A Snapshot of Teaching Strategies and Behavioral Supports for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder within Rural Community Schools

Indiana State UniversityJennifer Wesley-Parker

Dr. Rebecca Hinshaw

Study Participants Variable Objective Result

Adult Model

(Charlop-Christy,M.H., &

Davenshvar, S. (2003)

3 boys 6-9 years old All ASD Mental age of 2-5

years

Various videos showing familiar adults modeling perspective task

Social skills Perspective Taking

Video modeling effectively taught 2/3 participants perspective taking skills.

Peer Model

(Simpson, A., Langone, J.,

&Ayers, K. M. (2004)

4 students 2 girls and 2 boys 5-6 years old Mild to Moderate

ASD

2 Peers of similar ages that were without disabilities depicted appropriate use of varied classes of social skills.

Social SkillsSuch as following directions, greeting and sharing.

Increased independent use of each social skill among participants.

Self Model

(Thiemann, K.S., &

Goldstein, H. (2001)

5 boys 7-12 years old Mild to Moderate

ASD

Ten minute videos used supplemental with feedback and social stories, pictorial and written cues.

Increase social interactions

Improved and consistent rates of targeted social behaviors when compared to baseline measures.

Point of View Model

(Hine, J.F., & Wolery, M.

(2006)

2 girls 30 – 43 months old Diagnosed ASD Motor imitation

skills present

Videos of adult hands demonstrating what to do with toys.

Social skills Play skills

Video modeling was effective in teaching ¾ of behavior sets.

Reinforcement and prompting were necessary to acquire the fourth set.

Autism Spectrum disorder (ASD) is a growing concern for educators. Students identified as having ASD have unique academic, social, behavioral, and/or emotional challenges which may have an adverse affect on their education. This research targeted teachers working within rural community schools who have experiences working with students with ASD and other disabilities. The investigation provides an insight into the teaching strategies and behavioral supports that the teacher’s utilize within the general and special education setting. Various teaching strategies and behavioral supports were targeted from previous research as being effective when working with students with ASD. To identify which teaching strategies and behavioral supports were being used, 132 teachers in diverse grade levels and content areas from six rural schools were surveyed. The results can have important connotations for administering researched based teaching strategies and behavioral supports for new and practicing teachers with students who have identified disabilities.

Teacher Portraits

Behavioral Supports Teaching Strategies ModelsStrategies and

Models not used or

unfamiliar with

AudreyPBSPeer RedirectionSocial StoriesVideo ModelingRole PlayingSelf Monitoring

Graphic OrganizersVisual SupportsPromptingMusical Interaction

SCERTSIndividual Cognitive Challenges PlanSelf-Regulation Strategy Development

UDLGamingTEACCHSocial Skills Training

EmilyPBSSocial StoriesRole PlayingGamingSelf MonitoringPositive Reinforcement

Graphic Organizers

Visual Supports

Peer Tutoring

Study Skills Strategies

UDLSelf Regulating Strategy DevelopmentSocial Skills training

Video ModelingMusical InteractionPeer RedirectionTEACCH

MichellePBSRole PlayingSocial StoriesPeer Redirection

Musical Interaction Graphic OrganizersVisual SupportsPeer TutoringPromptingStudy Skills StrategiesGaming

SCERTS

Social Stories

Video Modeling

UDL

TEACCH

StevenPBSStudent self Monitoring

Peer TutoringStudy Skills StrategiesPromptingGaming

UDL

SCERTS

Role Playing

Musical Interaction

Video Modeling

TEAACH

MaggiePBSSocial StoriesRole Playing

GamingGraphic OrganizersVisual SupportsPrompting Study Skills Strategies Peer Tutoring Musical Interaction

SCERTSSocial Skills TrainingIndividualized Cognitive Challenges Plan

Video ModelingUDLTEACCH

This study is meant to merely provide snapshot of teaching strategies and behavioralsupports available to students with ASD in rural schools. It is not intended to be a comprehensive study. There are three obvious limitations to this study. First, the data collected was from a small Midwest geographic region. Therefore their responses may not be conducive of all rural schools. Second, there is a lack of further information on these teachers’ particular strategies and behavioral supports. A more qualitative analysis would be necessary to identify all teaching strategies and behavioral supports available to the students in these classrooms. Finally the survey was sent out the last week of school before summer vacation which may have affected the number of responses.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a growing concern for educators because even though there are numerous proven strategies and behavioral supports within both the general education and special education classrooms, it can be a challenge to apply them in reality. Autism is now being diagnosed in 1 in 91 children, 1 in 58 are males. It has been cited in all ethnic backgrounds around the world. (Foss & Murray, 2010.) ASD is identified as having a triad of marked characteristics which includes abnormal or impaired social interaction, deficits in the ability to communication, and a restricted scope of interests, typically limited to one. The issue of supporting students with ASD becomes even more daunting in rural schools. Rural areas face different challenges than more populated school districts. Some of these challenges include increased poverty levels, teachers who are not certified to teach special education and less access to resources (Hammond & Ingalls, 2003). Therefore continued research is necessary to identify teaching strategies and behavioral supports that could be used in rural school districts.

All educators (N=132) within rural community schools (N=6) located in a Midwestern state were selected to participate via an internet survey. Criteria for schools chosen were based on geographical location, population of county in which they were located, and percentage of free and reduced lunches provided to students. This criterion was chosen to narrow the participants to rural communities with lower socioeconomically status. Of the 132 survey invitations sent out, 5 responded.

First, practicing teachers are using some of the research based teaching strategies and behavioral supports that are

available. Second, there are teaching strategies and behavioral supports available to teachers in rural communities who serve students with ASD. However due to the demographics of rural schools resources and adequately trained special education teachers are limited. Third, research supports teaching models such as UDL for inclusive classrooms yet of the participating teacher’s only one of them was familiar with UDL. Finally, in order for students with ASD to benefit from proven teaching strategies and behavioral supports they must be in practice by teachers. This research suggests that teachers are not using video modeling or musical interaction. It could be the reason they do not use these is because they are not familiar or do not have the resources available to them to use them. Teacher training can address this through in-services for practicing teachers or adjusting current educational practices for student teachers.

Musical interaction is a way of engaging students with disabilities particularly ones with ASD. Iovanne, Dunlap, Huber & Kincaid, (2003) noted that active engagement with academic tasks correlates to better outcomes for students. Research concluded that students with ASD who are actively engaged using interactive books or interactive books with music show a 30-50% increase in engagement and a reduction in inappropriate behaviors.

ResultsBackground

ASD and Rural Educators

Video Modeling

Musical Interaction

Teaching Models

Methods

Discussion