Autistic Kids

Eighth-grader Danny Ahlrich plays outside and teases his sisters just like any other 14 year-old, but he’s not exactly like every other 14 year-old. He is autistic. But that one difference is only a small part of who he is.

“He’s just..he’s a very tall 14 year old boy who has two sisters, who likes yu-gi-o cards and by the way, he happens to be autistic. And that to me, is tremendous,” says his mom, Donna Ahlrich.

It is tremendous, especially compared to what one therapist predicted for Danny. Ahlrich recalls a therapist say, “‘ He will never be out of a special ed class. And when he gets out of high school, you’re going to put him in a group home.’ And this is what I have to look forward to. That was devastating.”

Danny’s parents were devastated, but they didn’t give up hope.

“We basically started him on very intensive therapy – a lot of occupational therapy and a lot of speech therapy. From the age of 3 to about 7, he went to 5 therapies a week,” says Ahlrich.

Wayne Fisher, Ph.D., Assoc. Professor, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Executive Director of the Marcus Behavior Center says that course of action is crucial. “We know that the earlier we start intervening, the better the outcome. And the more intensive the intervention early on, the better the outcome,” says Fisher.

In fact, he says, about half of autistic kids who get early and intense therapy are able to re-enter regular classes, ike Danny did in first grade.

And now Danny is in 8 th grade in a regular class taking the same tests and turning in the same homework as his peers. And although it is a struggle, he’s doing well.

“I get B’s and A’s on my progress, and A’s on my progress reports,” he says.

“He’s doing it. I mean, my son is doing algebraic equations. He’s doing the periodic table. That amazes me. My son’s doing algebra. That is, that’s incredible,” says his mother, beaming.

The Ahlriches refused to dwell on what Danny couldn’t do. Instead, they focused on making progress and helping Danny realize his full potential .

“One of the key factors is just perseverance and saying, I want what’s best for my child and I’m going to whatever I can to get it. It is a frustrating process to wade through that. It takes time, but perseverance pays off,” says Dr. Fisher.

And Donna Ahlrich agrees, “I do know that Danny would not have gotten where he was if we had given up. And then boy, if you can do it, it is just tremendous.”

By Larry Eldridge, Jr.
CWK Network, Inc.

The causes of autism remain unknown, but the effects are very evident. Many families throughout the world have autistic children. Consider the following statistics:

• Autism occurs in one out of every 500 children.
• Four-out-of-five autistic individuals are male.
• Three-out-of-four individuals with autism are thought to be mentally retarded.
• One-third of those with autism suffer from epilepsy.
• Most autistic children are institutionalized by age 13.
• Diagnosis for autism increased 556 percent during the 1990s.

By Larry Eldridge, Jr.
CWK Network, Inc.

Raising a child with autism can be very trying, but it can also be very rewarding. Temple Grandin, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at Colorado State University, and perhaps the most well-known sufferer of autism in the world. Grandin has developed abattoirs for humane cattle-slaughtering, using her experiences with autism to help devise ways to keep the cattle from panicking. Grandin credits a strong network of parents and teachers with his ability to succeed in life. Consider the following list Grandin has created to help others whose children or students have autism. Think of ways to apply some of the classroom techniques below at your house. You may want to share this list with your child’s teachers.

