Helping Children with Autism Learn: Treatment Approaches for Parents and Professionals

513 Pages·2003·30.28 MB·English

by  Bryna Siegel

Helping

Children with Autism

Learn
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Helping

Children with Autism

Learn

TREATMENT APPROACHES
FOR PARENTS AND PROFESSIONALS
Bryna Siegel, Ph.D.
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
2003
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Siegel, Bryna.
Helping children with autism learn : treatment approaches for parents and professionals/
Bryna Siegel.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-513811-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Autistic children—Education. 2. Learning disabilities—Treatment.
3. Communicative disorders in children—Treatment. I. Title.
LC4717 .S54 2003
371.94—dc21
2002151673
ISBN 0-19-513811-2
3 5 7 9 8 6 4
Book design by planettheo.com
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
To My Beginning:
My Mother
To My Foundation:
David
And for thosefor Whom I do My Work:
All the Families of Children with Autism
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
Foreword xi
Introduction 1
PART I
The Fundamentals of Autistic Learning Styles 11
CHAPTER ON E
Understanding the Origins of Autism and Its Meaning
for Development 13
CHAPTE R TW O
When Atypical Development and Typical Development
Cross Paths 41
CHAPTE R THREE
Autistic Learning Disabilities Defined: How Strengths
Compensate for Weaknesses and Form Autism 77
PART II
Autistic Learning Disabilities and Autistic Learning Styles:
What Makes the World of the Autistic Child Different?.... 103
CHAPTER FOUR
Social Autistic Learning Disabilities:
Description and Treatment 105
CHAPTE R FIVE
Autistic Learning Disabilities of Communication 149
CHAPTE R SI X
Autistic Learning Disabilities of Communication:
Treatments for the Pre-Verbal and Non-Verbal Child 177
CHAPTER SEVE N
Autistic Learning Disabilities of Communication:
Treatments for the Verbal Child 207
CHAPTER EIGH T
Autistic Learning Disabilities in Relating to the
World of Objects: Description and Treatment 231
CHAPTER NIN E
Autistic Learning Disabilities and the Skills of Daily Living 271
PART III
Methods of Teaching Children with Autism:
How They Address Autistic Learning Disabilities
and Autistic Learning Styles 305
CHAPTE R TEN
Applied Behavior Analysis and Discrete Trial Training:
Separating Methods from Curriculum 311
CHAPTER ELEVE N
The TEACCH Curriculum 353
CHAPTE R TWLEVE
Mainstreaming that Works: Too Accommodating
or Really Including? 377
CHAPTE R THIRTEE N
Model Programs and Exemplary Classes:
What Can We Learn? 405
CHAPTE R FOURTEE N
Putting the 'I' Back in IEP: Creating Individualized,
Meaningful Learning Experiences 435
Further Readings for Teachers, Parents, and Professionals 471
Appendix A: Autistic Learning Disabilities Inventory 479
Index 483
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In the eight years since the publication of The World of the Autistic Child:
Understanding and Treating Autistic Spectrum Disorders, my view of autism has
been expanded and enriched by many opportunities I've had to travel and speak
to groups of parents and educational, medical, and mental health professionals.
I've been honored to have the chance to share ideas with teachers and their
paraprofessional aides, speech and language therapists and occupational thera­
pists, school and clinical psychologists, child psychiatrists and pediatricians,
social workers, and infant educators. We live in a fortunate society indeed,
where so many people can be dedicated to helping children who are among the
hardest to reach. I've been touched by everyone who is trying to help. I've had
the chance to see numerous schools—many, many classrooms—and to watch
teachers, therapists, and tutors doing all sorts of work. I've seen and heard great
ideas for treatment programs and seen some incredibly gifted teachers and
therapists in action.
I'm a pragmatist. If I see something that works, I pass it on. If something
works because it makes sense, that's good. I've never been much attracted to
things that aren't common sense. That's why I prefer to rely on science when
it's available. The best research results almost always make common sense once
they are discovered. In this book I have had to rely a lot on what I've experienced,
somewhat on theory, and to a lesser extent (because there isn't much) on
evidence-based research. I have tried to gather together all these ways of
understanding autism to convey an understanding of the disorder that is
recognizable and coherent to my research colleagues but, more important, so
that the information is usable for the folks doing the hard work—those spending
day after day with the children with autism and trying to raise them in as the
best way possible.
My work is made possible by several people. First of all, my husband, David
Bradlow, tolerates the large space in my life that autism can occupy. He is an
incredible sounding board when I need to talk over ideas. He has an accute ear
and an articulate voice. He brings a fresh perspective when I am bogged down
with how to explain something.
My life at work is made possible by those who work with me, support me,
and endure my comings and goings and my inability to keep up with my voice