Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience difficulties in three main areas: communication, social skills, and repetitive behaviors. They may struggle with changes in routines, have unusual sensory responses, and have difficulty understanding emotions. ASD is defined by the DSM-5 and includes autism, Asperger's syndrome, and other disorders. Students with ASD exhibit a wide range of abilities and challenges.

1. 9.1 What Is Autism Spectrum Disorder?
Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience
difficulty with communication, social skills, and repetitive
behavior (Goldstein, Naglieri, Rzepa, & Williams, 2012). These
students often struggle with changes to their routines or
environment. They may have unusual sensory responses, such as
sensitivity to loud noises, picky eating, or a dislike of getting
dressed or grooming (Tomcheck & Dunn, 2007). Many students
with ASD have difficulty making eye contact, recognizing
faces, and understanding emotions (Kirchner, Hatri, Heekeren,
& Dziobek, 2011). Over half of students with ASD exhibit
average to above-average intelligence (Whitby, Travers, &
Harnik, 2009).
ASD is another term for pervasive developmental disorder
(PDD). A student with PDD exhibits delays in communication
and social skills, and these delays are often first recognizable
during the developmental period from ages 2 to 4. Several
disorders have been included in ASD, including autistic
disorder (i.e., autism), Asperger's disorder, pervasive
developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS),
Rett's disorder, and childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD).
The next section of this chapter describes these in detail; the
recent changes to the names of the disorders and how they are
categorized will also be outlined.
Students with ASD are often described as high-functioning or
low-functioning. High-functioning students with ASD exhibit
the hallmark characteristics of ASD, but these characteristics do
not prohibit the student from participating in regular activities.
Students are typically verbal, and their ASD is less severe than
low-functioning students. Low-functioning students with ASD
often have below-average intellectual functioning, and they
exhibit severe difficulties due to ASD. Many low-functioning

2. students may be nonverbal.
Defining ASD
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) defines disorders
and disabilities to help professionals diagnose their patients.
The fifth version, DSM-5, published in 2013 by the American
Psychiatric Association, places the diagnostic labels of autistic
disorder, Asperger's disorder, PDD-NOS, and CDD under the
umbrella term ASD. Individuals with ASD are categorized into
levels—Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3—based on their challenges
with communication, social skills, and repetitive behaviors.
Because this categorization system is new and the old labels
will still be used for a while, this discussion begins with a
description of the older labels for these disorders so you can
understand some of the differences between those and the newly
described levels of ASD.
Figure 9.1 shows the categories under the previous edition of
the DSM-IV, which you will probably encounter for several
years to come. Note that in the past, Rett's disorder was
classified under ASD; however, it is now not mentioned in
conjunction with ASD. In DSM-5, Rett's is considered a
separate disorder from ASD (although some students with Rett's
will still qualify for services if their behavioral characteristics
indicate an autism diagnosis, as well).
Figure 9.1: ASD Under DSM-IV
Under the DSM-IV, five disorders fall under the umbrella
category of ASD. The disorders are listed from the more severe
(on the left) to the less severe (on the right). Many in the ASD
community describe students with ASD on a spectrum like the
one here, sometimes adding the descriptors "low-functioning" or
"high-functioning." The proposed three levels of the DSM-5
will describe low-functioning as "Level 3," high-functioning as
"Level 1," and a middle range as "Level 2."

3. Autistic disorder, also called autism, is a category that
describes students who have severe difficulty with
communication and social skills. Most individuals with autism
avoid eye contact and have difficulty recognizing faces and
reading emotions. They often have below-average intellectual
skills, which may appear similar to an intellectual disability.
Some students have limited or nonexistent verbal skills.
Students with autism may be preoccupied with one or two topics
(Willis, 2012). They may also exhibit rituals or behavioral
routines (e.g., placing toys in order) that border on compulsive.
Most students with autism display repetitive, stereotypic
behaviors, such as hand flapping or finger popping (Willis,
2012). Many have or will develop seizures during their lifetime.
Students with Asperger's disorder typically have average to
above-average intelligence. They exhibit typical characteristics
of autism (i.e., lack of eye contact, not responding to the calling
of their name) when they are toddlers and in preschool, but they
gain social and communication skills as they age (Willis, 2012).
Students with Asperger's, however, still continue to exhibit
some atypical communication and social skills throughout life.
One of the hallmarks of Asperger's is an exceptional or
obsessive interest in one area. For example, a student may have
an unusual fascination with trains or outer space. Students
typically have difficulty with social skills, and they can be
clumsy and uncoordinated. Many people describe Asperger's as
a high-functioning version of autism.
Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified
(PDD-NOS) falls between Asperger's and autistic disorder in
severity and is typically diagnosed later than either one.
Students exhibit characteristics of autistic disorder (e.g.,
atypical communication and social skills), but they do not
qualify as autistic because they do not exhibit repetitive
behaviors as severe as students with autistic disorder (Willis,
2012). Because PDD-NOS is a gray area, professionals use this

4. catch-all category to categorize students who do not qualify
under Asperger's disorder or autistic disorder (Chlebowski,
Green, Barton, & Fein, 2010). Rett's disorder is a very rare
degenerative syndrome that affects girls exclusively (Willis,
2012). They usually exhibit typical development until 6–18
months of age. At that time, communication and social skills
decrease, and the girls have problems with coordination. Many
experience seizures. Therapy can help them recover some of
their communication and motor skills.
Childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD), or Heller's syndrome,
is very uncommon (Willis, 2012). Like girls with Rett's,
children with CDD develop normally at first. When they are 2–4
years old, their communication and social skills decrease, as
does intellectual functioning. Students become severely
impaired, and therapy cannot help them recover. CDD develops
more often in boys than in girls.
ASD and IDEA
Autism became an IDEA disability category with the
reauthorization of IDEA in 1990. IDEA 2004 defines autism as
a developmental disability in which a child has problems
communicating, verbally and nonverbally, to a degree that
affects academic performance. It states that these
communicative and social difficulties usually arise before the
age of 3 years, and are often accompanied by repetitive
movements or behaviors, resistance to change, and atypical
responses to sensory experiences. The IDEA definition
specifically excludes those children whose performance in
school is hindered primarily by an emotional disorder, though it
does allow for an autism diagnosis to be made in children older
than 3 years.
Thus, the IDEA 2004 definition uses the term autism to describe
the full spectrum of autism disorders, which the DSM-IV and
DSM-5 (and this chapter) refer to as ASD. It remains to be seen

