Benefits of Small Class Size for Students With Disabilities

One of the students referred to us spent a whole year sitting and staring before he was even referred. Another used to scream at a high pitch for hours before he was referred. Still another used to run around the room an not focus on anything. Another used to beat up his mother and get away with it before he was referred. Because we had a small classroom size and support we were able to deal with the behavioral challenges these children have with learning. It is extremely important to have a child's attention and focus to learn. Also, distractions should be kept to a minimum. This simply does not happen in the average American classroom, which is busy, noisy, bright and overwhelming to a lot of children with learning challenges.

The importance of relationship building for children with autism can not be overstressed. Social skills building needs to be a priority and children need much help in learning proper social skills and behavior. Because the behavior is challenging and difficult and learning and change does not happen rapidly, teachers without the understanding, experience and training just often give up. Believing the child can learn and will learn if one is persistent and does not give up is a necessity. The individual child has to be a priority. This simply does not happen in the mass production concept of American education.

Another difficulty in American education is that children with the same problems are dumped together but not given anymore help than if they were in the average American classroom. Thus, inappropriate behaviors are reinforced by children seeing other inappropriate behaviors. The Lord of the Flies concept happens with children leading the classroom rather than a strong adult leader. This is not a teacher's fault. If a teacher has to spend all of their day correcting behavior, it leads to very little time for learning. That is why I am against classroom sizes of fifteen to twenty for children with autism. Even eight students is too many. I as a teacher have had my greatest success with children with autism in a classroom with no more than four students and one aide.

As you can imagine, education can get very expensive when one does the right thing by a child. I have not even included the therapy and other services that autistic children can benefit from. Moreover, the special schools that autistic children need are often denied as school districts often refuse to pay for the private non-public schools that autistic children benefit most from. Thus, policy has to change and doors have to be opened for parents to be able to pick what works best for their child. Small class size is a start. And parents being allowed to pick non-public schools that work well is also a great start.

Give children a chance to learn and enroll them in a school that insists on a small student to teacher ratio.
The way you learned is not the way your child with autism will learn. They will be lost in the shuffle in most classrooms and then be blamed for not learning or their behavior. I have seen what children can accomplish when given what they need and I hope you will veto the mass education high number classroom that is usually the American way.

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Benefits of a Sticker Reward Calendar

In our experience with Asperger's syndrome, we as parents, have tried many different ways to reward our son's positive behaviour at school. We would take him swimming or to the park or maybe buy him a special gift. The only drawback in this type of reward system is, that if your child goes on a run of rough days in class, it's not fair to deny all the fun things you could do together. After much research and learning, we found a fantastic tool that we've easily implemented. We use a sticker reward calendar. Each child with autism/Asperger's might be different in what works and what doesn't, but a reward calendar is a cheap idea and can be very effective in improving and promoting good behaviour.

You can use any calendar you like. At first, we just used a regular calendar we had, but shortly after, we decided to get a more child friendly calendar. When we had a regular calendar, Jacob noticed, but wasn't that impressed. But when we got him a Twisted Whiskers calendar, he really took notice and became interested. So we do recommend a cartoon or a sports calendar. They're relatively inexpensive and you can find one with any character or team on them. I've seen Sponge Bob, Looney Tunes and Harry Potter on calendars, so finding your child's favourite should be easy.

Then we went to a dollar store and found hundreds of stickers we could use. You should however, try to find smaller stickers. That way you get more for your money and they'll fit into the squares on the calendar. Right now we have some star stickers and some little animal stickers. During the Christmas holiday we had some snowmen and snow flake ones. There are literally thousands of them and each dollar store carries different styles, so the sticker choices are endless.

What we did was, we installed a cork bulletin board in our hallway. Not only do we put important items for us on it, but it also holds Jacob's stickers and calendar. We just hung the calendar at Jacob's height for easy reaching. Then we divide each school day in half. The left half of the square is the morning and the right half is the afternoon. When Jacob comes home for lunch, if he had a good morning, he'll get 1 sticker. Then when he comes home after school, he gets 1 more if he had a good afternoon. So it's possible to get 2 stickers a day. If your child doesn't come home for lunch, you can still reward them with 1 or 2 stickers, depending on their day. During a week, there's a possible 10 stickers to achieve. So then you can create an overall reward program that's visible for your child.

