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Autism is a developmental condition that affects the way a person communicates and
relates to other people. The causes are not yet known, although genes are considered a
contributor. Aspergers Syndrome is a condition on the autistic spectrum and unlike
people with autism, people with Aspergers are more capable of living independent lives
(University of Oxford, n.d).

As a student teacher, completing my third placement at Tatachilla Lutheran College (TLC)

in McLaren Vale, South Australia, I encountered my first experience teaching a child with
Autism. This experience led me to explore not only the behaviours and strategies for
managing students with Autism, but the importance of play-based learning within a
classroom setting. In my future classrooms, I will almost certainly have at least one
student in my group with a learning, physical or developmental disability, therefore I will
be required to cater to their needs, as well as those of all other pupils.

Methodological Approach to data

*Pseudonym name Joe has been used to protect the identity of the student being discussed.

In order to investigate how I, as a teacher, can cater to the needs of students with Autism,
this study undertook a number of data collection methods, including;
- Document analysis (reviewing Joes end of year report)
- Policy analysis (Code of Conduct, Duty of Care, Disability Standards for Education and

the Disability Discrimination Act)

- Interviewing (previous teacher, principal, mother)
- Observation (examining the way Joe works, his standards of work, his ability and his
interests)
- Statistical analysis of public records (Disability Services National Minimum Data Set (DS
NMDS))

Extracts from Joes end of year report

This semester Joe has continued to build his confidence and stamina during tasks. Joe
benefits from being given a head-start in order to formulate his ideas before he begins
putting them to paper.
His vast memory bank of high-frequency words, coupled with an understanding of
alternate spelling sounds, has allowed him to independently read at a level that greatly
exceeds the Reception benchmark.
During group tasks he is most successful when working in partnership with a classmate, to
ensure a calm environment for him to explore, discuss and record his understandings.
At times he can become frustrated by his own mistakes and is developing the skills to
bounce back when feeling upset. Joe continues to develop self-control in scenarios when
he feels agitated. He has become more able to remove himself from these situations and
seek a teacher when feeling overwhelmed.
(Mrs Watson, 2014)

Codes of Conduct
Tatachilla Lutheran College, is a private, R-12, coeducational Christian school in South
Australia. The safety and wellbeing of all children, staff and volunteers accessing their
service, is of high importance and they support the rights that each individual holds.
(Tatachilla Lutheran College 2015 Staff Handbook, 2015).
Duty of Care
Anyone wishing to work with children in South Australia, must undertake training in
Responding to Abuse and Neglect and successfully complete a criminal history
screening through the Department for Education and Child Development. Protective
Practices are a set of guidelines for staff working or volunteering in education and care
settings and refers to the Duty of Care as a responsibility of staff to provide an adequate
level of protection against harm (Department of Education and Childrens Services, 2011,
p 8).
Special Education
All students are given the opportunity to reach their full potential at TLC, therefore during
Reception, students have the opportunity to meet with a Speech Pathologist and
Occupational Therapist to assess any early developmental concerns. A differentiated

Disability Standards for Education

These standards make clear the responsibilities of educators to ensure that students with
disabilities are catered for in the same ways as students without disabilities. They were
formed from the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and came into effect in 2005
(Department of Education and Training, 2015).
Disability Discrimination Act
The objectives of this act, are to eliminate discrimination, ensure equality and to promote
acceptance within the community. It is a detailed document outlining the rights of all
people with a disability, be it at work, sporting or education, to be treated as any other
person (ComLaw, 2015).

Internal factors advice from a previous teacher

Triggers
- Change
- Having to finish or pack up something without warning or without finishing
- Sensory - mouth/face (e.g. loose tooth, sore mouth, blood, etc.)
- noise level
Behaviour
By the end of the year he was really comfortable and in the routine, and had developed
some good habits to cope when upset.
In group learning situations I would often just put him with a partner instead of in a group,
as the social aspects of cooperating/sharing would often be too much for him when he was
also trying to explore an activity.
I would often do the count to three if he was being too slow or fussing around too long.

Internal factors continued:

Behaviour Management
- If he was really upset there was no point in dealing with the underlying issue until hed
had a time to calm down. I would set a timer, we would then talk about it, make a deal to
finish whatever needed to be finished, or address the issue that was upsetting him. Its
hard when you have a whole class to watch.
- We also tried something his mum suggested sitting with him, telling him to breathe
deeply, focus on his breath, how his body felt, describing that, etc. That would
sometimes calm him down and allow him to talk about his problem. This didnt work
when the root of the problem was something more serious e.g. if something had been
broken and not fixable/something left at home (e.g. forgotten show and tell) etc.
What Worked
- Doing a deal
- Using timers in general. Drippy timers in a comfy spot for calming
- Visuals
- Counting to three
- Keeping a consistent routine
- Displaying the agenda/lessons for the day on the board
- Playing soft music in the classroom during entrance times

Internal factors continued:

What Didnt Work
Trying to reason with him when upset didnt work, he needed to be given a definitive time
to calm down, with the knowledge that we would talk after his break time was finished.
Academic Knowledge
Joe was definitely a high achiever in some respects in my class. The area he struggled with
was writing. When we would do recount writing, he would spend 2- minutes drawing a tiny,
intricate picture on his page but really struggled to write his sentence in a timely manner
though he had lots to say he was very caught up about getting it perfect which meant it
took a long time. He would often work with an LSO during writing lessons and I would
expect less writing from him than the rest of the class.
He was an excellent reader; he came in to Reception knowing how to read quite fluently.
We worked on his fluency and expression when reading aloud, attending to punctuation,
etc.
Strategies used to include his strengths
As we didnt do a whole lot of summative written work in Reception it mainly boiled down
to writing lessons being the tricky times. If writing wasnt the focus of the task I would
often scribe for him as he was so eloquent when speaking his ideas. Any chances to make
or draw something (e.g. our mapping unit he LOVED that and I assisted with the written
labelling) to share his knowledge, I just adjusted the task that way. It was all very play
based and flexible in Reception. He also loved using the iPads and recording voice or

External Factors advice from a parent

*Pseudonym name Karen has been used to protect the identity of the students mother.