5. to what degree girls with Rett's disorder will be eligible for
IDEA 2004 services, and how their disability will be
categorized, once the DSM-5 becomes the predominant
diagnostic guideline.
Prevalence of ASD
Approximately 1% of school-age students are diagnosed with
ASD; approximately 45% of those have autistic disorder, 45%
have PDD-NOS, and 10% have Asperger's disorder. CDD and
Rett's are extremely rare (Autism and Developmental
Disabilities Monitoring Network, 2012). Boys are identified
about five times more often than girls, but identification of ASD
occurs equally in all racial and socioeconomic groups
(Goldstein et al., 2012). Currently, about 1 in every 54 boys is
diagnosed with ASD; for girls, it is 1 in 252 (Autism and
Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 2012).
The rate of students identified with ASD has increased over the
last few decades (Kopetz & Endowed, 2012). One reason is that
with the reauthorization of IDEA in 1990, autism gained its own
disability category. Before then, many students with ASD were
categorized as having an intellectual disability (ID). Medical
and school professionals, as well as parents and guardians, are
also more aware of ASD and may be better equipped to refer
students for evaluation. Assessments have also been refined to
better identify students with ASD.
9.2 How Has the ASD Field Evolved?
Paul Eugen Bleuler first coined the term autism in 1910, from
the Greek word for "self," to describe a disorder exhibited by
his patients, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, who
had atypical social and communication skills (Crespi, 2010).
His patients with autism isolated themselves from others and
had interests that bordered on obsessive. Bleuler himself felt he
had many characteristics of his autistic patients.
Over the new few decades, other professionals used autism to

6. describe the disorder of students with atypical social and
communication skills. Hans Asperger, a doctor in Austria, wrote
about his patients who had "autistic psychopathy." These boys
lacked feelings for others, had difficulty forming friendships,
and exhibited intense interests in one topic area—characteristics
of what is now called Asperger's disorder. Dr. Asperger
described these boys as "little professors" because they could
talk forever and in great detail about their special topic area.
Another Austrian doctor, Leo Kanner, studied children who
exhibited characteristics related to autism at Johns Hopkins
Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. He described children who
wanted things in their lives to be consistent and unchanging and
who had difficulty fitting in with other children. His 1943
Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact laid the groundwork
for the modern study of ASD. In this paper, Kanner described
11 students who demonstrated repetitive behaviors and atypical
social skills. The condition that Kanner described was different
from that of students with ID.
Autism was not recognized as a distinct condition until the
middle of the 20th century, when researchers recognized autism
was distinct from other disabilities. Until then, it was typically
described as an intellectual disability or as schizophrenia.
Largely because of the writings of Kanner and psychologist
Bruno Bettelheim, autism was blamed on parents—especially
mothers—who were distant and cold. That idea, which has been
proven incorrect, persisted through the 1960s and 1970s in the
public view about autism.
Students with autism have undergone some controversial
techniques to "fix" their autism over the years. In the 1960s and
1970s, some professionals used shock treatments or LSD to try
to alter behavior. During the 1980s and 1990s, applied
behavioral analysis became the standard method for treating and
working with students with autism. Section 9.7 of this chapter
discusses this behavior therapy.

7. As researchers gained understanding of how autism manifested
differently from child to child, the "spectrum" of autism was
developed in the 1990s to describe students with a range of
difficulties in communication, social skills, and repetitive
behaviors—what is now called ASD.
9.3 What Are the Characteristics of Students With ASD?
No two students with ASD exhibit the exact same
characteristics. In addition to the hallmark symptoms that
determine their diagnosis, students may also exhibit
characteristics related to academic skill in the classroom,
physical appearance, or actions. And as with almost all
disabilities, students with ASD may experience comorbid
disabilities that cause additional issues.
Hallmark Characteristics
Although the characteristics of ASD vary from individual to
individual, there are three hallmarks—necessary
characteristics—of ASD: (1) difficulties with communication,
(2) difficulties with social skills, and (3) repetitive or obsessive
behaviors. Many of these characteristics appear at a very early
age. For example, parents may say that their babies avoided eye
contact or focused on one object for an extraordinary amount of
time. Keep in mind that no child exhibits every one of the
following characteristics, however (Arora, 2012; Kirchner et al.,
2011; Moruzzi, Ogliari, Ronald, Happé, & Battaglia, 2011).
Difficulties With Communication
Students with ASD must exhibit some characteristics related to
communication, as outlined in Table 9.1. Often, students
understand what they want to communicate, but the means of
communication are atypical. Many of the communication
difficulties are typical for young children learning to speak and
communicate, but when these difficulties persist past 3–4 years
of age, parents or teachers may want to refer the student for a

8. formal evaluation.
Table 9.1 Difficulties with Communication
Behavior
Example
Makes verbal sounds when listening.
"um"
Misuses Pronouns.
"me like dogs" instead of "I like dogs"
Repeats words or phrases.
"Red balloon! Red balloon! Red balloon!"
Speaks in short sentences.
"Want pizza."
Speaks with unusual pitch or rhythm to voice.
Speaks in a robot voice.
Struggles to whisper.
Speaks loudly into someone's ear.
Struggles with understanding directional items.
Mistakes "top" for "bottom."
Talks too loudly or quietly.
Uses normal voice when in movie theatre.
Uses a person's name excessively.
"Ms. Ellis, I need a pencil. Ms. Ellis. Ms. Ellis."
Difficulties With Social Skills
Students must also demonstrate difficulty with social skills to
be diagnosed with ASD. Many of the characteristics related to
social skills as highlighted in Table 9.2 cause the student to
appear aloof or immature for their age, while some (e.g., intense
interest in one topic) make the student appear well.
Table 9.2: Social Skills Characteristics
Behavior
Example
Avoids answering questions about themselves.
Parent: "Rob, do you like your new shirt?"
Student: "When do we get to play outside?"
Blurts out.

