4 - Requirements for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Requirements for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (SE 3A)
Whenever evaluation data indicates a child has a disability on the autism spectrum, as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-V, 2013), the Special Education Evaluation TEAM shall consider and specifically address the following:
A. The verbal and nonverbal communication needs of the child;
B. The need to develop social interaction skills and proficiencies;
C. The needs resulting from a child’s unusual responses to sensory experiences;
D. The needs resulting from resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines;
E. The needs resulting from engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements;
F. The need for any positive behavioral interventions, strategies, and supports to address any behavioral difficulties resulting from autism spectrum disorder;
G. Other needs resulting from the child’s disability that impact progress in the general curriculum, including social and emotional development
See SECTION 1. Chapter 7IB, Section 3 of the General Laws.
A. The verbal and nonverbal communication needs of the student
Impairment in communication is one of the defining characteristics of ASD; therefore, communication skill development should be addressed as an essential piece of the student's IEP. When considering the verbal and nonverbal communication needs of a student with ASD, the TEAM should review:
the student's current level of communication,
the system of communication most effective for the student,
the functions for which the student uses and understands language,
the student's ability to use and understand non-verbal communication (e.g., eye gaze, facial expression, gesture), and any emerging communication skills reported by the family or other TEAM members.
The IEP must include information about the student's current strengths with communication modalities, skills that need further development and the specific supports and interventions necessary to increase the student's ability to effectively communicate and understand others.
Alternative augmentative communication (AAC) is often effective for students with ASD who are non-verbal. AAC can be used in lieu of, or in combination with, oral communication. There are many products on the market that support AAC including picture communication products, book boards, and touch devices. Assistive technology assessments are useful for determining whether a student would benefit from using an AAC system. When evaluating a student with ASD, the instrument must be appropriate to the student’s modality of communication (e.g. using non-verbal scales for students who do not use oral communication).
B. The need to develop social interaction skills and proficiencies
In the most severe expression of qualitative impairments in this area, a student with ASD may seem distant or avoidant when it comes to social interactions, even those with immediate family members. In the least severe cases, s/he may appear to frequently misunderstand the social situation and/or be unable to maintain a conversation on a subject other than his/her high interest topics. A young student with ASD may have a lack of variation in spontaneous or social imitative play, or may have unusual play with toys (e.g. lining up video cases end to end). When examining a student with ASD’s needs in the area of social skill development, the TEAM should consider:
The student's ability to respond appropriately to the social approach of others,
The types of social interactions the student is capable of initiating,
The student's pragmatic language skills, and
Anecdotal information about the student's abilities within small and large group settings and in typical activities for students of that age.
For students with ASD, social interaction skills are largely associated with the ability to communicate within a situation. The IEP TEAM should determine if a social impairment is the result of a language deficit. Impairments in social interaction may be mistaken for behavior problems in students with ASD. A functional assessment is useful for identifying factors that affect the student's social proficiencies. Where behavior plans are warranted, they should include the teaching of new social skills to prevent the occurrence of inappropriate behaviors serving a similar function.
Progress in social skill development is a likely focus within the IEP of every student with ASD. Social skills instruction should be at the student's skill level and appropriate for his/her age (e.g., "pull out" instruction in high school may be stigmatizing to the student). Collecting and analyzing data on the student's social proficiencies will assist in the development of his/her IEP goals.
C. The needs resulting from the student's unusual responses to sensory experiences
The IEP TEAM should consider whether a student with ASD exhibits under- or over-sensitivity to particular stimuli. The following questions may be helpful in addressing this area:
Tactile: Does the student with ASD demonstrate a lack of awareness to his/her body in space, and/or a need for a higher level of input in tactile experiences? For example, does s/he "crash" into the playground fence during a running game or regularly "bump" into peer in line? Conversely, does s/he become loud and upset when presented with play dough or a mixed-texture food item, or wear only "tagless" clothing?
Visual: Is the student's eye gaze avoidant of, or fixated on, particular sites? For instance, is s/he drawn to certain objects, such as a shiny item of clothing, needing to stare at or touch it? Does s/he avoid looking at a particular sight, for instance the flickering of a video screen? Or, do certain visual stimuli excite him/her to increase their movement (e.g., jump or run) or cause a fear response?
Sound: How does the student with ASD respond to auditory events? Does s/he have significant responses to sound volume, pitch, tone or intensity that others may not hear (e.g., the hum of fluorescent lighting)? Does s/he appear deaf because of a lack of response to loud noises or the calling of his/her name? Do loud or quiet sounds, echoes, or a particular pitch enthrall or bother him/her?
Smell/Taste: Does the student with ASD respond in an atypical fashion to olfactory events or tastes? Does s/he have significant responses to environmental smells or tastes that interfere with appropriate activities and focus in the educational environment? Does s/he smell or taste objects in the environment with unusual frequency or in unusual circumstances? Do certain smells or tastes upset the student with an ASD or appear to cause him/her to act in an unusual fashion (e.g. becoming loud or upset when a teacher wears a certain perfume?)
The TEAM should consider all elements of the student’s environment and note any specific environmental modifications or accommodations that are necessary for participation and effective progress in the general education curriculum.
