Lm2 pp1 fall 2012

Creating Contexts for Instruction
SPE 465
Stacey Callaway, M.Ed., ABD

Stacey Callaway, M.ED, ABD | 2012

• There are several important elements that must
be considered when setting up the contexts for
instruction and learning for students with ASD.
– Arranging the physical environment
– Establishing the temporal structure
– Using visual and concrete systems
– Providing systematic instruction
– Accommodating sensory needs
– Facilitating engagement
– Establishing stimulus control
– Priming

Arranging the Physical
Environment
• As a teacher, the physical arrangement of the
classroom is always important!
• The way you set up your room can make or
break your first day of school!
• Students with ASD respond favorably to
physical structure in the classroom.
– For example, if you leave a large open space in the
middle of the room, that opens up the
opportunity for students to get out of their seats
and RUN around in that open space!

Environment, cont.
• You can use the furniture to provide
boundaries and lead students from one
location to another in the room.
• You can use tape on the floor to delineate
boundaries in the room.
• Or put tape on the floor
so students know where
to line up.

Environment, cont.
• When setting up independent work
stations/desks, it’s important to keep the
desks in close enough proximity that the
students can be monitored simultaneously by
a member of your teaching team, yet not so
close that the students are TOO close. It’s a
fine line and it will be different each year as
you get new students in your class.


Environment, cont.

Example of an independent
work station. The student
takes the pink triangle from the
desk and matches it with the pink
triangle in the cubby, then takes
the folder out of the cubby and
completes the folder game.


Environment, cont.
• I recommend my teachers have the following
spaces in their classrooms:
– Direct instruction (teacher table)
– Independent Work (student desks to complete
independent work tasks)
– Break (area with sensory activities and/or favorite
toys)
– Snack table (for snack and for large group
activities such as arts/crafts)
– Large group area (for circle time/Morning
Meeting)

Environmentally Cued
Expectations
• We heard from Dr. Temple Grandin, in her
interview, that she is a visual learner.
• This is typical of most children with ASD.
• Often visual supports are put into place
throughout the students day and throughout the
environment.
• Visuals can be used to help the student navigate
around the classroom through a visual schedule.
• Or visuals can be used to prompt activities such
as hand washing, or going to the bathroom.

Examples of Visual Supports

• The example on the right is an
example of visual schedules in
a classroom. We will talk later
in the semester about the
specifics of schedules.

• Students match their picture
and take the picture or object
at the top of the schedule
with them to help them
transition to the next activity.



• This is another example of a
schedule for a student who is
able to manage this schedule
himself. When it is time for
him to transition, the teacher
gives him a visa-vis marker for
him to check off the activities
he has done so that he will
know what he needs to do
next.



• This is an example of an
activity schedule. This helps
the student know what
sequences to follow when
washing his hands.


Establishing Temporal Structure

• Temporal Structure refers to how time is used.
• You will find that this is one of the most
important pieces of being a teacher, especially
with students with ASD.
• Children with ASD don’t do well with
downtime or unstructured time so this time
needs to be accounted for in your planning.


Establishing Temporal Structure,
cont.
• Additionally, students with ASD don’t do well
with surprises!
• Fire drills, substitutes and other unexpected
activities can often throw students off.
• The best fix for this is to provide them with
the information ahead of time if possible.
• We often used a special symbol
to indicate a “special activity.”

Activity Length

• As a teacher, you have to learn how long your
students can tolerate an activity.
• Typically, younger students need shorter
activities.
• If you have preschool or elementary students,
you probably don’t want to have a 30 minute
circle time! You’ll lose them after about 15
minutes!


Activity Length, cont.

• You will have some students who will need to
complete an activity and move to the
reinforcer immediately after. This student
would be on a work/break/work/break
schedule.
• Often teachers will use an excel spreadsheet
to create a schedule that delineates where
staff members and students are in 15 minute
increments.


Variation of Activities

• In planning for your students, it’s important to
remember that no one wants to work for free!
• Your students need reinforcers just like you
do!
• Would you be willing to work 5 days a week
without receiving a paycheck?
• When you’re planning, make sure that you
have a reinforcer for your students!


Variation of Activities

• This concept is called the “Premack Principle”
or “Grandma’s law.”
• This is the concept that if you eat your peas,
you’ll get dessert.
• I often used a “First/Then” board so that my
students could easily see what was expected.


Variation of Activities, cont.

• This first/then board
can be used
throughout the day
and in any
environment. The
concept is clear. First
work, then play!


Variation of Activities, cont.

• Behavioral momentum is when you have your
student complete quick and easy tasks before
they do a more difficult task.
• This takes advantage of student success

Behavioral Momentum Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtIBbdgDSi8


Delineation of Activities

• Because the goal of using schedules in the
classroom is to promote independence, the
schedule must be presented at a level that the
student will understand.
• Some students may not understand the
pictures that are typically used in schedules,
so they may need an object or photograph to
represent the activities on their schedule.


This student is able This student
uses actual These students both use
to use line drawings
Photographs actual objects for their
for his schedule.
for his schedule. schedules because they need
the object to be the representation
of the activity.

