Autism in the classroom

Many students we tutor at Studied find it difficult to keep track of their schoolwork. They are easily overstimulated, perfectionistic or have a great need for structure. Some of these students have a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), or autism. At Studied, we strive to provide guidance that best meets the student's needs. So far, this has gone well for students with a diagnosis or behavioral characteristics of autism, but there is always room for improvement. After all, we never learn! That's why we wanted to provide additional training to our staff about the needs of students with a diagnosis or behavioral traits of autism during tutoring or homework assistance. The training was provided last Wednesday by our resident educator/educator Denise Olivers of Learn4Life.

Effective learning

An interesting part of the training was Bales' learning pyramid. Although attention is paid to the topic of effective learning in high school and college, I can imagine that few students and learners dwell on the question: am I learning in the most effective way? According to Bales' learning pyramid, study methods such as lectures, knowledge clips and studying from a book/from a laptop are not very effective. I must say that this confirms my perception of these study methods. I often stare at a text for hours only to realize afterwards that the content has still not entered my mind. In contrast, study methods such as discussing the material together and doing practical assignments are very effective. For students with behavioral traits or a diagnosis of autism, these learning methods are a must-have. This is because they (often) have a greater focus on details and less on the big picture. As a result, they find it difficult to summarize a text by themselves or to extract the key ideas from a text. During a tutoring session it is therefore important to learn actively, for example by explaining material to each other and having the student write down questions and answers. This is because by using active learning methods, you end up learning the most.

Active tutoring

During the training, we discovered that many effective methods are already being used intentionally in the lessons of our student teachers. For example, many student teachers challenge their students with statements and questions about the material. You might expect that in a tutoring session, the Tutor would have more to say than the student, but that is not the case in our classes. Often the Tutor asks questions and the student answers with the knowledge he or she needs. This involves a lot of creativity from both the Tutor and the student, which makes tutoring fun and challenging! In addition to explaining the material to each other, we also do assignments together in class. Think of doing homework assignments, practicing diagnostic tests and going through old exams. It is great to see that our student teachers are already using appropriate methods to guide students, even if they have a diagnosis or behavioral characteristics of autism.

Importance of structure

I found the most important part of the training to be the importance of structure. This means that when supervising students with a diagnosis or behavioral traits of autism, it is important that there are as few (unexpected) changes as possible. For example, a lesson cannot simply be rescheduled. This is because it causes the student a lot of stress. Therefore, we take extra care to avoid unexpected changes and communicate clearly to the student.

Qualities

Autism is not just a disability. For example, during the training Denise explained that students with a diagnosis or behavioral traits of autism are often sincere, perform extremely well in a specific subject and can think logically. With the right tools, such as effective and structured teaching methods, students with a diagnosis or behavioral traits of autism can go tremendously far. We can contribute to this with our classes by paying attention to the student's strengths and weaknesses and providing support where needed. That applies to every student, of course, but with students with a diagnosis or behavioral traits of autism, we are going to focus on that even more.

All in all, it was an inspiring training. I learned a lot from it and feel prepared to support students with a diagnosis or behavioral characteristics of autism. In the evaluation at the end of the training, other student-teachers indicated the same. So a successful training: worth repeating! 

Interested in counseling for a student with a diagnosis or behavioral characteristics of autism? Check www.studied.nl and contact us.