Autism Spectrum and Communication disorders in School.
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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that can lead to
significant social, communication, and behavioral difficulties. Students with ASD can have a
variety of symptoms, levels of impairment, and skills. All these symptoms are referred to as the
"spectrum." ASD can affect children in a variety of ways, ranging from moderate to severe.
Children with ASD share some symptoms, such as poor nonverbal communication skills,
repetitive language, social interaction difficulties, and a lack of interest in activities (Hyman et
al., 2020). The severity of the symptoms can alter over time.
Teachers at School and parents at home need to help the affected children attain their
daily needs that are difficult to do because of the disorder. Some of the requirements that must be
considered for such children include instructional needs in School, academics needs, behavioral
needs, verbal communication needs, emotional needs, and personality identity needs (Hyman et
al., 2020). Therefore, these needs are crucial to consider when working with such children in
School to avoid psychological torture, and by doing so, the children's prosperity is enhanced.
Teaching children with ASD is essential to help them enhance their communication skills
to attain their full potential and meet their emotional and personality demands. There are various
approaches to treating children with ASD. Beginning treatment at preschool age is the most
effective treatment, and it should be tailored to the child's interest’s age. These approaches
should aim at the child's communication abilities as well as their conduct. Highly structured,
specialized programs work successfully for most children with ASD. The therapy program
should include; primary caregivers, family members, parents since they contribute a lot to a
child's life.
Teachers at School must employ various interventions to ensure that they meet the needs
of children with an autism spectrum disorder. Using diagrammatic pictures and demonstrations
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in class will help the child with ASD meet instructional needs. Statistics have shown that
children with ASD learn better when such demonstrations and photographs are used in the
classroom (Marsh et al., 2017). Provision of visual cues and limiting long verbal instructions by
teachers in School will also support the child with ASD. Usually, these children fail to
commentate long verbal instructions.
Using written instruction most of the time in the classroom is another strategy that
teachers can utilize to ensure that the academic needs of children with ASD are achieved. In
most cases, children with ASD understand better through written instruction because they can
read and write their responses since they cannot communicate their opinions. Furthermore, the
use of positive rewards and limiting distractions is another intervention that a teacher in School
can implement to behavioral needs of the child or the student with such disorder. Statistics have
shown that positive rewards for positive behavior performed by a child will tend to improve
behavior to the acceptable ones (Marsh et al., 2017).
To conclude, ASD is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting some children, and
individual children tend to display features of these disorders differently. It is a must for teachers
at School to be aware of such children's characteristics and develop appropriate plans to help
them accomplish their learning activities like other children in School.
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