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#5 Organization of materials and activities can be problematic

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#5 Organization of materials and activities can be problematic

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According to  Pratt, Hopf, & Larriba-Quest (2017),
"Educators may need to teach individuals with ASD how to organize their materials for different classes, keep their lockers tidy, how to use an agenda, and gather materials for homework." (para. 6).

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While individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are unique as anyone else, some common global characteristics exist within the population. These characteristics vary in intensity, degree, and amount, and manifest differently from person to person and over time. The following characteristics associated with ASD are loosely based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5™) and should be used to gain a better understanding of individuals identified with ASD, design a program, or facilitate discussion.

Social Communication Impairments

All individuals with ASD exhibit social communication impairments. In the first few years of life, salient signs of autism include lack of appropriate eye contact and inability to initiate or respond to joint attention (i.e., sharing social experiences with a communication partner). Common social difficulties include:

Demonstrating appropriate play skills, such as cooperative play with others. Some children with ASD may appear uninterested in playing with peers.

Some may reject or ignore the social approaches of others.

Responding to and initiating joint attention for social purposes. For example, many individuals with ASD are skilled at requesting items but are less likely to communicate for the purpose of sharing a social experience. Some individuals with ASD may lack interest in conversations that do not include topics of interests.

Using and interpreting body language. For example, individuals with ASD may have challenges understanding tone of voice or facial expression in social situations.

Staying on topic, turn-taking, and asking related or appropriate questions during conversations.

Taking their communication partner's perspective, checking for understanding, or predicting what information may already be known about a concept or situation during conversations.

Speech/Language Impairments

Persons with ASD may have specific difficulties in the areas of receptive and expressive language. Receptive language is the comprehension of language (e.g., following directions), while expressive language is the ability to express desires and thoughts to other persons. Some individuals with ASD express their thoughts verbally, while others may be nonverbal and require a communication device.

Those who are nonverbal may demonstrate the following:

Delay in, or lack of, spoken speech/language, impacting approximately 20-30% of the population.

Lack of an effective way to communicate may lead to the need for the use of alternative augmentative communication (AAC), such as sign language, pictures, or a voice output device.

Those who are verbal may demonstrate the following:

Delayed or immediate echolalia as a means of conversation with others, for self-management, or for self-stimulation. For example, a dialogue from television programs or videos may be used as a means of conversation.

Stereotyped or repetitive use of non-echolalic language routines that serve various functions such as initiating or sustaining a conversation.

Use of idiosyncratic speech (e.g., inappropriate word use).

Grammatical structure which may appear immature (i.e., telegraphic speech, improper tense or use of pronouns) or grammatical structure which may appear pedantic (e.g., monologue, advanced vocabulary in an area of interest).

Abnormal use of pitch, intonation, rhythm or stress. For example, speech may be monotone or hypernasal, and declarative sentences may end with a rising tone to signal the asking of a question.

Both verbal and nonverbal individuals may demonstrate difficulties with receptive language such as:

Delayed vocabulary development;

Difficulty following directions;

Difficulty understanding abstract concepts; and

Difficulty interpreting social language, such as sarcasm and jokes.

Restricted Repetitive and Stereotyped Patterns of Behavior, Interests, and Activities

Although people with ASD may enjoy the same activities as typical same-age peers, the intensity and focus of their interests may differ. This may be due to the fact that some have a limited repertoire of alternative behaviors, or that they prefer and feel comfortable repeatedly performing certain tasks. Behavior under this category include:

Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements such as hand flapping or finger flicking, use of objects such as spinning coins or lining up toys, or use of speech such as echolalia (delayed or immediate parroting of heard words), use of "you" when referring to self or stereotyped use of words or phrases.

Excessive adherences to routines and sameness such as being distressed by changes in the schedule, insisting on adherence to rules, or having inflexible thinking.

Ritualized patterns of behavior such as repetitive questioning or pacing.

Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus. A toddler may have a parent's belt that they carry everywhere, a child may have a preoccupation with vacuums, or an adult may spend hours memorizing facts about their favorite baseball team.

In the DSM-5™, sensory differences are categorized under restricted repetitive behaviors. Individuals with sensory differences will be under (hypo) or over (hyper) sensitive to a variety of sensory inputs:

Visual input sensitivities are staring at spinning objects, being bothered by fluorescent lights, or having trouble with keeping their place when reading.

Auditory input sensitivities are covering ears during loud noises, preferring loud music or none at all in the car, or not being able to respond to verbal prompts when in a noisy area.

Tactile input sensitivities are disliking getting hands or feet messy, avoiding/preferring certain surfaces, textures, or fabrics, or finding specific types of touch aversive (light touch on the shoulder vs. deep pressure hug).

Taste/Smell sensitivities are not eating certain foods, licking or tasting non-food items, or finding strong perfume or cologne aversive.

Proprioceptive Input sensitivities are difficulties interpreting sensations from muscles, joints, ligaments, and tendons (e.g., putting too much pressure on pencil when writing or falling/crashing into things).

Vestibular input sensitivities are over or under sensitivities to balance and movement sensations, such as having trouble staying seated, constantly leaning head on hands and arms, or easily losing balance.

Executive Function Impairments

Executive functioning refers to advanced cognitive skills, such as attention, working memory, planning, reasoning, sequencing, and flexible thinking. In typically developing people, these skills benefit not only social interactions but also academics, learning, self-regulation, and activities of daily living.

Individuals with ASD may have difficulty with a wide range of executive functioning tasks, such as sequencing the order in which to dress themselves, tie their shoes, pack for a trip, or complete a homework assignment.

Rigid, inflexible thinking is a common characteristic of individuals with ASD, and therefore individuals may have trouble problem-solving or generating more than one solution to a problem.

Individuals with ASD may have executive functioning difficulties at more basic levels, such as sustaining prolonged attention to an activity, or dividing their attention between two activities at once.

Common Learning Characteristics

Although no two people with ASD are alike, many demonstrate common learning characteristics. Those involved in working with the individual with ASD will need basic information about these characteristics and how they impact learning.

Individuals with ASD often demonstrate exceptional rote memory skills; however, their working memory or the time it takes to process information, especially processing several pieces of information at one time, can be difficult for people with ASD.

Many individuals with ASD are able to better process information when presented visually. They may benefit from pictures, modeling the behaviors of others, hands-on activities, and concrete examples.

Unstructured time or extensive waiting can be difficult for many. Schedules or checklists can help ease the anxiety or confusion surrounding unstructured time. Educators may also consider having a box of wait time activities, such as books, toys, or sensory items.

Individuals with ASD often have difficulty generalizing learned skills from one setting to another. Educators may need to teach skills across different settings, people, and activities.

Organization of materials and activities can be problematic for individuals with ASD. Educators may need to teach individuals with ASD how to organize their materials for different classes, keep their lockers tidy, how to use an agenda, and gather materials for homework.Individuals with ASD typically perform unevenly within and across academic skill areas.

Some individuals with ASD are high-achieving in all areas, some have high word recognition skills, but poor comprehension, others have high calculation skills, but poor applied math problem skills, and a proportion are low in all areas.

Additional Considerations

For some individuals with ASD, additional conditions further impact their ability to successfully learn and live in society. These conditions include:

Current or previous seizure activity.

The use of medication for seizure activity, mental health disorders, behaviors, or other conditions.

Eating problems such as pica, overeating, and eating only particular foods.

Current or previous sleeping or toileting problems.

Self-injurious behavior such as head-hitting, self-biting, face slapping, and severe scratching.

Pratt, C., Hopf, R., & Larriba-Quest, K. (2017). Characteristics of individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The Reporter, 21(17). Retrieved from https://www.iidc.indiana.edu/pages/characteristics.

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Dr. Cathy Pratt, BCBA-D; Updated by: Rachel Hopf, M.A., SLP-CCC, Graduate Assistant and Kelsey Larriba-Quest, M.Ed., Graduate Assistant;

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While individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are unique as anyone else, some common global characteristics exist within the population. These characteristics vary in intensity, degree, and amount, and manifest differently from person to person and over time.

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#4 Difficulty Generalizing Learned Skills From One Setting to Another

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#4 Difficulty Generalizing Learned Skills From One Setting to Another

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According to Dalphonse (2022), "Generalization occurs when children learn a skill under one condition and emonstrate that skill under a different condition...Many children with autism require specific training to achieve this" (para. 1 ).
If a studnet is unable to demonstrate the leaned skill in a new enviroment that isn't where they leaned it; means the teaching was ineffective (Dalphonse, 2022).
One way to help ASD students is by using Natural enviroment teaching (Dalphonse, 2022).
As stated by According to  Pratt, Hopf, & Larriba-Quest (2017),"Educators may need to teach skills across different settings, people, and activities" (para. 6).

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Generalization occurs when children learn a skill under one condition (i.e. specific staff, environment, etc) and demonstrate that skill under a different condition (i.e. different staff, different environment, etc.). Many children with autism require specific training to achieve this.
The field of Applied Behavior Analysis offers an abundance of evidence-based teaching strategies, each with its own unique advantages and disadvantages. Which strategy you choose may directly impact your need to plan for generalization of skills taught.
Contents

Importance of Generalization

Planning for Generalization

ABA Teaching Strategies

Teaching Strategies and Generalization

Using Natural Environment and Incidental Teaching to Generalize Skills

Plan for Generalization in the Community

5 Ways to Increase Collaboration to Improve Generalization in School

Importance of Generalization

Children with autism experience a wide variety of deficits across domains, including self-help, communication and social skills. Many of these children learn in a different way than their peers and benefit from a structured learning approach to develop new skills. Often, once children acquire new skills they do not automatically demonstrate them across different conditions.

Without the ability to demonstrate the new skill in a natural environment, the instruction is a pointless exercise. Children with autism must experience success at home, at school and in the community, not just within a training environment. Generalization of skills must occur for this to happen.

Planning for Generalization

Well-developed ABA programs create a plan for generalization along with their teaching plan. This might include instruction in a natural setting with a gradual transition to a reinforcer commonly available within that setting. For example:
You work with a 10-year-old who uses an AAC device to communicate. He loves French fries. You decide to teach him to use his device to mand for French fries. Using a discrete trial format and hand-under-hand prompting, you teach him to make the request in exchange for a fry. In order to generalize the skill, you plan to take him to McDonald's where he orders his own fries. In the training environment, your client has learned to enter "I want French fries please" into his device. As soon as he does this, he receives a fry. In the natural environment, he must place his order and wait for the fries to arrive before he has access to them. You develop a plan to gradually shape his ability to wait for his fries. Once he is able to wait 3 minutes before receiving his fries, you take him to McDonald's and begin training in the natural environment.
Without the plan to teach the skill in the natural environment, your client likely would not automatically be able to ask for French fries when he walks into McDonald's. There are many other steps needed to get French fries when you go to McDonald's. You must walk to the counter, wait in line, ask for fries, wait and then take your fries to the table before eating them. All of these steps must be included in your generalization plan.

ABA Teaching Strategies

ABA provides several commonly implemented teaching strategies including several naturalistic teaching methods such as Pivotal Response Training (PRT) along with more structured methods such as Discrete Trial Training (DTT). These interventions exist essentially along a continuum from a highly natural teaching environment to a more contrived analog teaching environment.

Although DTT is often considered synonymous with ABA, naturalistic teaching methods offer a variety of benefits as well. According to an article by Schreibman et al. (2015), Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions: Empirically Validated Treatments for Autism Spectrum Disorder, more naturalistic teaching methods are becoming more prevalent with earlier diagnosis of autism.

For more information about DTT and other ABA interventions, read our post Should I Use Natural Environment Teaching (NET) or Discrete Trial Training (DTT)?

Teaching Strategies and Generalization

Children with autism often learn in ways that is different from their peers, but also different from each other. They require individualized teaching approaches to help each child learn in the way he learns best. A one-size fits all approach is ineffective.

The most effective ABA programs likely include a variety of teaching methods that includes both ends of the continuum, depending on the skill. Some research indicates that the more structured and analog the teaching environment, the more difficult it may be to generalize the skill. In their article Using naturalistic procedures to enhance learning in individuals with autism: A focus on generalized teaching within the school setting, Cowan and Allen (2007) discuss the use of more naturalistic teaching strategies if the focus is on generalized learning. More structured approaches may be more appropriate for teaching more complex skills.

When developing your intervention plan, consider the degree to which the individual child requires a structured learning environment to acquire new skills. Keep in mind that skills learned in these more structured ways may require significantly more planning for generalization.

Let's take another look at the example above from a more naturalistic teaching perspective:
Rather than teaching your client to mand for French fries in a contrived DTT setting, you decide to attempt a more naturalistic approach. You begin to teach him by taking him to McDonald's. You create a task analysis of all the steps needed to get French fries and use whole task chaining to help him complete all of the steps:
Teaching your client in this way, the need for programmed generalization is reduced. He is more likely to be able to generalize the skills learned to other fast food restaurants and may even be successful in generalizing to restaurants where he is seated first with minimal training.

While most children with autism benefit from a combination of different teaching approaches, carefully consider how the teaching methods you choose impact your client's ability to generalize the skills being taught.

Using Natural Environment and Incidental Teaching to Generalize Skills

One of the biggest arguments against ABA therapy is concerns over teaching children in an unnatural environment. If children learn skills in a structured ABA program, will they generalize them and use these same skills at home, school and in the community?
ABA therapy offers a wide variety of interventions to meet the varying of children with autism. Some of these do have difficulty generalizing, like Discrete Trial Training. However others, like Natural Environment Teaching and Incidental Teaching, focus on teaching skills in a more natural way. The needs of the child should dictate the type of intervention used, and the goal of the treatment plan should be to generalize skills no matter where the child starts.
ABA Debate

ABA therapy isn't without its critics. Our post Understanding the Debate about ABA goes into detail about the debate over ABA therapy as a method of treating autism. However, if ABA strategies are applied in a way that maintains the respect and interests of the child, it remains one of the most effective ways to teach these children.

