One out of every 88 children is diagnosed with autism.
Researchers are developing new techniques to help teachers better meet the needs of these children.
Juliet Hart, a professor at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, has enlisted the aid of students in her classes to research how to better educate children with autism. Two of the students helping her are secondary education mathematics sophomore Shannon Cleary and journalism senior Tara Boyd.
“They both have really interesting ideas that they were able to generate and then talk through and clean,” Hart said.
Boyd has been researching apps that can help children with autism communicate more effectively.
Children with autism often communicate by pointing at pictures or using sentence strips to form complete sentences.
“In the past, they’ve used speech-generating devices that are kind of big and bulky and sometimes hard to manipulate,” Boyd said.
Boyd’s experience with these students has predominately centered at a school that she has worked at throughout her college journey.
“I’ve worked, for the past three summers, as a (paraeducator) in an autism classroom,” she said. “I just fell in love with the work.”
She has worked with first-graders and preschoolers. Boyd said often the children had behavior or speech issues, but it varied.
“Every day was kind of different, because it depended on the student and outside factors,” she said.
Boyd spoke of one boy who had with a speech problem. This is not rare, she said.
In her research, Boyd is focusing on the communication facet. The boy used a bulky machine to help him communicate but often tried to play with an iPad.
“(I found out) that there were apps on the iPad that did the same thing that his other device was doing,” Boyd said. “That’s kind of what sparked the interest in the actual research I did."
This unique interest has made Boyd helpful to Hart’s overall project on learning how to better teach children with autism.
“It’s really been a great collaborative exchange,” Hart said. “(The student helpers) have particular interests in their own fields that I’m not necessarily familiar with.”
The research can expand to a wider horizon of topics.
Cleary’s interest is focused on researching intervention strategies to help children with autism learn math skills. By using intervention techniques, researchers can determine if teaching techniques are useful in helping students learn and retain the material.
“The teacher will implement the strategy that they’re using,” Cleary said.
Still in the beginning phases, Cleary is focusing on research. Next semester, though, she hopes to work hands-on with more children.
“We’re hoping that next semester, I can implement an intervention strategy that we’ve developed and actually see the results,” she said.
These techniques can be as simple as using number lines and mnemonics to remember numbers.
Cleary has also found studies that incorporated a technique known as video-self modeling.
“The students would watch themselves on the iPad and then complete the math problem,” she said.
Cleary’s work with children with autism stemmed when she visited her cousin, a preschool teacher who often works with children who have special needs.
“I visited her a couple summers ago,” Cleary said. “Seeing her in her classroom really solidified my decision to teach.”
Her research is moving forward. Cleary still has more than two years to complete her project. Boyd has also made forward progress.
“With the help of Dr. Hart, I put together a website,” she said. “The information is easily accessible for teachers to find online.”
She’s not done, though.
“(The website) needs to continue to be updated,” she said. “With technology, everything moves so fast, it’s probably partially irrelevant already.”
Reach the reporter at lmnewma1@asu.edu, or on Twitter @Logan_Newsman
