Supported Inclusion For Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders

The law states that all students with disabilities are entitled to be educated in the least restrictive environment (LRE). This means that the student should be educated with his/her typical peers to the greatest extent possible and they should be educated in their home school or as close to home as possible.
Characteristics of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders
According to the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have deficits in the areas of socialization, communication and may exhibit behavioral excesses. Cognitive ability is not part of the diagnostic criteria and is often difficult to assess. Students cognitive ability ranges from having an intellectual disability to having superior intellectual ability.
The great variation observed in students with ASD in the areas of social, communication, behavior and cognition make it likely that students will need varied levels of support. Therefore it is important to individualize the support based on the student’s needs. For example, some students may need a great deal of support in an educational setting, while some students may function at grade level or even well above grade level in the area of academics but require support with socialization and language.
Impact of Social Skills Deficits
Students with ASD have deficits in the area of socialization. This may present as a lack of or inconsistent use of eye contact, lack of the use of gestures, difficulty taking another person’s perspective, etc… Therefore, it is important that students are provided with the support necessary to assist them in developing these skills. This support may consist of the provision of a 1:1 support staff person or “shadow” who can provide them with prompts to interact with their peers and provide them with guidance and support as needed. There are a variety of teaching methods that a support staff or classroom teacher can use to promote social skills such as social stories™, video modeling, social scripts or peer-mediated interventions.
Impact of Language Deficits
For many students with ASD academics may be an area of strength however as they advance through the grades there are areas that become more challenging, This is due to the student’s other areas of deficit. For example, for students who have difficulties with receptive and or expressive language this will affect their comprehension during reading. The student may read well above grade level in terms of vocabulary, accuracy and fluency but may function below grade level in terms of comprehension.
It is the language deficit that then impacts the student’s ability to perform academically. In order to promote language in students with autism it is important to use teaching strategies that have been shown to be effective. Teaching strategies for receptive language include the use of discrimination training and exclusion training. For promoting expressive language the use of incidental teaching, scripts, audio prompts and video modeling have been shown to be successful.
Impact of Behavioral Challenges
Students with ASD may engage in a variety of behaviors such as stereotypic behavior (e.g., handflapping, spinning) or ritualistic behavior (e.g., following a particular route to travel). In addition, some students may engage in disruptive or challenging behavior (e.g., aggression or self-injurious). To address behavior it will be important to determine the function of behavior by conducting a functional behavioral assessment (FBA). Once the assessment is conducted the intervention can then be developed.
For example if the student is engaging in a behavior such as throwing items to gain a teacher’s attention it is possible to teach the student another more appropriate way to gain the teacher’s attention such as hand raising. Once the new replacement behavior is taught the student no longer needs to engage in the problem behavior as their needs are now being met. Clearly the student’s language deficits directly impact the student’s behavior.
If the student is lacking the ability to communicate it will be more likely that the student will experience frustration and then may express that in terms of a disruptive or challenging behavior. To assist the student a variety of reinforcement plans can be devised or if the student is capable a self-management system can be developed to encourage the student to be more independent and more aware of his/her own behavior.
Making Inclusion a Success
Although students with ASD may present with a variety of deficits and behavior excesses we can easily provide them with the supports they need to allow them to be educated in the least restrictive setting possible with their typical peers. It is up to the educators to assume the responsibility to assist students with ASD who have so much to offer and afford them the opportunity to be successful in the least restrictive environment.

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