Introduction
The concept of inclusive education has become a globally recognized issue. Integrating populations with special needs into a conventional classroom allows for normalizing their condition, relieving social stigmatization, and providing equal learning opportunities to all. Such an approach to education necessitates special teaching skills and competencies to balance classroom activities that provide equal opportunities to all learners. One of the special needs populations in an inclusive classroom is autistic children, whose cognitive and developmental characteristics differ from those of others. They require an individual approach to learning, which is enabled by inclusive educational strategies. However, the benefits of the inclusive classroom are most effective with the proper use of special teaching strategies that maximize learning experiences for students with special needs. Therefore, this paper explores the characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder, the learning particularities and needs of students with autism, and relevant teaching approaches enabling teachers to meet those needs.
Characteristics of Individuals with Autism
When addressing the learning particularities and the approaches to teaching children with autism, it is essential to define and explain the condition. Autism Spectrum Disorder is a frequently occurring disability that impacts human behavior, cognition, and socialization (Bolourian et al., 2021). According to Gledhill and Currie (2020), autism is a “neurodevelopment condition which alters the way in which an individual can imagine, relate and interact with people and their environment” (p. 16). This condition commonly occurs due to genetic factors and begins at the age of three years with relative persistence throughout the life of a person (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2022). The particularities of autism vary significantly from case to case, necessitating an individual approach to interacting with such a person.
People with Autism Spectrum Disorder have significant characteristics that serve as symptoms. Indeed, as the CDC (2022) states, some of the early signs of autism include “problems with social communication and interaction, and restricted or repetitive behaviors or interests” (para. 5). Such individuals are particularly vulnerable when socializing, although in some cases, their communicative skills are highly developed. In addition, individuals with autism are emotionally fragile, implying that their responses to the emotions of others might be exaggerated (Gledhill & Currie, 2020, p. 16). It might be more difficult for people with autism to form friendships and relationships and express their feelings and emotions. Moreover, Bolourian et al. (2021) state that disruptive and inappropriate behaviors of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder hinder their opportunities to adequately integrate into society. Thus, the specific developmental characteristics of this population make them a special needs group that requires specialized approaches.
In the educational setting, the abovementioned particularities play a decisive role when facilitating autistic learners’ skills and knowledge acquisition. Indeed, the variety of symptoms, from exquisite communication skills to being nonverbal or from high intellectual abilities to the absence of basic cognitive skills, make the learning process a struggle for students and teachers (CDC, 2022). Evidence informs that “many students with this condition demonstrate significant levels of anxiety and stress in the classroom” (Gledhill & Currie, 2020, p. 16). Therefore, they need to be in an emotionally stable and safe environment. In addition, unlike other representatives of the special education community, students with autism demonstrate a high level of intellectual development. Indeed, they “typically score higher on measures of intellectual functioning and communication skills” (Bolourian et al., 2021, p. 3978). Coupled with anxiety, disruptive behaviors, and particularities of attention spans, autistic students require individual approaches and schedules of classroom activities to maximize their potential.
Possible Teaching Strategies to Assist Students with Autism
Given the presented basic characteristics of people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, their special learning needs should be recognized and addressed by teachers in the inclusive educational setting. The relevance of developing appropriate teaching strategies for students with autism is justified by the difficulty of their independent adjustment to standard classroom activity patterns (Bolourian et al., 2021). Moreover, the inclusion of autistic children in conventional educational settings facilitates their broader social inclusion and elevates the burden of stigmatization of this vulnerable population. Indeed, social interactions provided in the inclusive educational environment will “foster individuals’ sense of self, emotional well-being, and mental health” (Gledhill & Currie, 2020, p. 17). For that matter, there exist multiple teaching strategies that are deemed effective in meeting the learning needs of children with autism.
One of the most effective strategies to educate children with autism relates to developing individual approaches to students based on their personalities and the particularities of their condition. Indeed, research shows that the efficacy of student-teacher relationships increases learning benefits for autistic students (Bolourian et al., 2021). According to Tay and Kee (2019), the establishment of a “classroom dialogue through teacher questioning and feedback is an important area that can contribute to positive effects on student learning” (p. 4). Within the framework of Assessment for Learning, questioning and feedback enable the structuring of the educational process with special needs learners in a student-centered manner (Tay & Kee, 2019). Such an approach allows for detecting the individual features of such students and addressing them in classroom activities and instruction techniques.