Critics of ABA argue that skills learned as part of a program are difficult to generalize to other environments. Interventions such as Discrete Trial Training is one such treatment option.

Discrete Trial Training

Discrete Trial Training (DTT) is a structured method of teaching that works especially well with children with autism. Children with autism thrive in structured, routine environments with limited distractions and DTT provides this. Trials are administered in quick succession in a way that keeps the child engaged and offers many opportunities for positive reinforcement.

Although this method of teaching is highly effective, generalizing skills learned in this environment is a challenge. However, a quality ABA program should include generalization of all skills, even one learned during DTT, as part of the treatment plan.

Generalization and Children with Autism

Children with autism often have difficulty generalizing information. What seems obvious to others, isn't always the same for someone with autism. From an early age, children learn to line up when leaving the classroom. A child with autism may understand that to leave the classroom she has to stand in line, but may not realize that she is expected to also stand in line to get food in the cafeteria.

Most of us are able to see the connection: we stand in line when waiting for something. For children with autism this is not so obvious.

Part of the challenge children with autism face in generalizing information is the lack of social awareness. While other children pick up on social cues, such as their peers forming a line then giving an angry look at children who jump ahead in the line, children with autism may not.

Children with autism also may lack imitation skills. In the example above, many children will learn to stand in line at the cafeteria simply by imitating their peers.

How to Generalize Skills for Children with Autism

Okay, so generalization is important. Children with autism need to be able to apply a skill to all appropriate situations. But how do you generalize skills?

ABA offers a variety of interventions, including Natural Environment Teaching and Incidental Teaching intended to help children generalize skills in a more natural setting.

Natural Environment Teaching

Natural Environment Teaching is what it sounds like. It applies the principles of ABA to real-world scenarios.

All ABA interventions are structured, however NET is taught in a way that seems less structured to the child. Don't be fooled though. NET uses a plan that incorporates the ABCs of behavior, and will always include reinforcement of the desired behaviors.

Therapists using NET incorporate trials into their learner's favorite activities. Their plan will create scenarios typically found in a more natural setting to create learning opportunities. They focus on the specific needs of the child, and combines those with her particular interests.

Whenever possible, activities themselves are used as the reinforcer, but if this proves insufficient for your child other means of reinforcement will be used. Therapists may use pairing to teach a child that an activity, or item is reinforcing. They may also use more traditional forms of reinforcement if that is more effective with the learner. Whatever they choose, reinforcement should be included in their plan.

How to Use Natural Environment Teaching

NET pairs a child's preferred items and activities with skills being taught. Opportunities are then contrived throughout the day (or session) to practice and reinforce the target behaviors. To do this, a therapist:

1. Identifies the target behavior

2. Identifies preferred items and activities

3. Contrives triggers (antecedents) for the behavior

4. Uses teaching opportunities as they arise

5. Reinforces your child for correct responses

Similar to DTT, each NET interaction can be quick and even repetitive. But unlike DTT each trial occurs in a more natural setting and is less structured. Although a therapist may contrive many opportunities throughout the session, other teaching moments will be used as they come up as well.

Examples of Natural Environment Teaching

NET can be used to teach a variety of skills:

Making requests (known as mands)

Imitating others

Making eye contact

Identifying colors, shapes and animals

And much more. lets look at an example.

Example: Ben Learns to Identify Colors

Ben is a 4-year-old boy who hasn't yet learned to identify colors. His parents want him to learn this skill and are working with an ABA therapist to teach him using NET. Together they work on a plan. They:

1. Identify the target behavior in very specific terms. They will begin by teaching Ben to identify objects that are the color red.

2. Identify preferred activities and items. Ben loves playing with Play-Doh and dinosaurs so they decide to use these items.

3. List several possible opportunities to identify the color red using these preferred items.

4. Plan for reinforcement. Ben's parents believe that the Play-Doh and dinosaurs will be sufficiently reinforcing, as these are typically the items Ben will choose to play with on his own. However, they will increase the reinforcing nature of these items by removing them and allowing Ben to use them only for this purpose while they are following this plan.

The therapist begins by using DTT to teach Ben what the color red is. He uses this only long enough for Ben to understand that the sound of the word "red" represents the color. He then demonstrates NET using Play-Doh. He begins by taking out two colors of Play-Doh, green and red. He then asks Ben which one is red. When Ben responds correctly he is given the red Play-Doh to play with.

Example: Tips to Use NET

In this video example, Two Tips to Teach Children With Autism in the Natural Environment, Mary Barbera - Turn Autism Around shares two useful tips for NET:

Incidental Teaching

Incidental Teaching is similar to NET, but is even less structured. This intervention happens in the natural environment, where learning is initiated by a child's interest in an object or an activity. A therapist may follow a child from one activity to the next, then insert learning into the activity the child chooses.

Incidental Teaching incorporates learning opportunities throughout the day. If a therapist is teaching the learner to identify a dog, then throughout the day she will use opportunities for him to do this. If the learner chooses a book that has a dog in it, she might ask him to point to the picture of the dog. Similarly she may have the learner pick out a dog from a variety of toys he is playing with.

Each lesson becomes a natural part of the day.

Plan for Generalization in the Community
Checking a box that a child masters a skill is not enough. Help the child use that skill in a variety of different settings and in different ways. This is the path to true success for that child. When creating a plan for generalization in the community, carefully consider a variety of different components.
Factors that Impact Generalization in the Community

Many factors affect the need for active intervention to improve generalization in the community. Some children generalize skills more readily while others require more thoughtful intervention. Some skills may be easier to generalize in some situations than in others. Although a wide variety of factors impact generalization, make sure to consider the following:

Similarity to teaching environment

Needs and abilities of the learner

Type of skill

Skill of the interventionist

Elements of the community setting

Similarity to the Teaching Environment

The more similar the new environment is to the teaching environment, the more readily generalization may occur. For example, if initial skill development took place in the library at the school, generalizing that skill may occur more quickly in a public library than in the grocery store. Due to vastly differing conditions in many community settings, it's likely you need to plan for generalization across many of these settings to ensure the child demonstrates the skill when needed.

Some children may benefit from teaching in a variety of these settings simultaneously or sequentially progressively becoming less similar to the teaching environment.

Needs and Abilities of the Learner

Although it is common that children with autism don't spontaneously generalize skills to untrained environments, some children require less teaching than others during generalization. Baseline data from a variety of different environments help you determine the needs of your specific learner. Answer the following questions when developing your plan for generalization in the community:

How often (or how long, or at what intensity) does the child demonstrate the skill in different settings? Collect data from at least 3 different relevant settings such as the park, a store, and the library.

Does the child demonstrate the skill in some situations or with some individuals and not others? Collect ABC or scatterplot data if this is the case.

What type of reinforcement does the child require for success?

How much teaching has the child required to generalize other skills in the past?

Type of Skill

Some skills may generalize more naturally and more quickly than others. Skills that simple , not contextually dependent or produce high rates of natural reinforcement (i.e. zipping a jacket, functional communication, physically accessing reinforcers, etc.) may require less intensive intervention to achieve generalization in the community. More complex or highly contextually dependent skills (i.e. getting a drink of water, engaging socially with others) may require more specific teaching within different environments.

Skill of the Interventionist

The skill of the interventionist impacts not only skill acquisition but also generalization. A highly skilled interventionist that incorporates different SDs during teaching, for example, may experience a faster rate of generalization across a variety of skills. Parents with minimal training may need to spend more time teaching skills in different environments to accomplish this task.

Elements of the Community Setting

Many factors impact the child's ability to demonstrate skills in different settings. One key feature in most settings in the community is unpredictability. Many individuals with autism struggle with changes to their routine or when they don't know what to expect. No matter how familiar the setting, unexpected changes pop up at unforeseen times. Consider how the following changes might impact a child's success in an environment:

The library decided to reorganize and moved your child's favorite book.

The register at the local grocery store your child insists on going to is closed.

Someone brought a dog to the park despite the signs saying "no dogs allowed" and your child's afraid of dogs.

While swimming in the public pool, the lifeguard suddenly announces that the pool must be cleaned and everyone needs to get out immediately.

The hairdresser that you always use is out of lollipops that you rely on to help your child through the haircut.

Even when changes aren't a problem, many other elements of a community setting impact a child's ability to demonstrate a skill in that environment. When planning for generalization consider the following elements in the environments you choose:

Availability of reinforcers

Level of sensory stimulation (i.e. noise, light, etc.)

Amount of distraction in the environment

Proximity of other people

Presence or absence of a structured routine

Availability of Reinforcers

Children who develop generalized reinforcers or who have a wide reinforcer array are likely to encounter reinforcement in a variety of different settings. Skills for these children may generalize in the community with less training than children who have limited reinforcers.

Similarly, some environments are naturally more reinforcing for children than others. The playground, for example, is likely to offer access to abundant reinforcement while clothing stores often do not. The availability of reinforcers specific for your child can significantly impact how quickly skills generalize in that area.

Sometimes environments with reinforcers that are too readily available pose a different challenge in that it can be difficult to ensure the child accesses the reinforcers contingent on the behaviors you're targeting.

Level of Sensory Stimulation

Each child with autism processes sensory information in their own way. Some children acclimate to different levels of sensory stimulation without a problem. Others either seek more sensory input or shy away from too much stimulation.

Similarly, some environments provide a high level of sensory stimulation while others offer low amounts of stimulation. From a sensory experience, consider the difference between a quiet community environment such as the library and a very active community environment such as an amusement park.

When trying to generalize skills in community settings, consider how the sensory stimulation in that environment may impact your child's ability to perform that skill. Avoid setting the child up for failure by beginning with environments that aren't a good match for the child's sensory needs.

Amount of Distraction in the Environment

Although a highly stimulating environment may be distracting for many children, that's not always the case. For children whose special interest is a character from a book or the alphabet, the library may be very distracting, but a busy shoe store may not be.

Think about the child's specific response to what goes on around him. Is he generally distracted by movement or noises or does he find the presence of items of special interest distracting? Each child is unique and is distracted by different things. Think about this when choosing environments for generalization.

Proximity of Other People

As with the other elements previously discussed, each child responds differently to other people in close proximity. Many children with autism find large crowds aversive or distracting. Other children enjoy the movement and activity. If you want to target generalization in an environment that's often crowded like a busy grocery store, consider beginning your plan at a time that's less busy and building gradually to more active times, if possible.

Presence or Absence of a Structured Routine

Many environments lend themselves to a structured routine. The grocery store is designed for you to travel the isles sequentially. A fast food restaurant offers a standard pattern and routine. Many children with autism benefit from this type of structured routine as it helps them know what to expect. This can open them to learning other skills more easily.

Environments that are less structured and more chaotic such as a playground or mall can be more difficult for many children with autism to learn in unless you first build a routine within that environment.

What to Include in Your Plan

Your generalization plan should consider the above factors and include the following information:

Targets

Baseline data

Teaching strategies

Reinforcement strategies, including a plan to transition to reinforcers commonly available in the environment

Data collection methods

Mastery criteria

Plan to respond to challenging behavior

Let's take a closer look at each of these below.

Targets

Make sure to identify which targets and in what sequence you are planning for generalization. While you can include multiple targets in your plan, ensure that they are all appropriate for the environments you're including in your plan.

Baseline Data

Collecting baseline data allows you to determine the need for intervention and assess progress. If the child performs the skill in the community setting you chose, there's no need for intervention. If you must intervene, baseline data allows you to determine if your interventions are effective.

Teaching Strategies

Will you use the same teaching strategies that were initially effective in teaching the skill or is a different strategy more appropriate to the environment or the child's abilities?

Reinforcement Strategies

How frequently should the child receive reinforcement? Will "artificial" reinforcers be used or will you begin with only those reinforcers naturally available in the environment?

Data Collection Methods

When generalizing skills to community settings, you may choose to use a different data collection method than you use in other settings. The logistics of collecting data while in the community are quite different than in more controlled settings such as clinics or homes. You also must consider whether internet access will be available if you typically use an electronic data collection system.

Mastery Criteria

How will you determine if the child has actually generalized the skill? What criteria will you use to decide to move to a different setting or different target?

Plan to Respond to Challenging Behavior

If the child has a Positive Behavior Intervention Plan, evaluate its appropriateness for the community settings you plan to target for generalization. What works in one environment may not be appropriate for another. Make sure you have a written plan for how to respond to challenging behavior if it occurs. Even the most familiar setting can present some unexpected challenges or changes. Consider how this might affect the child's behavior.

Implementing Your Generalization Plan

Implementation of you generalization plan is much like implementation of any other behavior analytic plan. As you conduct your sessions, ensure your data are as accurate as possible. Evaluate your data frequently, but recognize that any of the factors discussed here could impact the child's ability to demonstrate the skill at any given moment.

It's likely you will see more variability in your data than is typical for the child. make note if there are changes in the environment that may have impacted the child's performance during any session. Make adjustments to accommodate for any of these factors that inhibit the child's progress, if possible and persevere! The result is worth the effort!

5 Ways to Increase Collaboration to Improve Generalization in School

Generalization in school requires getting the teacher on board unless the child spontaneously demonstrates the skill in the untrained setting. Teachers may resist an outsider offering advice or intruding on the classroom. This makes it difficult to ensure that skills generalize from settings outside of school to the classroom. Here are 5 ways to make this process easier:

1. Understand the teacher's perspective

2. Ask open-ended questions

3. Be a support, not a judge

4. Teach basic ABA strategies

5. Prioritize skills

1. Understand the Teacher's Perspective

It can be tempting when planning for generalization in school to go into the situation as the expert. After all, you taught the child the skill you want to generalize. To encounter success, you must change this mindset.

