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Attribution, Advocacy, and Accountability: Supporting All Students with ASD

Attribution, Advocacy, and Accountability: Supporting All Students with ASD. Introductions. Stephanie Dyer Gina Sanderson Maureen Ziegler. Complexity. Perhaps student profiles and behaviors are becoming more complex… The Real Question… What is your professional and ethical responsibility?.

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Attribution, Advocacy, and Accountability: Supporting All Students with ASD

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  1. Attribution, Advocacy, and Accountability: Supporting All Students with ASD

  2. Introductions Stephanie Dyer Gina Sanderson Maureen Ziegler

  3. Complexity • Perhaps student profiles and behaviors are becoming more complex… The Real Question… • What is your professional and ethical responsibility?

  4. Activity: Conversation without looking at the person’s eyes Understanding Asperger - Research • Break in the brain • Cannot figure it out • Cognitive ability does not = social skill development • Not holding back on social skills

  5. Aspergers Aspergers – Seeking guidance from someone who probably knows what to do is usually not a first or even a second thought. The student with Aspergers might be sitting next to someone who could obviously help but appears blinkered and determined to solve the problem by himself. Atwood, 2007

  6. Fat lady in the grocery store Student with Aspergers remarks in his usual tone of voice and volume, “That lady is fat and needs to go on a diet” The child’s opinion is that she should be grateful for the observation and advice, the likelihood that his mother will be embarrassed or the woman would be offended at such a rude comment is not part of the thinking process. Atwood, 2007

  7. Social Functioning “People expect cognition and social functioning to be equally developed. When kids with Asperger’s Syndrome experience difficulty they [public] wrongly assume it is deliberate misconduct.”(A. Klin and F. Volkmar, 1997)

  8. Making Associations – Right or Wrong

  9. Misheard Song Lyrics

  10. Create rigid rule structures to make order in ambiguity • Playing with toys for young children and the child molester • “NO LEFT TURNS!” • Men go to bars and women are maids • “Jocks”, “People that don’t make good decisions” and “friends” • Pass four red cars and it’s a good day • Blue gel pen = good assignment • Grocery Store Scenario • Exchanging Christmas presents

  11. Eric Courchesnewww.autismsandiego.com • Brain Research • Dr. Eric Courchesne explains the underlying brain biology of autism

  12. BRAIN research . . . Looking at brain differences Progression of Etiological Theories

  13. Cerebellum • Balance & coordination • Modulating sensory input • Integrating motor & sensory information • Smaller or sudden overgrowth that decreases

  14. Purkinje Neurons

  15. Limbic System

  16. Brain Development

  17. Brain Connections Columbia University Medical Center: Meds to restore normal pruning in mouse model (Neuron)

  18. Amygdala-Brain’s Fear Center • November 22, 2006: Study (Davidson, Univ. of Wisconsin) confirms reduced size of amygdala in most socially withdrawn individuals with ASD. • Starts hyperactive and enlarged • Shrinks over time (toxic adaptation) which correlates with length of eye contact and general fear of, withdrawal from, people.

  19. Amygdala, Cont. • Small amygdala: significantly slower in identification of happy, angry, sad facial expressions. • Spent least amount of time looking at eyes relative to other facial regions. • Smallest amygdala: 40% longer to recognize emotional expressions. • Largest amygdala: looked at eyes 4 times longer than smaller amygdala.

  20. Cerebrum (Cerebral Cortex) Executive Functions examples: • Reasoning • Planning • Problem solving • Judgment • Organization

  21. Attention • Studies have suggested at least 75% of children with Aspergers also have a profile indicative of ADHD. • Difficulty with four aspects of attention: • Ability to sustain attention • Attention to relevant information • Shifting attention • Storing/encoding information (episodic vs. semantic memory) Attwood, 2007

  22. Middle School and older: Additional difficulties with: organization and planning self-reflection and self-monitoring (mental conversations) time management and prioritizing understanding abstract concepts weak central coherence Executive FunctioningResearch confirms that some children, but especially adolescents and adults with AS, have impaired executive functioning. Elementary: Difficulty with: • Inhibition (age 8) • working memory • using new strategies Attwood, 2007

  23. Executive Function

  24. Corpus Collosum

  25. Neurons • Mirror Neurons: A study by UCLA neuroscientists (Dapretto et al) featuring functional MRI suggests that mirror neurons help people understand the intentions of others – a key component to social interaction. Faulty? Not cued into them? • Cell-Adhesion Molecules: Help brain cells connect (Hakonarson, 2009, Center for Applied Genomics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia)

  26. Brain Patterns Resting-state brain studies are important because that is when patterns emerge spontaneously, allowing us to see how various brain areas naturally connect and synchronize their activity Nature Neuroscience, Hahamy et al

  27. What Do You See? • From a young age, the average, typical person's brain networks get molded by…shared experiences that could make synchronization patterns more similar to each other • It is possible that in ASD, as interactions with the environment are disrupted, each one develops a more uniquely individualistic brain organization pattern

  28. Neocortex Information

  29. Conclusions: • EEG has identified ASP group as within the ASD population…therefore, there is justification to consider ASP as broadly belonging within Autism Spectrum Disorders • Also evidence that ASP can be physiologically distinguished from ASD subjects… “distinct entity within the higher functioning tail of the autism distribution curve.”

