New Zealand Autism Spectrum Disorder Guideline
Read time: 535 min
This booklet has information for people with ASD, their families, health professionals, support service providers, and those involved in education. It covers diagnosis and treatment of ASD, supporting and teaching children and adults with ASD, employing people with ASD and living with ASD.
Publisher: Ministry of Health | Manat Hauora
International Magazine Dedicated To Improving Sensory Integration
The purpose of the magazine is stated as the following, to inspire families and professionals to become more aware of how to improve sensory processing in our environments. We strive to enlighten individuals on how to recognize, assess and recover from sensory deficits in every stage of development. We share the latest research, ideas and experiences in a practical, clear, easy to understand format that motivates our readers to make educated decisions for themselves and their families. We inspire positive changes in their lifestyle, resulting in an improved quality of life for both adults and children.
Enchanted Learning: Curriculum Materials Online Over 25000 Web Pages
Good site for teachers for unit materials. “Enchanted Learning® produces children’s educational web sites which are designed to capture the imagination while maximizing creativity, learning, and enjoyment. Ease of use is a hallmark of our material. Children need the clearest, simplest computer interface, and our material is created so that the navigation and controls are intuitive.
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Teaching How To Use The Visual Supports
The next step in using the visual supports is to teach the learner the process for its use . The parent needs to stand behind, rather than beside, the learner when prompting the use of the visual supports. This helps keep the learner focused on the checklist rather than on the person doing the prompting. The parent should use modeling and/or prompting to help the learner get to the assigned area for learning and begin to use the checklist. After completing each assignment, the parent should prompt the learner to check off that activity on the checklist. The parent should repeat these steps until the learner can follow the checklist independently across all activities. The parent should fade the prompting as quickly as possible. The goal is for the learner to rely on the visual supports instead of the parent for prompting.
Activities Teaching Strategies And Resources For Teaching Children With Autism
Because approximately 1 in 59 students are diagnosed with autism, learning how to help students with this disorder in the classroom is so important. Teaching young students with autism communication skills and learning strategies makes it all the more likely that theyll reach their academic potential later on. And the more you learn about autism spectrum disorder, the better youll be able to prepare these students for lifelong success.
Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disability that causes hypersensitivity to sights, sounds, and other sensory information. Symptoms of autism generally fall into three categories:
- Communication issues
- Social impairment
- Repetitive behaviors
Here are 15 fun activities to help children with autism feel welcome in your class while addressing their symptoms and individual learning styles. Whether you play them one-on-one or as group activities, these are excellent ways to keep students with autism engaged and ready to learn.
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Students With Autism Cannot Make Friends Or Feel Emotions
Children with autism feel emotions just like everybody else, even if they show it in different ways. Most students with autism want friends, but if they struggle with social skills, they might not know how.
Luckily, teaching students with autism key social skills can help them bond with their classmates. If a child has trouble fitting in, try playing autism awareness activities or teaching a lesson about diversity with your whole class to help all of your students feel welcome.
Free Resources For Families Of Children With Autism And Other Special Needs During The Coronavirus
With schools and learning centers staying closed indefinitely due to the coronavirus, families and students are finding themselves having to adapt to learning from home.
Here is a list of fun, free resources and subscriptions to engage your child and support their learning during this time!
Stages Learning Materials is now offering free autism resources for download, print and immediate use! Stages Learning Materials resources will enrich your childs social/emotional and behavioral development. You can also join our new Autism Learning Line online community to receive support, guidance and camaraderie during these challenging times
Explaining COVID-19 to Your Child
Using social narratives (sometimes referred to as Social StoriesTM can help children know what to expect and manage their anxiety during these changing times. These links will take you to narratives that explain COVID-19 and help kids understand why their routine is different.
Organization and Maintaining Routine
Educational
Language Arts
Math
Science
Social Studies
Arts, Exploration, Social Emotional and Movement
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Use Special Interests As A Gateway To Teaching Skills
In general, children with autism have special preferences or special interests. This could be anything from a sport to a movie or television character. For some children, it may be appropriate to utilize this special interest as a way to teach other important skills.
If a child has a special interest in a character from a movie, this character could be used to teach appropriate social skills. The character could be used in social stories to teach a variety of social norms and skills, and using the character would facilitate trust and also keep the child engaged.
It is important to get to know the children you are working with before implementing this type of strategy, as it could be distracting to some. However, in most situations, it can be a gateway to teaching skills.
