Significance to Me
For the past two years I have worked as a
behavioural interventionist (BI), working with children who have ASD. As a BI,
I worked in children’s homes, assisting the child and family in
individualized goals to help with the child’s behaviours in social settings
such as school, community events, etc. Since my work with these children mainly
consisted of work in the controlled and structured environment of their homes,
I began to wonder what ways the children’s behaviour changed once they went to
school and how teachers interacted and worked with these children. Since my BI
sessions are so controlled, children with ASD often have more behavioural issues
at their schools then they do during my sessions. Because of this knowledge, I was
curious to find out how teachers can create a safe and controlled environment
for children with an ASD that allows the students to feel included in the
classroom as well as contribute positively to the classroom environment.
The question, “how can teacher create an inclusive environment for children with ASD” arose because of the decreasing number of Educational Assistants (EA) in classrooms in my practicum school. In my practicum school there is a class that has two students diagnosed with an ASD. In early October, there was an EA that spent the majority of the school day with one of these students, but due to cuts in staffing, the support in this classroom was split with another class, leaving both students with an ASD without support for half of the day. I became interested in learning how teachers without or with little support from EAs can meet the needs of all students in the classroom, creating a classroom environment that is inclusive to all children in the classroom, including those with an ASD.
The question, “how can teacher create an inclusive environment for children with ASD” arose because of the decreasing number of Educational Assistants (EA) in classrooms in my practicum school. In my practicum school there is a class that has two students diagnosed with an ASD. In early October, there was an EA that spent the majority of the school day with one of these students, but due to cuts in staffing, the support in this classroom was split with another class, leaving both students with an ASD without support for half of the day. I became interested in learning how teachers without or with little support from EAs can meet the needs of all students in the classroom, creating a classroom environment that is inclusive to all children in the classroom, including those with an ASD.
What I have Learned from seeking an answer to this question
In exploring this question, I have learned that there are many different resources and people that teachers can turn to when creating an inclusive classroom for children with ASD. I began by looking at peer-reviewed journal articles and books, but soon found that there are many other, less formal resources available about creating inclusive classrooms for children with ASD. These informal resources included blogs created by teachers that work with children who have ASD. There are many avenues that teachers can use to begin their movement into creating inclusive classrooms including talking to parents, organizing their physical classroom, educating the class on ASD and talking to other supportive adults.
ASD stands for autism spectrum disorder, and as a disorder on a spectrum, there are many, many different ways that ASD can be defined. There is not one child with an ASD that acts or responds the same ways as another and therefore there cannot be single way that an educator can create an inclusive classroom for children with ASD. In finding just a small handful of methods teachers can use to create an inclusive classroom for children with ASD, my question still remains and will continue to remain unanswered, as I know there are still a plethora of methods and innovative ideas that can continually be added to this project.
Further areas of inquiry I would like to explore through this website are:
- other methods teachers can help support children's development of social skills (i.e. Lunchtime social skills clubs such as Leah Mumford's Lunch Bunch program)
- classroom organization that can help students with ASD (i.e. the benefits of classroom arrangements such as Michele Smyth, administrator of "New Adventures in First Grade", classroom.)
- adult support that educators can turn to within the school system
ASD stands for autism spectrum disorder, and as a disorder on a spectrum, there are many, many different ways that ASD can be defined. There is not one child with an ASD that acts or responds the same ways as another and therefore there cannot be single way that an educator can create an inclusive classroom for children with ASD. In finding just a small handful of methods teachers can use to create an inclusive classroom for children with ASD, my question still remains and will continue to remain unanswered, as I know there are still a plethora of methods and innovative ideas that can continually be added to this project.
Further areas of inquiry I would like to explore through this website are:
- other methods teachers can help support children's development of social skills (i.e. Lunchtime social skills clubs such as Leah Mumford's Lunch Bunch program)
- classroom organization that can help students with ASD (i.e. the benefits of classroom arrangements such as Michele Smyth, administrator of "New Adventures in First Grade", classroom.)
- adult support that educators can turn to within the school system