Intervention For Autism

Intervention for Autism 129-Hazel Vakharia
Intervention for Autism- Autism education trust (Department of Education, U.K.)

Authors- Jo Briscombe & Claire Phillips
Introduction to the case:
The case study is about a child who is pseudo named Tom who is 8 years of age and is diagnosed
with autism. Tom showed violent behavior towards authority figures like teachers and
headmaster of the school. He did not like sharing, waiting for his turn and being able to wait for
anything. He was sensitive to noise and movements. Once in school he hit other students, threw
construction bricks on teachers and yelled “Shut up” to headmaster. Various steps and
interventions were involved to help him to cope up with daily activities that his peers can
perform.
Interventions used:
1. Understanding his strength, weakness and challenges of the autistic child:
An assessment to recognize his needs was done with the help of ATE sensory checklist. Some
sensory activities were included like washing hands, hugs, cuddles, listening to story etc. to fulfil
his needs. When he was surrounded by a number of people, he starts feeling anxious. To
overcome the problem an anxiety scale of Lego theme was developed as he loves Lego. The
intention of the scale was to make him able to judge his anxiety level by himself. To help him
built relationships with his peers he bakes every fortnight for all his classmates.
2. Enabling him to make decisions
To build his decision-making skills the TA gives him choices by asking questions such as Would
you like to? Can you? Etc. This extends as motivators and can be applied as “You have earned
your reward for completing this task, would you like to draw or play dough?” Also, he is given a
choice to select one of his friends and sit during break [(20:20:20) 20 mins lunch, 20 mins free
time and 20 mins social time] away from the crowd to avoid increase in anxiety levels.
3. Enable safe environment
The staff was trained in TEAM TEACH which is developed by George Matthews in 1997 where
they were trained in positive strategies for managing behavior. Direct orders are not used in their
language. The instructions are conveyed to him by creating visuals of now and next activities
which help him to follow and remember in a better way. The parents underwent AET training
Tier 1 & 2 and worked closely with his Occupational Therapist to create a sensory plan for him.
He had a separate work desk in corner of the classroom which is his safe place. The window near
his desk has black curtains to lower light. There’s also a tent, chair and table where he can invite
his friends to play with him. If he faces any challenges the teachers encourage him to go to his
safe place and draw or play his favorite board games till, he is calm again. He is supervised from
far and given a verbal message to return to class once he feels alright.
To reduce his time to return to normal state he is encouraged to play his favorite videogame on
his iPad, walk in the school garden, play football in hall, draw, sing songs etc.
4. Coping with curriculum and teachings in class
Tom is very well accustomed with his iPad which is often used as an incentive to make him learn
new topics of his syllabus. He is insecure about his handwriting thus to overcome this drawback
of his most of his English assignments are assigned on his iPad which are broken into small
chunks with breaks as he gets easily distracted. The whole class uses Maths Rockstars Times
Table for learning tables which helps him learn at his rate along with his peers. The games help
him to bridge different concepts together.
The teacher informs about the change in topic ahead of the class and pre-teaches him to read his
timetable every day. He is told social stories (Gray 2015) which helps him write his own stories
as well. A Social Story accurately describes a context, skill, achievement, or concept according
to criteria. These criteria guide Story research, development, and implementation to ensure an
overall patient and supportive quality, and a format, “voice”, content, and learning experience
that is descriptive, meaningful, and physically, socially, and emotionally safe for the child,
adolescent, or adult with autism. His teachers were also in contact with his parents so that they
were aware about the changes ahead. He was encouraged to try new things by using transitions
like “Shall we try this activity for few minutes? You may like it.”
He is given a schedule where he goes to safe place every morning, all his friends greet him and
then he joins them for his English class where is allowed to draw or doodle and later completes
his work; returns to safe place before going to the next activity. He is asked to draw his favorite
things instead of writing on Egypt or solve Maths problem. He is given a ‘pause’ folder if he
faces piece of work difficult or is not interested at that moment but is expected to be completed
at some point.
These were some of the interventions used in Tom’s case. We can conclude that his love for art
and baking are used effectively by the school to keep him at par with his curriculum and the
school as a whole has taken efforts to help him overcome his obstacle of autism. Although they
could have used peer training/ friendship training instead of relying completely on the staff.
Schools in India need to use these type of interventions in their curriculum. It can be started by
creating awareness among schoolteachers and given them basic training about how to handle
such cases. Schools should take measures to provide shadow teachers or permit the parents to
hire to do so. If the school supports such students their future can be enhanced by enhancing their
vocational skills such as cooking, singing, dancing, drawing etc. and providing opportunities for
the same.

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Intervention for Autism 129-Hazel Vakharia

Intervention for Autism- Autism education trust (Department of Education, U.K.)

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