Consider why the teacher may not want to invite you into her classroom or listen to your advice about her student. When you walk into the classroom or sit at the conference table, you tread on the teacher's home turf. In the school, the teacher is the expert, you are a visitor.

The teacher you want to get on board has her own set of skills and experiences. She runs her classroom based on her past experiences and reinforcement history. Her teaching methodologies have been reinforced in the past. They work for her. When you come into the school and ask her to change her practices, she's naturally going to assume you don't approve of her teaching.

Find a balance between insisting she help in your quest for generalization and allowing the child to continue with "business as usual" once he steps through the door of the school. Take a step back and see how your request might be perceived by the teacher and use this to frame your request to appeal more to the teacher's needs.

2. Ask Open-Ended Questions

There's no doubt one thing you and the teacher have in common is a shortage of time. Entering a meeting each of you considers the mountain of other tasks looming. Regardless, make building a rapport with the teacher one of your top priorities.

As you would when first beginning work with a child, you must take the time to establish that you care about the teacher, her needs, and her as a person. Find some commonality you share. Ask questions to draw her into conversation. Ask:

About her favorite thing about being a teacher

What her biggest struggle is

How long she has been teaching

What age group she enjoys teaching most

These questions may be related to the current situation, but doesn't need to be. It's more important to focus on the relationship than the information exchanged. Asking questions shows that you're interested in what she has to say. It makes her a valuable asset to the exchange rather than just the receiver of your wisdom.

3. Be a Support, Not a Judge

When walking into the classroom or a meeting with the intent of discussing changes to a child's programming, the teacher naturally feels on the defensive. Who are you to judge her teaching methods?

If the goal of the meeting is to discuss generalization in school, the teacher's instincts are on alert. Essentially, she expects you to tell her that her teaching methods are wrong and she is waiting for you to tell her to change them.

Surprise her by assuring her you are there as a support, not a judge. Avoid false praise, but everyone has strengths. Point out things she does well that helps the child. Point out any ABA techniques the teacher already implements in the classroom. In her article ABA in Schools -Essential or Optional?, Linbald (2006) discusses how teachers naturally incorporate some elements of ABA in their everyday teaching. Find where this teacher uses ABA and compliment those strategies.

Everyone needs help at some point, but not everyone is comfortable asking for it. The teacher may see asking for help or advice as a sign of weakness or incompetence. Point out some of the ways that you're flawed or some things you have found difficult. Tell stories about some of your less successful moments and how those moments led you to learn a new skill. When others see that you accept your own flaws or weaknesses then they may become more open to accepting your ideas. It may seem counterintuitive, but often people prefer to take advice from people who make mistakes than people who appear perfect.

4. Teach Basic ABA Strategies

Providing the teacher with some basic ABA strategies she can use to help all of the students in her class may allow her to understand the basis of your recommendations. Understanding why you recommend a specific strategy or ask her to include a specific skill builds her recognition of the bigger picture.

Once you have the opportunity to take the floor and share your knowledge, it can be tempting to provide an info dump. You may feel drawn to impart all the reasons why ABA is superior to other types of interventions. Stick to just the basics. Start out with these foundational skills:

ABCs and behavioral context

Reinforcement

Motivation

Avoid forcing this information upon her. Presenting too much information all at once or before she's ready may backfire and make her more resistant.

Refrain from appearing to have all the answers to any challenge she presents. Many times teachers present excuses or reasons why your ideas won't work in their situation. Acknowledge the teacher's feelings about this and don't tell her she's wrong. Offer a choice between strategies that are likely to achieve similar results. This will likely receive a better response than insisting she must implement the strategy you present.

5. Prioritize Skills

When generalization is your main objective, you likely go into the school with your own agenda and list of skills you want to target. To get the most buy-in from the teacher, find out what skills would make the biggest change in her day and make those the priority. For example, if the child struggles with independently putting his things away and this is a skill the child has in his repertoire, prioritize this over other skills regardless of what skills you deem to be a higher priority.

Beginning with skills that are most likely to positively impact the teacher's day. As her everyday teaching experience improves, so will her openness to your ideas. By making those skills most likely to improve her day, you tell the teacher that she matters. You enforce the idea that you're a support for her. She will then welcome your feedback and ideas.

5 Ways to Engage Parents to Build Generalization at Home
Engaging parents in treatment leads to improved program implementation at home. This leads to more effective generalization at home with less intervention from professionals. Behavioral skills training (BST) provides a framework for teaching parents (Lafasakis & Sturmey, 2007), yet fails to offer a way to ensure parent participation. Five of the best strategies you can use include:
Build these strategies into a structured parent education program that you can implement again and again with new families as they come in. Johnson et al. (2007) developed a replicable parent coaching system to efficiently teach necessary skills. We also have an ABA Parent Coaching curriculum that provides a solid foundation you can use immediate. Altogether, this curriculum offers 16 lessons, each with an assignment for the parent or caregiver.

Being an effective instructor will assist you in getting the most out of these other strategies.

1. Build a Rapport

From the first moment you meet your client's parents you define your relationship with them. Building a strong, collaborative, supportive relationship with clear expectations on both sides sets the stage for smooth generalization at home. Create a balance between establishing yourself as an authority and becoming a team with the parents.

Try these strategies for effectively building a positive rapport with parents and caregivers.

Let parents know upfront that their participation is part of the process

Set participation as an expectation right from the very first conversation. This lets parents know immediately what they sign on for. While we might assume parents understand their vital role in treatment, many parents walk into your first meeting with a medical mentality. When you bring your child to the doctor's office for treatment, the doctor does his thing and the parent rarely needs to participate.

Use language that normalizes this participation. Rather than saying "I would like to meet with you monthly," try saying "I meet with all of my parents monthly." Make sure that they understand you provide this coaching to all parents.

Set a schedule for coaching from the very beginning

Establishing a schedule for coaching from the beginning develops good habits for participation. Let the parents know that you start with a lot of basic information and you don't want them to miss out on any of this information so it's important to get started right away.

When the child first starts services with you, your focus is on building a skill repertoire or reducing maladaptive behavior. You're not yet ready to think about generalization at home. Waiting until you are ready for this allows the parents to develop habits of being uninvolved in treatment. Start your coaching from day 1.

Assume they want the best for their child

Often as professionals, we struggle with seeing the parents' perspectives. We might even assume that lack of participation means they don't care, are lazy or just want us to "fix" their child. Start with the assumption that your client's parents honestly want what's best for their child but they just don't think they are the best ones to provide that.

It can be difficult to accept that, as a parent, you don't know how to help your child. Help the parents understand that it's OK that they don't know now, but you will help them learn.

Understand their obstacles

There are many reasons why parents fail to participate in services or implement programming to the extent we want them to. Some parents will openly tell you why they struggle. Others may give only hints and clues for you to try to identify their obstacles. Ask open-ended questions to help you gain insight into the challenges they encounter either in following through with appointments or with implementation. Common obstacles include:

A rigid work schedule

Confusion about how to implement an intervention

A lack of understanding of why you want them to do something

A feeling of not enough time to do what you ask

A sense of hopelessness or overwhelm

Difficulty changing a routine or habit

Their own executive functioning deficits making it hard to remember appointments or commitments

Lack of childcare

Insufficient support systems

Conflicting loyalties or disagreements between parents as to how to do what you ask

Remember that parents have a full life outside of ABA treatment. Often they experience the feeling of just trying to keep afloat and here you come asking them to take on more.

Show your weaknesses

Parents appreciate knowing that you're human and make mistakes. Often they are afraid of doing things the wrong way and so resist making any effort at all. Show you can laugh at yourself and mistakes happen. Don't expect perfection from them or yourself.

Many parents with autism begin ABA treatment with low self-esteem in regards to their parenting skills. Dillenburger, Keenan, Gallagher, and McElhinney (2004) found that after short-term exposure to ABA, parents reported improved self-esteem. Getting the ball rolling is the most important step. As parents begin to develop more confidence, their participation will grow.

2. Assess the Parents' Reinforcers

Sometimes as professionals we lose sight of the fact that behavior is behavior no matter the subject. Parent behavior is subject to the same rules as the child's behavior. Providing insufficient reinforcers often leads to lack of follow through.

Parents won't do what you want for a few minutes with a toy, a high five, or even an M&M. You need to assess what your specific parents value.

While most parents will follow through if assured positive behavior change, often that change occurs very slowly over time. This lack of immediacy allows competing contingencies to overrule this change as an effective reinforcer.

The book Carrots and Sticks by Ian Ayers provides useful insight into understanding the impact of different aspects of reinforcers and will help you understand why parents struggle with follow through without the right contingencies in place.

3. Be Flexible about Coaching

As a busy professional it can be tempting to try to fit parent coaching around our many other responsibilities. We offer choices between our available time slots, usually during the traditional work week. Parents trying to pay for the astounding cost of raising a child with autism squeeze in as many working hours as possible around their child's needs. Many can't accommodate schedules that are convenient for professionals.

Become creative and innovative when setting up coaching. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Set up a once per month group parent coaching on a Saturday or in the evening.

Offer remote coaching if their payer allows.

Consider traveling to their place of employment at lunch or offer to provide coaching during the family's meal time (this allows the added benefit of an opportunity to model some skills).

Offer parent coaching in the community while the parent runs some errands (with the child present you have another opportunity to model skills and provide coaching).

Meet for an early morning coaching with the child before sessions start for the day.

Conduct 4-8 mini sessions per month that are 10-15 minutes long (you need to make these sessions efficient for them to be effective).

Parents face enormous challenges. Don't let meeting with you become another one. Make it easy by being flexible and offering choices.

4. Set Realistic Goals for Generalization at Home

Generally, involving parents in treatment should focus on generalizing already mastered skills rather than skill acquisition. Many parents are able to learn strategies needed to teach their child new skills, but unless they express the desire to tackle this, focus your efforts on mastered skills. Ask questions to identify those goals that are most important to the parents. Working toward those goals will get the parents on board far faster than focusing on goals you feel are most important.

Try asking these questions:

What's the 1 thing your child could learn that would make the morning routine easier?

What frustrates you most at bedtime?

How do you feel about how your child spends his free time at home?

If I had a magic wand and could change just 1 thing at home, what would make the biggest difference for you?

Digging down to find those things that have become the biggest problems for the family will likely yield the greatest return, provided that the skill is achievable for the child and family at that time. If the parents want to work on something that the child isn't ready for, let them know that you hear what they're saying and will definitely work toward their goal, but for now you want them to pick something the child has already mastered. Offer some choices that relate to their responses to the above questions.

5. Use a Homework Calendar

Parents are busy people with a lot on their plate. It can be difficult for them to prioritize the things you want them to do. Provide a homework calendar that demonstrates clear expectations for different activities for the month.

In this example, the parent is expected to do 2 different "assignments" 10 times during the month. The goals state clearly what the parent needs to do, but make sure to go over the assignments in person so there are no questions. Not only does this keep the parent on track, it also provides you with some data on the child's skills at home.

If you have the time and are creative, another fun way to create a calendar is to provide specific activities for practice with some mastered skills. Simply have the parent initial that the "assignment" was completed. Take a look at this example.

References

Cowan, R. J., & Allen, K. D. (2007). Using naturalistic procedures to enhance learning in individuals with autism: A focus on generalized teaching within the school setting. Psychology in the Schools, 44(7), 701-715.

Dillenburger, K., Keenan, M., Gallagher, S., & McElhinney, M. (2004). Parent education and home‐based behaviour analytic intervention: an examination of parents' perceptions of outcome. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 29(2), 119-130.

Johnson, C. R., Handen, B. L., Butter, E., Wagner, A., Mulick, J., Sukhodolsky, D. G., ... & Scahill, L. (2007). Development of a parent training program for children with pervasive developmental disorders. Behavioral Interventions, 22(3), 201-221.

Lafasakis, M., & Sturmey, P. (2007). Training parent implementation of discrete‐trial teaching: Effects on generalization of parent teaching and child correct responding. Journal of applied behavior analysis, 40(4), 685-689.

Schreibman, L., Dawson, G., Stahmer, A. C., Landa, R., Rogers, S. J., McGee, G. G., ... & McNerney, E. (2015). Naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions: Empirically validated treatments for autism spectrum disorder. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 45(8), 2411-2428.

Whalen, C. (2009). Real Life, Real Progress for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Strategies for Successful Generalization in Natural Environments. Brookes Publishing Company.

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Generalization: How teaching strategies and environment affect generalization

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Generalization occurs when children learn a skill under one condition (i.e. specific staff, environment, etc) and demonstrate that skill under a different condition (i.e. different staff, different environment, etc.). Many children with autism require specific training to achieve this. The field of Applied Behavior Analysis offers an abundance of evidence-based teaching strategies, each with its own unique advantages and disadvantages.

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#3 Unstructred Time or Extensive Waiting Can be Difficult

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#3 Unstructred Time or Extensive Waiting Can be Difficult

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Being idle can cause a feeling of anxiety for many who have (ASD). According to Bhargava (2022), "Unstructured times can be a struggle for students with Anxiety, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)... The nature of these periods of time can prompt some students to exhibit emotional and behavioural difficulties" (para. 1). for
Some strategies teachers can use to help students prepare for these times are by reminding students of expectations beforehand,providing an agenda or scedule, and helping the students choose an activity they can do during this time (Bhargava, 2022).

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Unstructured times are periods when there are no specific instructions for a student to follow, that involve no specific tasks for a student to complete, and/or when no activities have been structured, sequenced and set by an adult such as a teacher or caregiver. Periods such as assemblies, before and after school time, bus rides, classroom parties, downtime when work is complete, recess and lunch, library time and movement between classes all fall into this category.

