Tips to provide Structure to a Young Person with ASD

Structure is important for neurotypical individuals and has a even greater importance to young persons with ASD, because it helps them to ease the stress related with changes by allowing them to predict events or to organize their day and mind (repetitive, restrictive behaviours).

To use structure we should use clear aids, which can be visual, body-kinaesthetic, tactile or auditory. Some examples of aids used are: timetables, schedules, diaries, memory post-its, etc.

In the next paragraphs, we will enumerate a list of good practices for educators:

The imagery used needs to be adequate to the student. For example: if the student is comfortable with symbols we shouldn't use photographs. If the educator is unsure about the imagery to use he should try different approaches until he achieves the objective, through trial and error.

We should make a correct use of timetables. They should be put in a vertical manner and thorough the development of time the activities/steps done should be put away in a finish box or erased from board. If showing in detail a structured activity, in the timetable, its components should be put horizontally. Also, if the understanding of the students requires it, we could use “now and then” boards instead.

One strategy we could use if the educators need to change the timetable for any reason is introducing a change card. To use a change cards we can follow the following steps: 1) introduce the concept of change with the change card; 2) wait 20 min; 3) use a personal interest, of the pupil, to introduce change: “Today the change is playing a videogame”; 4) next time, can be on another day, wait 40 min; 5) use another personal interest, something not so fun but pleasant, to introduce change: “Today the change is reading”; 6) the pupil should accept the change, but if he complains ignore it and provide the change as soon as possible; 7) repeat the strategy different times with different events/activities to prepare the pupil to real changes, until the student accepts the change card.

To respect the structure there are practices that the educators should avoid. We should not violate the structure, if we are unsure of the planning for the day we should keep the timetable vague. Also, we should avoid a disorganised environment or having no pre-planning.

I hope you find these tips handy.

Social Communication Impairments in Fluently Verbal Individuals

It is not because an individual with ASD is fluently verbal that he/she doesn't face language and communication challenges, since language is a social phenomenon (Self, 2013).

Individuals with ASD who have a good vocabulary could face difficulties due to a literal understanding or due to a concrete way of thinking and inflexibility of thought, which might be expressed by their difficulties in understanding figures of speech and idioms or understanding that certain words have alternative meanings.

Regarding social language, a person with ASD may experience difficulties when making inferences; when answering to WH questions (who, when, where, what...); when writing or reading complex sentence structures; and when connecting ideas from a conversation or text (Vicker, 2009).

Regarding social communication, individuals with ASD may experience difficulties understanding others' perspectives or points of view; when experiencing sensory overload; when talking aloud with self in public; initiating, maintaining or terminating a conversation; understanding others' roles and/or to adjust topic and/or speech according to situation; understanding that he/she needs to be clear to be understood; monitoring own comprehension to be able to seek clarification if needed; and making predictions (Vicker, 2009).

A person with ASD may not understand that other people have their own ideas and motivations, and that their personal interests may not be interesting to their peers. An obsession with personal interests may prevent him/her to participate in reciprocal interactions (Selfe, 2013; Vicker, 2009).

Some comprehension problems may be masked by the use of sophisticated language, when a person with ASD tries to promote an inflated self-image (Selfe, 2013; Vicker, 2009).

Sensory issues may lead to communication problems as well. A person with ASD may experience difficulties to listen if highly stimulated, or a person with ASD can lie to achieve sensory relief – e.g. be left alone (Selfe, 2013; Vicker, 2009).

To enhance communication specific resources should be prepared and used, in order to address specific needs of individual students. Those resources should always provide options and variety.

For example, we can use visual aids to facilitate the communication: visual cards with particular words and symbols; boards to help express emotions or feelings (“feelings' meter”, “emotions' chart”) which help working out semantic difficulties. Or, other example, we can teach expected behaviours in diverse social contexts through rehearsals: playing games in a group context to teach social communication skills through mimic and exemplar attitudes.