9. "I want that!"
Cannot understand the feelings of others/lacks empathy.
Hits girl and doesn't understand why she is crying.
Displays a lack of personal space.
Gets very close to person's face when talking.
Does not start social interaction.
Plays alone, without engaging other students.
Failure to respond when name is called.
Parent: "Maya, will you come brush your teeth?
Maya? Maya?" Student: Does not look in the parent's
direction.
Maintains little or no eye contact.
Looks down or around when talking to someone.
Makes honest observations that are inappropriate.
"Your hair looks messy." "You smell."
Resistance to holding or touching.
Does not like hugs.
Struggles with interpreting facial expressions.
Does not understand that a frown means unhappy.
Struggles with understanding jokes or sarcasm.
"This story will have you rolling on the floor with laughter!"
Talks a lot about one topic.
"Tornadoes are dangerous and can kill people. I just read a
bookabout tornadoes. There was an EF-4 in Oklahoma last
spring.Have you seen a tornado before?"
Trusts others too much.
Interacts with strangers when inappropriate.
Sources: DeMatteo, Arter, Sworen-
Parise, Faseiana, & Paulhamus, 2012; Lyons; Cappadocia, Weis
s, 2011.
Repetitive or Stereotypic Behaviors
Students with ASD must also exhibit some characteristics
related to repetitive or stereotypic behaviors (Table 9.3).
Stereotypic behaviors are those behaviors that are repetitive and
interfere with normal activity (Cunningham & Schreibman,

10. 2008; Ghanizadeh, 2010; Goldman et al., 2008; Lanovaz &
Sladeczek, 2012). Students may constantly rock back and forth
or repeat a word or phrase. Some behaviors are harmless, but
others can be dangerous to the student. A few of these
characteristics may be similar to characteristics of ID (e.g.,
difficulty with motor skills) or EBD (e.g., obsessive behavior),
but the characteristics may be due to ASD when the student also
has difficulty with communication and social skills.
Table 9.3: Repetitive or Stereotypic Behaviors
Behavior
Example
Clumsy.
Trips. Walks into things.
Collects things.
Picks up every orange leaf on the playground and at the park.
Difficulty with gross- and fine-motor skills.
Struggles to catch ball. Has hard time gripping pencil.
Forms strange attachments to things.
"I can't go to school without my rabbit foot!"
Has a ritual or compulsive behavior (stereotypy).
Opens and closes mouth. Licks. Hums. Flaps arms. Rocks back
and
forth. Sucks. Rubs. Sniffs. Twirls. Jumps.
Covers ears. Arches back.
Injures self. Bites arm. Cuts skin. Bangs head against wall.
Quotes movies, games, or books.
"You shall not pass! You shall not pass!"
Participates in repetitive play.
Rolls a car around on the floor hundreds of times.
Sources: Cunningham & Schreibman, 2008; Ghanizadeh, 2010;
Goldman et al., 2008; Lanovaz & Sladeczek, 2012.
Academic Characteristics
Some students with ASD perform well in academic subjects,
whereas others struggle in school (Oliveras-Rentas, Kenworthy,
Roberson, Martin, & Wallace, 2012). Typically, students with
high-functioning ASD perform better with academic tasks than

11. students with low-functioning ASD, but almost all students with
ASD require accommodations or modifications in the classroom
(Estes, Rivera, Bryan, Cali, & Dawson, 2011).
Researchers believe students with ASD may experience
difficulty because they have weak theory of mind, weak central
coherence, or impaired executive function (Constable, Grossi,
Moniz, & Ryan, 2013; Harris et al., 2008). Students who have
weak theory of mind have difficulty understanding the feelings
and thoughts of others. When central coherence is weak,
students process information in small pieces instead of
understanding the bigger picture. If students have impaired
executive functioning, then planning and paying attention, as
well as accessing information from working memory, may be
difficult. All three of these types of difficulties may contribute
to obstacles with learning in the classroom.
Some students demonstrate exceptional ability in music or art,
and others need help with fine-motor skills, such as coloring a
picture and cutting with scissors (Vital, Ronald, Wallace, &
Happe, 2009). Some students with ASD demonstrate exceptional
skill with remembering dates or being able to compute large
numbers (Iavarone, Patruno, Galeone, Chieffi, & Carlomagno,
2007). This exceptional talent, however, is very rare in students
with ASD, even though this skill has been highlighted in
popular media.
Most students with ASD have trouble dealing with changes in
the school routine. For example, if a student knows that
Wednesday is the day for physical education and suddenly the
class is attending an assembly instead, the student may struggle
with the change by refusing to participate or throwing a
tantrum. Similarly, students with ASD tend to have difficulty
with transitions from one activity or class to another.
Physical Characteristics

12. Many students with ASD exhibit atypical physical movement.
They may have unusual posture, walk on their toes, or
experience clumsiness. They may not swing their arms normally
when walking; they may often walk or run into stationary
objects or other people.
Students with ASD often have bowel and bladder difficulties.
They may have abnormal amounts of burping and passing gas,
and they may also have food allergies or sensitivities. In
addition, they may have difficulty sleeping.
Comorbidity With Other Disabilities
Students with ASD may also have other conditions, such as
Fragile X syndrome, ID, ADHD, bipolar disorder, OCD, or
Tourette syndrome (Grzadzinski et al., 2011; Leyfer et al.,
2006). They may have seizures; approximately 30% of students
with ASD develop epilepsy by adulthood. Students may have
visual impairments as well.
9.4 What Are the Causes of ASD?
There is no one cause for ASD. Researchers believe heredity
and environmental factors contribute (Dietert, Dietert, &
Dewitt, 2011), but many risk factors remain unidentified.
The Role of Heredity
Researchers have discovered specific genes associated with
ASD (Walsh, Elsabbagh, Bolton, & Singh, 2011). No one gene
can be said to cause ASD, but there are studies that support the
role of heredity. In sets of identical twins, up to 90% of twins
both struggle with ASD if one twin does (Rutter, 2011). If a
non-twin sibling has ASD, there is a 5–7% chance that another
sibling will have ASD (Dodds et al., 2011).
The Role of the Brain
Students with ASD also demonstrate characteristic brain
differences compared to students without ASD (Gotts et al.,
2012; Mak-Fan, Taylor, Roberts, & Lerch, 2012). Often,
students with ASD have larger heads and larger brains than

