How can Sri Lankan preschools better accommodate the needs of 'all' children

Language in itself is an action and a renewing process of identity creation. Children’s sense of who they are is always situated and renegotiated in the conversations with the parents, relatives, outsiders and peers’ sense of who they are. Language can include and exclude the identities of the speakers to bring about group solidarity, group identities and power dynamics into the concrete experiences of speakers. At the preschool, children have equal and natural language interactions that create a place of belonging for their own age group.

Generally, parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are worried about how their children will get along with their peers and the joint activities inside the classroom. Children with ASD might dislike going to the preschool or feel isolated in the preschool. They show symptoms like language delay, difficulties in making eye contact and forming friendships with others of their age. Thus, they may be marked out as problematic and inappropriate by their typically-developing peers. Here, the teacher plays an important role in guiding both groups of children into mutual understanding and acceptance. An Inclusive environment is a “free and appropriate… education for all students with disabilities in the least restrictive and most integrative environment possible”. It is meant to foster special peer interactions that do not judge the child with ASD negatively by considering the typical as the standard.

Complementing is a socially situated way of using language to appreciate the behaviours of the peers as characteristic of the shared peer identity. This is where the typically-developed peers need to be guided by the teacher to use language sensitively towards the child with ASD in ways that accept and praise their equal engagement in the activities of the class. When children develop open interaction with each other, they build up familiarity and friendship despite differences. The slower pace of the child with ASD can be interactionally negotiated when the peers are ready to listen to them and allow them to join in activities in their unique way. Nevertheless, the child with ASD also needs encouragement from the teacher to elicit more verbal responses than usual to signal their equal ability to compliment the peers’ shared identity.

Directives are statements, requests or commands for specific behaviour usually utilized to complete a task. Children may tattle on peers to the teacher when an inappropriate behaviour happens. Often the child with ASD becomes the accusers because they cannot adapt quickly to the expected behaviour at the same rate as the other children. Here, the teacher can intervene to reduce tattling by converting the directives into hints, suggestions consisted of passive, inclusive and polite sentence patterns like “let us do it this way”, “please” instead of shaming the others.

Seek help early

Previous research (2013) has shown that Sri Lankan parents are late to seek medical help for children with ASD because they generally go by language delay symptoms rather than social attention deficits. It is important to seek professional help early because they can help you support your child. For example, research shows that practicing therapeutic joint attention yields positive improvement in children with ASD. In addition to the preschool teacher’s contribution, Sri Lankan preschools can provide rich language environment through recruiting volunteers as shadow teachers. A Shadow Teacher assists the children’s active engagement with activities and peer socialization; and facilitates the regular preschool teacher with her teaching in the classroom.