Unstructured times are an essential part of growth and development, allowing students to cultivate and refine invaluable skills, traits and values such as social and communication skills, play skills, autonomy and independence, critical thinking, and creativity and imagination. For some students, however, unstructured times may be a struggle, and these students can benefit from a little bit of guidance.

For some students with Anxiety, ASD or ADHD, unstructured times can range from being somewhat uncomfortable to extremely arduous, and different students may struggle with these times for different reasons. During unstructured times, students have to make all the decisions about what to do, in what order to do things, and for how long. This may cause a student with anxiety to feel overwhelmed and stressed. A student with ADHD might feel unsure or bored during these times, and may deal with these feelings by saying or doings things that are disruptive. Other students may react to unstructured times with aggression. Students who have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder already have specific difficulties with planning, organising, sequencing, problem solving, communication and social skills, and can find unstructured times particularly difficult to cope with.

There are a number of strategies teachers can use to help students who struggle with unstructured times. As all students are different, it's important that we educate ourselves as much as we can about each student's unique circumstances. This will allow teachers to remain aware of what characteristics of unstructured times could trigger negative internal or external responses from individual students, and proactively employ strategies to minimise the difficulty of the unstructured time for the student.

As well as remaining situationally aware, we should also teach students certain skills to help them cope with the difficulties of unstructured times. Facilitating the development of communication skills, social skills, problem solving skills and conflict resolution skills will empower students to manage their own responses to what they find difficult about unstructured times. For example, by teaching and encouraging communication skills, students will be empowered to ask for what they need in order to de-stress. By teaching and encouraging social skills, students will be empowered to ask to join groups of other students in order to alleviate boredom and introduce somewhat structured activities to otherwise unstructured times.

The below table lists various strategies a teacher can utilise to assist students who struggle with unstructured times:.

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Strategies for Students Who... | Behaviour Help

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Unstructured times are periods when there are no specific instructions for a student to follow, that involve no specific tasks for a student to complete, and/or when no activities have been structured, sequenced and set by an adult such as a teacher or caregiver.

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Autism spectrum disorder impacts the way individuals learn. It is common for those with ASD to learn information better by seeing it. As stated by Pratt, Hopf, & Larriba-Quest (2017), those who have ASD "may benefit from pictures, modeling the behaviors of others, hands-on activities, and concrete examples" (para. 6).

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While individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are unique as anyone else, some common global characteristics exist within the population. These characteristics vary in intensity, degree, and amount, and manifest differently from person to person and over time. The following characteristics associated with ASD are loosely based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5™) and should be used to gain a better understanding of individuals identified with ASD, design a program, or facilitate discussion.

Social Communication Impairments

All individuals with ASD exhibit social communication impairments. In the first few years of life, salient signs of autism include lack of appropriate eye contact and inability to initiate or respond to joint attention (i.e., sharing social experiences with a communication partner). Common social difficulties include:

Demonstrating appropriate play skills, such as cooperative play with others. Some children with ASD may appear uninterested in playing with peers.

Some may reject or ignore the social approaches of others.

Responding to and initiating joint attention for social purposes. For example, many individuals with ASD are skilled at requesting items but are less likely to communicate for the purpose of sharing a social experience. Some individuals with ASD may lack interest in conversations that do not include topics of interests.

Using and interpreting body language. For example, individuals with ASD may have challenges understanding tone of voice or facial expression in social situations.

Staying on topic, turn-taking, and asking related or appropriate questions during conversations.

Taking their communication partner's perspective, checking for understanding, or predicting what information may already be known about a concept or situation during conversations.

Speech/Language Impairments

Persons with ASD may have specific difficulties in the areas of receptive and expressive language. Receptive language is the comprehension of language (e.g., following directions), while expressive language is the ability to express desires and thoughts to other persons. Some individuals with ASD express their thoughts verbally, while others may be nonverbal and require a communication device.

Those who are nonverbal may demonstrate the following:

Delay in, or lack of, spoken speech/language, impacting approximately 20-30% of the population.

Lack of an effective way to communicate may lead to the need for the use of alternative augmentative communication (AAC), such as sign language, pictures, or a voice output device.

Those who are verbal may demonstrate the following:

Delayed or immediate echolalia as a means of conversation with others, for self-management, or for self-stimulation. For example, a dialogue from television programs or videos may be used as a means of conversation.

Stereotyped or repetitive use of non-echolalic language routines that serve various functions such as initiating or sustaining a conversation.

Use of idiosyncratic speech (e.g., inappropriate word use).

Grammatical structure which may appear immature (i.e., telegraphic speech, improper tense or use of pronouns) or grammatical structure which may appear pedantic (e.g., monologue, advanced vocabulary in an area of interest).

Abnormal use of pitch, intonation, rhythm or stress. For example, speech may be monotone or hypernasal, and declarative sentences may end with a rising tone to signal the asking of a question.

Both verbal and nonverbal individuals may demonstrate difficulties with receptive language such as:

Delayed vocabulary development;

Difficulty following directions;

Difficulty understanding abstract concepts; and

Difficulty interpreting social language, such as sarcasm and jokes.

Restricted Repetitive and Stereotyped Patterns of Behavior, Interests, and Activities

Although people with ASD may enjoy the same activities as typical same-age peers, the intensity and focus of their interests may differ. This may be due to the fact that some have a limited repertoire of alternative behaviors, or that they prefer and feel comfortable repeatedly performing certain tasks. Behavior under this category include:

Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements such as hand flapping or finger flicking, use of objects such as spinning coins or lining up toys, or use of speech such as echolalia (delayed or immediate parroting of heard words), use of "you" when referring to self or stereotyped use of words or phrases.

Excessive adherences to routines and sameness such as being distressed by changes in the schedule, insisting on adherence to rules, or having inflexible thinking.

Ritualized patterns of behavior such as repetitive questioning or pacing.

Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus. A toddler may have a parent's belt that they carry everywhere, a child may have a preoccupation with vacuums, or an adult may spend hours memorizing facts about their favorite baseball team.

In the DSM-5™, sensory differences are categorized under restricted repetitive behaviors. Individuals with sensory differences will be under (hypo) or over (hyper) sensitive to a variety of sensory inputs:

Visual input sensitivities are staring at spinning objects, being bothered by fluorescent lights, or having trouble with keeping their place when reading.

Auditory input sensitivities are covering ears during loud noises, preferring loud music or none at all in the car, or not being able to respond to verbal prompts when in a noisy area.

Tactile input sensitivities are disliking getting hands or feet messy, avoiding/preferring certain surfaces, textures, or fabrics, or finding specific types of touch aversive (light touch on the shoulder vs. deep pressure hug).

Taste/Smell sensitivities are not eating certain foods, licking or tasting non-food items, or finding strong perfume or cologne aversive.

Proprioceptive Input sensitivities are difficulties interpreting sensations from muscles, joints, ligaments, and tendons (e.g., putting too much pressure on pencil when writing or falling/crashing into things).

Vestibular input sensitivities are over or under sensitivities to balance and movement sensations, such as having trouble staying seated, constantly leaning head on hands and arms, or easily losing balance.

Executive Function Impairments

Executive functioning refers to advanced cognitive skills, such as attention, working memory, planning, reasoning, sequencing, and flexible thinking. In typically developing people, these skills benefit not only social interactions but also academics, learning, self-regulation, and activities of daily living.

Individuals with ASD may have difficulty with a wide range of executive functioning tasks, such as sequencing the order in which to dress themselves, tie their shoes, pack for a trip, or complete a homework assignment.

Rigid, inflexible thinking is a common characteristic of individuals with ASD, and therefore individuals may have trouble problem-solving or generating more than one solution to a problem.

Individuals with ASD may have executive functioning difficulties at more basic levels, such as sustaining prolonged attention to an activity, or dividing their attention between two activities at once.

Common Learning Characteristics

Although no two people with ASD are alike, many demonstrate common learning characteristics. Those involved in working with the individual with ASD will need basic information about these characteristics and how they impact learning.

Individuals with ASD often demonstrate exceptional rote memory skills; however, their working memory or the time it takes to process information, especially processing several pieces of information at one time, can be difficult for people with ASD.

Many individuals with ASD are able to better process information when presented visually. They may benefit from pictures, modeling the behaviors of others, hands-on activities, and concrete examples.

Unstructured time or extensive waiting can be difficult for many. Schedules or checklists can help ease the anxiety or confusion surrounding unstructured time. Educators may also consider having a box of wait time activities, such as books, toys, or sensory items.

Individuals with ASD often have difficulty generalizing learned skills from one setting to another. Educators may need to teach skills across different settings, people, and activities.

Organization of materials and activities can be problematic for individuals with ASD. Educators may need to teach individuals with ASD how to organize their materials for different classes, keep their lockers tidy, how to use an agenda, and gather materials for homework.Individuals with ASD typically perform unevenly within and across academic skill areas.

Some individuals with ASD are high-achieving in all areas, some have high word recognition skills, but poor comprehension, others have high calculation skills, but poor applied math problem skills, and a proportion are low in all areas.

Additional Considerations

For some individuals with ASD, additional conditions further impact their ability to successfully learn and live in society. These conditions include:

Current or previous seizure activity.

The use of medication for seizure activity, mental health disorders, behaviors, or other conditions.

Eating problems such as pica, overeating, and eating only particular foods.

Current or previous sleeping or toileting problems.

Self-injurious behavior such as head-hitting, self-biting, face slapping, and severe scratching.

Pratt, C., Hopf, R., & Larriba-Quest, K. (2017). Characteristics of individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The Reporter, 21(17). Retrieved from https://www.iidc.indiana.edu/pages/characteristics.

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Dr. Cathy Pratt, BCBA-D; Updated by: Rachel Hopf, M.A., SLP-CCC, Graduate Assistant and Kelsey Larriba-Quest, M.Ed., Graduate Assistant;

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While individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are unique as anyone else, some common global characteristics exist within the population. These characteristics vary in intensity, degree, and amount, and manifest differently from person to person and over time.

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Oftentimes what people with ASD have wonderful rote memory skills, yet often times their working memory is what presents a challenge.
According to Loveless (2022), Working memory "is also known as short-term memory" (para. 2).
A few strategies Education Corner (2022) suggests to help strengthen working memory skills are

"Mnemonics-using familiar or rhyming words, phrases,and songs to help memorize challenging terms

Use Multiple Formats-presenting the same information in a various ways such as written texts, pictures, and videos.

Teach Active Reading allowing the srudent to write keywords, and asking comprehension questions over the information" (para. 6-12).

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by Becton Loveless

How many times have you heard the words "I forgot!" when it came to a child following directions, remembering to turn in an assignment, or when she started out to do something and ended up doing something totally unrelated, at least to your way of thinking? This can be especially frustrating when this same child can easily remember the words to all the popular songs, can quote movies perfectly, or reminds you over and over again that you said you would do something. You might think to yourself that they simply didn't want to do what was asked of them or that they weren't paying attention. In some cases, you may be correct, but if your child has a learning disability, there could be a real issue with memory. In their book Understanding Working Memory: A Classroom Guide, S.E. Gathercole, and T. P. Alloway, two psychologists, state that approximately seventy percent of children with learning differences in reading score very low in assessments of working memory. This also carries over into other areas such as math. To understand how to help children with memory issues, it is important to understand the differences between working and long-term memory.

Long-Term Versus Working Memory

Working memory is also known as short-term memory. This is where the data you receive first goes. Here, children keep in mind information on the steps to completing something, whether a problem or an action. It is where the material you just read can be found. After a time, if the information is considered important to the brain, it moves to long-term memory. This is where information that needs to be retrieved at a future date is kept, such as formulas for completing a math problem, the order of historical events, or what role adverbs and adjectives play in a sentence. The two areas have to work together effectively for learning to take place. For example, you are trying to teach a child how the elements combine to form things like water and carbon dioxide. These new combinations are in working memory because you just wrote them down. However, you covered individual elements a week or two ago. The child needs to retrieve the information that O stands for Oxygen and C for Carbon, or he won't be able to remember the new symbols. This information is in his long-term memory. Issues with memory can occur in either area. Having a full memory assessment is the best way to determine whether there is a memory issue and in what part of the memory process that issue may be occurring. However, there are some quick ways to help a teacher or parent get a general idea.

Working memory issues will cause problems such as forgetting steps, or not remembering everything the child has been asked to do. They may be asked to bring you some paper, a pencil, some scissors, and a stapler. When the child returns, he may have a sheet of paper and the stapler but may have forgotten the other two items. Or, he may substitute one of the items with something such as a roll of tape because he forgot exactly what you wanted and tried to "guess" in order to comply. A child with this problem may not be able to repeat back to you what you just said to her, or she may be unable to tell you the main idea of what she just read. This is the child that will go to the kitchen to get some water, pass the bathroom and make a stop, and return to the living room without the water because it was completely forgotten about.

Long-term memory issues will show themselves in a child being able to explain to you what they learned today but forgetting it by the time a test is given. This child may find it extremely difficult to remember names and dates or remember the rules of grammar. Children who experience test anxiety often find themselves having issues with retrieving the information they have previously known well. They often can give a general overview but will forget the smaller details. Regardless of the area that the memory issue is occurring in, there are some learning strategies that can help make memory better.

Effective Memory Strategies for Special Needs Students

The following are strategies teachers can employ to assist children struggling with long and short-term memory retention:

Mnemonics

nemonics is a learning strategy where students associate familiar words, rhyming words or phrases, or songs with terms they're struggling to remember. Listed below are common mnemonic devices:

The ABC song popular among young children learning to read

before E except after C

FANBOYS to remember the 7 coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so

Rote Practice Exercises

Repetition is one of the best ways to learn and retain new information, so teachers should constantly review concepts with students struggling with memory loss problems. Teachers can create drills students can complete on their own, or conduct drills with the entire class. Whatever strategies teachers employ, if they repetitively review curriculum in their classrooms, students will retain more information.

