Children with Autism

Children with autism can be challenging to teachers in a community-based preschool, even to special educators if they have not had experience with children with autism.

Interacting with children with autism can be especially difficult because of their lack communication and social skills. Families of children with autism often are the first to hear about opportunities for their children. They are typically anxious to try new strategies, techniques, and treatments as they hear about them.

This was certainly the case with Angie’s family. As outlined in her Success story, Angie’s parents found out about a specially designed university-situated preschool for children with autism, directed by a nationally known expert in autism, Dr. Ilene Schwartz. Because distance from Angie’s home was prohibitive, her local school district consulted with Dr. Schwartz, who made her initial recommendations based on chart review and visits to Angie’s pre-school.

The teachers acted on her advice, implementing the PECS system as well as behavior management strategies. When, at parent insistence, more frequent on-site visits from the university staff were contracted for, modern interactive video teleconferencing was identified as a technological means of making more frequent “visits” feasible. The players in this story were fortunate to be located in the State of Washington where the Office of Public Instruction had already implemented a statewide network connecting every school district with the Internet and providing Internet-based videoconferencing equipment and capability (http://www.k12.wa.us/K-20/default.aspx).

Angie’s district had the necessary equipment already in place, but had never utilized it for this purpose. To make this potential solution a reality, several training sessions and technician assistance were necessary to get the local preschool staff up to speed and comfortable with this technology. (To learn how to use the system go to: http://www.depts.washington.edu/wwami). Only once this mundane but essential stage was complete were the teachers in this rural school district able to use expert consultation to guide them towards the least restrictive educational programming for Angie. And only then could her parents be satisfied that their daughter was benefiting from the most up-to-date educational approaches.