Supporting Autistic Students Through Goal Setting and Parent-Teacher Collaboration

GOAL SETTING AND COLLABORATION IN AUTISTIC ADOLESCENTS’ CLASSROOMS 1
Can Integrated Parental and Teacher Support Meet the Challenges of the Autistic Adolescent
Communities’ Needs in the Classroom?
Sahel Ghaghchy and Anna Fisher
North Carolina State University

I. Project Introduction
We would like to address the issue of providing better quality care to adolescents
diagnosed with Autism. We want to tackle the problem of inadequate care in the classroom while
collaborating with the parents to provide the best care. We think that improving this quality of
care will increase the patients’ well-being and allow parents to be more involved in the child’s
education. Since more people than just the individual are affected, we would like to target the
patient’s family as well the people in the community that he or she interacts with on a regular
basis. Parents are often very busy or overworked, and attending to a child with autism is not
always easy. This may create tension within the family that has a negative impact or is harmful
for the child. For the adolescent, it is probably difficult at school to get required support and
avoid bullying. This is why we would like to plan our intervention around addressing the
patient’s family and teachers to come up with a set goal for the child’s needs. We plan to create a
more organized management of skill through providing a structured classroom and monthly
conferences between teachers and parents to address goals and achievements. This will
positively impact development and changes in life events, and the child’s overall health and
outlook on life. By implementing this organizational structure, we hope to address and improve
five external developmental assets for Autistic adolescents. These assets are family support,
positive family communication, other adult relationships, a caring school climate, and parental
involvement in schooling. (40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents, 2007)
II. Population Introduction/description
The population that we are addressing in this proposal is adolescents (ages 10 to 18
years) who have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and are currently
enrolled in a public school (elementary through high school) in the United States. In the U.S.,
approximately 1 in 68 people are are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Since 3.5
million people currently live with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, it is a prevalent and largely
impactful issue to address. Research by the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention show
that the prevalence of Autism has increased by 119. 4% from 2000 to 2010 (Data & Statistics,
2014). As the prevalence of ASD grows, the need for adequate care and development in schools
increases. The needs of adults are being met with more funding and attention than the needs of
children. Research has shown that most costs are in adult services ($157-$196 billion a year),
while the costs in children’s services are only $61-$66 billion (Buescher, 2014). The Autism
society predicts that the cost will increase to $200-$400 billion a year. For a person with ASD,
the US cost of living over the lifespan is $2.4 million for one person, while only half that amount
is required for a person without an intellectual disability (Buescher, 2014). As one can see, the
growing prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder and its proliferating costs are a problem that
communities all over the United States face daily. The U.S. Government Accountability Office
reports that “the cost of lifelong care can be reduced by 2/3 with early diagnosis and
intervention” (Federal Autism Activities, 2006). All of this research points to a need for early

intervention to increase intellectual capacities and developmental skills in adolescents diagnosed
with ASD. The best place to intervene would be in the classroom, where the students spend most
of their time attempting to develop a higher level of functioning.
Furthermore, there is a wide gender-split in the number of people diagnosed with ASD.
Males are five times more likely than females to have ASD (Data & Statistics, 2014), and
therefore there are more males in special needs classrooms than females. Moreover, the number
of employed people with intellectual disabilities is much lower than people without disabilities.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in June of 2014 that only 16.8% of people with
disabilities were employed, while 65% of the population of people without disabilities were
employed. Obviously, there is a stark contrast in the number of people with disabilities and the
number of people without disabilities participating in the workforce. One reason for this gap
might be that 35% of young adults aged 19-23 years old with ASD have not had jobs or went on
to further their education after high school (Shattuck, P., Narendorf, S., Cooper, B., Sterzing, P.,
Wagner, M., & Taylor, J, 2012). Our intervention focuses on increasing adolescents’ intellectual
capabilities at an early age so that they may be able to join the labor force, further their
education, and/or enhance their quality of life.
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder are affected by a number of other mental and
physical health challenges as well. Adults with ASD have higher rates of mental complications
as well as physical impairments that affect them at a greater prevalence than people without
ASD. Tables 1 and 2 show a list of the mental and physical challenges faced by adults with ASD,
as well as the prevalence in comparison to people who are not diagnosed with ASD (Salamon,
2014).
Table 1.
Mental Complication Prevalence among adults with
ASD
Prevalence among adults
without ASD
Depression 38% 17%
Anxiety 39% 18%
Bipolar disorder 30% 9%
Suicide attempts 1.6% .3%
Salamon, M. (2014)
Table 2.
Physical Complication Prevalence among adults with
ASD
Prevalence among adults
without ASD
Diabetes 6% 4%
Gastrointestinal disorders 47% 38%
Epilepsy 12% 1%
Sleep disorders 19% 10%
High blood pressure 27% 19%
Obesity 27% 16%
Salamon, M. (2014)

