Hi I'm Dr. Andrea Libutti, today we're talking about autism kids at school: I
want to simplify schooling for you, and we can do that by looking at three key
aspects of schooling: the first is what are your children learning how are they
being taught and who are they being taught by now these three topics are
really important because it has a huge impact on your child's day-to-day
well-being they're your child's self-esteem and indirectly on your
child's future potential and prospects so let's talk about what are your
children learning the very most important thing about what they're
learning has to do with the grade-level work that they're doing do you have a
fourteen-year-old child with autism that might be nonverbal that is being taught
ABC's and 2+2 and simple math or do you have a fourteen-year-old child with
autism that is being taught 9th grade eighth grade or ninth grade level work
very important your child should be learning grade level work and you know
there are several books out there one of my favorites is Ito and autism land it's
written by a teenage boy who has nonverbal autism and he talks about the
hell that he went through with the rote memorization and the flashcards and the
drilling that his very well intentioned teachers did for him in his schooling
before he learned RPM or rapid prompting method so he could communicate with the
letter board and this child had a body that looked severely impaired his body
and mind did not connect so in other words someone would give him a command
and he knew in his mind exactly how to do it but his body would not cooperate
so he was constantly being drilled over and over with the most excruciating ly
boring information and lessons until he learned to communicate so when he was
able to communicate and they discovered he was highly intelligent he was then
put in classes that were grade or above grade level and he excelled so
that's really important what are they teaching your child and is it at grade
level or your child's level if that is above grade level but don't ever let
them you know under under score your child with very low simple menial
educational plans the other thing is what are they learning are they learning
social skills in a kind and compassionate and respectful way some
organizations do a beautiful job at this some not so much I happen to love the
Sun Rise Program it's sson rise Sun Rise program they are all about respecting
and accepting the child where they are and encouraging them to want to be
social and interact with us by celebrating them and accepting them and
having fun with them not forcing them to do things to memorize social scripts or
cues or you know act things out in an unnatural way one of the most important
things that you can do for your child in terms of social skills is approach your
child in a way that really facilitates a desire for that child to connect with
you really important you want your children to want to connect with you not
be forced to do it not um you know have some other agenda other than you want to
connect with them so that's important now how are they being taught is really
important because there are you know public education we are sitting at a
desk and you're being talked at all day not gonna work for a child with autism
you've got to focus on or the teacher has to focus on strengths and interests
and build curriculum and lesson plans around that and also take into
consideration you know what is the learning style of your child there's
basically just to understand this a little better there's for learning
channels there is the visuospatial Learning Channel there is the auditory
sequential learning channel those are the two primary ones
and by the way the auditory sequential probably 60 60 percent of the population
are auditory learners the other third of the population are visual learners so
auditory sequential is the way we are lectured at and taught in most of our
public schools if that's not a Learning Channel for your child there's gonna be
issue so really understand their learning child learning style the other
two secondary learning channels are tactile meaning you know touch things
and then can aesthetic moving around being able to move around and touch and
and and move to help engage your brain so something to think about when you are
looking at your child's schooling in classroom the you know important thing
about the how how how they're being taught is you know like really for any
child but certainly for children with autism are they in a dynamic engaging
interactive hands-on experiential classroom that's what is gonna work the
best for a child with autism and the third point I want to make is who is
teaching your child and I can't overemphasize how important this is
because what your child sorry what your teacher truly believes about your child
has a huge impact on your child's well-being because if that teacher
believes in your child's capabilities potential intelligence there's gonna be
a very different dynamic and learning experience then if that teacher is
looking at your child with autism it's not very capable and just sort of you
know letting them sort of sit there or do very easy meaningless tasks and
problems so one of the things that you can ask your teacher is how well do they
know your child do they know what your child is really good at do they know
what your child is really interested in do they know your child's quirks your
insecurities all of these things the whole child should be known by the
teacher or teachers that work with your child because that setting will be very
different if things are set up for your child to really expand on interests and
strengths and lessen the you know the fears or anxieties or insecurities but
one of the you know most important things that you can think about when you
talk about you know your child and the teacher is do you get a feel from your
teacher the teacher that they really respect and honor and accept your child
and I think another important point is is that teacher trying to make your
child normal or is that teacher trying to make your child the best best that
your child can be are they helping your child become the best version of
themselves so throw normal out because that's just gonna create a lot of
frustration and anxiety because your child is not here to be normal your
child's here to be better than normal your child's here to be their amazing
glorious different self because their unique differences are what we need so
make sure that your teacher believes that as well
so the bottom line when you think about schooling is you know the importance of
these topics of you know what is your child learning how are they being taught
and who is teaching them has such a great impact on their well-being from
the day-to-day you know life that they're living in school their
self-esteem and certainly their future possibilities and prospects so thank you
for listening: AndreaLibutti.com, for lots of resources
over there and information to help you on your autism journey I appreciate you
being here and I hope I can help you out these kids are brilliant and they
deserve every opportunity for their brilliance to shine thank you
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét