Webinar about "Selecting goals for students with autism" by Nnina Finkler

The Webinar I attended on the 23^rd of October was done by Nina Finkler the president of Nina Finkler Autism Services, and it talks about “Selecting Goals for Students with Autism”.

When students with autism are put in an environment that focuses on language comprehension, they suffer to learn but during one on one sessions they feel more comfortable and learner faster with no suffering. Moreover, teachers must do appropriate assessment and have appropriate methodology. Teachers are not there to “cure” students, they must invest and plan for the future, and they must be critical to ensure prerequisite skills are within the student’s repertoire. In addition, teachers must always keep in mind:

*Productivity: like time on task, teachers must focus on the time span of the student between the direction given and when the time he/she stops doing their task.

*Choice making Skills: which is related to behavior of students

*Independence level: navigating their behavior in a room not only refers to getting dressed, it also includes navigating their environment and even asking for help.

*Communication skills: i.e. communication style, what is their mode of expression which may differ from one student to another.

*Prerequisite skills: students may recognize a word without knowing the letters, they don’t need to name a letter to know it (knowing it but not expressing it), just like when we, as ordinary people, travel and know a foreign word without knowing the actual language).

Also, if a student is strong in reading, he might not know the meaning of what he’s reading, in other words if a student is good in 1 skill, it doesn’t mean he’s good at all skills.

Furthermore, the skills taught to students with autism must me functional and usable ones. Usable as in being helpful all their lives not just in class. Like community helpers to enable them to know other people in communities.

  Why are we teaching certain skills? To acquire functional academic, domestic, and social skills. The example she gave is when a teacher asked students in a science course to watch and describe melting ice which is not useful at all. Same goes for math, typical math must be related to money, and reading a calendar.

She also talked about assessment tools that are structured, and they’re done on a regular basis, looks at personal skills, and all types of communication through interviews. These assessment tools are available and named: VB-Mapp, ABLSS, AFLS, Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale.

Nina Finkler also mentioned certain domains such as:

*Learning Readiness: which teaches them about waiting, like when they wait in line or wait on the phone, or wait for an explanation, so they won’t suffer while waiting. It also includes imitation, following simple direction, and eye contact to show acknowledgement that they heard us. Learning readiness is considered appropriate sitting because at young age a student with autism can sit in their teachers’ lap, yet this is not appropriate when they grow older.

*Pre-Academic/Academic functions

*Communication/language which are expressive and receptive communication.

*Play/Leisure: appropriate type of playing like pretend play.

*Self-care: using a tissue, wash hands, toilet training and such tasks that won’t get in the way of them getting a job in the future. (a student with autism can learn how to use a toilet even if he/she is non-verbal)

*Vocation: 85% is the rate of unemployment in people with autism, and life for these people with be rough for them specially at the age of 21 after they’ve finished school, therefore good assessments will help them and train them.

*Good behavior

*Social skill: which are not measurable and must be good and useful like greeting their peers and responding to others, and even asking for help.

In the end, Finkler mentioned that goals must be measurable, achievable and must include generalization.