Sammy is 3 years old and attends a preschool program
for young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). He enters
the classroom hesitantly and keeps his head down. He continues to
hold onto a small keychain and walks to the heating vent, swinging
the keychain as he holds his head over the air stream blowing from
the vent. He appears to pay no attention to the toys set out for the
children in the classroom.
Mark is 4 years old. He races into the classroom,
climbs up and over a table, then runs to the toy shelf and begins
to climb the shelf in order to be able to look out the window. He
does not respond to staff calling his name. At home he runs past his
wide array of toys and dumps boxes of blocks and pegs, with no apparent
idea of how to put things together functionally.
Joey is in third grade and attends class with his
typical peers. He has an adult assistant who helps him in the classroom.
When Joey enters the classroom one Monday morning and is surprised
to see that the seating arrangement he he is familiar with has been
changed and that he has been assigned a new seat. Joey begins yelling
and throwing his materials.
Jakob is in middle school, where he moves from class
to class using a schedule. One of his classes is in a room that has
an old ventilation system with a fan that runs periodically. When
the fan turns on, Jakob seems unable to respond to his teacher because
he is so intent on listening to the fan and commenting about the fan.
He has an intense interest in fans and vents.
Ryan, age 16, is in a self-contained classroom that
focuses on work-related skills in a high school. He goes to his work
area where a hardware sorting task has been set up for him. Ryan starts
on the task, but is distracted by peers walking by, and he soon walks
over to where two of them are talking.
How can classroom structure be set up or modified in each
of the above situations to enhance learning for individuals with ASD?
What is the impact of a well-structured classroom or environment on
an individual with ASD? How can environments be structured to address
the range of skills of individuals with autism spectrum disorder?
Lecture Content
This topic will help you understand how structuring the
classroom and other environments can result in increased independence
and positive behavior as well as a feeling of success for the individual
with ASD.
The lecture is broken down into a number of sections that
will provide information and examples to help you critically review
and modify your own classroom structures and environments.