The Education Rights Of Students With Asd
Students on the autism spectrum have legally protected learning rights. These rights can differ by location and may change as students progress through the school system, so its good to get familiar with them early. Knowing these different education rights can help autistic students and their families advocate for themselves and access a fair education.
Learning Rights of Students K-12
One of the most significant pieces of legislation that protects autistic students in school is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act . Under the IDEA, children with disabilities, including autistic children, have the right to a free public education appropriate to their needs.
Free appropriate public education, or FAPE, is one of the main tenets of the IDEA. Students, their families and their schools must work together to determine what is appropriate given the students needs and the schools resources. This means giving students access to the least restrictive environment for their learning.
The LRE refers to a learning environment in which students have the most opportunity to interact with neurotypical, non-disabled students. This is also known as mainstreaming. If students and families do not think their schools LRE offers the most benefit to their needs, they can consider other learning options, like special education schools or learn from home options.
Learning Rights of Students in Postsecondary Schools
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Guidance And Teaching Materials To Ensure Learners With Autism Are Included In The Classroom
Tens of millions of people across the globe have autism, a developmental disability that affects social interaction, communication and behaviour in a variety of different ways.
Autism Awareness Day was established by the UN with the dual purpose of raising the profile of the spectrum condition and bringing autism organisations together to collaborate on research, diagnosis and treatment.
Dedicated days, such as this one, are the perfect opportunity for you to review your approach to teaching. Weve compiled a selection of resources to help you understand how autism can affect pupils learning and offer up some ideas to help you support them in the classroom.
Resources And Tools For Students With Asd
There is a wealth of resources available online and in local communities to help support autistic students and their families and educators. The resources below can give students, teachers and parents an idea of whats available and get them started in their search for additional information and support.
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What Would You Do
For a take-home activity you can share with families, try this What Would You Do? game. Families can go through different scenarios together and decide how they would react with questions like How would you help? or What would you say?
This activity keeps social skills sharp and reinforces relationship-building skills.
Homeschooling Programs For Children With Autism
Children on the autism spectrum have special homeschooling needs. Their parents want carefully designed learning programs created by educational experts that can accurately assess the childs current learning level. They also need to know their childs specific abilities and learning deficits or issues.
With an excellent home schooling curriculum, each child can enjoy student-paced learning. Every student can build knowledge, skills and self-confidence in academic studies and social interactions. The National Home Education Research Institute advocates the flexible, personalized approach of quality homeschooling.
Excellent home study programs can bring best results in all areas of academics and socialization for children with autism today. The detailed information that follows will help you determine the ideal homeschooling program for your own childs rewarding education. All of these specialized learning programs are equally popular with girls and boys today.
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Learn To Create A Progress Nook For Your Child At Home In 7 Days
Receive 7 emails 1 email each day for FREE that will teach you exactly what to do, then receive emails once per week with fun learning activities for your child
Thank you! You will receive your first email in a few minutes and be able to take the first step towards creating a PROGRESS NOOK for your little one!
Accommodations For Students With Autism
School can be a challenging environment for any student but can be especially difficult for children with autism spectrum disorder . Students are required to sit still for long periods, endure lengthy lectures, and navigate changing schedules. Schools are filled with loud noises and bright colors that can cause sensory overload. But with appropriate accommodations, school can provide opportunities for improved socialization and learning.
There are many common accommodations for autism in the classroom and workplace. Some of these adaptations for autism can be cost efficient and easy to implement, but may take some practice by the teachers and students.
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How Schools Can Support Students With Asd
With a better understanding of how ASD affects learning, educators and schools can support their autistic students more effectively and make informed decisions about creating equitable learning environments. Here are some tips and ideas educators can use to support students at different points in their education.
Technology In Treatment Of Autism
- The Use of Technology in Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders The Indiana University Resource Center on Autism mans this page which features many resources for teachers and others involved with autistic students.
- Building Robota, a Mini-Humanoid Robot for the Rehabilitation of Children with Autism The RESNA Assistive Technology Journal of 2006 sponsors this website that features information on Robota, the mini robot that was built to help students with autism to rehabilitate.
- Can a video game-based digital medicine help children with autism and co-occurring ADHD? This online publication by Science Daily offers insight into how video games can help kids with autism in the digital world, as well as ADHD that occurs along with Autism disorder.