13. average (Zielinski et al., 2012), and their brains are different in
other ways, as well. For example, Jou et al. (2011) determined
that students with ASD may have neural passages that do not
connect in a typical manner. McAlonan et al., (2008)
demonstrated that students with ASD have atypical grey matter
areas compared to students without ASD. Grey matter is the
area in the brain where neurons that control information are
located. The thickness of the brain's cortex also differs, with
students with ASD having a thicker cortex than students without
ASD (Frazier, Keshavan, Minshew, & Hardan, 2012).
The Role of the Environment
A wide variety of environmental factors have been suggested as
possible causes of ASD, but none of them has been verified
(Dodds et al., 2011). A mother's infection or complications
before or during birth may contribute to ASD. Some
medications taken by pregnant women may also contribute.
Siblings who are born less than a year apart have a greater
chance of having ASD. Some researchers have pointed out that
both mothers and fathers who have children at a later age tend
to have more children with ASD (Eriksson, Westerlund,
Anderlid, Gillberg, & Fernell, 2012).
Mothers who take prenatal vitamins, specifically vitamins with
folic acid, before getting pregnant have a lower chance of
having a child with ASD (Surén et al., 2013). In addition,
students with ASD typically show different vitamin levels
(especially vitamin D) than students without ASD (Adams et al.,
2011), and the severity of ASD is related to these vitamin levels
in the body (Mostafa & Al-Ayadhi, 2012). Other environmental
factors may include exposure to pesticides, other chemicals, and
some plastics (Shelton, Hertz-Picciotto, & Pessah, 2012).
Over the last decade or so, various other environmental causes
of ASD, including diets and vaccinations, have garnered
extensive media attention. Some parents believe food allergies
to gluten or casein trigger or enhance some of the behaviors

14. associated with ASD. Thus, they may put their children on
gluten-free and/or casein-free diets. (Gluten is found in wheat
and barley products, and casein is found in dairy products.)
While parents may claim that they see improvement when their
children are on these diets, research has not determined whether
the diets are effective (Mulloy et al., 2010).
Many parents of children with ASD believe that their children
were developing normally until they received vaccinations at
about 2 years of age. The argument that vaccines, specifically
the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, were a cause of
ASD gained international attention in 1998 when Dr. Andrew
Wakefield and colleagues published a paper claiming a link
between the MMR vaccine and ASD (Wakefield et al., 1998).
This paper has now been discredited because of Wakefield's
falsification of study results. Parents tried to use the court
system to sue vaccine makers for causing ASD, but no lawsuits
were successful (Keelan & Wilson, 2011; Kirkland, 2012). By
2001, vaccine makers had removed thimerosal, a preservative
containing mercury, from all vaccines, but thimerosal has never
been proven as a cause for ASD either (Miller & Reynolds,
2009). Research has shown no direct link between vaccinations
and ASD (DeStefano, Bhasin, Thompson, Yeargin-Allsopp, &
Boyle, 2004; Hornig et al., 2008; Price et al., 2010).
9.5 How Are Students Diagnosed With ASD?
The diagnosis of ASD is typically made when a child is between
2 and 4 years of age, before beginning school (Chlebowski,
Green, Barton, & Fein, 2010). Often parents notice unusual
behaviors or developmental patterns in their child and talk to
their medical doctor. Physicians, psychiatrists, or other trained
medical personnel make the diagnosis for ASD, but schools will
evaluate students to determine whether they qualify for services
under IDEA 2004.
Some early indicators of ASD are listed in Table 9.4.
Table 9.4: Early Indicators of ASD

15. Early Indicators of ASD (ages 1–3)
Later Indicators of ASD (ages 4–8)
No babbling or pointing by age 1.
Inability to make friends.
No single words by 16 months.
Impaired ability to start or sustain a conversation.
No two-word phrases by age 2.
Absence of, or impairment in, play.
No response to name.
Stereotyped or repetitive use of language.
Loss of language or social skills.
Restricted patterns of interest.
Poor eye contact.
Preoccupation with certain objects or subjects.
Excessive lining up of toys or objects.
Inflexibility with routines and rituals.
No smiling.
Source: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke,
2009.
If parents, caregivers, or teachers notice some of these
characteristics on a consistent basis, the student should be
referred for an initial evaluation to a professional, such as a
pediatrician or family physician. Many places also have clinics
specializing in the identification and treatment of students with
ASD. Parents may be referred to these clinics for evaluation.
It is important to note that a medical diagnosis of ASD may
differ from a school diagnosis of ASD. Although uncommon, it
is possible for a school to not recognize a student as ASD if the
student does not fulfill the criteria for autism under IDEA 2004
guidelines. If a student's educational performance is not
affected by ASD, then a school may not be able to diagnose the
student as such.

16. A survey or screening instrument is used to evaluate the child
(Bölte et al., 2011; Chlebowski et al., 2010; Flose, Plotts,
Kozeneski, & Skinner-Foster, 2011; Mayes et al., 2009). Some
examples of instruments include:
Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ)
Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS)
Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS)
Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (CSBS) (shown
in Figure 9.2)
Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (GARS)
Parents' Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS)
Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (MCHAT)
Social and Communication Disorders Checklist (SCDC)
Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS)
Screening Tool for Autism in Toddlers and Young Children
(STAT)
A comprehensive evaluation should include information from
parents, teachers (if possible), and a medical professional (Bölte
et al., 2011). Others who might help with the evaluation include
a psychiatrist, psychologist, speech therapist, occupational
therapist, ASD specialist, or neurologist.
Figure 9.2: ASD Checklist
The Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (CSBS)
checklist is used to assess communication skills and social
skills of young students (ages 2–4) who are suspected of having
ASD. If the parent answers "not yet" to many of the questions,
the child should undergo a formal evaluation for ASD.
9.6 How Does ASD Differ Across Grade Levels?
When students with ASD receive early and intensive
intervention, outcomes are greatly improved. To keep up the
positive gains, schools should work on developing programs and
appropriate teacher training at all levels for students with ASD.
In this section, you will learn how students with ASD receive

