Category Archives: The autistic child at school

Mar 03 2024
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Autism Spectrum & Career Excellence, Autistic and empathetic, Certified educational assistants on the job, teacher's aides, The autistic child at school

Innovative Approaches to Learning Disabilities.

Positive Aspects: Sheila’s Story continued.

This blog continues the story of Sheila, a Certified Educational Assistant. Because of her own autism and that of her son, along with the challenges her son faced in his early schooling, Sheila is empathetic and highly motivated to find individualized solutions for her students.  In this instance, she was working with a grade four female student who is unable to correctly add single digit numbers up to twenty without support. The story continues in Sheila’s own words:

I knew that teachers had tried picture math sheets, number lines, counting strips, base ten blocks, primary abacus, counters, ten frames, rote drills and more, all to no avail.

What else could there be? I turned it all over in my mind for about a day. What did the majority of these methods have in common? The answer – they used fine motor skills. What was the opposite of fine motor skills? Gross motor skills.

Walking, running, skipping, jumping, hopping are all examples of movements which use gross motor skills. How could I effectively apply that to addition?

My initial goal was for her to be able to complete a simple worksheet adding numbers to a sum no higher than 20 with 90% accuracy.

Hopping, jumping and skipping would become tiring very quickly and were not really compatible with a worksheet.

Walking seemed the most reasonable. I envisioned walking a number line with numbers up to 20 spaced a comfortable step apart.

This was going to take up a lot of room. Outside had the most space, but the weather was pretty wet so I found a section of the wall under the eaves that had no windows.

The number line was drawn in chalk and looked like a ladder with one side taken off. Numbers from 0 to 20 were written beside each rung.

Once the student had been shown the number line and what it represented, I had to teach her how to use it. I began with an equation my student already knew.

I asked her to stand at the bottom of the ladder on the “0” rung and said,

“We are going to add 1 + 1. So take a step to the line with the number 1.” She did. “Good”, I said, “Now, we are adding one more so we need to take one more step. Take a step to the next line. Good. Look at the number beside the line you’re standing on. What is it?”

“Two” she responded.

“What is 1+1?” I asked her.

“Two,” she quickly replied.

“Right! And what is the number beside the line you’re standing on?”

She looked down at the number then back at me and thoughtfully answered, “Two.”

We then repeated the procedure using 1+2, with the additional information that we always start at the largest number in the equation.

The next day, I made two copies of a worksheet and gave the student one on a clipboard with a pencil. I verbalized the process for each equation and the student carried out the instructions.

In the following days, little by little, I had the student verbalize the process until she could do it independently.

Although this task seems simple, there are multiple facets.

  1. Finding the equation on the page, remembering you need to look at the largest number first,
  2. Determining what is the largest number,
  3. Finding the number on the line and then standing on it,
  4. Referring to the equation on the page to see what number you’re adding,
  5. Walking the correct number of lines,
  6. Finding the number on the line you’re on,
  7. Remembering the number while once again locating the equation so you can then write it down.

My student enjoyed this process and she worked hard.

I remember the first time she did the worksheet independently. I sent her out while I stayed in to work on a trumped-up task.

I reflected back to when I first read the file on her, to how discouraging it must have felt for her to be unable to participate in Maths with the other kids. How she not only couldn’t do it right, she could not do it at all.

And now, without any help from me or her peers, she was out there doing it!

When she finished, she marched into my room, handed me that worksheet, and she was just beaming with pride!  It was the first time in four years she was able to independently and correctly complete an addition worksheet.

What amazing success!  But Sheila’s journey with this student was not over yet.  In next week’s blog we learn how Sheila translates this method of learning to a process that will work in the classroom.

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Feb 25 2024
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Autism Spectrum & Career Excellence, Positive Aspects of Life on the Spectrum, The autistic child at school

Positive Aspects: Sheila’s Story continued.

In the previous two blogs, I’ve entertained positive aspects of non-neuro typical thinking, and presented the back story of Sheila, a single mom who found that both she and her young son were on the autism spectrum. This begins the story of the mindset Sheila brings to her work as a teacher’s aide, and the empathic understanding through which she views her students. The following is part three of Sheila’s story, told in her own words.

Once the school finally had the information they needed to support my son, I decided to join the workforce again.  But I needed to find a profession. Teaching was a direction I’d been encouraged to pursue since elementary school and was one which held a very strong appeal. Since the reality was that I had limited financial resources and a special needs son who demanded time and attention, a Certified Educational Assistant (CEA) seemed like a good fit for me and a more reasonable option.  Grants paid for the college and university classes I needed, and I was able to complete the course at a pace that worked for my son.

When I am assigned a student, I am aware that often many aides and teachers have already tried a wide variety of learning tools and resources to support the student’s ability to understand and integrate information or concepts. In other words, to “learn”.