- AICPA Fellowship The program ensures some classroom visible, diverse Ph.D. CPAs in the nations classrooms. The program awards $12,000 to support Minority CPAs that serve as role models for minority students in classroom and other settings that demonstrate a potential to become accounting educators.
- Video Game Treatment for Kids with Autism Students with autism often also suffer from a variety of other disorders such as ADHD and OCD. This site offers information based on medical information that supports the idea that video gaming, when used with discretion, can help offer hope for autistic people.
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Teaching Autistic Children Reading
Kate is a recognized expert in autism. She is the mom of an autistic teen and has written, spoken, taken photographs, and been interviewed extensively about autism.
Learn about our Editorial Policy.
Learning to read can be challenging for some children on the autism spectrum however, the right teaching approach can make all the difference. If parents and teachers capitalize on the child’s interests and learning strengths, it will be much easier to reach this important educational milestone.
Just Like Me Activity
For this activity, gather all of your students together on the floor so they can all see each other. Have each child take turns sharing something about themselves, like:
- I have a pet dog.
- I can play the piano.
- My birthday is in September.
- I love to play soccer.
- My favorite color is yellow.
If a statement also applies to other students , instruct them to raise their hands. This will help remind students that they share more similarities than differences with their peers and that they can always find something to talk about.
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Dental Sedation And Autism
Oral health care for a child with the diagnosis of autism is not much different from the oral health care of other children. However, children with autism often have difficulty in communication skills, so cooperation from your child might be a difficult challenge when visiting the dentist. For parents of children with autism, a visit to the dentist is more than a child opening his or her mouth and getting a reward after. If your child is too difficult to work with and the need for a dental procedure is urgent enough, a dentist may have no choice but to use dental sedation in order to perform his job.
What is dental sedation? Is it necessary? Is it safe?
Sedation is the utilization of medications called sedatives to create a state of relaxation. It is usually done to facilitate a medical, or in this case, dental procedure. There are three levels of sedation that may be used with pediatric patients that require extensive dental care:
Although the decision regarding which level of sedation to be used on your child must ultimately be made by the dentist, you as the parent should always have a say in the matter. If you are not comfortable with the suggestion of your dentist, make sure that your concerns about it are heard. To help you further understand the decision the dentist will be making, here are some guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics that the dentist will be using in making his recommendation:
The AAPD recommends conscious sedation for:
Reference:
Distance Learning Resources For Educators
One thing that makes distance learning is that everyone is using a different platform. From Google Classrooms to Microsoft Teams to no online classroom at all, its all different. Many of you have found that you can easily assign PDF files to families to do. There are a number of tutorials out there for saving just one page of a pack of worksheets by using Preview on a Mac or selecting PDF as the printer in Windows.
In addition its pretty easy to import existing PowerPoint slides into Google Slides to share or assign via Google Classroom or just with Google Apps. Worksheets like my Economics of Shopping bundle would work well for this purpose if your students are working on functional literacy and advanced money skills. The Grocery Store materials are also a great choice.
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What Is It Like To Be A Student With Asd
Each student with ASD will be very different because of:
- the level of difficulty they have in each area
- their family setting and circumstances
- their level of intellectual ability
- individual factors, such as age and personality.
People with ASD range from needing significant help with all day-to-day tasks, to working and living independent lives.
As well as being very different within and across the three characteristics, their abilities, interests, personalities, age, situation, cultural and familycircumstances, beliefs, values and preferences all make a difference to what teachers might see in each student in their class/school.
- Oscar can use single words but is unable to use his language to make his needs known.
- Jimmy has some quite sophisticated language when talking about his special interest in computer games.
- Rebecca wants to interact with other students and to make friends.
- Ruby prefers to be on her own and does not like other students in her space.
- Ben is passive and so it can be hard to work out what he is thinking and feeling.
- Hemi becomes distressed by sudden noises like the bell but he likes singing at kapa haka.
- Michael copes well with changes of room, teacher and subject if he has warning, a written schedule and colour-coded subject bags.
- Moana relies on routine and becomes very vocal and distressed when there is any change.
Offer Accommodations For Students With Limited Motor Skills
Some students with autism may have more trouble with activities that require fine motor skills than others. In an article with the Indiana Resource Center for Autism, renowned scientist and advocate Dr. Temple Grandin suggests offering accommodationslike typing on a computer instead of writingto mitigate these challenges.
When it comes to specific accommodations, it may depend on the individual. Its always a good idea to reach out to a students family to determine the best resources for their child.
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