Hands-on learning

After students become familiar with a concept, they can further their knowledge through hands-on learning. For example, students can learn about an insect and then conduct a dissection to study its anatomy. Students can also learn about a historical event that occurred in their community and then tour a historical site associated with it.

Go Slowly

One of the best things you can do to help with memory is to take your time and present information as slowly as possible. Give the child time to fully process a small chunk of information before you add onto it. This may mean having to review the material several times before moving forward, but getting that information to find a place in the long-term memory will help greatly. Much of what we teach children is based on previously learned concepts. This is especially true with math.

Use Multiple Formats

We know that children have different learning styles. Try presenting the same information in as many formats as possible to increase the chances of retention. Use vocal cues by talking, write on paper or the board, use pictures and other visuals that are related to the material, and think of other ways that you can present the same material. Reading material can be accompanied by a recording of the material that a child can read along with, for example, or you could have them draw a picture that explains what they just read.

Include Handouts

Before you start a lesson, provide the child with handouts that will allow him to take notes under the key points you list. The handout can provide a general outline she can refer back to later, can give examples of the subject matter, or can provide a visual presentation to your audio one. Keep the handouts clear and easy to read. Provide plenty of space for note taking.

Teach Active Reading

There is something about reading with a pen or highlighter in your hand that helps you retain the information you are reading. Make it possible for the child to write keywords or points in the margin, highlight certain sentences or words and write questions. It also helps to ask text-related questions that require going back over the text. This requires greater focus and a repeat of the information. It also helps the student understand what the key points of the reading material are./

Use Acronyms

Acronyms are words that are made up of the first letters of a set of words. For example, HOMES can help a child remember the names of the Great Lakes - Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior. The one word will help push a trigger in the long-term memory that can make it easier to recall the information. Another common one that helps children remember the way directions go is to teach them the phrase "Never Eat Shredded Wheat." The first letter of each word stands for a direction going clockwise - North, East, South, West. The sentence doesn't even have to make sense. In fact, the sillier it sounds, the more likely the child will be to remember what it stands for.

Make Learning Active

Allowing a child to be active while learning can help reinforce concepts. While teaching the alphabet, let him draw the letters in sand. Act out a scene that describes an historical event. Use manipulatives to illustrate math problems. The act of using her hands will help the information reach her brain through two different pathways. The greater the number of pathways the information takes to get into the brain, the greater number of retrieval routes there are for it to be remembered.

Use Music or Rhyme

Rhythm and rhyme have always been used to help remember concepts. Think about hearing a particular song. After a couple of times, it becomes difficult to get a catchy one out of your mind. This concept was used in the popular Schoolhouse Rock series that was broadcast from 1973 to 1996. This series used short tunes to explain history, science, math, English, and more. As adults of forty and fifty years old, we can still remember the words to things like "I'm Just a Bill" and "Conjunction Junction". The short videos were often played between cartoons on Saturday morning, and they offered a catchy tune and cute video sandwiched between fun. This proved to be a perfect combination for learning, and remembering.

Use Lists

Lists can be used to make sure a number of steps are followed in order, a group of tasks are completed completely, or a child remembers everything he needs to take to school or home. These lists can be actual words or pictures that demonstrate what is needed. This allows a child to check off each item as it is completed. Over time and with repetition, the information finds its way into the long-term memory and sometimes just seeing the first item will help trigger recall of the rest of the information.

Use Stories

Remembering a complete storyline is much easier than a boring list of facts. If you can somehow include the child or people and objects the child is familiar with in the story, it is likely to be even more memorable. Instead of saying that George Washington chopped down a cherry tree, talk about a little boy named George who had a brand-new axe and was looking for something to try it out on. Bring emotion and humor into the story. Let them draw pictures of the young boy and the tree. Talk about how badly he felt and how hard it was to admit he did it. Relate it to something that may have happened recently in the child's life that had him scared about getting in trouble. It will be something that the child finds more difficult to forget.

Make It a Game

If you can find a way to make a game out of the material it will make learning it easier. A game will be fun and this takes stress out of the learning process. Try creating a mock Wheel of Fortune game to work with spelling, a match game where one set of a pair has an equation on it and the other the answer, or a scavenger hunt for items that are related to a certain country or historical event. Fun things tend to stick better in memory.

Relate to Real Life

Being able to relate the things being learned to events the child is already familiar with will help. Instead of sitting a repeating the same math problems, go on a trip to the grocery store and try figuring out how many cans of beans you can buy for a certain amount of money. Visit a beach to explain things like the tide or how rocks are formed. Let the child see and understand how the material relates to her everyday life.

Give Less Work

Often we over-estimate how much a child can handle. A large pack of papers, even if they are to be completed over the week, can be intimidating. Try breaking assignments down into small chunks that are easily digestible. Give only one sheet of problems, one page of reading, or only one English concept, such as nouns instead of both nouns and pronouns, at a time. Being able to concentrate on only a small concept increases the chances of memory success.

Use Graphic Organizers

Graphic organizers allow the child to see how concepts relate to each other. This increases the chance of remembering because there end up being several different triggering concepts. Venn diagrams work great at comparing and contrasting two or more items. A caus/effect chart where the event is listed in the middle and columns on the left show cause and the right show effect will allow the child to break down the information into individual items, making retention greater. More complex subjects can be illustrated with cycle diagrams. For example, show a puddle and then an arrow to another picture of the Sun shining and water droplets rising up into the clouds. The next picture can show the clouds getting fuller and the following one show rain bursting from the clouds. The final picture can then show the puddle again. This helps the child visualize how rain develops.

Use Association

This is the concept that is taking place when many teachers ask students to use their spelling words in a sentence. By creating a sentence that tells the concept or word in a different way, you are allowing the child's brain to receive the information twice. When it is the child that has to find the way to reword something, more parts of the brain become active, making the material more prominent in memory.

Encourage Over-Learning

Often we allow a child to stop practicing things after they have managed to go through the material perfectly one time. Make it a habit to have the child demonstrate they have mastered the material at least three times over several days before you consider it completely learned. This allows the information to firmly implant itself in the long-term memory and allows you to know the child is able to retrieve that information when asked. Encourage them to keep up this practice with all new concepts so it becomes a habit over time. This will help them learn to start taking control of their own memory making.

Let the Child Teach You

One of the best ways to keep something in your memory is to tell it to someone else. Have your child tell you what they learned. Be active in your listening, comment, ask for details without seeming like you are correcting and just let him tell you. If it requires a concept like math, let him pretend you don't know how to do the problem and switch roles, letting him be the teacher and you the student. The more he goes over the material, the greater the chances of retention and retrieval will be. This process allows her to gain confidence and feel less stress over the material and it gives you the chance to evaluate how well the material is being learned and where it may need more reinforcement. This all happens in a fun scenario that makes it more memorable.

Conclusion

No one strategy is going to work with every child so the more ideas you can incorporate into teaching, the better. As parents, you will learn over time what works best for your individual child. As teachers, making the classroom a place that incorporates many of the strategies will increase your chances of meeting the needs of more of your students. Knowing the ways to deal with memory issues can help reduce the frustration that comes when you feel a child is simply not listening. It will also help reduce the stress a child feels when he knows he is trying and the information just doesn't "stick".

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Effective Memory Strategies for Special Needs Children: The Ultimate Guide

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
by Becton Loveless How many times have you heard the words "I forgot!" when it came to a child following directions, remembering to turn in an assignment, or when she started out to do something and ended up doing something totally unrelated, at least to your way of thinking?

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Although Autism Spectrum Disorder impacts everyone differently, according to  Pratt, Hopf, & Larriba-Quest (2017), some common learning characteristics include

"Working memory or the time it takes to process information, especially processing several pieces of information at one time, can be difficult for people with ASD.

Many individuals with ASD are able to better process information when presented visually.

Unstructured time or extensive waiting can be difficult for many.

Individuals with ASD often have difficulty generalizing learned skills from one setting to another

Organization of materials and activities can be problematic for individuals with ASD" (para. 6).

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While individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are unique as anyone else, some common global characteristics exist within the population. These characteristics vary in intensity, degree, and amount, and manifest differently from person to person and over time. The following characteristics associated with ASD are loosely based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5™) and should be used to gain a better understanding of individuals identified with ASD, design a program, or facilitate discussion.

Social Communication Impairments

All individuals with ASD exhibit social communication impairments. In the first few years of life, salient signs of autism include lack of appropriate eye contact and inability to initiate or respond to joint attention (i.e., sharing social experiences with a communication partner). Common social difficulties include:

Demonstrating appropriate play skills, such as cooperative play with others. Some children with ASD may appear uninterested in playing with peers.

Some may reject or ignore the social approaches of others.

Responding to and initiating joint attention for social purposes. For example, many individuals with ASD are skilled at requesting items but are less likely to communicate for the purpose of sharing a social experience. Some individuals with ASD may lack interest in conversations that do not include topics of interests.

Using and interpreting body language. For example, individuals with ASD may have challenges understanding tone of voice or facial expression in social situations.

Staying on topic, turn-taking, and asking related or appropriate questions during conversations.

Taking their communication partner's perspective, checking for understanding, or predicting what information may already be known about a concept or situation during conversations.

Speech/Language Impairments

Persons with ASD may have specific difficulties in the areas of receptive and expressive language. Receptive language is the comprehension of language (e.g., following directions), while expressive language is the ability to express desires and thoughts to other persons. Some individuals with ASD express their thoughts verbally, while others may be nonverbal and require a communication device.

Those who are nonverbal may demonstrate the following:

Delay in, or lack of, spoken speech/language, impacting approximately 20-30% of the population.

Lack of an effective way to communicate may lead to the need for the use of alternative augmentative communication (AAC), such as sign language, pictures, or a voice output device.

Those who are verbal may demonstrate the following:

Delayed or immediate echolalia as a means of conversation with others, for self-management, or for self-stimulation. For example, a dialogue from television programs or videos may be used as a means of conversation.

Stereotyped or repetitive use of non-echolalic language routines that serve various functions such as initiating or sustaining a conversation.

Use of idiosyncratic speech (e.g., inappropriate word use).

Grammatical structure which may appear immature (i.e., telegraphic speech, improper tense or use of pronouns) or grammatical structure which may appear pedantic (e.g., monologue, advanced vocabulary in an area of interest).

Abnormal use of pitch, intonation, rhythm or stress. For example, speech may be monotone or hypernasal, and declarative sentences may end with a rising tone to signal the asking of a question.

Both verbal and nonverbal individuals may demonstrate difficulties with receptive language such as:

Delayed vocabulary development;

Difficulty following directions;

Difficulty understanding abstract concepts; and

Difficulty interpreting social language, such as sarcasm and jokes.

Restricted Repetitive and Stereotyped Patterns of Behavior, Interests, and Activities

Although people with ASD may enjoy the same activities as typical same-age peers, the intensity and focus of their interests may differ. This may be due to the fact that some have a limited repertoire of alternative behaviors, or that they prefer and feel comfortable repeatedly performing certain tasks. Behavior under this category include:

Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements such as hand flapping or finger flicking, use of objects such as spinning coins or lining up toys, or use of speech such as echolalia (delayed or immediate parroting of heard words), use of "you" when referring to self or stereotyped use of words or phrases.

Excessive adherences to routines and sameness such as being distressed by changes in the schedule, insisting on adherence to rules, or having inflexible thinking.

Ritualized patterns of behavior such as repetitive questioning or pacing.

Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus. A toddler may have a parent's belt that they carry everywhere, a child may have a preoccupation with vacuums, or an adult may spend hours memorizing facts about their favorite baseball team.

In the DSM-5™, sensory differences are categorized under restricted repetitive behaviors. Individuals with sensory differences will be under (hypo) or over (hyper) sensitive to a variety of sensory inputs:

Visual input sensitivities are staring at spinning objects, being bothered by fluorescent lights, or having trouble with keeping their place when reading.

Auditory input sensitivities are covering ears during loud noises, preferring loud music or none at all in the car, or not being able to respond to verbal prompts when in a noisy area.

Tactile input sensitivities are disliking getting hands or feet messy, avoiding/preferring certain surfaces, textures, or fabrics, or finding specific types of touch aversive (light touch on the shoulder vs. deep pressure hug).

Taste/Smell sensitivities are not eating certain foods, licking or tasting non-food items, or finding strong perfume or cologne aversive.

Proprioceptive Input sensitivities are difficulties interpreting sensations from muscles, joints, ligaments, and tendons (e.g., putting too much pressure on pencil when writing or falling/crashing into things).

Vestibular input sensitivities are over or under sensitivities to balance and movement sensations, such as having trouble staying seated, constantly leaning head on hands and arms, or easily losing balance.

Executive Function Impairments

Executive functioning refers to advanced cognitive skills, such as attention, working memory, planning, reasoning, sequencing, and flexible thinking. In typically developing people, these skills benefit not only social interactions but also academics, learning, self-regulation, and activities of daily living.

Individuals with ASD may have difficulty with a wide range of executive functioning tasks, such as sequencing the order in which to dress themselves, tie their shoes, pack for a trip, or complete a homework assignment.

Rigid, inflexible thinking is a common characteristic of individuals with ASD, and therefore individuals may have trouble problem-solving or generating more than one solution to a problem.

Individuals with ASD may have executive functioning difficulties at more basic levels, such as sustaining prolonged attention to an activity, or dividing their attention between two activities at once.

Common Learning Characteristics

Although no two people with ASD are alike, many demonstrate common learning characteristics. Those involved in working with the individual with ASD will need basic information about these characteristics and how they impact learning.

Individuals with ASD often demonstrate exceptional rote memory skills; however, their working memory or the time it takes to process information, especially processing several pieces of information at one time, can be difficult for people with ASD.