These associated physical challenges may place a higher level of frustration among
people with ASD if they feel hindered from participating in day to day activities, which would
explain aggressive behavior among those patients. Demonstrating aggressive behavior most
likely elicits negative responses from people with whom they interact with, which decreases their
quality of interpersonal relationships. Having higher comorbidity rates with the specific mental
problems is another challenge this particular population faces. Those problems could be a by-
product of the disorder, or they may be the cause of it, but the effect of the interaction between
the symptoms of ASD and other mental health problems makes it difficult to have normal
experiences without the help and support of people in the community.
The section of the population that has been diagnosed with ASD is often faced with risks
that people without intellectual disabilities do not face as often. People with ASD face violence,
discrimination, and limited access to jobs and services. In a study done by Petersilia (2001), it
was estimated that children with intellectual disabilities are twice as likely to be physically and
sexually abused than children lacking intellectual disabilities. Persilia notes, “Rates of violence
and abuse perpetrated on people with developmental disabilities (e.g., mental retardation, autism)
appear significantly higher than for people without these disabilities. Few of these crimes get
reported to police, and even fewer are prosecuted because officials hesitate to pursue cases that
rely on the testimony of a person with a developmental disability (Petersilia, J., 2001). Another
challenge, as noted in the previous section, there are far less people with ASD that are a part of
the labor force than people without disabilities.
III. Population Strengths and Challenges
People with ASD are often the target of discrimination. They face discrimination
in their healthcare, government assistance programs, and their education (Philips, 2012). In
health care, people with ASD do not get the services they need because insurance companies
refuse to cover them. Their insurance premiums are much higher because they have an
intellectual disability and will need more services than their able-minded peers. Additionally, the
medical community is not educated enough about the gastrointestinal and chronic immune
system disorders that many with ASD face. When it comes to government assistance programs,
“most communities offer few or no services as ASD children become ASD young adults. Those
agencies that offer adult services typically don’t teach staff how to best handle the needs and
behaviors of people with ASDs” (Discrimination | Autism Research Institute, 2015). In
education, which is our main focus, teachers do not have proper and updated training to work
with and foster the abilities of children on the autism spectrum. Oftentimes, children with ASD
are marginalized by the school system and do not receive the same level of funding, care, or
attention as their peers who lack intellectual disabilities.
Due to the marginalization and lack of attention that children with ASD face, they are
often at a disadvantage because they are not receiving the necessary amount of care needed. The
teachers do not have an adequate framework to teach. This is why our program aims to give
teachers specific goals to work with. Additionally, the teachers do not have enough input about

what each child needs. This is why getting the child’s parents involved is central to our
intervention.
One strength that the population has is the ability to pay attention to details and make
logical rather than emotional decisions. This may help our intervention because the child can pay
attention to the specific things that he or she believes he wants help on. Therefore, we can create
better attuned goals for the child based on their own evaluation of their needs.
IV. Intervention
A. Introduction
Our project will address the issue of providing better quality care to children and
adolescents with autism. We think that improving the quality of care in the classroom as well as
at home will increase the patients’ well being and allow parents to be more involved in the
child’s education. Since more people than just the individual are affected, we target the patient’s
family as well people in the community that he or she interacts with on a regular basis. Our
intervention is planned around addressing the patient’s family and teachers to come up with a set
goal for the child’s needs.
B. Program Description
i. Overall Program Goals
This intervention will provide a structured classroom and incorporate monthly
conferences between teachers and parents to address goals and achievements of the student. This
will positively impact development and changes in life events, and the child’s overall health and
outlook on life. Parents don’t have enough help, time, and funds to raise autistic children.
Autistic children have low developmental capabilities/functioning, so they need extra instruction,
patience, and support groups. Special needs children aren’t treated equal to “normal” children
(ex. lower expectations makes it harder to exceed expectations), and are not usually accepted by
society (may encounter effects of prejudice and bullying, etc.). Our intervention focuses on
changing the special needs classroom while using a set structure to make sure that children are
working at the level they are at, but have opportunities to excel. Additionally, they will have
goals set by the parents and teachers to follow.
ii. Program Components
To understand the needs of the community, we will evaluate the percentage of
children/young adults compared to non-developmentally challenged people in the population.
Additionally, we need to know on average, how many students are in a special needs class, the
programs provided, student teacher ratio, the demographic characteristics of their community
and how that interacts with children’s specific characteristics. The parents’ work schedule
(hours/week), availability, and level of support (whether they have additional care such as a
habilitation technician) will be helpful to know as well.
We will use informant reports completed by the parents and teacher about the child’s
abilities, level of functioning, social skills, and educational skills to evaluate different aspects of

