B. UNDERSTANDING THE AREA OF SPECIAL NEEDS/DISABILITY*
1. The nature of area of special needs/ disability
- Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a range of complex neurodevelopment disorders ranging from mild to severe.
- Individuals with ASD usually exibit social imparments, communication difficulties, and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behaviour.
- The most severe form of ASD is known as autistic disorder. It is also commonly referred to as autism or classical ASD.
- Other milder forms of ASD are Asperger Syndrome, Rett syndrome (though this is very rare), and childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (usually referred to as PDD - NOS
Individual with ASD exhibit impaired social interaction and this can be of the form:
(1) failure to respond when name is being called
(2) Avoiding eye contact with other people
(3) Difficulty interpreting others feelings, thoughts due to inability to understand social cues such as facial expressions and tone of voice.
(4) Speaking in a sing-song voice on a narrow range of topics with little regard to the person they are interacting with.
They also tend to exhibit certain restricted, repetitive behaviours such as:
(1) repetitive body rocking, hair twirling, etc
(2) self-abusive behaviour such as biting or head-banging
2. Causes of disability (if any)
Actual cause of ASD has not actually been ascertained. However research have indicated that ASD could result from disruption of normal brain development during the early fetal development stage. This may have been caused by defects in genes that control brain growth and that regulate how brain cells communicate with each other. These defects may stem from the influence of environmental factors on gene functions but as yet research has not been conclusive on this matter.
Studies suggest that ASD may be hereditary to a certain extent. In families with one child diagnosed with ASD, the likelihood of another child being diagnosed with ASD is about 5 percent. This is higher than the US national average of 0.3% - 0.6% of children diagnosed with ASD. In Singapore, there is no actual statistical figure on the number of individuals diagnosed with ASD. However, Singapore Autism Resource Centre (ARC) estimates that annually there are 216 new cases of children being diagnosed with ASD.
Though its actual cause is still yet unknown, research has proven that ASD is not the result of poor parental practices.
3. The general impact of the special need or disability on a student in terms of development and learning (Kee & Loh, 2009)
- Poor ability to read social cues and behave in 'socially appropriate behaviour' may give rise to difficulty for the autistic child to be involved in group work or cooperative learning.
- Poor ability to read social cues will also manifest itself in other ways such as the child's inability to work through emotions of other parties. This may lead to inappropriate turn-taking in class, asking of seemingly irrelevant questions among other things. This may lead to the child being enstranged, ostracized and even bullied in schools.
- Students with ASD also tend to need help in picking up language skills, in particular in the areas of non-literal language, such as the use of irony and metaphors. They may also find difficulty in fitting certain words to its correct context and difficulty in understanding humour. Thus, tasks which require them to explore creativity and the abstract may be difficult for them. They may not do well in subject that require contextual understandings such as humanities.
- An autistic child generally have intact or even advanced abilities to be systematic. Given enough support to overcome any language and instructional difficulties, the child can grow to excel in the study of mathematics and or science where there is minimal involvement of human interaction.
- Changes in environmental factors such as changes in class notice board, may affect the autistic child's needs for 'sameness'. This problem if not addressed quickly may result in the child developing anxiety disorders which is common with children with ASD (30-80% of sampled children with ASDs) (Wood et al., Reaven et al., 2009)
- Lastly, since disorder is neurological and permanent, the individual from time to time may suffer a relapse and return back to his/her initial actions. Such a situation demands the educator to be patient and support the patient slowly back to learned, appropriate behaviour.
C. FOR YOUR GROUP PRESENTATION ASSIGNMENT: IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING*
1. What would I expect of the student with the chosen area of special needs:
2. How will this affect the other students in my class? How do I work with them to understand their peers and to create an inclusive classroom?
3. What would I suggest in terms of provisions/accommodations to meet the student’s needs? (suggest only in areas which are appropriate)
4. Do I have the skills to meet the student’s needs?
*Suggested and partial scaffolding for populating your group wiki page
References
Autism Resource Centre, Singapore (2010). Frequently Asked Questions - On Autism. Retrieved November 30, 2009, from http://www.autism.org.sg/main/faq.php
Kee, K. N., Loh, M.L. (2009). Autism Spectrum Disorders: Characteristics and Intervention Strategies. In Chia, K.H., and Wong, M.E., (Eds.), Series on Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools: Paper No. 8. Singapore: Prentice Hall.
National Institute of Neruological Disorder and Stroke, US (2009). Autism Fact Sheet. Retrieved November 30, 2009, from http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm
Reavan, J.A., Blakeley-Smith, A., Nichols, S., Dasari, M., Flanigan, E., & Hepburn, S. (2009). Cognitive-behavioural group treatment for anxiety symptoms in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 24(1), 27.
Wood, J.J., Drahota, A., Sze, K., Har, K., Chiu, A., & Langer, D.A. (2009). Cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety in children with autism spectrum disorders: A randomized, controlled trial. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50(3), 224.