Expert: Valerie Herskowitz - 9/24/2009

Question
QUESTION: Dear Valerie,

I have an 11 year old son, Scott who has autism.  He is verbal, has good behavior, but because of his continued problem with comprehension it is hard to find the right educational placement for him.  At this point, I'm not sure if his issue is a behavior, attention span issue or not being able to visualize what the words mean.

At age 2/12, our school system paid for an intensive ABA program as well as lots of speech therapy.  During this time
of teaching, everything was very black and white (find the picture of the ball, hand me the toy etc)  He did very well with this and learned everything very quickly.  The problem came when it came to reading him a simple story, he couldn't answer a single question about it.   They tried a variety of methods, including answering question after only reading a few lines.  This method made him very anxious, which further distracted him from the comprehension of material.

Scott then attended 1-4 grades in public school.  He was taught in a neurotypical classroom with an aide but had mixed results because of comprehension/attention.  When the teacher was teaching, he was staring at the clock.  Then his aide tried to teach afterwards with extra visuals and multiple choice answers.  

The school tried having Scott show his knowledge through multiple choice.  This  can be tricky, because he is very aware  of prompts.  If you stress a word, he thinks that's the answer, if you lean forward he thinks thats the answer.  Anyway, even though he came home with As on tests for science and social studies, I was confused when he would test at the "preprimer" level in reading comprehension.   So the whole experience  in elementary school has left me confused, and on top of it no social skills were gained with them paying most attention to academics.  He can answer most wh questions, and ask some too, but no real conversation skills.

Now, he is in middle school, in a special ed classroom, with children with a variety of diagnosis.  He does not have a one on one aide.  6 students, 1 teacher and 1 aide.  But I observed the other day and he is still staring off in the distance when the teacher is teaching.  If you get his attention and tell him to do something, he will, but he is still not paying attention to the teacher.  

Do you think his problem stems from comprehension (not being able to visualize what they are talking about (as some reading protocols suggest) or a behavior, as some behaviorists suggest?

I am trying to think of a way to measure his success as well, and I would think reading protocol with pictures would be good place to start, yet his current program has no protocol in place, just a variety of books.  

What do you think an appropriate educational placement would be for him?

Thanks for hearing me vent.

Missy Roy




ANSWER: Hi Missy

His issue stems from the fact that his language (auditory) comprehension is poor. If he can't understand it from a language processing perspective, he won't be able to process it from a reading perspective also.

Your situation is not unique among the autism population. I am constantly called in to put together a program for high functioning older children who haven't had the areas of language processing addressed appropriately. Luckily, your son's problem can be worked on to the point where he will improve with the correct program strategies.

Let me know if you want help with this.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Valerie!

I apologize for my belated response.  

I definitely would like to hear some of your ideas when it comes to improving Scott's auditory comprehension.

Our school system does have a person trained in ABA techniques on staff, and we shared some emails at the end of the last school year.  She was saying she thought that Scott should pay attention to commands when the teacher was teaching his lesson.  This was done a while back at an ABA school, however it never generalized over when he went to public school.  Then also answering questions after the teacher has said only a few lines.  We did this in the past, but it created an anxiety issue with him.  

Do you have something different in mind?   

I have been researching researched based reading programs for children with autism, like Linda Mood Bell, who said that autistic children need to visualize what is being read, so that has me wondering whether that was the issue when it came to auditory comprehension.  

Thanks again for your prompt reply.

Missy  

Answer
Hi Missy

I am an advocate of computer-based training. I just wrote a book about it called: Autism and Computers: Maximizing Independence Through Technology.

In addition, I teach webinar classes in all areas (language, reading, attention and focusing, social skills etc) that involve helping children improve their skills through computer-based training. I also do private consultations.

The classes are inexpensive ranging from 0-$10, so you may want to check out next week's class which is on reading.

My website is: www.valerieherskowitz.com

Let me know if you have any other questions. I look forward to working with you.