autism spectrum disorder training and teaching

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49 International Language and Education Conference 2021 (iLEC’21) e-PROCEEDINGS

AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER TRAINING AND TEACHING

Ibrahim Hassan alzoubi Ph.D. OF EDUCATION

FACULTY OF MAJOR LANGUAGE STUDIES UNIVERSITI SAINS ISLAM MALAYSIA

Introduction

Autism is a developmental condition that appears in children within their first three years of life and lasts for the rest of their lives. The prevalence rate of autism is increasing at a "incredible" rate.

Autism affects about one in every 68 children (1 in 42 males), according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2014). According to Hahler and Elsabbagh, around 52 million people worldwide have autism, accounting for 1-2 percent of all children (Hallahan et al., 2014).

Deviant or delayed speech and language skills are a common trait of children with autism.

Behavioural therapies such as discrete-trial procedures, incidental teaching, delay procedures, and crucial response training have been used to promote speech in children with autism, but more than half of them remain silent. Alternative communication options for children who do not develop speech have been explored in other therapies. Sign language, picture-point systems, electronic gadgets, and other picture-communication systems are among the nonverbal communication methods used in these programs (Charlop‐Christy et al., 2002). The picture exchange

communication system (PECS) is a graphical communication system designed for children with social communication issues. The approach teaches children functional communication utilizing pictures (black-and-white or color drawings) as the communicative referent, using basic behavioural concepts and techniques such as shaping, differential reinforcement, and transfer of stimulus control via delay.

Main characteristics of autism:

The signs of this illness usually show in the second year of life, but some symptoms may appear sooner. Males are more affected than females. Autism Spectrum Disorder has distinct features.

Many students with autism, for example, have social impairments such as social interaction deficits, social reciprocity deficits, verbal and nonverbal communication deficits, stereotypic and repetitive motor actions, insistence on sameness, and rigid adherence to routines (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Adaptive functional skills, intellectual impairment, motor deficiencies, self-injury, and disruptive behavior are also problems for students with autism (American Psychiatric

Association, 2013).

Children with autism, according to the DSM-V, lack several skills beyond social communication, such as self-care, motor skills, and play skills. Students with autism, in particular, struggle to demonstrate appropriate play skills with their peers. They also have difficulty reading body language and understanding facial expressions and voice tones. Students with autism frequently struggle with receptive and expressive language, and some are nonverbal, as 20 percent to 30 percent of the population lacks or delays in speaking. In addition, verbal students with autism may have problems with expressive language, such as improper grammatical structure, inaccurate word usage, and irregular intonation, pitch, stress, or rhythm.

Students with autism frequently engage in repetitive and stereotyped actions and activities, such as flapping hands, finger flicking, or arranging toys and spinning coins in unique ways. They also have

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a strict devotion to rituals and norms, as well as a desire for uniformity. Furthermore, some sensory inputs, such as visual inputs (e.g. fluorescent lights), auditory inputs (e.g. loud noise or music), tactile input (e.g. touching or hugging), and taste or smell sensitivity, are either hypo or hyperactive sensitive. (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

Furthermore, individuals with autism share common learning traits, such as a preference for visual information, thus photos, modelling, hands-on activities, and tactile examples may be beneficial to them. They also have trouble applying what they have learnt in one situation to another (Pratt, Hopf, & Larriba-Quest, 2017).

Some individuals with autism excel in all academic subjects, while others excel in certain areas more than others. For example, some students may excel in computation but struggle with applied math problems. In addition, students with autism exhibit challenges with executive functions such as working memory, reasoning, sequencing, advanced cognitive skills, attention, planning, and flexible thinking (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

Importance of Early Identification and Diagnosis of ASD

When young children's brains are still flexible, early detection and diagnosis of ASD, which leads to EI, provides the best learning opportunities (Dawson, 2013). Children who started EI at an earlier age had better linguistic and cognitive development as well as greater social skills than children who started later (Clark, Vinen, Barbaro, & Dissanayake, 2017). Furthermore, emphasizing early social communication behaviours in EI can help to avoid or prevent secondary behaviours including aggression, tantrums, and self-harm (Koegel, Koegel, Ashbaugh, & Bradshaw, 2014). Given the greater chance of ASD recurrence in siblings of children with ASD, current research suggests that recognizing and diagnosing children with ASD at a young age might improve parental well-being by addressing their early worries, lowering stress, and giving genetic counseling (Barbaro & Halder, 2016).