Many individuals with ASD are able to better process information when presented visually. They may benefit from pictures, modeling the behaviors of others, hands-on activities, and concrete examples.

Unstructured time or extensive waiting can be difficult for many. Schedules or checklists can help ease the anxiety or confusion surrounding unstructured time. Educators may also consider having a box of wait time activities, such as books, toys, or sensory items.

Individuals with ASD often have difficulty generalizing learned skills from one setting to another. Educators may need to teach skills across different settings, people, and activities.

Organization of materials and activities can be problematic for individuals with ASD. Educators may need to teach individuals with ASD how to organize their materials for different classes, keep their lockers tidy, how to use an agenda, and gather materials for homework.Individuals with ASD typically perform unevenly within and across academic skill areas.

Some individuals with ASD are high-achieving in all areas, some have high word recognition skills, but poor comprehension, others have high calculation skills, but poor applied math problem skills, and a proportion are low in all areas.

Additional Considerations

For some individuals with ASD, additional conditions further impact their ability to successfully learn and live in society. These conditions include:

Current or previous seizure activity.

The use of medication for seizure activity, mental health disorders, behaviors, or other conditions.

Eating problems such as pica, overeating, and eating only particular foods.

Current or previous sleeping or toileting problems.

Self-injurious behavior such as head-hitting, self-biting, face slapping, and severe scratching.

Pratt, C., Hopf, R., & Larriba-Quest, K. (2017). Characteristics of individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The Reporter, 21(17). Retrieved from https://www.iidc.indiana.edu/pages/characteristics.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Dr. Cathy Pratt, BCBA-D; Updated by: Rachel Hopf, M.A., SLP-CCC, Graduate Assistant and Kelsey Larriba-Quest, M.Ed., Graduate Assistant;

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
While individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are unique as anyone else, some common global characteristics exist within the population. These characteristics vary in intensity, degree, and amount, and manifest differently from person to person and over time.

# data[].attributes.body
It is importatn to keep the studnets' families involved as much as possible. Educators and families must work together as a team for the betterment of the student. As mentioned by Morin (2022),

"Gather information about students from families and caregivers.
Engage the family when a student demonstrates challenging behavior.
Follow up with families to share when a student is demonstrating positive behavior" (para. 11).

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Positive behavior strategies are evidence-based, proactive approaches to changing challenging student behavior. Some examples of positive behavior strategies are pre-correcting and prompting and nonverbal signals.

There's a lot to think about when it comes to teaching. You plan and deliver lessons to cover the curriculum. You adjust your lesson plans to meet your students' needs. On top of it all, you manage student behavior.

You're not alone if you feel like managing behavior sometimes gets in the way of teaching. That's where positive behavior strategies come in. These strategies are also known as positive behavior supports, or PBS.

Why use positive behavior strategies?

Positive behavior strategies encourage you to see behavior as a form of communication. Every behavior sends a message about what a student needs. Some messages are easy to read. Some need more deciphering. (In those cases, a behavior specialist, a school psychologist, or other colleagues can help.)

Once you understand the message behind the behavior, you can better support students. As Jerome Schultz, PhD, puts it, "If you can read the need, you can meet the need."

Instead of reacting to challenging behaviors, you can proactively reduce them. Using positive behavior strategies can help you:

Build a trusting relationship between teachers, students, and families.

Instead of seeing behavior as a problem, you'll show empathy by looking at students with compassionate curiosity. With this view, you can shift your focus from "fixing" students to understanding them. You can also develop a more collaborative relationship with students by working together to understand when and under what circumstances a behavior occurs.

Teach and reinforce new skills.

Once you understand why a student behaves a certain way, you can respond more effectively. You can teach new behaviors that serve the same purpose. Many social-emotional learning programs incorporate specific strategies for teaching behaviors, like how to follow directions or ignore peer distractions.

Prompt you to consider multiple reasons for behavioral difficulties.

Students might not have the language or communication skills to express what they need. Or the behavior could be a way to avoid a difficult situation or task. Some students behave in negative ways to get attention or to get what they want. In other cases, they may be reacting to an environment that isn't supporting their learning. Or there could be a cultural difference. This may prompt you to take a culturally responsive approach to analyzing the behavior and your response to it.

As a classroom teacher, you may not have all the time, tools, or training to look at student behavior in depth. You can work with other school staff to do a functional behavior assessment (FBA). The specialist who does the FBA can work with teachers to create an appropriate behavior intervention plan.

What do positive behavior strategies look like?

Explore examples of positive behavior strategies:

To see a positive behavior strategy in action, watch this classroom video from Edutopia.

How do I put positive behavior strategies into practice?

Handling challenging behavior can be frustrating. Use this chart to reflect on where you are in your practice and where you might focus your next efforts.

Create a classroom layout that supports students.

Provide flexible spaces like a reading corner to support different types of learning.

Position furniture to ensure smooth transitions.

Organize materials in safe and accessible ways.

Seat students near peers who model appropriate behavior and who can ignore inappropriate behavior.

Seat students near you so you can use strategies like active supervision and pre-correction.

Post and define positive behavior expectations.

With your students, co-create classroom expectations that are observable, measurable, positive, and understandable.

Limit expectations to three to five statements.

Explicitly teach behavior expectations.

Plan, teach, and practice expected behaviors.

Plan, teach, and practice routines and procedures.

Reinforce and re-teach routines, procedures, and expectations throughout the year.

Establish ways to monitor your classroom and frequently check in with students.

Have systems to respond to behavior.

Collect data to look at the causes of inappropriate behavior.

Collaborate with specialists to use data to create supports for individual students.

Explicitly teach and reinforce new skills aligned to appropriate behavior.

Set competence anchors for students.

Partner with families.

Gather information about students from families and caregivers.

Engage the family when a student demonstrates challenging behavior.

Follow up with families to share when a student is demonstrating positive behavior.

How can families support this at home?

Behavior expectations might be different at home than they are at school. It's important for families to know what's expected in your classroom. Talk with families about the behavioral expectations in the classroom and the language you use to talk about behavior.

This will help families understand new phrases they hear or behavior changes they see. Also, families may want to use the same expectations at home. Share with them these parent-child behavior contracts to get started.

Additional resources and research

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Positive behavior strategies: A guide for teachers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Positive behavior strategies can help educators support students with challenging behaviors. Get examples of positive behavior strategies and tips on how to implement them in this guide for teachers.

# data[].attributes.body
It is impossible to be able to predict wheb things array, it is always possible to have a plan set in motion to help smooth out challenges that may arise. According to Morin (2022) This can be achieved by

Collaborating with specialists to use data to create supports for individual students (para. 11).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Positive behavior strategies are evidence-based, proactive approaches to changing challenging student behavior. Some examples of positive behavior strategies are pre-correcting and prompting and nonverbal signals.

There's a lot to think about when it comes to teaching. You plan and deliver lessons to cover the curriculum. You adjust your lesson plans to meet your students' needs. On top of it all, you manage student behavior.

You're not alone if you feel like managing behavior sometimes gets in the way of teaching. That's where positive behavior strategies come in. These strategies are also known as positive behavior supports, or PBS.

Why use positive behavior strategies?

Positive behavior strategies encourage you to see behavior as a form of communication. Every behavior sends a message about what a student needs. Some messages are easy to read. Some need more deciphering. (In those cases, a behavior specialist, a school psychologist, or other colleagues can help.)

Once you understand the message behind the behavior, you can better support students. As Jerome Schultz, PhD, puts it, "If you can read the need, you can meet the need."

Instead of reacting to challenging behaviors, you can proactively reduce them. Using positive behavior strategies can help you:

Build a trusting relationship between teachers, students, and families.

Instead of seeing behavior as a problem, you'll show empathy by looking at students with compassionate curiosity. With this view, you can shift your focus from "fixing" students to understanding them. You can also develop a more collaborative relationship with students by working together to understand when and under what circumstances a behavior occurs.

Teach and reinforce new skills.

Once you understand why a student behaves a certain way, you can respond more effectively. You can teach new behaviors that serve the same purpose. Many social-emotional learning programs incorporate specific strategies for teaching behaviors, like how to follow directions or ignore peer distractions.

Prompt you to consider multiple reasons for behavioral difficulties.

Students might not have the language or communication skills to express what they need. Or the behavior could be a way to avoid a difficult situation or task. Some students behave in negative ways to get attention or to get what they want. In other cases, they may be reacting to an environment that isn't supporting their learning. Or there could be a cultural difference. This may prompt you to take a culturally responsive approach to analyzing the behavior and your response to it.

As a classroom teacher, you may not have all the time, tools, or training to look at student behavior in depth. You can work with other school staff to do a functional behavior assessment (FBA). The specialist who does the FBA can work with teachers to create an appropriate behavior intervention plan.

What do positive behavior strategies look like?

Explore examples of positive behavior strategies:

To see a positive behavior strategy in action, watch this classroom video from Edutopia.

How do I put positive behavior strategies into practice?

Handling challenging behavior can be frustrating. Use this chart to reflect on where you are in your practice and where you might focus your next efforts.

Create a classroom layout that supports students.

Provide flexible spaces like a reading corner to support different types of learning.

Position furniture to ensure smooth transitions.

Organize materials in safe and accessible ways.

Seat students near peers who model appropriate behavior and who can ignore inappropriate behavior.

Seat students near you so you can use strategies like active supervision and pre-correction.

Post and define positive behavior expectations.

With your students, co-create classroom expectations that are observable, measurable, positive, and understandable.

Limit expectations to three to five statements.

Explicitly teach behavior expectations.

Plan, teach, and practice expected behaviors.

Plan, teach, and practice routines and procedures.

Reinforce and re-teach routines, procedures, and expectations throughout the year.

Establish ways to monitor your classroom and frequently check in with students.

Have systems to respond to behavior.

Collect data to look at the causes of inappropriate behavior.

Collaborate with specialists to use data to create supports for individual students.

Explicitly teach and reinforce new skills aligned to appropriate behavior.

Set competence anchors for students.

Partner with families.

Gather information about students from families and caregivers.

Engage the family when a student demonstrates challenging behavior.

Follow up with families to share when a student is demonstrating positive behavior.

How can families support this at home?

Behavior expectations might be different at home than they are at school. It's important for families to know what's expected in your classroom. Talk with families about the behavioral expectations in the classroom and the language you use to talk about behavior.

This will help families understand new phrases they hear or behavior changes they see. Also, families may want to use the same expectations at home. Share with them these parent-child behavior contracts to get started.

Additional resources and research

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Positive behavior strategies: A guide for teachers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Positive behavior strategies can help educators support students with challenging behaviors. Get examples of positive behavior strategies and tips on how to implement them in this guide for teachers.

# data[].attributes.headline
#3 Explicitly Teach Behavior Expectations.

# data[].attributes.subject
#3 Explicitly Teach Behavior Expectations.

# data[].attributes.body
Practice makes perfect. To ensure students always know procedures,according to Morin (2022),"Plan, teach, and practice expected behaviors...

Routines and procedures" (para. 11).
It is importatnt that as the year continues ensure the students know what is expected to do. As stated by Morin (2022), "Reinforce and re-teach routines, procedures, and expectations throughout the  year" (para. 11).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Positive behavior strategies are evidence-based, proactive approaches to changing challenging student behavior. Some examples of positive behavior strategies are pre-correcting and prompting and nonverbal signals.

There's a lot to think about when it comes to teaching. You plan and deliver lessons to cover the curriculum. You adjust your lesson plans to meet your students' needs. On top of it all, you manage student behavior.

You're not alone if you feel like managing behavior sometimes gets in the way of teaching. That's where positive behavior strategies come in. These strategies are also known as positive behavior supports, or PBS.

Why use positive behavior strategies?

Positive behavior strategies encourage you to see behavior as a form of communication. Every behavior sends a message about what a student needs. Some messages are easy to read. Some need more deciphering. (In those cases, a behavior specialist, a school psychologist, or other colleagues can help.)

Once you understand the message behind the behavior, you can better support students. As Jerome Schultz, PhD, puts it, "If you can read the need, you can meet the need."

Instead of reacting to challenging behaviors, you can proactively reduce them. Using positive behavior strategies can help you:

Build a trusting relationship between teachers, students, and families.

Instead of seeing behavior as a problem, you'll show empathy by looking at students with compassionate curiosity. With this view, you can shift your focus from "fixing" students to understanding them. You can also develop a more collaborative relationship with students by working together to understand when and under what circumstances a behavior occurs.

Teach and reinforce new skills.

Once you understand why a student behaves a certain way, you can respond more effectively. You can teach new behaviors that serve the same purpose. Many social-emotional learning programs incorporate specific strategies for teaching behaviors, like how to follow directions or ignore peer distractions.

Prompt you to consider multiple reasons for behavioral difficulties.

Students might not have the language or communication skills to express what they need. Or the behavior could be a way to avoid a difficult situation or task. Some students behave in negative ways to get attention or to get what they want. In other cases, they may be reacting to an environment that isn't supporting their learning. Or there could be a cultural difference. This may prompt you to take a culturally responsive approach to analyzing the behavior and your response to it.

As a classroom teacher, you may not have all the time, tools, or training to look at student behavior in depth. You can work with other school staff to do a functional behavior assessment (FBA). The specialist who does the FBA can work with teachers to create an appropriate behavior intervention plan.

What do positive behavior strategies look like?

Explore examples of positive behavior strategies:

To see a positive behavior strategy in action, watch this classroom video from Edutopia.

How do I put positive behavior strategies into practice?

Handling challenging behavior can be frustrating. Use this chart to reflect on where you are in your practice and where you might focus your next efforts.

Create a classroom layout that supports students.

Provide flexible spaces like a reading corner to support different types of learning.

Position furniture to ensure smooth transitions.

Organize materials in safe and accessible ways.

Seat students near peers who model appropriate behavior and who can ignore inappropriate behavior.

