Service learning with autistic children: social integration and sensory management

Service Learning Journal: Autism Children/Teens

Service learning event

One often-overlooked factor regarding children with autism is the extent to which they can benefit from playing with their non-autistic peers. I have noticed that while any type of social play for children with autism has some benefits, sometimes when children with ASD play with one another, they can at times reinforce certain negative coping mechanisms. For example, having sensory issues is very common in children with autism. When one child screams when a balloon pops or when a noisy motorcycle runs by the service center, even if the other children do not initially react, they may began to do so simply because one child in the room is having a meltdown. All children with ASD have different sensory issues and sometimes they can acquire more rather than become more desensitized as a result when they only interact with their ASD peers.

Personal reflections

I think this underlines the value of mainstreaming children in at least some facets of their education. Yes, it is extremely important to have autism-specific treatment for children and to ensure that children with ASD have their social and academic deficits addressed. But it can also be useful to have children to play with non-autistic peers.

Analysis

Children with ASD are often very good at mirroring others and sometimes mirroring those without ASD can be useful in teaching children more appropriate social skills and coping mechanisms. At the service center, I think teachers can provide role models and mentors in terms of how to react in less extreme ways to sensory issues and to be more open and forthcoming to social overtures. They can also be helpful in showing children how to read people's emotions by being patient and understanding while still modeling socially normative behaviors.

Journal entry 2

Service learning event

One useful exercise for children with autism is the creation of a 'sensory table' in which children are able to taste, touch, and smell different items. This provides children with a way of dealing with their sensory-related issues in a safe space. For example, a child who is afraid to eat slippery food like Jell-O can at least touch the substance at the sensory table to begin to cope with this issue. Children can also touch things like balloons (which some are afraid of because of the sound they make popping) and rattle noisemakers, to grow more accustomed to the sound. Touching these items gives the children a sense of control and therefore a sense of confidence in their environment.

Personal reflections

Although sensory sensitivity is a difficult issue and there is no singular cure for it, I do find that exercises like the sensory table can be very useful to help children at least cope enough with sensory stimuli to the degree to which they are able to better handle themselves in normal, everyday activities like going shopping with their mother in the supermarket or accompanying the family to a baseball game. Desensitization to stimuli is also another useful exercise. With this approach, the child confronts the stimuli in a 'removed' fashion (such as watching a balloon pop on television); then watches someone else pop the balloon; and finally does so himself, if able to eradicate the fear. Not all children make it to the last step but most children who participate in some form of desensitization are at least better able to cope with the possibility of a disruption in their environment that would previously have meant an extreme reaction.

Analysis

I have noticed that children develop their own coping mechanisms to deal with unpleasant stimuli. Sometimes when things get noisy, children will instinctively go to the quiet corner and do things that calm them, like play with blocks, or pull a hoodie over their head. So long as the behaviors are not stereotyped or dangerous like head-banging, these can be productive solutions vs. screaming or needing to be removed from the situation entirely.

Journal 3

Service learning event

Although the fact that students have special needs is an important factor to remember when designing activities, it is equally important that the fact that children are children and that all children have the potential to grow is not forgotten. Doing activities like cooking simple foods, singing as a group, and doing simple manipulative exercises like jigsaw puzzles are all examples of activities that the children enjoy but which reinforce important skills like learning to cope with new sensations; how to work well with others; and how to manipulate objects.

Personal reflections

Activities for children with autism, in other words, do not necessarily have to be special or distinct vs. activities for children that are neurologically normal. What is essential is that the person managing and designing the exercise must remember that certain modifications must often be made and the person actually doing the exercise must keep in mind the special concerns and challenges of each student that is involved.

Service learning event

I have often heard that it is possible to get children with ASD excited about learning new things by connecting the learning activity to their special interests. For example, the child may be extremely excited about baseball; teaching the child math by using baseball-related examples is one way to stimulate his or her interest in the subject, even if the child is not innately fascinated by math. However, in a larger classroom environment of ASD children, this can be more challenging. Not all children with ASD have the same types of interests and it is necessary to modify one's educational approach to the entire classroom, not a single child.

Personal reflections

However, in certain instances when a child is struggling, individualizing the education and working one-on-one with the child may be necessary to achieve a breakthrough. One aspect of the ASD classroom I do like is that it allows teachers to have group and individualized strategies going on at the same time. Children with ASD require a great deal of flexibility and also many have good days and bad days.

Analysis

Teachers with the responsibilities of overseeing a mainstream classroom do not always have the luxury of offering differentiated instruction; or, if they do, it is a more general approach vs. The highly specific, interest-directed education that ASD children sometimes need. ASD children sometimes need the educator to take one step back with them before they can move two steps forward, regardless of what it says upon the official syllabus for the classroom.