Families with children with autism have financial challenges in meeting their children's long-term health care demands. When compared to provincial household expenditures, more than 88 percent of urban and rural Chinese families with children with ASD spent a higher amount of funds on behavioural therapies, outpatient care, prescription medicines, transportation, and accommodation (Xiong et al., 2011). Similarly, it costs about US$2.4 million in the United States and US$2.2 million in the United Kingdom to care for people with ASD who also have an intellectual handicap

throughout their lives (Buescher, Cidav, Knapp, & Mandell, 2014).

Raising a child with ASD necessitates a significant amount of parental time and attention. As a result, parents are more likely to work part-time, resulting in decreased earnings. 005In the United Kingdom, moms of children with ASD earn 35% less than mothers of children with other lifelong health disorders, 56% less than mothers of children with no health concerns, and their families earn 28% less (Cidav, Marcus, & Mandell, 2012). As a result, PetersScheffer et al. (2012) emphasized the importance of investing in early intensive behavioral therapies, estimating a savings of about US$1.23 billion per person with ASD aged three to 65 in the Netherlands. Given the impact of ASD on individual care and parental employment, early diagnosis combined with EI can help improve the quality of life for people with ASD, reducing the significant economic impact on families and society as a whole (Koegel et al., 2014).

Teaching and learning autistic children :

TEACCH Autism Program:

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PRINCIPLES OF STRUCTURED TEACCHING:

• Understanding the culture of autism

• Developing an individualized person- and family-centered plan for each client or student, rather than using a standard curriculum

• Structuring the physical environment

• Using visual supports to make the sequence of daily activities predictable and understandable

• Using visual supports to make individual tasks understandable.

Teach fields:

1- Imitation 2- Perception 3-Gross motor 4-Fine motor

5-Eye – hand coordination 6- Cognitive performance 7-Cognitive verbal .

Applied Behavior Analysis ABA:

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a well-developed, research-based, scientific discipline among the helping professions that focuses on the analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation of social and other environmental modifications to produce meaningful changes in human behavior.

ABA includes the use of direct observation, measurement, and functional analysis of the relations between environment and behavior. The practice of ABA is rooted in data, which serves as a fidelity check for the effectiveness of recommended strategies and procedures. This ensures that the client’s ABA program is dynamic, never-stagnant, objective and, most importantly, effective. It utilizes changes in environmental events, including antecedent stimuli (what happens before a behavior) and consequences (what happens after a behavior); to create programming

that produces practical and significant changes in behavior. These relevant environmental events are usually identified through a variety of specialized assessment methods.

Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS):

PECS is a linguistic symbol-based approach to communication instruction (Whalen & Schreibman, 2013) PECS was created by Andrew Bondy and Lori Frost in 1985, and it was first published in the United States in 1994. PECS was first utilized for pre-school pupils with autism syndrome and other odd conditions connected to communication difficulties. PECS was utilized by students whose language development was poor and who lacked a willingness to communicate with others. PECS has since been developed to include age stages, among other things ( Bondy A S and Frost L A 2014).

PECS is primarily used to teach functional communication. According to studies, some students who use PECS also acquire speech. Others might use a speech-generating gadget (SGD). With more than 190 study articles from all around the world, the amount of data supporting the

usefulness of PECS as an evidence-based treatment is large and growing (PEC, 2021).

According to Reynolds (2021), PECS is a useful tool for teaching and learning. It can also be used to assist youngsters in transitioning between activities or adjusting to changes in their schedule.

The PECS picture exchange metaphor can also be used to help toddlers grasp the concept of a schedule. Pictures representing the day's activities are placed on a messaging board or a wall area to generate visual schedules. Pictures illustrating dressing, bathroom time/elimination, eating, therapy, school, and a variety of other activities would be used for this purpose. Children learn to look at their calendars to see what activities are next on the agenda

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REFERENCES

Alsayedhassan, B., Lee, J., Banda, D. R., Kim, Y., & Griffin-Shirley, N. (2021). Practitioners’

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American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.

Amso, D. (2016). Visual attention: Its role in memory and development. American Psychological Association.

Antezana, L. (2018). Salience and Frontoparietal Network Patterns in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Doctoral dissertation, Virginia Tech).

Ariwijaya, T. (2020). PECS vs. iPad Intervention for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Literature Review. IJDS: INDONESIAN JOURNAL OF DISABILITY STUDIES, 7(2), 207-218.

Association, A. P. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Intellectual Disability, Fifth edition (DSM-5). American Psychiatric Publishing, Washington, DC, USA.

Bahrick, L. E. (2010). Intermodal perception and selective attention to intersensory redundancy:

Implications for typical social development and autism. Blackwell handbook of infant development, 1, 120-165.

Baker, K. (2004). Evaluating diagnostic tools in the assessment of autism and parental experiences of the assessment and diagnostic process. Unpublished master's thesis, University of Western Sydney, Australia