Number of Stickers (earned during week) Reward

5 or 6 Family dinner at their favourite restaurant

7 or 8 Dinner as above and movie night

9 or 10 Dinner, movie and a toy

These are just examples of rewards that you can use. You can go on a picnic or to the park if you're on a budget. The choices with rewards are very open. You can even take the rewards a step further and develop monthly rewards. During a month, there's approximately 20 school days or 40 stickers. If your child has a great month, maybe you could speak with their school about a special reward to help solidify the good class room behaviour.

We noticed that Jacob's behaviour began to improve almost immediately after beginning a sticker reward calendar. When a child sees their calendar fill up with shiny stickers, it gives them a sense of accomplishment and it can help them in wanting to have good and productive days while at school. And for those of us with kids with autism/Asperger's, we know how easy their day can be off, so if a sticker reward calendar helps, then it's definitely worth it.

Not only special needs children can benefit from a sticker reward calendar. This type of reward system can work with any child, boy or girl. When Jacob was diagnosed with Asperger's at age 6 we were shocked. But the diagnosis did in fact, explain a lot about Jacob's behaviour and issues at school. A sticker reward calendar was an effective way to modify his behaviour positively. Now that we've been using it for 2 school years, we can't imagine not having it. We've even began giving a new calendar to Jacob as a Christmas gift each year. This way he'll always have a new calendar for back to school. The entire calendar/sticker purchase is under $20 and that's with a years worth of stickers. So try it out, and if it works, it sure beats buying all those Nintendo DS games.

My website is called Jim's Autism Blog and together, my wife and I express our feelings associated with the ups and downs of raising a child with Asperger's syndrome. Here's the link to our blog
http://www.jimsautismblog.blogspot.com/

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Exploring the Benefits of Autism Care Homes

Autism can be a debilitating disorder that places unnecessary burdens and strain on both the affected individual and the loved ones tasked with his supervision and care. While all autism patients vary greatly in terms of capacities and special needs, some families may find it difficult to provide the level of attention that autistic individuals often demand. Fortunately, autism care homes exist to offer services and advanced treatment options that would otherwise be unavailable. For many families, these alternatives offer a great solution for long term healthcare.

Autism care homes primarily exist to help care for autistic individuals in a group setting. These environments allow interaction between a wide variety of different people, and licensed supervisors take care of key elements of the autistic individual's treatment. For some residents, this may simply mean making certain that hygiene and personal needs are met on a daily basis. Others may need specialised healthcare that could include therapy sessions, administration of prescribed medications, and assistance with tasks that prove to be too difficult for the individual in question.

In addition to alleviating some of the pressure families of autistic people feel, an autism care home is often one of the best ways to guarantee that an autistic person is receiving both vital social interaction and professional medical care. Individuals who may require specific treatment plans often need to see medical professionals on a recurring basis, and the staff of the autism care home make certain that these interactions occur at regular intervals. Of course, families are given the opportunity to spend time with their loved one whenever possible. By building strong social connections with other residents, staff members, and their own family, autistic individuals are provided with the momentum needed to flourish and establish relationships with a wide variety of different people.

Many of those who have autism need a structured routine in order to maintain clarity in their day to day lives. Autism care homes provide this structure, which can greatly help to ensure that the autistic person is comfortable and making progress as he comes to terms with the world around him. Not only do the established rules and procedures in these homes help allow the residents to feel at ease, but they also provide a buffer with the unfamiliar world around them. In many instances, this is beneficial for the residents in the home.

The decision to move a loved one into an autism care home is often challenging for family members to make, as there can be a certain level of guilt associated with such a choice. In spite of the initial difficulty that may be encountered, most families are surprised to discover just how effective these homes can be at caring for autistic individuals and making certain that their needs are met. In the end, many times an autism care home works out to be the best solution for both the resident and for those around him.

For more information on autism treatment, visit Autism Care UK

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