D. The needs resulting from resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines
Students with ASD often have unusual or intense responses to a change in their environment such as moving the location of a piece of classroom furniture, or a change in daily routine even when part of a familiar schedule. Preparing for transition with visual supports, timers and verbal reminders often helps to ease the student's transition and promote greater success, flexibility, and independence. Visual supports are evidence-based strategies for supporting a student with ASD in managing change and transition. Providing a preview before initiating change in an environment or schedule can support a student with ASD to be able to adjust to the change. A visual schedule can teach the student to rely on written (or pictorial or object schedule) information to manage moving between activities and it allows the student to anticipate change and rely less on a rigid memory of the order in which events occur. Even the most capable of students with ASD would benefit from using a visual schedule to manage the activities of the day, to reduce anxiety, and allow the student to better focus on the important activities within each day, rather than on their sequence.
The TEAM must consider the most successful modality for communicating the coming change or transition. The IEP TEAM is encouraged to consider the use of a schedule and other visual supports when working to address the needs resulting from a student's resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, as well as to consider other evidence-based methods for introducing new content to the student.
E. The needs resulting from engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements
Students with ASD may exhibit ritualistic behaviors or repetitive phrases in physical activities and in verbal exchanges. For instance:
Preoccupation with one or more restricted and stereotyped patterns of interest that is atypical either in intensity or focus (e.g., knowing and reviewing the schedule of nationwide trains).
Inflexible adherence to specific nonfunctional routines or rituals (e.g., repeating all answers 3 times) or a need to follow the same routine or sequence when completing tasks (e.g., tapping a spoon on the table between each mouthful of yogurt).
Stereotyped/repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g., hand flapping) or a persistent preoccupation with parts of objects (e.g., fixating on the wheels of toy car).
The TEAM should consider the function of these behaviors and the extent to which these activities interfere with engagement in other, more appropriate, activities such as socialization or academic lessons. Informal observation and/or formal daily data collection (for more significant behaviors) may be used.
This information will assist the TEAM in determining how and when to allow and/or modify the behavior within a student's day. As appropriate, TEAMs should consider using positive behavior supports to encourage participation in learning and other activities. Depending on the nature of the behavior, practices for addressing engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements may include:
Modifying an interfering behavior to be more socially acceptable (such as modifying a behavior of constantly shaking hands to occur only when introduced to a person).
Teaching the student appropriate" replacement behaviors" that will lead to more interest or "on task" behavior in academic learning.
Teaching the student appropriate "replacement behaviors" that will enhance increased and appropriate participation in social activities with peers.
Providing the student with frequent breaks in the form of motivating and pleasant sensory activities.
Having sensory therapies take place in the classroom when it is compatible with the learning activity and does not take away the student's focus from learning, in order to decrease frequency in high rates of repetitive movement.
Using special equipment to reduce frequency of movement such as a cushion for the student to sit on during group reading time in order to decrease rocking behavior.
Developing curriculum activities around the student's topic of interest and slowly expanding the student's interest to involve other topics.
Reinforcement strategies should also be considered in order to reduce frequency of activities or movements and as an accompaniment to replacement behaviors. Data should be used to determine the reinforcement rate and monitor effectiveness of the intervention strategy. The plan to address concerns in this area should be described within the student's IEP.
F. The need for any positive behavioral interventions, strategies, and supports to address any behavioral difficulties resulting from autism spectrum disorder
Because of the complex developmental, learning and adaptive needs of students on the autism spectrum, they often exhibit behaviors that are challenging in their intensity, frequency, or interference with engagement in appropriate activities. The IEP TEAM should consider and discuss the need for a functional behavioral assessment (FBA) of the student's behavior(s). The intensity level of the FBA should match that of the presenting problem behavior. For a behavior that has a relatively clear pattern, an FBA can be completed by obtaining some simple frequency data and antecedent-behavior-consequence information. Significant repetitive behaviors (such as hand flapping or rocking) or self-injurious behaviors warrant a full functional behavioral assessment to determine the reason for, and function of, the behavior and possible alternatives to it. It is important to use the assessment data to determine why the behavior is occurring. Knowing the function that the behavior serves will help the TEAM determine whether positive behavior interventions, strategies and supports are necessary, and which replacement behaviors are appropriate for reducing or eliminating the interfering problem behavior. The TEAM should select the least amount of intervention that is likely to be effective, efficient, and produce the minimum unwanted effects, (e.g., ignore a behavior rather than issue a "time out").
G. Other needs resulting from the student's disability that impact progress in the general curriculum, including social and emotional development
A student with ASD often exhibits deficits in executive function, the ability to organize and the ability to generalize learned skills into other environments/activities or functional routines. The student may have a tendency to perseverate or over-focus on unimportant features, which may distract him or her from the learning of the "whole". The IEP TEAM should consider whether there is a need to provide structure in the student's classroom environment and learning activities, including but not limited to:
Intervention strategies for social skill development (self-advocacy, peer interaction)
Review of classroom and individual expectations
Provision of organizational supports (including visual organizers such as color coded folders and organized environments so mat the environment has limited distraction factors)
Preview of information
Direct instruction in order to learn new skills or to generalize learned skills; and
Repeated instruction and practice in multiple environments with a variety of materials and people, in order to master a single skill.