17. services throughout early childhood, elementary, and secondary
school settings.
Early Childhood
Once an ASD diagnosis is made, it is important that a plan be
put in place so the student can receive important services. This
will be an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) if the
child is younger than 3 years and covered under Part C of IDEA
2004. If the student has turned 3 (and is not yet 22 years old),
an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is created under Part B.
Because students with ASD struggle with communication and
language, early special education services and academic/social
interventions should be employed to help improve these skills
as soon as possible.
Early childhood services focus heavily on developmental skills,
such as language and social interactions. Students may receive
services either from certified behavior analysts or speech
therapists, or from general school-ready providers, such as Head
Start. Involving families and parents in interventions improves
outcomes for the students (Wong & Kwan, 2010). Sometimes
early intervention takes place in a school setting. Families who
do not live in an area with a school option, however, may have
to take their children to clinics or hospitals to meet with speech
therapists or ASD specialists.
Preschool and early intervention programs focus on teaching
communication and social skills. Teachers provide a good deal
of instruction and practice on relating to, and working with,
other students and adults. Teachers also work with young
students to help them understand what schedules are and how to
follow them. Classrooms should be structured and organized,
and students with ASD should learn to work within the
classroom schedule.
Working on basic academic skills, such as writing letters and

18. learning numbers, should be a goal of preschool programs if it
is appropriate for the student. Behavior therapy led by certified
behavior analysts might also be appropriate for young students
with ASD (see the feature box in Section 9.7 for a discussion of
this type of therapy). Above all, teachers should create an
inviting classroom environment where the student feels like a
classroom member.
As will be discussed later in the chapter, technology can help
young students with ASD communicate. Some students with
ASD do not talk, but they can share their wants and needs with
technology that "speaks" for them. In one computer application,
the student can press a picture and the computer voices the
desire. For example, when students need a drink of water, they
can press a picture of a water fountain to let the teacher know
their need. Such communication can make meltdowns or
tantrums less frequent. Students, teachers, and parents need to
receive appropriate training with these, as with all,
technologies.
Elementary School
Many of the preschool skills (i.e., taking turns, asking for help,
talking to peers) taught to students with ASD should continue
into elementary school. When schools know that a student with
ASD is starting kindergarten, they should ensure that school
staff and parents work together to develop an IEP for the
student before the school year begins to ensure that the student
receives appropriate services from the start of formal schooling.
Many of the accommodations and modifications listed in
Chapter 2 are common for students with ASD. Districts should
ensure that teachers and others who work with students with
ASD receive proper training on teaching academics and
behavior to students with ASD. If a student has not attended
school before kindergarten, teachers will have to work more on
social skills, especially skills in relating to other students and
adults. In fact, schools may evaluate all students in terms of

19. behavior and social skills to develop the best individualized
program for each student.
A good elementary classroom for students with ASD is
organized and structured. Depending on the students' IEPs and
school settings, students with ASD may receive instruction in a
self-contained special education classroom, the general
education classroom, or a combination of both. Regardless of
setting, teachers should create a meaningful curriculum for the
entire class and tailor activities for students with ASD.
Teachers must develop cohesive behavior management plans for
the classroom. Many teachers consult with behavior specialists
or special education teachers to work on eliminating or reducing
problem behaviors in the classroom. An important part of any
behavior plan involves communication. Young students with
ASD need to have a system of communication with their
teachers, so that they can express themselves and understand
teacher instructions at all times—including when they are upset.
Picture cards and sign language are two good communication
options, as are technologies like a DynaVox or an iPad. These
tools can also be helpful in teaching academics and social
skills, in addition to behavior.
Secondary School
Secondary school students with ASD often spend much of their
time in a general education classroom, as other placement
options may not exist. Explicit instruction in academic and
social skills, as mentioned in the elementary section, is
appropriate for secondary students. Specific teaching strategies
are covered in Section 9.7. Many secondary students have
difficulty making and maintaining friendships, so working on
communication between peers can benefit students with ASD.
For secondary students, it is vital that the IEP team and the
student begin to think about transition and post-secondary

20. options (Schall & McDonough, 2010).
Transition
Some students with ASD plan to go to college or into the
workplace after secondary school. Others may move to a
community/group home for individuals with disabilities or live
with relatives who can provide necessary care. Regardless of
the post-secondary choice, transition plans need to be in place
by age 15. Continued work on social skills will help students
develop appropriate competencies in college or the work
environment (DeMatteo et al., 2012). Social skills instruction
and practice should occur in the projected setting whenever
possible (i.e., on the college campus, at a workplace). For
example, students with ASD may need help in learning how to
live with roommates or how to call a supervisor if they are too
sick to report to work.
9.7 How Do I Teach Students With ASD?
Based on the severity of their disability, students with ASD
spend varying amounts of time in the general classroom (Figure
9.3). Approximately half of students with Asperger's disorder
spend their entire school day in the general classroom. They
may have appropriate accommodations (e.g., use of picture
schedule, breaking activities and assignments into smaller
chunks) and modifications (e.g., allowing student to write an
essay about their favorite topic instead of an assigned topic),
but their school day is spent with peers without disabilities. A
small percentage of students with Asperger's spend their entire
school day in a self-contained setting. About one-quarter of
students with PDD-NOS and only 15% of students with autism
spend their entire school day in the general classroom.
One of the major reasons the DSM-5 renames the ASD
categories is to describe student needs in terms of levels (i.e.,
Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3) that can help teachers and
schools provide appropriate placements for students. Schools

21. are not using this level system yet, but they may be switching
over in the next few years. Level 1 students with ASD require
support but will likely spend most of the school day in the
general classroom. Level 2 students need substantial support,
and these students may spend some time in the general
classroom. Level 3 students require extensive support, which
means these students will likely spend most of their time in
specialized classrooms or schools. As with all disability
decisions, the IEP team will make placement decisions based on
the individual student's needs and not based on a disability
category or level number.
Figure 9.3: Placement Decisions for Students With ASD
Students with high-functioning ASD are more likely to be
placed in the general classroom than students with more severe
ASD. High-functioning students possess better communication
skills and social skills that enable these students to participate
in activities alongside peers without ASD.
According to LRE policy, students with ASD should receive the
majority of their academic and behavioral instruction in
naturalistic settings as close to the general classroom setting as
possible (Wolery & Hemmeter, 2011). In fact, most of the court
cases involving schools, students, and families with ASD, as
well as disagreements about IDEA, have involved disagreements
about the placements of students (Hill, Martin, & Nelson-Head,
2011).
Some school districts have developed separate ASD classrooms
or schools that specialize in helping those students. These
specialized programs, however, may not be inclusive because
only students with ASD attend (Marks, 2007). In addition, the
programs are less common for older than younger children
(Figure 9.4). Many schools do not have the resources to best
provide services to students with ASD, and many families and
students experience challenges in accessing appropriate

