Nearly 4 million children will be diagnosed with autism in the coming decade; school leaders, teachers, and parents can make adjustments to create positive learning environments.
Imagine walking into a classroom where no one notices the lights are flickering at a dizzying speed, as though an invisible prankster is relentlessly flipping the switch. As you take your seat, a groundskeeper passes the window with his lawn mower, and the noise nearly bursts your eardrums. However, no one else in your classroom seems disturbed in the slightest. You try to focus on what your teacher is saying, but the tag on the back of your shirt keeps clawing at your skin like an invisible hand rubbing you with sandpaper. Slowly, you rock yourself back and forth in an effort to stay calm—and then what little peace of mind you still possess is shattered by a classmate pointing at you and exclaiming: "Teacher! Billy's doing it again!"
For many autistic students, this is how school begins every day. Their efforts to relate to the world around them are continuously frustrated by disruptions that make concentration and interaction with other students extraordinarily difficult. Much as others cannot understand why an autistic student reacts the way he does, so the autistic student wonders why others don't see, feel, and sense things in the same way he does. To him—the condition affects an estimated four times as many boys as it does girls—it's as if the rest of the world operates on an agreed-upon playing field where the rules are kept secret.
"Autism is difficult to define, but it's basically a sensory disorder," says Lesley Farmer, a librarian at California State University, Long Beach.
"The way a child with autism picks up different stimuli and how that child responds to those stimuli is very, very different from the way another person does," says Farmer, who has worked with autistic students for several years.
The best way to describe the condition, she says, is to think of an autistic person as having super-heightened senses. Most people, for example, don't notice the rapid flickering of the fluorescent lighting commonly found in most offices and schools. To an autistic student, however, the blinking may be magnified, producing headaches or feelings of intense discomfort. Similarly, noises that might be only moderately unsettling to one person might be earsplitting to someone with autism. Something as simple as a clothing tag or a dry cotton shirt rubbing against the skin can be an excruciating experience, not just a mild irritant.
"These are the sorts of things that can really drive an autistic student crazy," Farmer says. "Autism is now one of the most common, serious developmental disabilities. It's not something that you can be ‘cured’ from, but it's something that you have to learn to deal with as you grow up."
What Is Autism?
The Autism Society of America (ASA) defines autism as "a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and is the result of a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain, impacting development in the areas of social interaction and communication skills" (www.autismsociety.org).
An estimated 1 in every 150 children born in the United States is autistic, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Based on statistics provided by the U.S. Department of Education, the ASA estimates that within the next 10 years, almost 4 million Americans will be diagnosed with autism.
"We will see more autistic children in classrooms in the future," says Lynn Koegel, clinical director of the Koegel Autism Center at the University of California at Santa Barbara, which has helped educate autistic students for 30 years. "If you're a regular education teacher, it's very likely that you will have a child with autism in your class at some time."
Difficult to Pinpoint
Just what causes autism remains under debate. Theories have included possible reactions to some vaccinations, mercury levels in the blood, and even the amount of television children are exposed to at very young ages. To date, however, there is no scientific consensus about what causes the condition. Complicating the situation is the fact that, just as no two children are alike, no two cases of autism are entirely identical. Testing for the condition and assessing how autistic children learn can also be enormously challenging, as can assessing what autistic students learn.
"Behaviors can interfere with accurate assessments sometimes," Koegel points out. "Some kids, for example, might know things and do very well on exercises but have problems communicating what they know."
The ASA lists several symptoms on its Web site that are considered possible indicators of autism. Among them are
- Developmental speech impairment at a young age (less than 3 years).
- Repetitive behaviors (flapping of hands, body swaying, etc.).
- Fascination with spinning objects.
- Excessive sense of order (repeatedly lining objects in rows, stacking them, etc.).
- Extremely literal behavior, such as watching a pointed finger instead of looking where a person is pointing.
- Obsession with routines and extreme agitation when those routines are violated.
Experts are quick to note, however, that a child exhibiting some—or even several—of these symptoms is not necessarily autistic. Actual diagnosis requires observation by an experienced physician.
Interaction Is Critical
Many myths surrounding autism contribute to its misunderstanding as a condition. Autistic children are not
- Always savants or geniuses. Although some autistic students may demonstrate unusual proficiency in certain areas such as art or music, experts point out that autism and savant syndrome are distinctly different conditions.
- Antisocial. In many instances, an autistic child's ability to communicate effectively is admittedly impaired; however, autistic students are capable of socially interacting with others if they receive assistance in learning how to communicate appropriately.