  30. Yawning Study Current results suggest that contagious yawning is impaired in ASD, which may relate to their impairment in empathy. It supports the claim that contagious yawning is based on the capacity for empathy. Senju, et al, 2007

  31. Trust Think about the different relationships that you have… Talk at your table: • What conditions or variables create trust within your relationships? • What conditions or variables create distrust?

  32. Typical Development of Trust

  33. Simple View of How We Build Trust:requires one or both… Interactions • Interactions with each other that are recurring, intimate, positive, low-risk Shared Understanding • Shared understanding of the person, place, feeling, sensation, event or thing • Ex: Brain surgeon– element of trust because of position they hold & understanding that comes with that position In absence of shared understanding, interaction is the way to go!

  34. Trust-building Interactions • Recurring: You need predictability and familiarity in order to make a judgement of trustworthiness • Intimate: Interaction is personal and uniquely tailored to a specific person • Positive: You come out of the interaction in a better state than when you entered. If you try something and it ends up in a negative result, trust was diminished, rather than built • Low-risk: In order to interact with something that you have low trust in, the interaction needs to be fairly low-risk (Adapted from Asperger Experts)

  35. Jonah’s Take on Trust Asking Jonah (middle school student with AS) whether there was anyone in school that he could trust: “Not a chance!” he said. When asked what it would take for him to make a new friend he could trust: “A year of knowing someone, and at least four visits at my house and the other person’s house.” (Prizant, Uniquely Human)

  36. Misunderstandings and Trust • Many people with AS routinely experience misunderstanding (e.g., actions of others, social nuances) • Their own behavior is regularly misunderstood by peers, educators, strangers, and even those close to them • The more often these misunderstandings occurs, the less the person with AS trusts people and the more likely he will shut down and disconnect (“Why should I try?”) (Prizant, Uniquely Human)

  37. Example of Miscommunication Brodie was told is he completed the seven assignments in the class he would pass the class. Brodie did complete the assignments and the teacher would not pass him because the assignments were late. He is now refusing to do any work. Teacher explained he should have been working all along and not save all the assignments until the end.

  38. Example of Inconsistent Direction Kayla as no idea when she will and will not be able to go to recess. If she doesn’t get her work done, then she is not allowed to go to recess unless the teacher is busy doing something else and then she can go to recess. It is not always about getting her work done…sometimes it’s about it took her too long to get ready. Kayla has no idea what the rules are around recess because they are inconsistent based on the staff need not the student need.

  39. Our Responsibility with Trust • It is essential for those of us in the lives of people with AS to make the extra effort to build trusting relationships • Rather than demanding or pressuring the person with autism to change, we must change first! • When we change, the person with autism changes too! • We have to create the recurring, intimate, positive, low-risk interactions (Prizant, Uniquely Human)

  40. Christmas Dance Recital • Long 2 hour recital • “This isn’t even a Christmas song!” • “What is the criteria for it to be a Christmas song?” • Has the word “Christmas” in it • Has “winter words” • Of course, if there are jingle bells • Kept track of how many met criteria for rest of recital on program

  41. Christmas Songs

  42. Jacob Loves French Fries • I am going out for lunch • “Do you want me to get your French Fries from Dunkin Donuts or Taco Bell?”

  43. Tone of Voice Infraction Log

  44. Susan • Wolves • Four Core Classes – Each Teacher Created a Wolf Activity • Bulletin Board • Question on Computer • Wilderness Magazine • Nothing • Pool

  45. Trust-building Strategies • Celebrate and focus on success (Can’t build trust when someone points out all the mistakes) • Be dependable, reliable, and clear • Acknowledge the person’s emotional state (allows us to alleviate rather than exacerbate stress – “formatting” the agitation) • Practice shared control to build self-determination (i.e., choices, a voice in planning schedules, activities, significant events)

  46. Repair vs anticipation strategies • Need both! • Teaching anticipation strategies cognitively – “Social Thinking” • Still going to make social mistakes, so have to have judgement-free repair strategies that move the student forward • Brandon & the tie/shredder • Isaac on the playground • NOT punitive responses

  47. Your Turn • As a team, work to develop one trust building strategy for your target student • When prompted, find someone from another team and share strategies with each other • Back at your team, talk about strategies that you heard from other teams • Adjust your plan based on knowledge gained

  48. Cognitive Differences • Cognitive development typically ranges from average to very superior IQ. • Difficulties may include: • Difficulty shifting attention • Difficulty processing two cognitive tasks simultaneously • Generalizing information • Retrieving information on demand • Developing problem-specific solutions • Difficulty with sense of time

  49. Two Cognitive Tasks REDBLUEBLACKYELLOWPINK GREENWHITEREDPURPLEORANGEBLUEBROWNGRAYPINKGREENBLUEBLACKYELLOW RED

  50. Problem and Solutions SOLUTION PROBLEM SOLUTION SOLUTION J.Janzen, Understanding the Nature of Autism

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