22. educational and behavioral services (Tincani, 2007). This is
especially the case in more rural areas of the United States
(Murphy & Ruble, 2012).
Figure 9.4: Inclusion of Students With ASD at Various Grade
Levels
Students with ASD spend differing amounts of time in various
settings based on grade level. Many schools have put preschool
programs in place for young students with ASD. It is less likely
that elementary and secondary schools have ASD programs, so
students spend more time in the general classroom at those
grade levels.
All students with ASD should have highly qualified teachers
who use evidence-based practices (Lerman, Vorndan, Addison,
& Kuhn, 2004).
Many of the teaching suggestions presented in previous chapters
may benefit students with ASD. For students with high-
functioning ASD, many of the strategies for students with SLD
may prove helpful (Donaldson & Zager, 2010). For students
with more severe ASD, teachers may want to adopt the teaching
strategies for students with ID and EBD. Educators need to
individualize instruction for all students with ASD, as for any
disability, and detailed plans about instruction and the learning
environment need to be written into the student's IFSP or IEP
(Guldberg, 2010).
The following discussion covers both general teaching
strategies for students with ASD and strategies for teaching
academics and behavior in particular.
General Teaching Strategies
Teachers need to carefully choose the language and vocabulary
they use in talking to students with ASD. They should
communicate directions and expectations in language that is

23. simple, unambiguous, and easy to understand, and avoid
sarcasm, metaphors, and idioms, as these kinds of indirect
expressions can confuse students with ASD. For example, the
command "Zip your lips! Pretzel time!" is often used to get
students to close their mouths, not talk, and sit cross-legged on
the floor. Such word choice can be confusing to students with
ASD, who often take the meanings of words literally. A teacher
would be much better off saying, "Time to listen. No talking.
Sit with your legs crossed."
As much as possible, the teacher should tightly organize and
structure the classroom environment and schedule, which
benefits not only students with ASD, but all students. Written or
visual prompts (Figure 9.5) and reminders are important to help
students understand the steps required to complete an
assignment or the daily schedule of activities (Cuhadar &
Diken, 2011). The teacher should try to provide as much
warning as possible about an upcoming schedule change. For
example, most schools participate in fire drills periodically.
Teachers usually know when these drills are going to take place
and can prepare students for the interruption.
Figure 9.5: Clean Desk Reminder
Students with ASD may benefit from visual representations of
concepts—in this case, a picture of a clean desk and workspace
accompanied by written reminders help students understand the
expectations for an organized desk. Some students with ASD
would do fine with the written reminders, while others need the
ideas presented with pictures.
Many students—especially students with ASD—
have problems with the concept of time. A teacher's request to "
finish up your work in the next2 minutes" can be confusing beca
use a student may not understand whether 2 minutes is about the
length of a snap, a commercial, or a movie.Setting a timer and
placing it where the student can track the amount of time left be

24. fore the teacher moves on to the next activity can help
prepare the student and help with the transition to the next activ
ity.
Teachers should verify that students with ASD understand direct
ions and assignments. Instead of asking, "Do you understand?" t
eachers shouldask a student to repeat directions back to them to
make sure the student understands.
When students are working in the classroom, the teacher should
frequently monitor student progress and provide appropriate
feedback. Many students need help understanding what it means
to finish or complete an activity or assignment. For example,
students may wonder what a "finished" art project looks like: Is
it only creating a dragon or does the background of the paper
need to be colored in, too? Teachers can provide a picture of a
finished project or a cleaned workspace so the student can use
the picture for comparison.
Teachers often allow students to make choices about what they
will read or how they will go about completing an assignment.
For students with ASD, it is often best to whittle down choices
to one or two viable options. For example, instead of asking a
student to pick a book from the reading corner, the teacher
could provide the student with two books and ask them to
choose one.
Choices for students with ASD may also extend to
nonparticipation in activities. Within reason, teachers should
decide when it is appropriate for a student to opt out of a
certain activity. For example, a student with ASD may not enjoy
playing a game in physical education that involves throwing
balls. The teacher may create an alternative activity for that
student.
Music can help students understand mathematical concepts
(such as fractions) and learn letters and states (e.g., "The ABC
Song" and "The State Song"). For example, students can learn

25. concepts of numerator and denominator by clapping to the first
beat (out of 4) to demonstrate 1/4. Music can also improve the
communication and speech skills of students with ASD by
helping students become more comfortable with talking/singing
with others (Reschke-Hernández, 2011). Students who have
difficulty with speaking may find music an easier outlet for
communicating ideas.
Teaching Academics
Many strategies can help students with ASD excel in the
classroom. Often, activities need to be broken into smaller,
more manageable steps for learning and practicing. Technology
can be used to teach students new skills, and one use of it,
video modeling, shows great potential in helping students with
ASD.
Task Analysis
Breaking down tasks into steps, or task analysis, was discussed
in Chapter 8 in the context of teaching students with ID. This
strategy is useful in teaching both behaviors and academic tasks
to students with ASD. A task analysis can be used to teach
students how to add suffixes to words, how to water a plant,
how to prepare their materials for the school day, or how to
walk to the lunchroom.
After completing a task analysis by writing out the task step by
step, the teacher needs to explicitly teach the student how to
follow the steps to complete a task. For students with ASD,
teachers may want to break a project into smaller chunks (e.g.,
complete the first three steps on Monday and the last three steps
on Tuesday) to ensure that the student achieves success with the
project. Teachers may provide students with a written or
pictorial list of steps when appropriate.
Technology
Technology can greatly enhance the classroom experience and

26. participation of students with ASD. If they have difficulty with
handwriting because they have problems with fine motor skills,
the use of computers or voice-activation software can help them
with written responses. Students with ASD who are nonverbal
or have limited verbal communication can use Augmentative
and alternative communication (AAC) that provide answer
choices or help students put together sentences using pictures.
Using Interest Areas
Many students with ASD have an exceptional interest in one or
two topic areas. The teacher can use this characteristic to
advantage in teaching. For example, the teacher might present
choices related to a student's area of interest for activities like
writing a persuasive essay or reading a book. A student who is
fascinated by trains might write an essay about establishing a
train museum or read a book about train engines. The teacher
could include a few problems about train cargo when that
student is solving multiplication word problems.
While it is important that students with ASD not focus all of
their time learning about their primary area of interest in
school, teachers can play into these interest areas to engage
these individuals and make academic work meaningful.
Teaching Reading
Many students with ASD struggle with the reading skills of
decoding (i.e., understanding the connections between letter
sounds and words), vocabulary, and comprehension (i.e.,
understanding the meaning of text) (Huemer & Mann, 2010;
Saunders, Page, & Wood, 2011). Explicit instruction is the key
to helping students improve reading skills (Chiang & Lin, 2007;
Ganz & Flores, 2009). To provide explicit instruction, teachers
model and provide many opportunities for practicing a skill. It
is also important to use different types of media (e.g.,
computers, books, songs) to help students understand the
connections between letters, sounds, words, and text.

