Autistic Children Learn Life Skills

When autism instructor Kathy Yasui-Der's requests for Eric to wait are disregarded, Yasui-Der sends him to a timeout.

Even snack time has an educational purpose in Yasui-Der's classroom at Frank Porter Graham Elementary School.

The goal of the exercise is to force the students to articulate their wishes, an ability that autistic children often lack.

Every morning, Yasui-Der and her two assistants, Alyssa Calverta and Kate Kalleberg, teach the school's Upper Primary Autistic Class, which is composed of third- through fifth-grade children. The school also offers a Lower Primary Autistic Class for younger children.

"Our final goal with these kids is to teach them to be as independent as possible," Yasui-Der said. "We place the major emphasis on life skills -- many of these kids cannot dress themselves in the morning." Yasui-Der, who has more than 10 years of experience working with autistic children, said most can overcome at least part of their autism with sufficient training.

The disease's origins are shrouded in mystery. Usually it is difficult to predict which children will be struck with autism.

The condition affects a person's ability to relate to the world as most of us know it. In severe instances, autism can leave the individual nearly incapable of communicating with others and almost blind to the functioning of the world.

Autism is four times more likely to occur in boys than in girls. At any given time, the majority of children in autistic treatment programs are male -- a statistic that holds true for Yasui-Der's class, which consists of five boys and no girls.

Most children improve after lengthy participation in school-sponsored special education programs and independent programs like Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication handicapped CHildren, UNC's autism study and treatment division, Yasui-Der said. The environment found in Yasui-Der's classroom is typical of programs offered for autistic children throughout Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.

"We have an extremely well-supported program, from teachers to parents to administrators to other support staff like the TEACCH program," she said.

Yasui-Der said a well-trained support staff is indispensible to the successful education of autistic children. By contrast, material tools, pictures, toys and furniture are less important than they are in the standard school system.

Yasui-Der said she takes issue with a public perception that autistic children's classes are mere day cares. Instead, she said her class resembles a standard classroom in that it is an active learning environment with specific achievement goals.

In the classroom, Yasui-Der and her assistants focus on teaching the children basic functional academics, but because most autistics are visual learners, the teaching environment is radically different to that of a typical elementary classroom.

The room does not look like a conventional classroom. Instead of rows of desks, the room is divided into sections. There is a recreation center, titled "Play," featuring bins and shelves of toys, bean bag chairs and a child-sized trampoline.

Each child has an individual work station to store school supplies. A sign at each desk lists each child's phone number, birth date, address and other basic information.

Two tables, one in the kitchen area and one toward the back of the room, are the main stations for instruction. Here the children learn numbers and practice basic reading skills. Signs adorn all objects in the room, from "computer" to "cabinet," and the room is designed to assist the instruction of the children to the fullest.

Even social occasions are used for instructional purposes. One Friday afternoon, Yasui-Der's class attended a party held for one of the children in the lower autistic class who was moving to another school. "Why are we here today?" Calverta asked one child. "We're here for a party, right?" Calverta and the five other teachers present worked diligently, canvassing the room and encouraging the children to interact with one another.

This type of vigilance is the key to successful autism education, Yasui-Der said. All concepts and actions must be reinforced repeatedly, lest the child miss the message. Behavioral patterns not deemed socially appropriate -- like Eric's disruptive temper tantrum -- must be weeded out over a long process of cause and effect.

The teachers enforce the rules by requesting a change of behavior, and if the child does not comply, timeout or some similar punishment must be taken.

"For each child, we have what we call an IEP or individualized education plan," Yasui-Der said. "Included in this is a set of behavior skills that we try to reach with each child."

Children in the IEP program engage in activities that address nearly all parts of daily life, including a physical education class where learning to wait turns, share and work in a team are prioritized over actual game playing. Arts and crafts activities allow children to learn patterns and focus their energies on a specific task.

But the goal of the IEP program is not to separate children from mainstream students but to prepare them to be at least partially integrated into conventional classes by the time they are of high school age. To make the transition as easy as possible, children take a few elective classes with students from other classes without a teaching assistant present.

Each Friday, the class participates in an activity outside the classroom that aims to enhance their education by getting the children to interact with standard society. Calverta told of an occasion where the class went to the Museum of Natural Science in Durham: "Eric decided he was not going to get on the train and that was that," she said. "So I stood by with him, and we waved at everyone when they came by. We'll keep working with him, and one day, we will get to the point where he will get on that train."

Yasui-Der said that despite all the challenges involved in educating autistic children, the effort is well worth it.

"We love what we do; you have to -- it's physically, mentally, and definitely emotionally demanding. But at the end of the day, you love these kids, no matter what."

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.