Seat students near you so you can use strategies like active supervision and pre-correction.

Post and define positive behavior expectations.

With your students, co-create classroom expectations that are observable, measurable, positive, and understandable.

Limit expectations to three to five statements.

Explicitly teach behavior expectations.

Plan, teach, and practice expected behaviors.

Plan, teach, and practice routines and procedures.

Reinforce and re-teach routines, procedures, and expectations throughout the year.

Establish ways to monitor your classroom and frequently check in with students.

Have systems to respond to behavior.

Collect data to look at the causes of inappropriate behavior.

Collaborate with specialists to use data to create supports for individual students.

Explicitly teach and reinforce new skills aligned to appropriate behavior.

Set competence anchors for students.

Partner with families.

Gather information about students from families and caregivers.

Engage the family when a student demonstrates challenging behavior.

Follow up with families to share when a student is demonstrating positive behavior.

How can families support this at home?

Behavior expectations might be different at home than they are at school. It's important for families to know what's expected in your classroom. Talk with families about the behavioral expectations in the classroom and the language you use to talk about behavior.

This will help families understand new phrases they hear or behavior changes they see. Also, families may want to use the same expectations at home. Share with them these parent-child behavior contracts to get started.

Additional resources and research

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Positive behavior strategies: A guide for teachers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Positive behavior strategies can help educators support students with challenging behaviors. Get examples of positive behavior strategies and tips on how to implement them in this guide for teachers.

# data[].attributes.headline
#2 Post and Define Positive Behavior Expectations

# data[].attributes.subject
#2 Post and Define Positive Behavior Expectations

# data[].attributes.body
This can easily be turned into a group activity by creating expectations with your class according to Morin (2022) this can be achieved by co-creating 3-5 "classroom expectations that are observable, measurable, positive, and understandable" (para. 11).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Positive behavior strategies are evidence-based, proactive approaches to changing challenging student behavior. Some examples of positive behavior strategies are pre-correcting and prompting and nonverbal signals.

There's a lot to think about when it comes to teaching. You plan and deliver lessons to cover the curriculum. You adjust your lesson plans to meet your students' needs. On top of it all, you manage student behavior.

You're not alone if you feel like managing behavior sometimes gets in the way of teaching. That's where positive behavior strategies come in. These strategies are also known as positive behavior supports, or PBS.

Why use positive behavior strategies?

Positive behavior strategies encourage you to see behavior as a form of communication. Every behavior sends a message about what a student needs. Some messages are easy to read. Some need more deciphering. (In those cases, a behavior specialist, a school psychologist, or other colleagues can help.)

Once you understand the message behind the behavior, you can better support students. As Jerome Schultz, PhD, puts it, "If you can read the need, you can meet the need."

Instead of reacting to challenging behaviors, you can proactively reduce them. Using positive behavior strategies can help you:

Build a trusting relationship between teachers, students, and families.

Instead of seeing behavior as a problem, you'll show empathy by looking at students with compassionate curiosity. With this view, you can shift your focus from "fixing" students to understanding them. You can also develop a more collaborative relationship with students by working together to understand when and under what circumstances a behavior occurs.

Teach and reinforce new skills.

Once you understand why a student behaves a certain way, you can respond more effectively. You can teach new behaviors that serve the same purpose. Many social-emotional learning programs incorporate specific strategies for teaching behaviors, like how to follow directions or ignore peer distractions.

Prompt you to consider multiple reasons for behavioral difficulties.

Students might not have the language or communication skills to express what they need. Or the behavior could be a way to avoid a difficult situation or task. Some students behave in negative ways to get attention or to get what they want. In other cases, they may be reacting to an environment that isn't supporting their learning. Or there could be a cultural difference. This may prompt you to take a culturally responsive approach to analyzing the behavior and your response to it.

As a classroom teacher, you may not have all the time, tools, or training to look at student behavior in depth. You can work with other school staff to do a functional behavior assessment (FBA). The specialist who does the FBA can work with teachers to create an appropriate behavior intervention plan.

What do positive behavior strategies look like?

Explore examples of positive behavior strategies:

To see a positive behavior strategy in action, watch this classroom video from Edutopia.

How do I put positive behavior strategies into practice?

Handling challenging behavior can be frustrating. Use this chart to reflect on where you are in your practice and where you might focus your next efforts.

Create a classroom layout that supports students.

Provide flexible spaces like a reading corner to support different types of learning.

Position furniture to ensure smooth transitions.

Organize materials in safe and accessible ways.

Seat students near peers who model appropriate behavior and who can ignore inappropriate behavior.

Seat students near you so you can use strategies like active supervision and pre-correction.

Post and define positive behavior expectations.

With your students, co-create classroom expectations that are observable, measurable, positive, and understandable.

Limit expectations to three to five statements.

Explicitly teach behavior expectations.

Plan, teach, and practice expected behaviors.

Plan, teach, and practice routines and procedures.

Reinforce and re-teach routines, procedures, and expectations throughout the year.

Establish ways to monitor your classroom and frequently check in with students.

Have systems to respond to behavior.

Collect data to look at the causes of inappropriate behavior.

Collaborate with specialists to use data to create supports for individual students.

Explicitly teach and reinforce new skills aligned to appropriate behavior.

Set competence anchors for students.

Partner with families.

Gather information about students from families and caregivers.

Engage the family when a student demonstrates challenging behavior.

Follow up with families to share when a student is demonstrating positive behavior.

How can families support this at home?

Behavior expectations might be different at home than they are at school. It's important for families to know what's expected in your classroom. Talk with families about the behavioral expectations in the classroom and the language you use to talk about behavior.

This will help families understand new phrases they hear or behavior changes they see. Also, families may want to use the same expectations at home. Share with them these parent-child behavior contracts to get started.

Additional resources and research

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Positive behavior strategies: A guide for teachers

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Positive behavior strategies can help educators support students with challenging behaviors. Get examples of positive behavior strategies and tips on how to implement them in this guide for teachers.

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#1 Create a Classroom Layout that Supports Students

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#1 Create a Classroom Layout that Supports Students

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When designing a classroom layout, it is important to keep the students' needs at a forefront.
According to Connecting Elements (2022), "A 2015 study published in the journal Building and Environment found that changing some core elements of classroom design can increase student learning outcomes by 16 percent" (para. 6).
Studies have shown that by changing traditonal row seating to group configuration seating improves active involvement, collaboration, feeling of comfort, and active stimulation (Connecting Elements, 2022, para. 9)

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For people in the education field, student outcomes are the most important indicator of success. Practically everything revolves around boosting student learning achievements, including funding, professional development for teachers, the implementation of standardized tests and enrichment or remediation opportunities for students.

Unfortunately, classroom design -which has a significant impact on learning outcomes-is often an afterthought. Luckily, attitudes around classroom design are shifting, and educators are making an effort to create ideal learning environments for diverse groups of students.

The traditional arrangement of row after row of desks is on the way out. Industrial, cookie-cutter furniture is being replaced by flexible seating options that are intentionally selected to empower students.

The most important-and most worthy-goal of educators is to give students the best education possible. Doing so extends beyond the curriculum to the very environment in which children learn.

Does classroom design affect learning? Yes!

The connection between classroom design and learning outcomes is more than simple conjecture. Recent scientific research backs this up.

A 2015 study published in the journal Building and Environment found that changing some core elements of classroom design can increase student learning outcomes by 16 percent.

According to the study, factors such as air quality, lighting and students' sense of ownership of their classroom all affected the students' ability to learn.

Old vs. New Design: Is there really a difference?

The stereotypical classroom has had the same design for decades. Think back to some of the classrooms you occupied as a student or the way classes are portrayed in movies. You're likely visualizing the oversized teacher's desk set up in a corner, along with student desks organized in neat rows.

Research by Steelcase shows that rearranging the rows of desks into grouped configurations improves all of the following aspects of learning:

Ability to engage in preferred learning methods

Active involvement

Collaboration

Creation of an enriching experience

Feeling comfortable to participate

Focus

In-class feedback

Opportunity to engage

Physical movement

Real-life scenarios

Repeated exposure to the material through multiple means

Stimulation

Educators embracing new classroom design realize that the teacher-centered furniture arrangement isolates students and limits their learning-not to mention makes the teacher's job more difficult. Teachers are designing classrooms that look like a " Starbucks for kids " or college apartments. As a result, their students are thriving.

What are the implications of classroom design for students?

Classroom design has the power to impact students' well-being and motivation, either for better or for worse.

As students have to spend large chunks of time in school, classrooms should be welcoming and warm to boost student morale. Additionally, classroom design can facilitate the learning experiences of students with special needs, including ADD, ADHD and specific learning disabilities.

Educators can provide various types of workspaces to maximize the classroom's potential for students who learn in different ways. Those workspaces may include:

A classroom library sectioned off with shelves and comfy chairs for reading

A common area, maybe on a large rug or around a large table, for class discussions

A research center with a computer workstation

Desk or room dividers or study carousels for independent, focused work

Tables and chairs for small group collaborative work

Which details of classroom design make a difference?

The short answer is that all aspects of classroom design make a difference to the space's ambiance and the learning environment students walk into each day. However, particular design details have the strongest impact and can yield the best results without a complete overhaul of existing furniture and fixtures in a classroom.

Air Quality

According to the Building and Environment study, good air quality and comfortable room temperatures improved student progress by 28%.

Teachers can decorate their classrooms with plants to improve the air quality and brighten up the room. In rooms without local control of the thermostat, fans or space heaters can help regulate the temperature.

Choice

Student choice is a major factor in creating an ideal learning environment. Letting students choose how they learn gives them a feeling of ownership and creates a sense of community in the classroom.

Educators can accomplish this by providing flexible seating options and allowing students to decide where they'll do their best work. Flexible seating options can include:

Bean bag chairs

Individual workstations

Mats or cushions

Sofas and couches

Standing desks or tables

Tables and chairs

Complexity

The overall layout and interior design aspects of the classroom-including the use of color-create an environment that is either stimulating or not. The Building and Environment study shows that a balanced layout with wall displays and perhaps an accent wall can increase student progress by 23%.

Desk Arrangement

How desks or seating options are arranged has a significant influence on student engagement and the prevalence of active learning. In the Steelcase study, both students and faculty experienced over 30% more engagement in classrooms with new desk configurations over the old standard of traditional rows.

The most impactful desk arrangements are designed with collaboration and flexibility in mind. Desks and chairs should be easily moveable-consider options with wheels on the bottom-to accommodate any given learning scenario, from small group collaboration to larger group learning labs or independent work.

Light

Industrial-style fluorescent lights are unattractive and, worse, may interfere with student learning. In particular, students with autism or sensitive hearing might find the buzzing of fluorescents distracting.

Natural light is ideal for classroom environments. In fact, students in classrooms with big windows and daylight achieve 20% faster progress in reading and math, according to a Heschong Mahone study cited in ScienceDirect.

Teachers whose classrooms don't have windows can use lamps with natural light bulbs to create a similar effect.

What's the importance of seeing the classroom from a student's perspective?

Students don't see the world through the same lens as adults. That's especially true for young students, whose physical smallness means they experience the spaces around them from an entirely different perspective than tall "grown-ups."

Educators should spend time in their classrooms looking at each aspect of design from a student's point of view. What's it like to sit where students sit and work for extended periods of time? Can students see what they need to from where they're seated? What distractions are around? Does the room look too busy? Too dull?

In addition to this exercise, teachers can also get students directly involved in classroom design. Ask students' opinions and get them to help rearrange and redesign the classroom.

Ready to take advantage of the benefits of classroom design?

If you're ready to revamp your classroom or the learning environments in your school, let us help. Our designers can craft a plan to create the best possible classroom environment for your students. Schedule an appointment with one of our specialists by calling 877.779.3409, or fill out our online form for more information.

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For people in the education field, student outcomes are the most important indicator of success. Practically everything revolves around boosting student learning achievements, including funding, professional development for teachers, the implementation of standardized tests and enrichment or remediation opportunities for students. Unfortunately, classroom design-which has a significant impact on learning outcomes-is often an afterthought.

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Five Behavior Strategies to Support Universal Behavior Characteristics 

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Five Behavior Strategies to Support Universal Behavior Characteristics 

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Positive behavior strategies adapt behavior as a way of communication (Morin, 2022, para. 4). Positive behavior strategies "are evidence-based, proactive approaches to changing challenging student behavior" (Morin, 2022, para.1).
According to Morin (2022), A teacher can apply positive behavior strategies by doing simple things like,

"Create a classroom layout that supports students.

Post and define positive behavior expectations.

Explicitly teach behavior expectations.

Have systems to respond to behavior

Partner with families" (para.11).

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Positive behavior strategies are evidence-based, proactive approaches to changing challenging student behavior. Some examples of positive behavior strategies are pre-correcting and prompting and nonverbal signals.

There's a lot to think about when it comes to teaching. You plan and deliver lessons to cover the curriculum. You adjust your lesson plans to meet your students' needs. On top of it all, you manage student behavior.

You're not alone if you feel like managing behavior sometimes gets in the way of teaching. That's where positive behavior strategies come in. These strategies are also known as positive behavior supports, or PBS.

Why use positive behavior strategies?

Positive behavior strategies encourage you to see behavior as a form of communication. Every behavior sends a message about what a student needs. Some messages are easy to read. Some need more deciphering. (In those cases, a behavior specialist, a school psychologist, or other colleagues can help.)

Once you understand the message behind the behavior, you can better support students. As Jerome Schultz, PhD, puts it, "If you can read the need, you can meet the need."

Instead of reacting to challenging behaviors, you can proactively reduce them. Using positive behavior strategies can help you:

Build a trusting relationship between teachers, students, and families.