27. Students should be taught sight words as well (Spector, 2011).
Sight words are words that appear frequently within text that
students should know without decoding (e.g., the, because,
always, and). To improve comprehension, teachers can use
graphic organizers and instruction about the structure of text
and stories. Teachers can show students how to find important
information within the text and how to reread for understanding
(Randi, Newman, & Grigorenko, 2010). For example, teachers
may teach students how to identify the topic sentence in a
paragraph and how to answer who, what, when, and where
questions as the student reads or rereads.
Computer programs can help improve speed of letter and sight-
word recognition (Coleman-Martin, Heller, Cihak, & Irvine,
2005; Travers et al., 2011) and help with understanding of
vocabulary (Moore & Calvert, 2000). One computer program to
improve vocabulary is called an E-word wall (Narkon, Wells, &
Segal, 2011). Using this program, students can read and hear a
word, see a picture, and then read and hear a sentence using the
vocabulary word that relates to the picture (Figure 9.6). The
multiple ways of hearing and seeing the word help students with
ASD ascribe meaning to the vocabulary and text.
Figure 9.6: E-word Wall
In an e-word wall program, students learn words beginning with
the letter C. Students can listen to the word, see a picture of the
word, and see and hear the word used within a sentence. All
these examples help provide concrete examples of the word and
its meaning.
Explicit instruction in higher-order skills of reading
comprehension is also effective. For example, the teacher can
break down the steps for how to sequence a story, providing
sentence starters for students to use when retelling—"in the
beginning," "then," "at the end,"—and explaining how to use
them. Then the teacher models the steps to read and retell a

28. story the students find interesting. Throughout the story, the
teacher gradually asks students for more input on the beginning,
middle, and end, so that students will be ready to practice this
skill on their own. The teacher provides appropriate and
immediate feedback as students respond, and provides
opportunities for students to practice the skill with gradually
increasing independence.
Teaching Writing
Many students with ASD have difficulty with handwriting
because they have problems with coordination. Additionally,
some students have sensory difficulties that make the student
resistant to touching or gripping objects like a pencil. Teachers
can practice writing words, such as a student's name, with the
teacher's hand guiding the student's hand. Teachers can also
prepare tracing activities for students to practice writing letters
and words (as shown in Figure 9.7).
Figure 9.7: Tracing Letters
A student can practice writing letters by tracing the dots. Often,
it is best to have students work on tracing one or two letters
instead of the entire alphabet.
For some students, teachers may not want to push handwriting
with a traditional writing instrument. Instead, teachers can be
creative and offer students writing instruction in a variety of
mediums. Teachers may let students paint on an easel, use chalk
on the sidewalk or chalkboard, or write with fat or skinny
markers. Teachers may let students roll play dough into letters,
write letters with shaving cream or pudding, or pick out
magnetic letters.
To improve higher order writing skills, such as writing a
sentence or a paragraph, teachers should also use explicit
instruction. To do this, teachers can demonstrate how to write a
sentence with a subject and verb that agree or model learn how

29. to write a paragraph with a topic sentence, three supporting
sentences, and a concluding sentence. Self-regulation, which
was discussed in Chapter 3, is a good strategy to use with
students with ASD (and most other students). To self-regulate,
students learn a strategy for writing, and they also learn how to
monitor their progress when working through the strategy.
Students with ASD can also practice writing by using computer
programs. One such program provides key words that students
are to use to write their sentences or paragraphs (Pennington,
Stenhoff, Gibson, & Ballou, 2012).
Teaching Mathematics
Teachers should use explicit instruction to teach important
mathematics concepts and procedures (Donaldson & Zager,
2010). Teachers can provide multiple demonstrations for
solving a mathematics problem, give the student multiple
opportunities to practice with the teacher, and then allow the
student to practice problems independently with teacher
support. Using the concrete-representational-abstract (CRA)
sequence can help students with ASD see the connections
between concepts and procedures (Donaldson & Zager, 2010).
At the concrete stage, students use manipulatives, such as Base-
10 blocks, fraction tiles, or bear counters, to practice
mathematical concepts (Cihak & Foust, 2008). At the
representational stage, students solve problems with pictures of
manipulatives or objects drawn on their paper. At the abstract
stage, students solve a problem with numbers and symbols. The
following is an example of CRA in action:
C: Student starts with 3 red bears. Student adds 4 blue bears.
Student counts all bears: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. 7 bears. 3 plus 4
equals 7."
R: Student works on a worksheet with 3 bear pictures on one
side of the paper and 4 bear pictures on the other side. Student
is able to touch and count each bear: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. 7 bears.
3 plus 4 equals 7."