The main thing we do at home with Joe, is to follow through with consequences. You cant
allow the child to dictate the outcome, so we ensure that if we have given an answer or a
warning, we stick to it. Joe is very smart, and he knows right from wrong, its a matter of
having expectations and using rewards and penalties to achieve a satisfactory outcome.
Karen, Joes mother.
External Factors a principals role
The Special Education Co-ordinator has the training and knowledge to understand the
needs of students with Autism and other disabilities, but the principal conducts the first
interview with the student and their parents, therefore is the first person to determine if
there are any learning or special needs. At this point they encourage obtaining a diagnosis
for the child (if they havent already had one) to be able to gain funding for that student.
The parent/s can say no to a diagnosis, but often this will determine their success in their
application to the school based on the level of needs the child has.
Smaller schools dont have waitlists to prioritise, whereas larger schools accept siblings as
a priority and have an enrolment process and policy to abide by.
The enterprise bargaining agreement, which all independent schools have, advises of
class size etc, which includes how many students with a disability each class can sustain
(Acting Head of Junior School, Tatachilla Lutheran College).

Observation
It was important for me to make the time to develop a relationship with Joe during my
placement. I needed to understand his personalised characteristics in order to develop
learning activities around his interests. He would often create paper planes or other pieces
of art out of any materials he could get his hands on, therefore I realised that learning
through play would be of great benefit to both him as the student, and myself as the
classroom teacher.
He would often bring in things he had made for sharing time; such as detailed Lego
creations, cards and paper gifts for Grug during our week of Grugs birthday party, and
was excited to show his work off, while other students brought in toys.
Joe is very particular. He reads and writes beautifully, although is easily frustrated when
he makes mistakes. It was important to allow him to use an eraser, although this was not
common practice in year 1, and often scribe for him as he gave you his well educated
thoughts, but also negotiate how much needed to be done within a set time frame. He is a
very capable learner, but easily distracted.

Disability Services National Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS)

This is a national collection of information from disability support services across Australia
and is in place to obtain reliable and consistent data. Some articles included;
- Healthy life expectancy in Australia
- Disability support services
- Changes in life expectancy and disability

An interesting fact within the Disability support services article, was that in 2012-13,
Australian governments spent $7.2 billion on disability support services under the National
Disability Agreement. More than 312,500 people used services during this time
(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2015). These are encouraging figures for
Australian schools.

Play-based learning
https://youtu.be/u8khzw5iPu8 - Personalised and Play-Based Learning: The Walker Learning Approach Kathy
Walker

Learning through play is enjoyable, active, voluntary and process orientated and provides
exploration that assists in building and strengthening brain pathways(Lester and Russell, 2008,
p.9).

Educational Theory
To develop and apply successful teaching strategies for students with Autism, the
engagement construct must be adopted. Children with autism spend more time engaged
with objects rather than people, due to their lack of social skills, and this effects
behavioural, emotional and cognitive development. To increase engagement with
students;

Be less controlling
Allow the child to choose what he/she will do
Follow the students lead
Communicate and negotiate with the student
Offer play based learning

Although the above advice may be followed, each child will respond differently, therefore
assess your student, determine what works and what does not work, and offer a range of
preferred options for the child to use during instruction (D.Keen, n.d. pg. 3-14).
This theory challenges my belief of a teacher being in control within a classroom context.
There must be room for flexibility, but allowing any student to choose what they wish to
do, will not result in learning goals being achieved and expectations being met. This allows

References:
-

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2015). Disability Publications. Retrieved May, 28, 2015, from
http://www.aihw.gov.au/disability-publications/

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2014). Disability Services National Minimum Data Set. Retrieved
May, 28, 2015, from http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129548022

ComLaw. (2015). Disability Discrimination Act 1992. Retrieved May, 28, 2015, from
http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2015C00147

Deb Keen. (n.d). Engagement of Children with Autism in Learning. Retrieved May, 26, 2015, from
http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/handle/10072/30339/62965_1.pdf?sequence=1

Department of Education and Childrens Services. (2007). Autism Spectrum Disorders A starting guide for
teachers. Retrieved May, 26, 2015, from http://
www.decd.sa.gov.au/speced/files/pages/autism/ASD_book_FA2.pdf

Department of Education and Training. (2015). Disability Standards for Education. Retrieved May, 28, 2015,
from https://education.gov.au/disability-standards-education

Tatachilla Lutheran College. (2015). 2015 Staff Handbook. McLaren Vale, South Australia.

University of Oxford. (n.d). Autism and Asperger Syndrome. Retrieved May, 25, 2015, from
(http://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/field/field_document/Autism%20and%20Asperger%20Syndrome%20Fact%20
Sheet.pdf