As for more particular strategies that help teachers engage autistic students and facilitate their learning experiences, there are several evidence-based approaches that have proven their effectiveness for learners with autism. In particular, Meindl et al. (2020) conducted a systematic review that has generated a pool of effective teaching strategies for autistic students. The list of aforementioned strategies goes as follows.
Firstly, a category of strategies to facilitate coping with motivational challenges includes choice interventions, task interspersal, and active student response. These strategies help in task completion, skills strengthening, decreasing inappropriate behaviors, higher levels of attention, and better compliance and engagement (Meindl et al., 2020). Indeed, research shows that “giving students a choice of where to sit, whether to use a pencil or chalk to complete a math problem, and the rewards available for work completion, resulted in decreased time to begin working, increased work completion, and decreased occurrences of disruptive behavior” (Meindl et al., 2020, p. 3). As for interspersed tasks, the teacher is encouraged to integrate more difficult tasks with easy ones, at the completion of which the student can use their mastered skills. Similar to Tay and Kee’s (2019) questioning and feedback strategy, the active student-responding technique helps facilitate the engagement and attentiveness of autistic learners to the class activities and material. Thus, using strategies for motivational challenges might significantly benefit the classroom environment for learners with special needs.
Secondly, the category of strategies targeting consequences for academic behavior includes preference and reinforcement assessment and self-management. These approaches are effective in better engagement, academic attainment, a higher level of independence in task completion, better motivation, and a relationship with a teacher (Meindl et al., 2020). In particular, conventional reinforcement might not be effective for autistic learners who commonly have a strictly defined array of preferences; teachers are encouraged to identify those preferences to use them as potential reinforcement and praise sources for the students (Meindl et al., 2020). For the purposes of self-management facilitation, educators are expected to set clear goals for students with autism and encourage their independent reporting and monitoring of their achievement.
Thirdly, pairing, prompting, and fading constitute the strategies from the category related to learning history with the instructor. Using these strategies, teachers can intertwine themselves with positive reinforcement and achieve decreased problem behavior and frustration while maximizing academic achievement and responsiveness (Meindl et al., 2020). Finally, the fourth category of strategies is aimed at establishing a learning history with the setting, which entails visual activity schedules and priming (Meindl et al., 2020). These strategies are effective due to informing students about upcoming activities by visually displaying the schedules and explaining future tasks. In such a manner, their emotional state will be regulated and learning outcomes facilitated. Overall, the explored teaching strategies used in different combinations depending on learners’ needs might significantly contribute to the improvement of special needs students’ experiences in an inclusive classroom.
Conclusion
In summary, exploring the characteristics of people with autism and their learning needs has demonstrated the importance of generating sensitive and informed teaching strategies to ensure they are comfortable in an inclusive classroom. The cognitive, behavioral, and emotional particularities of autistic learners necessitate relevant student-centered approaches. Therefore, using motivational, engagement-directed, relationship-building, and informing techniques will help educators build rapport with their special needs students in mainstream classrooms and facilitate their educational attainment.
References
Bolourian, Y., Losh, A., Hamsho, N., Eisenhower, A., & Blacher, J. (2021). General education teachers’ perceptions of autism, inclusive practices, and relationship building strategies. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 52, 3977-3990.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). What is Autism Spectrum Disorder? Web.
Gledhill, J., & Currie, J. L. (2020). Socio-political and educational perspectives of autism spectrum disorder (ASD): A case for inclusive classroom strategies which build social support. Journal of Education and Human Development, 9(1), 16-24.
Meindl, J. N., Delgado, D., & Casey, L. B. (2020). Increasing engagement in students with autism in inclusion classrooms. Children and Youth Services Review, 111, 1-10.
Tay, H. Y., & Kee, K. N. N. (2019). Effective questioning and feedback for learners with autism in an inclusive classroom. Cogent Education, 6(1), 1-19.