With the groundwork that has already been done there is a lot of information about which approaches have not succeeded, as well as a list of interests, strengths and even passions that the student is able to contribute to the process.

Having studied the file, I turn to the child. I look for patterns of behaviour and sparks of interest and consider how these can be intercepted and guided toward opening new channels of insight and communication.

In one instance, a grade four student was unable to correctly add single digit numbers up to twenty without support. This was something I had never encountered before. After a brief assessment with the student, I saw that she could count past 100 and easily recognize numbers. She knew 1+1=2 and 1+2=3 but did not know what 1+3 equaled.

I thought about this student’s classroom experience, what it would be like to watch your peers work independently and with only a little help, get the right answers. And all you can do is sit there, frustrated and anxious, staring at the numbers, struggling to grasp the process, all the time thinking “I just don’t get it!”

The school was giving me the resources and the opportunity to assist this child, and I was determined to help her. To find the key that would unlock the door to some level of success.

Sheila’s innovative approach and her student’s learning process follow in the next Blog.

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Feb 11 2024
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Autism Spectrum & Career Excellence, Books on Autism, Positive Aspects of Life on the Spectrum, Rudy Simone, Aspergirls, The autistic child at school

Positive Aspects of Life on the Spectrum: Sheila’s Story.

In this blog series, I am presenting lives that express the ways in which not being Neuro Typical is a career asset.  Thinking outside the box is normal for people on the autism spectrum. In certain circumstances this attribute of our condition can be beneficial. 

To continue Sheila’s story, begun in the previous blog, I will first relate some background information, along with some early practices she implemented. These temporary solutions to her son, Seamus’ social and learning problems ultimately led to her ability to explore unique and innovative methodology, which will be discussed in the next blog in this series. 

Sheila’s school experience was successful both academically and socially. However, later circumstances rendered her a single mom on welfare with an autistic child, Seamus.

As a result, Sheila experienced the understanding of how frustrating life can be for both parent and child, when someone is trying their best, socially and academically, and yet, is largely unsuccessful at one or both.

Seamus was a loving boy, but he found socializing at school impossible. Ostracized and bullied, he could never join in any games, and he had no friends to ‘hang’ with at lunch or recess. Sheila decided to see how she could help.

Every lunch hour she joined Seamus on the playground. Standing with him, she would ask, “Who wants to play baseball?” Invariably several children would crowd around.  “Alright,” she’d say, “There’s only one rule, and that is, Seamus gets to play.”

At first, the other children would eye each other speculatively, and Sheila worried that no-one would accept her invitation.  But then, to her relief, someone would shrug and agree to play and soon, enough kids had joined in for a make-up game.

The ‘Seamus ball game’ soon became a popular lunch time activity! Sheila would also stay later on occasion to help in the classroom if Seamus was having a problem with the work. Her organized approach, ability to quickly assess a situation through Seamus’ eyes and her friendly but authoritative air made her an asset in the classroom.

In the late 1990’s, not a lot was known about the autism spectrum, especially the high end kids who seemed to have no trouble learning but couldn’t manage their social life. After countless incomplete diagnoses, from leaky gut to ADD and ADHD, Sheila felt at a loss. She didn’t like the effect of the medications prescribed for her son, and he didn’t either, often refusing to take them.

One day, after attending a conference on autism, a teacher from Seamus’ school phoned Sheila.   I think I know what Seamus has, she told Sheila. When given a list of the symptomatic behaviours, Sheila recognized to her surprise, that it was not only Seamus who was on the spectrum–she was on the spectrum, too! This self-knowledge opened up a wide range of concerns and possibilities for both Sheila and her son.

In her book, Aspergirls, Rudy Simone states that for adults, being diagnosed can be a relief. A diagnosis for a child can also bring relief for parents like Sheila, who until Seamus’ diagnosis did not know where to turn for helpful information. In the years before Sheila was diagnosed, her focus was on helping Seamus.

Little was known about how to help those on the high end of the spectrum, then known as Asperger’s. With the help of his school staff, his family doctor, and Sheila’s campaigning, Seamus was able to access a facility for testing.  Once he was diagnosed, funding became available for special programs and activities for him. 

Every dime had to be accounted for, and it could only be spent on the special needs or activities for him, Sheila recalls.

Sheila’s experience with her son provided her insight into similar situations. She understands the frustration of having a child who neither learns nor interacts in the same way as their peers. She has gained the power of finding those keys which open doors for students who feel stymied by the different ways their brain works.

Success is what these kids need to experience. Sheila tells me, referring to both behavioural and learning issues. Helping her students find the self-confidence that will allow for success, is the motivating factor in her work.

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