Instead of seeing behavior as a problem, you'll show empathy by looking at students with compassionate curiosity. With this view, you can shift your focus from "fixing" students to understanding them. You can also develop a more collaborative relationship with students by working together to understand when and under what circumstances a behavior occurs.

Teach and reinforce new skills.

Once you understand why a student behaves a certain way, you can respond more effectively. You can teach new behaviors that serve the same purpose. Many social-emotional learning programs incorporate specific strategies for teaching behaviors, like how to follow directions or ignore peer distractions.

Prompt you to consider multiple reasons for behavioral difficulties.

Students might not have the language or communication skills to express what they need. Or the behavior could be a way to avoid a difficult situation or task. Some students behave in negative ways to get attention or to get what they want. In other cases, they may be reacting to an environment that isn't supporting their learning. Or there could be a cultural difference. This may prompt you to take a culturally responsive approach to analyzing the behavior and your response to it.

As a classroom teacher, you may not have all the time, tools, or training to look at student behavior in depth. You can work with other school staff to do a functional behavior assessment (FBA). The specialist who does the FBA can work with teachers to create an appropriate behavior intervention plan.

What do positive behavior strategies look like?

Explore examples of positive behavior strategies:

To see a positive behavior strategy in action, watch this classroom video from Edutopia.

How do I put positive behavior strategies into practice?

Handling challenging behavior can be frustrating. Use this chart to reflect on where you are in your practice and where you might focus your next efforts.

Create a classroom layout that supports students.

Provide flexible spaces like a reading corner to support different types of learning.

Position furniture to ensure smooth transitions.

Organize materials in safe and accessible ways.

Seat students near peers who model appropriate behavior and who can ignore inappropriate behavior.

Seat students near you so you can use strategies like active supervision and pre-correction.

Post and define positive behavior expectations.

With your students, co-create classroom expectations that are observable, measurable, positive, and understandable.

Limit expectations to three to five statements.

Explicitly teach behavior expectations.

Plan, teach, and practice expected behaviors.

Plan, teach, and practice routines and procedures.

Reinforce and re-teach routines, procedures, and expectations throughout the year.

Establish ways to monitor your classroom and frequently check in with students.

Have systems to respond to behavior.

Collect data to look at the causes of inappropriate behavior.

Collaborate with specialists to use data to create supports for individual students.

Explicitly teach and reinforce new skills aligned to appropriate behavior.

Set competence anchors for students.

Partner with families.

Gather information about students from families and caregivers.

Engage the family when a student demonstrates challenging behavior.

Follow up with families to share when a student is demonstrating positive behavior.

How can families support this at home?

Behavior expectations might be different at home than they are at school. It's important for families to know what's expected in your classroom. Talk with families about the behavioral expectations in the classroom and the language you use to talk about behavior.

This will help families understand new phrases they hear or behavior changes they see. Also, families may want to use the same expectations at home. Share with them these parent-child behavior contracts to get started.

Additional resources and research

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Positive behavior strategies: A guide for teachers

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Positive behavior strategies can help educators support students with challenging behaviors. Get examples of positive behavior strategies and tips on how to implement them in this guide for teachers.

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Five Universal Behavior Characteristics for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

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Five Universal Behavior Characteristics for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

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Autism spectrum disorder can affect the ways students socialize and behave. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2022), "People with ASD often have problems with social communication and interaction and restricted or repetitive behaviors or interests" (para. 1).
Autism spectrum disorder can also impact the way students learn, "People with ASD may also have different ways of learning, moving, or paying attention" (para. 1)
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2022), other characteristics include "Unusual mood or emotional reactions, hyperactivity, and or inattentive behavior" (para. 4).

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability caused by differences in the brain. People with ASD often have problems with social communication and interaction, and restricted or repetitive behaviors or interests. People with ASD may also have different ways of learning, moving, or paying attention. It is important to note that some people without ASD might also have some of these symptoms. But for people with ASD, these characteristics can make life very challenging.
Learn more about ASD
Social Communication and Interaction Skills

Social communication and interaction skills can be challenging for people with ASD.

Examples of social communication and social interaction characteristics related to ASD can include

Avoids or does not keep eye contact

Does not respond to name by 9 months of age

Does not show facial expressions like happy, sad, angry, and surprised by 9 months of age

Does not play simple interactive games like pat-a-cake by 12 months of age

Uses few or no gestures by 12 months of age (for example, does not wave goodbye)

Does not share interests with others by 15 months of age (for example, shows you an object that they like)

Does not point to show you something interesting by 18 months of age

Does not notice when others are hurt or upset by 24 months of age

Does not notice other children and join them in play by 36 months of age

Does not pretend to be something else, like a teacher or superhero, during play by 48 months of age

Does not sing, dance, or act for you by 60 months of age

Restricted or Repetitive Behaviors or Interests

People with ASD have behaviors or interests that can seem unusual. These behaviors or interests set ASD apart from conditions defined by problems with social communication and interaction only.

Examples of restricted or repetitive behaviors and interests related to ASD can include

Lines up toys or other objects and gets upset when order is changed

Repeats words or phrases over and over (called echolalia)

Plays with toys the same way every time

Is focused on parts of objects (for example, wheels)

Gets upset by minor changes

Has obsessive interests

Must follow certain routines

Flaps hands, rocks body, or spins self in circles

Has unusual reactions to the way things sound, smell, taste, look, or feel

Other Characteristics

Most people with ASD have other related characteristics. These might include

Delayed language skills

Delayed movement skills

Delayed cognitive or learning skills

Hyperactive, impulsive, and/or inattentive behavior

Epilepsy or seizure disorder

Unusual eating and sleeping habits

Gastrointestinal issues (for example, constipation)

Unusual mood or emotional reactions

Anxiety, stress, or excessive worry

Lack of fear or more fear than expected

It is important to note that children with ASD may not have all or any of the behaviors listed as examples here.
Learn more about screening and diagnosis of ASD Learn more about treating the symptoms of ASD

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Signs & Symptoms | Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) | NCBDDD | CDC

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Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are a group of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. CDC is working to find out how many children have ASDs, discover the risk factors, and raise awareness of the signs.

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According to Mayo Clinic (2022), "Autism spectrum disorder is a condition related to brain development that impacts how a person perceives and socializes with others causing problems in social interaction and communication" (para.1).

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Overview

Autism spectrum disorder is a condition related to brain development that impacts how a person perceives and socializes with others, causing problems in social interaction and communication. The disorder also includes limited and repetitive patterns of behavior. The term "spectrum" in autism spectrum disorder refers to the wide range of symptoms and severity.

Autism spectrum disorder includes conditions that were previously considered separate - autism, Asperger's syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder and an unspecified form of pervasive developmental disorder. Some people still use the term "Asperger's syndrome," which is generally thought to be at the mild end of autism spectrum disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder begins in early childhood and eventually causes problems functioning in society - socially, in school and at work, for example. Often children show symptoms of autism within the first year. A small number of children appear to develop normally in the first year, and then go through a period of regression between 18 and 24 months of age when they develop autism symptoms.

While there is no cure for autism spectrum disorder, intensive, early treatment can make a big difference in the lives of many children.

Symptoms

Some children show signs of autism spectrum disorder in early infancy, such as reduced eye contact, lack of response to their name or indifference to caregivers. Other children may develop normally for the first few months or years of life, but then suddenly become withdrawn or aggressive or lose language skills they've already acquired. Signs usually are seen by age 2 years.

Each child with autism spectrum disorder is likely to have a unique pattern of behavior and level of severity - from low functioning to high functioning.

Some children with autism spectrum disorder have difficulty learning, and some have signs of lower than normal intelligence. Other children with the disorder have normal to high intelligence - they learn quickly, yet have trouble communicating and applying what they know in everyday life and adjusting to social situations.

Because of the unique mixture of symptoms in each child, severity can sometimes be difficult to determine. It's generally based on the level of impairments and how they impact the ability to function.

Below are some common signs shown by people who have autism spectrum disorder.

Social communication and interaction

A child or adult with autism spectrum disorder may have problems with social interaction and communication skills, including any of these signs:

Fails to respond to his or her name or appears not to hear you at times

Resists cuddling and holding, and seems to prefer playing alone, retreating into his or her own world

Has poor eye contact and lacks facial expression

Doesn't speak or has delayed speech, or loses previous ability to say words or sentences

Can't start a conversation or keep one going, or only starts one to make requests or label items

Speaks with an abnormal tone or rhythm and may use a singsong voice or robot-like speech

Repeats words or phrases verbatim, but doesn't understand how to use them

Doesn't appear to understand simple questions or directions

Doesn't express emotions or feelings and appears unaware of others' feelings

Doesn't point at or bring objects to share interest

Inappropriately approaches a social interaction by being passive, aggressive or disruptive

Has difficulty recognizing nonverbal cues, such as interpreting other people's facial expressions, body postures or tone of voice

Patterns of behavior

A child or adult with autism spectrum disorder may have limited, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests or activities, including any of these signs:

Performs repetitive movements, such as rocking, spinning or hand flapping

Performs activities that could cause self-harm, such as biting or head-banging

Develops specific routines or rituals and becomes disturbed at the slightest change

Has problems with coordination or has odd movement patterns, such as clumsiness or walking on toes, and has odd, stiff or exaggerated body language

Is fascinated by details of an object, such as the spinning wheels of a toy car, but doesn't understand the overall purpose or function of the object

Is unusually sensitive to light, sound or touch, yet may be indifferent to pain or temperature

Doesn't engage in imitative or make-believe play

Fixates on an object or activity with abnormal intensity or focus

Has specific food preferences, such as eating only a few foods, or refusing foods with a certain texture

As they mature, some children with autism spectrum disorder become more engaged with others and show fewer disturbances in behavior. Some, usually those with the least severe problems, eventually may lead normal or near-normal lives. Others, however, continue to have difficulty with language or social skills, and the teen years can bring worse behavioral and emotional problems.

When to see a doctor

Babies develop at their own pace, and many don't follow exact timelines found in some parenting books. But children with autism spectrum disorder usually show some signs of delayed development before age 2 years.

If you're concerned about your child's development or you suspect that your child may have autism spectrum disorder, discuss your concerns with your doctor. The symptoms associated with the disorder can also be linked with other developmental disorders.

Signs of autism spectrum disorder often appear early in development when there are obvious delays in language skills and social interactions. Your doctor may recommend developmental tests to identify if your child has delays in cognitive, language and social skills, if your child:

Doesn't respond with a smile or happy expression by 6 months

Doesn't mimic sounds or facial expressions by 9 months

Doesn't babble or coo by 12 months

Doesn't gesture - such as point or wave - by 14 months

Doesn't say single words by 16 months

Doesn't play "make-believe" or pretend by 18 months

Doesn't say two-word phrases by 24 months

Loses language skills or social skills at any age

Causes

Autism spectrum disorder has no single known cause. Given the complexity of the disorder, and the fact that symptoms and severity vary, there are probably many causes. Both genetics and environment may play a role.

Genetics. Several different genes appear to be involved in autism spectrum disorder. For some children, autism spectrum disorder can be associated with a genetic disorder, such as Rett syndrome or fragile X syndrome. For other children, genetic changes (mutations) may increase the risk of autism spectrum disorder. Still other genes may affect brain development or the way that brain cells communicate, or they may determine the severity of symptoms. Some genetic mutations seem to be inherited, while others occur spontaneously.

Environmental factors. Researchers are currently exploring whether factors such as viral infections, medications or complications during pregnancy, or air pollutants play a role in triggering autism spectrum disorder.

No link between vaccines and autism spectrum disorder

One of the greatest controversies in autism spectrum disorder centers on whether a link exists between the disorder and childhood vaccines. Despite extensive research, no reliable study has shown a link between autism spectrum disorder and any vaccines. In fact, the original study that ignited the debate years ago has been retracted due to poor design and questionable research methods.

Avoiding childhood vaccinations can place your child and others in danger of catching and spreading serious diseases, including whooping cough (pertussis), measles or mumps.

Risk factors

The number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder is rising. It's not clear whether this is due to better detection and reporting or a real increase in the number of cases, or both.

Autism spectrum disorder affects children of all races and nationalities, but certain factors increase a child's risk. These may include:

Your child's sex. Boys are about four times more likely to develop autism spectrum disorder than girls are.

Family history. Families who have one child with autism spectrum disorder have an increased risk of having another child with the disorder. It's also not uncommon for parents or relatives of a child with autism spectrum disorder to have minor problems with social or communication skills themselves or to engage in certain behaviors typical of the disorder.

Other disorders. Children with certain medical conditions have a higher than normal risk of autism spectrum disorder or autism-like symptoms. Examples include fragile X syndrome, an inherited disorder that causes intellectual problems; tuberous sclerosis, a condition in which benign tumors develop in the brain; and Rett syndrome, a genetic condition occurring almost exclusively in girls, which causes slowing of head growth, intellectual disability and loss of purposeful hand use.

Extremely preterm babies. Babies born before 26 weeks of gestation may have a greater risk of autism spectrum disorder.

Parents' ages. There may be a connection between children born to older parents and autism spectrum disorder, but more research is necessary to establish this link.

Complications

Problems with social interactions, communication and behavior can lead to:

Problems in school and with successful learning

Employment problems

Inability to live independently

Social isolation

Stress within the family

Victimization and being bullied

Prevention

There's no way to prevent autism spectrum disorder, but there are treatment options. Early diagnosis and intervention is most helpful and can improve behavior, skills and language development. However, intervention is helpful at any age. Though children usually don't outgrow autism spectrum disorder symptoms, they may learn to function well.

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Autism spectrum disorder - Symptoms and causes

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Autism spectrum disorder is a condition related to brain development that impacts how a person perceives and socializes with others, causing problems in social interaction and communication. The disorder also includes limited and repetitive patterns of behavior. The term "spectrum" in autism spectrum disorder refers to the wide range of symptoms and severity.