Teaching Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders

By: Susan M. Catlett, Ph.D

 

Implications for Learning:

    Thinking differences
          -Lack of concept of meaning
          -Excessive focus on details
          -Distractibility
          -Concrete literal thinking
          -Difficulty with combining or integrating ideas
          -Organizational, sequential difficulties
          -Difficulty with generalizing
          -Strong impulses, excessive anxiety, sensory/perceptual abnormalities
          -Lack of perspective taking (i.e., "theory of mind")
          -Predictability preferred over spontaneity
          -May rely on rote memory to demonstrate knowledge, but lack comprehension

    Learning Differences
          -Requires highly structured and systematic approach to learning
          -Visual learning style
          -"Spikes" in development
          -Uneven profile of cognitive skills
          -Numerical computations
          -Inability to generalize
          -Difficulty with sequencing and organizing
          -Problems integrating related information
          -Don't learn well by trial and error
          -Don't learn by vicarious experience

     Attention Differences
           -May attend to the "wrong" details
           -May be unable to shift attention
           -May have difficulty sharing attention
           -May have a short attention span
           -May have difficulty allocating attention to instruction
           -May be more focused on sensations that are more interesting or important
           -May be distracted by internal or external stimuli

    Differences In Ability To Self-Control
          -Strong impulses
          -Can be very difficult to redirect
          -Appear "driven"
          -Difficulty accepting that some things are not possible
          -Some behaviors may resemble those associated with OCD

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