Specific application: Asperger Syndrome
- Consider the child with asperger syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder, a pervasive developmental/personality disorder characterized by significant problems empathizing, socializing and communicating with others, and obsessional attitudes or behavior with anxiety about change.
- The incidence of this condition is about 3 in 1000 children, 4:1 male to female ratio
- These children are stuck at all stages of STOP and THINK and DO since they have difficulty
- picking up social cues including feelings even when they look and listen
- communicating their own feelings and needs appropriately
- thinking of options from within a very narrow, rigid comfort zone
- connecting behavior and consequences which limits their choices of action
- fine-tuning their behavior to appear appropriate and skilled
- However, children with asperger syndrome do respond to the STOP THINK DO method of social skills training and behavior management, with some modifications
- the basic social skills of looking and listening for cues and feelings are emphasized, with rules linking particular facial expressions and body gestures to particular feeling words
- verbal and non-verbal conversational skills are directly taught including eye contact, a pleasant face, asking questions about the other person to begin and repair conversations, appropriate proximity, plus techniques to help normalize speech fluency and inflection
- less emphasis is placed on brainstorming strategies at THINK which leads them off on unrelated or self defensive tangents, or outside of their comfort zone
- more emphasis is put on STOP to DO steps, clearly linking the specific problem and the choice of consequences which will directly effect them
- they need definition, order and clarification about how they will be effected personally if they do not change their behavior, rather than discussions about how their behavior effects others since such empathy is lacking in these children
- The school system also needs to be flexible in terms of consequences eg, removing a child with asperger syndrome from a problem situation may be a seen as reinforcement by the child who likes to do his own thing or it may be excessively traumatic if the child obsessively believes he should be with the group at all times. However, most autistic children need a space to which they may withdraw if they feel anxious or overwhelmed, especially towards the end of the lengthy lunch break. Alternative activities eg chess, library, music club may be arranged for them, in a small group if possible.
- Moreover, children with asperger syndrome often do not respond to the usual motivators for learning like wanting to please their teacher, do the same as classmates or achieve in areas which are not within their narrow band of interest.
- They do respond well to the STOP THINK DO approach to motivate their learning since
- it is structured, clear and pre-planned so they know what is expected from them
- learning plans may be drawn up as a checklist or set of rules to satisfy their need for order
- consequences may be very explicit eg, work needs to be completed in the appropriate lesson or during computer time, if the child is particularly fixated on computer
- expectations regarding yard behavior may also be included in the checklist eg, stay away from a particular problem area or person in the yard and earn television time
- pet topics may be used to encourage formal academic skills eg, a child fixated on motorbikes may develop maths and problem solving skills through calculations about motorbikes, and reading, writing and research skills around motorbike topics
- Many children with asperger syndrome also have attention deficit disorder and/or dyslexic learning difficulties which need to be addressed, and remediation for these weaknesses included in the STOP THINK DO learning plan.
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