• Many people with autism are visual thinkers. I think in pictures. I do not think in language. All my thoughts are like videotapes running in my imagination. Pictures are my first language, and words are my second language. Nouns were the easiest words to learn because I could make a picture in my mind of the word. To learn words like “up” or “down,” the teacher should demonstrate them to the child. For example, take a toy airplane and say “up” as you make the airplane takeoff from a desk. Some children will learn better if cards with the words “up” and “down” are attached to the toy airplane. The “up” card is attached when the plane takes off. The “down” card is attached when it lands.
• Avoid long strings of verbal instructions. People with autism have problems with remembering the sequence. If the child can read, write the instructions down on a piece of paper. I am unable to remember sequences. If I ask for directions at a gas station, I can only remember three steps. Directions with more than three steps have to be written down. I also have difficulty remembering phone numbers because I cannot make a picture in my mind.
• Many children with autism are good at drawing, art and computer programming. These talent areas should be encouraged. I think there needs to be much more emphasis on developing the child’s talents. Talents can be turned into skills that can be used for future employment.
• Many autistic children get fixated on one subject such as trains or maps. The best way to deal with fixations is to use them to motivate schoolwork. If the child likes trains, then use trains to teach reading and math. Read a book about a train and do math problems with trains. For example, calculate how long it takes for a train to go between New York and Washington.
• Use concrete visual methods to teach number concepts. My parents gave me a math toy that helped me to learn numbers. It consisted of a set of blocks that had a different length and a different color for the numbers one through 10. With this I learned how to add and subtract. To learn fractions my teacher had a wooden apple that was cut up into four pieces and a wooden pear that was cut in half. From this I learned the concept of quarters and halves.
• I had the worst handwriting in my class. Many autistic children have problems with motor control in their hands. Neat handwriting is sometimes very hard. This can totally frustrate the child. To reduce frustration and help the child to enjoy writing, let him type on the computer. Typing is often much easier.
• Some autistic children will learn reading more easily with phonics, and others will learn best by memorizing whole words. I learned with phonics. My mother taught me the phonics rules and then had me sound out my words. Children with lots of echolalia will often learn best if flash cards and picture books are used so that the whole words are associated with pictures. It is important to have the picture and the printed word on the same side of the card. When teaching nouns the child must hear you speak the word and view the picture and printed word simultaneously. An example of teaching a verb would be to hold a card that says “jump,” and you would jump up and down while saying “jump.”
• When I was a child, loud sounds like the school bell hurt my ears like a dentist drill hitting a nerve. Children with autism need to be protected from sounds that hurt their ears. The sounds that will cause the most problems are school bells, PA systems, buzzers on the scoreboard in the gym, and the sound of chairs scraping on the floor. Try and reduce the amount of loud and alarming sounds in and around your house. In many cases the child will be able to tolerate the bell or buzzer if it is muffled slightly by stuffing it with tissues or duct tape. Scraping chairs can be silenced by placing slit tennis balls on the ends of the legs or installing carpet. A child may fear a certain room because he is afraid he may be suddenly subjected to squealing microphone feedback from the PA system. The fear of a dreaded sound can cause bad behavior. If a child covers his ears, it is an indicator that a certain sound hurts his ears. Sometimes sound sensitivity to a particular sound, such as the fire alarm, can be desensitized by recording the sound on a tape recorder. This will allow the child to initiate the sound and gradually increase its volume. The child must have control of playback of the sound.
• Some autistic people are bothered by visual distractions and fluorescent lights. They can see the flicker of the 60-cycle electricity. To avoid this problem, place the child’s desk near the window or try to avoid using fluorescent lights. If the lights cannot be avoided, use the newest bulbs you can get. New bulbs flicker less. The flickering of fluorescent lights can also be reduced by putting a lamp with an old-fashioned incandescent light bulb next to the child’s desk.
• Some hyperactive autistic children who fidget all the time will often be calmer if they are given a padded weighted vest to wear. Pressure from the garment helps to calm the nervous system. I was greatly calmed by pressure. For best results, the vest should be worn for twenty minutes and then taken off for a few minutes. This prevents the nervous system from adapting to it.
• Some individuals with autism will respond better and have improved eye contact and speech if the teacher interacts with them while they are swinging on a swing or rolled up in a mat. Sensory input from swinging or pressure from the mat sometimes helps to improve speech. Swinging should always be done as a fun game. It must NEVER be forced.
• Some children and adults can sing better than they can speak. They may respond better if words and sentences are sung to them. Some children with extreme sound sensitivity will respond better if the teacher talks to them in a low whisper.
• Some nonverbal children and adults cannot process visual and auditory input at the same time. They are mono-channel. They cannot see and hear at the same time. They should not be asked to look and listen at the same time. They should be given either a visual task or an auditory task. Their immature nervous system is not able to process simultaneous visual and auditory input.