the children’s life. The students will be divided into groups based on skill level (reading, math,
etc.) Afterwards, based on this information, we will set an initial meeting between the parent and
teacher at the start of the school year to evaluate the information from the survey and work one
on one to set goals to address all of their needs. These goals will be recorded in a binder (each
student will have one on file). Every two months, the parent and teacher will schedule a
conference to discuss whether the student is meeting these goals. The teacher is expected to note
whether the child has made progress. (See table 1) If the child has made progress in one goal (ex.
raised up one level in reading), then the child will be moved up to a higher skill level group. This
holds the teacher accountable for making sure that each child’s needs are being met, as well as
providing the student opportunities to rise up in skill level and excel.

Table 1. Sheets where goals and progress are recorded per individual

C. Program Evaluation
As we mentioned before, children with ASD are marginalized by their school systems.
They do not receive the same level of funding, attention, or protections (Discrimination, 2015).
The interaction and effort by the staff is minimal. This is why we propose to receive more
funding to increase the number of staff. Therefore, we can implement conferences between
teachers and parents to set goals and work towards achieving them. One problem that we face is
actually receiving the funding. Students with intellectual disabilities are not afforded the same
amount of funding and are often discriminated against for not being able to contribute to the
work force. School systems tend to see them more as a burden than as an opportunity to be
empowered and empower their communities. This leads to another challenge. Getting the
attention of the schools system’s leaders is difficult, let alone asking for more investment for the
ASD students and their classrooms.
One way to show that our program is working is to review the extensive amount of
paperwork after one year. Every student will have a folder in which all goals for the year are
recorded, as well as the progress made on each of them every month. At the end of the year, the
paperwork can be reviewed to see how many students progressed, regressed, or experienced no
change in terms of their goals. If it is shown that students are progressing, then we can establish
that our intervention is working.
D. Critique
One challenge that we may face is a lack of time, since scheduling a one-on-one
conference with each student in a 20-person classroom can be time consuming. Additionally,
some parents may not have the desire or time to be so involved in their child’s education.
V. Expected outcomes
If our intervention goes as expected, we would see many outcomes in different areas of
the childrens’ lives. The most noticeable outcome would be tracked improvement in the child’s
social and academic skills based on their personal goals. In the classroom, teachers would be
held accountable for helping the kids reach their goals, or set new goals if they see that the
original ones are too big of a step. Hopefully, the children would be able to transfer the skills
they built in the classroom to their family life. Outcomes in the childrens’ home would be that
parents are better involved with appropriate interaction and providing support to the child.
Overall, there would be a higher level of satisfaction and well-being for the children. If this
program is successful, other schools may decide to implement it in their school as well, and
further research may be conducted to see if there are any areas that could be built upon to
increase the success and well-being for the children and significant people in their life.

References
40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents. (2007). Retrieved March 27, 2015, from
http://www.search-institute.org/content/40-developmental-assets-adolescents-ages-12-18
Data & Statistics. (2014) Retrieved March 27, 2015, from
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html
Buescher. (2014). Costs of Autism Spectrum Disorders in the United Kingdom and the United
States. JAMA Pediatrics, 168(8), 721-728. Retrieved March 27, 2015, from
http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/errors/error.aspx?aspxerrorpath=/artic
le.aspx
Federal Autism Activities: Funding for Research Has Increased, but Agencies Need to Resolve
Surveillance Challenges. (2006). U.S. Government Accountability Office- GAO Report,
(GAO-06-700).
Shattuck, P., Narendorf, S., Cooper, B., Sterzing, P., Wagner, M., & Taylor, J. (2012).
Postsecondary Education and Employment Among Youth With an Autism Spectrum
Disorder. Pediatrics, 129(6), 1042-1049.
Salamon, M. (2014). Adults With Autism at Risk for Many Health Problems: Study. Retrieved
March 27, 2015, from
http://consumer.healthday.com/cognitive-health-information-26/autism-news-51/adults-
ith-autism-at-higher-odds-for-other-ailments-687631.html
Petersilia, J. (2001). Crime Victims with Developmental Disabilities: A Review Essay.Criminal
Justice and Behavior, 28(6), 655-694.
Discrimination | Autism Research Institute. (2015). Retrieved March 27, 2015, from
http://www.autism.com/services_discrimination
Philips, L. (2012). Behind Closed Doors: What’s Happening to Students With Autism in
America’s Public Schools? National Autism Association, 1-15. Retrieved March 27,
2015, from http://nationalautismassociation.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/01/CamerasWhitePaper.pdf

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