Delineation of Activities, cont.

This is an activity schedule.
This student needed help
knowing what he needed
to do when he put up his
backpack.



Object Schedules

http://youtu.be/U0nNeDtxD5c



• You also need to consider if your student
needs to have a schedule for the whole day or
just half of the day. Some students may only
need the first/then schedule as they can not
follow a schedule beyond one activity and it’s
reinforcer.


Teaching Starting and Stopping

• Imagine if you didn’t have a concept of when
an activity started or when it stopped!
• I imagine that would be pretty frustrating,
especially if I was doing a non-preferred
activity and I knew that when I was finished I
was going to get my favorite thing!
• Teachers use all kinds of timers to help
students understand when activities are
finished.


The Time Timer is one example that many
teachers use with students with ASD!

http://youtu.be/5-9ugu9pBak


Transitions

• We know that students with ASD have
difficulty with transitions.
• We also know that in a classroom, general ed
or special ed, the day is FILLED with
transitions!
• Often students with ASD have the daily
schedule memorized, which leads teacher to
believe that students don’t NEED a visual
schedule after the first month or so of school!

Transitions, cont.

• I would argue that students with ASD continue
to need visual schedules as it’s often not the
transition, rather the lack of prior notice of the
transition that students have difficulty with.
• Teachers use lots of different strategies to help
students recognize that a transition is coming.


Transitions, cont.

• As a teacher you can raise a flag to give them a 5
minute warning.
• You can hold up two fingers to give them a 2
minute warning.
• You can play music that you know is a certain
length of time that can be played and when the
music is finished they know the transition is
coming.
• There are MANY different ways to prepare
students for transitions.

Systematic Instruction

• We know that children with ASD don’t typically
learn in the natural environment.
• Direct instruction is an important part of the
learning process for students with ASD.
• Specific skills that should be taught to students
with ASD through direct (systematic) instruction
include: social skills, communication, appropriate
toy play, attending to learning, verbal and motor
imitation and receptive and expressive language.

Systematic Instruction, cont.

• The textbook discusses the importance of
teaching functional skills to students with ASD
and that there isn’t a need for teaching
academic skills, such as the period table.
• However, I will tell you that since this textbook
was written, there has been a push for
students who receive special education
services to have access to the “general
education curriculum.”



The following links are two pertinent documents
that are related to writing standards based IEPs.
Please review them, as this WILL be something you,
as a future educator, will need to know!!

• http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/special.ed/guidanc
e/sbIEP.html
• http://www5.esc13.net/agc/Tools/standardsb
aseddevqa.pdf



• Another important aspect of systematic
instruction is data collection that will provide
you the following information:
– Identify valid educational goals
– Identify and use different instructional strategies
to teach
– Evaluate the effectiveness of the instruction
– Modify the information based on data


Sensory Accommodations

• Students with ASD have underlying sensory
differences that often affect their ability to
learn and process information.
• Sensory issues vary among individuals with
ASD and often vary among one individual
from morning to afternoon!
• We will talk about Sensory Issues further in
Chapter 5


Sensory Accommodations, cont.

Dr. Temple Grandin and Sensory Issues

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzf80k5b_EM


Engaging Activities

• Engagement is defined as active attending to
and interacting with social and nonsocial
environments.
• Engagement has been identified as one of the
best predictors of positive student outcomes.
• Incorporating students items of interests is a
great way to encourage student engagement.


Engaging Activities, cont.

• For example, if you have a student who is
interested in Thomas the Train, you would
want to make a color matching game with
Thomas the Train characters.
• Additionally, students with ASD may also be
more engaged when information is taught
through music.


Opportunities to Make Choices

• Children with ASD aren’t much different from
all of us in that they like to have some control
over their environment.
• Giving kids choices often gives them the
control that they need.
• You can give them choices of items or
activities that will be used as motivators.
• You can also give them choices in the order of
activities that they will participate in.

Opportunities to Make Choices,
cont.

Choice Boards

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwwTc3DfKFs


Priming

• Priming is a strategy for enhancing task
performance by allowing the individual to
practice the activity and become familiar with
the materials ahead of time.
• Priming increases the predictability of the task
by allowing students to rehearse the task.
• Priming can be an effective strategy, as the
student with ASD knows what to expect
before going into the activity.

Conclusion

• We have covered a lot of information in this
power point and much of it will be covered in
depth later in the semester.
• “Effective teachers do their best to organize
the school day with interesting tasks that last
an appropriate amount of time and take into
account activity and sensory differences”
(Heflin & Alaimo, 2007, p. 135).


Conclusion, cont.
• Student tasks need to be represented in a
concrete and predictable manner with an obvious
start and finish of the activity.
• Students should have the opportunity to make
choices within activities and within
reinforcers/motivators.
• Students should be taught systematically.
• Students should have the opportunity to explore
toys and activities through priming that will
familiarize them with the activities before they
begin.

Lm2 pp1 fall 2012

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Lm2 pp1 fall 2012