solution to teach this autistic child is the combination of

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autistic child’s parents first then when I know her better, I can decide the

best visual aids that I will use in the classroom, and finally the reward

system will help her to learn and achieve more in learning. I choose to

combine all of my potential solutions because I think every potential

solution have strengths and weaknesses.

Last but not least, I hope the other teachers in the regular school

can use the potential solutions to teach the autistic child in their

classroom. Besides, for the autistic student, I hope the child can feel

better when the teacher apply these potential solutions. Finally, for the

school, I hope through this Term Paper Kalam Kudus Kindergarten will

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