30. A: Student solves an equation written on paper: "3 + 4 = __."
Music can be used to help students remember number sequences
or answers to basic facts. For example, students can learn a
song to help them remember how to count from 1 to 20. Songs
make remembering numbers and facts easier, just as the
alphabet song does for letters. Mnemonics can help students
remember how to regroup a multi-digit addition problem or how
to divide fractions. For example, when dividing fractions,
students learn to "copy, change, change": copy the first fraction,
change the sign from division to multiplication, change the
original fraction to its inverse. Some teachers teach students to
use numbers with dots that represent their amounts. (See
TouchMath in Chapter 8.) By using the dots on each number,
students can quickly add and subtract (Cihak & Foust, 2008).
Teaching Behavioral Skills
Many of the hallmark characteristics of ASD contribute to
behavioral problems in the classroom. To address these,
teachers can create lessons on relating to peers that are designed
for all students in a class, including those with ASD; use video
modeling to teach adaptive behavior; train all students,
including those with ASD, to pair up for effective peer tutoring;
or use computer-assisted instruction programs to help students
learn to recognize faces and emotional cues that they do not
usually notice, which can ease social strain and improve
behavior. General and special education classrooms can also
incorporate the assistance of applied behavior analysis
specialists or occupational therapists to facilitate behavioral
change and to avoid situations that trigger problem behaviors.
Relating to Peers and Others
Many students with ASD have difficulty relating to peers; they
have trouble understanding social cues and how to act in social
situations (Whitby, Ogilvie, & Mancil, 2012). General
education students, in turn, may need some help learning to
understand and work with students with ASD in their
classrooms. Teachers may work with both the student with ASD

31. and the entire class on certain types of social skills (Campbell
& Barger, 2011).
For example, if a student with ASD has trouble playing a game
in which the students take turns or compete, the general
education or physical education teacher may engage the class in
a lesson focused on taking turns and cooperation (Obrusnikova
& Dillon, 2011). It is important that these lessons be aimed at
the entire class rather than the student with ASD so that all
students learn how to work with each other.
Video modeling can help improve conversational skills, playing,
and other social skills of students with ASD (Biederman &
Freedman, 2007; Kagohara, 2010; Ganz, Earles-Vollrath, &
Cook, 2011). Students watch a video of a task to learn how to
act in a specific situation or how to do something. Students
often watch videos multiple times, and teachers use scaffolding
to remove the video from use. For example, students may watch
a video of students playing a board game to better understand
taking turns and moving game pieces. Students then play a game
and practice the strategies outlined in the video. Students can
view the video multiple times and then practice the skills
repeatedly (Ganz et al., 2011).
Teachers can create their own videos for students after
identifying a target skill, gathering materials, and filming the
video.
Peer tutoring can be an effective strategy for students with ASD
to improve communication and social skills (Sperry, Neitzel, &
Engelhardt-Wells, 2010; Su, Lai, & Rivera, 2012; Trottier,
Kamp, & Mirenda, 2011). Teachers, however, must provide
proper training and structure the activities. Merely letting
students choose partners and begin working together is not
effective for either student in the pair. Teachers should assign
roles in the pair (i.e., coach and player; leader and doer) and
make sure that students understand those roles.

32. Teachers also need to teach strategies for getting along with
partners. For example, some students need to learn a little
patience and understanding, while other students need to learn
how to praise their partner and help if the partner makes a
mistake. Video modeling can help students with ASD and their
partners see how to work together (Silton & Fogel, 2012).
Some students with ASD have difficulty recognizing and
discriminating among people's faces, as well as interpreting
others' emotions visually (Hopkins et al., 2011). Computer-
assisted instruction (CAI) programs can increase students'
recognition of faces and understanding of emotion cues (Tanaka
et al., 2010). These programs show different faces and
emotions, and students learn how to recognize and interpret
them.
Making Decisions
Students may need instruction on how to make decisions in and
outside of the classroom. Providing students with pictures as
options is helpful for students with ASD. For example, to help a
student decide what to eat at lunch, the teacher could display
pictures of chicken, salad, and a sandwich. Students could also
choose a picture to decide which task to complete first: read a
story or finish math homework.
Students can also learn to use Social Stories to make decisions
(Kokina & Kern, 2010). Students can read a Social Story or an
adult can read it for them, and the story helps the student think
through a situation. Stories can be in words or pictures. For
example, students may use Social Stories to work through how
to cross the street at a stoplight, raise their hand to go to the
bathroom, or ride the school bus. To teach street crossing, the
story might be: "When I'm walking down the street and I see a
stoplight, I need to stop at the street corner. If I don't stop, I
could get hurt. After I stop, I push the button and wait. When

33. the walking man flashes on, I start to cross the street. I keep
walking until I'm all the way across the street."
References
Powell, S. R., & Driver, M. K. (2013). Working with
exceptional students: An introduction to special education
[Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/
EXAMPLE ONLY!!!
Part One
IDEA disability category with the reauthorization of IDEA in
1990. IDEA 2004 defines autism as a developmental disability
in which a child has problems communicating, verbally and
nonverbally, to a degree that affects academic performance. It
states that these communicative and social difficulties usually
arise before the age of 3 years, and are often accompanied by
repetitive movements or behaviors, resistance to change, and
atypical responses to sensory experiences.
Communication Social Skills
Repetitive or obsessive behaviors.
Misuses Pronouns Blurts out
Collects things.
Speaks in short sentences Displays a lack of personal
space Covers ears. Arches back.
Struggles to whisper Talks a lot about one topic.
Participates in repetitive play
A grammatical structure which may appear immature (i.e.,
telegraphic speech, improper tense or use of pronouns) or
grammatical structure which may appear pedantic (e.g.,
monologue, advanced vocabulary in an area of
interest). Auditory input sensitivities are covering ears during
loud noises Their working memory or the time it takes to
process information, especially processing several pieces of
information at one time, can be difficult for people with

34. ASD. Some have high word recognition skills, but poor
comprehension, others have high calculation skills, but poor
applied math problem skills and a proportion are low in all
areas. (Pratt, Hopf & Larriba-Quest, 2017)
Part two
SEE ATTACHED FILE FOR EXAMLPE OF THE CHART
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Table
Strategies for Students with SLD that will Prove Helpful
Strategies for Students with ID that will Prove Helpful
Strategies for Students with EBD that will Prove Helpful
Individual Strategies for Students with ASD
High Functioning ASD
1. Ask targeted questions
2. Break larger concepts and skills into manageable tasks
3. Teach in small groups
(Powell &Driver, 2013)
X
X
1.Communicate directions
2.
The ABC Song by clapping to the first beat
3.
Technology
(Powell & Driver, 2013)
Severe ASD
X
1.
. Explicit instruction
2.
Teach in small chunks

35. 3.
Use concise language
(Powell & Driver, 2013)
1. Peer tutoring to be effective
2.
Allowing student to retake a test
3. Adjusting task difficulty
(Powell & Driver, 2013)
1. Setting a timer and placing it where the student can track
2.
Provide appropriate feedback.
3.
Alternative activity
(Powell & Driver, 2013)
Powell, S. R. & Driver, M. K. (2013). Working with
exceptional students: An introduction to special education. San
Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.