- Mentally retarded. Students with autism may learn as quickly as other students but experience difficulty expressing what they know.
- Incapable of making eye contact. As with communication, autistic students may have difficulty following someone's expressed intentions, but they can and do make eye contact with others.
- Incapable of learning. Autistic students can be as intelligent as mainstream students in their classrooms.
- Incapable of feeling or expressing love. Autistic students are capable of feeling bonds with teachers, parents, and others, but their behavioral difficulties often interfere with their abilities to express themselves accordingly.
"What people need to understand about autistic students is that they can feel and learn—they just don't always know how to interact appropriately with others," Koegel says. "They often feel isolated and usually haven't learned how to express themselves."
Classroom Preparation
For teachers expecting to have an autistic child in their classrooms, sources point out that preparation and proactive efforts toward inclusion are the best ways to make the autistic child and his or her classmates feel relaxed and welcomed.
"The best thing people can do when they meet an autistic child is model acceptance and work with the child and the family," says Maureen Sykes, a library media teacher in Ventura, Calif., and the mother of two autistic children.
Coping with behavior issues, Sykes and others say, requires sensitivity and understanding on the part of the teacher and the other students in the classroom to help the autistic child adjust to his or her surroundings. Certain triggers, such as bright lights or loud noises, can provoke outbursts and should be minimized wherever possible. Some helpful steps:
- Talk with the autistic child's parents before the beginning of the school year. In some cases, parents might want to bring the child to the classroom a few times toward the end of summer to help establish the routine that will take place once the school year begins.
- Don't position autistic children at the front of the classroom, where the voice of the teacher or others behind them could be unsettling. This helps reduce the possibility of overstimulation while still making sure they have an opportunity to be a regular part of classroom activities.
- Recognize the importance of weights and organization to some autistic children by letting them wear a heavy vest to help them feel "grounded." According to Sykes, autistic children sometimes feel lost without constant contact. Such measures can assist them in feeling secure and help relieve a stressful absence of stimuli that could otherwise lead to disruptive outbursts.
- Follow a prescribed set of transition routines during class to help signal a move from one subject or activity to another. These transition indicators can include playing a small chime or soft music or holding up a colored card to indicate that the class will be moving from one activity to another.
- Have a quiet area for the autistic student. A small area that does not contain items that would otherwise promote sensory overload (for example, hanging artifacts, mobiles, origami collections, or brightly colored displays) can be reassuring to the autistic student.
- Look for a special friend to help the child interact with peers and alert the teacher if the autistic student becomes agitated. If a student the child knows or someone who has an autistic sibling is present, that student can be a buddy to the autistic student. "Kids are often wonderful at this," Koegel says. "They always want to help."
- Be prepared for when outbursts occur. Talking with parents and school officials in advance of the school year can help head off problems. "When a major meltdown is happening, learning cannot take place," Koegel says. "You have to figure out why the behavior happened and work on establishing appropriate ways of communication." She and others emphasize the importance of establishing routine methods that help alleviate problems and minimize the likelihood of explosive situations.
- Talk with other students about the autistic child's condition to help make the experience a learning opportunity for the class. "Obviously, there are legal issues surrounding this," Sykes cautions. "So it's essential to get the parents' consent first before saying anything." Because most children will recognize sooner or later that an autistic student is "different," students should be given opportunities to learn about their classmate's condition. "So long as you have permission from the parents, you can say something along the lines of, ‘Billy has a condition called autism. Who has heard of autism?’ Often you'll be surprised how many kids have heard of it or know someone in their neighborhood who has it," Sykes points out. Peer assistance is critical, she adds, because children can relate to one another in ways that adults frequently cannot. "Kids are just intrinsically good," she says. "It's instinctive with them."
Thinking Inclusively
Interestingly, some of the most difficult aspects of working with autistic children come about not as a result of what the child does but from ignorance and fear on the part of parents unfamiliar with the condition.
"Some parents do not want their kids around autistic students," Koegel admits. "It's sad, but we've had them say that they do not want their children in a classroom with a child who has autism."
Unlike some parents, however, most children are usually curious to learn more about the condition and are often eager to help. That kind of learning opportunity, Koegel and others say, can be an invaluable lesson.
"We had one student who was autistic, and we told our class that he had not learned to communicate as easily as the other children, and would anyone be willing to help him?" Koegel recalls. "We wanted to form a [dedicated] group to help the student at recess—and on our first day, we had 15 kids trying to follow him around the playground and be his friend."