• In older nonverbal children and adults, touch is often their most reliable sense. It is often easier for them to feel. Letters can be taught by letting them feel plastic letters. They can learn their daily schedule by feeling objects a few minutes before a scheduled activity. For example, fifteen minutes before lunch give the person a spoon to hold. Let them hold a toy car a few minutes before going in the car.
• Some children and adults with autism will learn more easily if the computer keyboard is placed close to the screen. This enables the individual to simultaneously see the keyboard and screen. Some individuals have difficulty remembering if they have to look up after they have hit a key on the keyboard.
• Nonverbal children and adults will find it easier to associate words with pictures if they see the printed word and a picture on a flashcard. Some individuals do not understand line drawings, so it is recommended to work with real objects and photos first. The picture and the word must be on the same side of the card.
• Some autistic individuals do not know that speech is used for communication. Language learning can be facilitated if language exercises promote communication. If the child asks for a cup, then give him a cup. If the child asks for a plate, when he wants a cup, give him a plate. The individual needs to learn that when he says words, concrete things happen. It is easier for an individual with autism to learn that their words are wrong if the incorrect word resulted in the incorrect object.
• Many individuals with autism have difficulty using a computer mouse. Try a roller ball (or tracking ball) pointing device that has a separate button for clicking. Autistic children with motor control problems in their hands find it very difficult to hold the mouse still during clicking.
• Children who have difficulty understanding speech have a hard time differentiating between hard consonant sounds such as ‘d’ in dog and ‘l’ in log. My speech teacher helped me to learn to hear these sounds by stretching out and enunciating hard consonant sounds. Even though the child may have passed a pure tone hearing test he may still have difficulty hearing hard consonants. Children who talk in vowel sounds are not hearing consonants.
• Several parents have informed me that using the closed captions on the television helped their child to learn to read. The child was able to read the captions and match the printed works with spoken speech. Recording a favorite program with captions on a tape would be helpful because the tape can be played over and over again and stopped.
• Some autistic individuals do not understand that a computer mouse moves the arrow on the screen. They may learn more easily if a paper arrow that looks EXACTLY like the arrow on the screen is taped to the mouse.
• Children and adults with visual processing problems can see flicker on TV-type computer monitors. They can sometimes see better on laptops and flat panel displays that have less flicker.
• Children and adults who fear escalators often have visual processing problems. They fear the escalator because they cannot determine when to get on or off. These individuals may also not be able to tolerate fluorescent lights. Irlen Institute colored glasses may be helpful for them.
• Individuals with visual processing problems often find it easier to read if black print is printed on colored paper to reduce contrast. Try light tan, light blue, gray or light green paper. Experiment with different colors. Avoid bright yellow – it may hurt the individual’s eyes. Irlen colored glasses may also make reading easier.
• Teaching generalization is often a problem for children with autism. To teach a child to generalize the principle of not running across the street, it must be taught in many different locations. If he or she is taught in only one location, the child will think that the rule only applies to one specific place.
• A common problem is that a child may be able to use the toilet correctly at home but refuses to use it at school. This may be due to a failure to recognize the toilet. Hilde de Clerq, an international specialist from the Centre for Training in Autism and Asperger Syndrome in Antwerp, Belgium, discovered that an autistic child may use a small non-relevant detail to recognize an object such as a toilet. It takes detective work to find that detail. In one case a boy would only use the toilet at home that had a black seat. His parents and teacher were able to get him to use the toilet at school by covering its white seat with black tape. The tape was then gradually removed and toilets with white seats were now recognized as toilets.
• Sequencing is very difficult for individuals with severe autism. Sometimes they do not understand when a task is presented as a series of steps. An occupational therapist successfully taught a nonverbal autistic child to use a playground slide by walking his body through climbing the ladder and going down the slide. It must be taught by touch and motor rather than showing him visually. Putting on shoes can be taught in a similar manner. The teacher should put her hands on top of the child’s hands and move the child’s hands over his foot so he feels and understands the shape of his foot. The next step is feeling the inside and the outside of a slip-on shoe. To put the shoe on, the teacher guides the child’s hands to the shoe and, using the hand-over-hand method, slides the shoe onto the child’s foot. This enables the child to feel the entire task of putting on his shoe.
• Fussy eating is a common problem. In some cases the child may be fixated on a detail that identifies a certain food. de Clerq found that one child only ate Chiquita bananas because he fixated on the labels. Other fruit such as apples and oranges were readily accepted when Chiquita labels were put on them. Try putting different but similar foods in the cereal box or another package of a favorite food. Another mother had success by putting a homemade hamburger with a wheat free bun in a McDonald’s package.

Autism Society of America
Center for the Study of Autism
Marcus Institute
Child and Youth Health