Teaching special skills to special kids
by Beth
In my role as moderator of the Easter Seals and autism blog, I get a fair amount of email come-ons from companies that sell services to help people who have autism. Every year at this time, the volume of email messages like this grows. You know, beginning of the school year and all.
Take this one I got the other day. The subject heading read “back to school special” and the message talked about Laminated Photo Cards. The front of each card asks a question, the back has the beginning of an answer to that question. You read the card aloud, and the child with autism flips the card over and finds words to finish the answer supplied on the back.
On special, the cards sold for less than $30. Really?
Pardon my skepticism, but would these cards really work? Even if they did, couldn’t you make them yourself for far less money at home? I put the email aside. Until my husband came home from a visit to see our son, that is.
Gus is 23 years old now and lives with friends in a group home. Something he did on this last visit reminded my husband and me of Gus’ school days. Gus had an enjoyable afternoon out with his dad and didn’t want it to end. To let his dad know this, Gus banged his head, a behavior we haven’t witnessed in Gus in years. He and his dad took one last walk around the block then, and all was well.
When Gus was in school, he never wanted to go back inside after recess. Well, actually, that wasn’t the problem. The thing he was fighting was the quick transition. He wanted to know he was about to go in, rather than suddenly being forced inside.
Teachers and assistants tried to talk Gus through the transition, tell him it was time to go inside. Gus wouldn’t — or couldn’t — listen. They got out picture boards, augmentative and alternative communication devices. Nothing worked.
And then his teacher came up with an idea. We collected baseball caps, and minutes before it was time to go inside, one of the caps would be placed on Gus’ head. Eureka! It worked! Gus made the connection. Cap on, time to go inside.
And so, who am I to question the laminated photo cards? They’ll probably work for someone out there, someone who has tried all sorts of other methods to teach communication skills. And as for the notion of making them yourself, who has time for that when raising a child with a disability? Guess I’ll keep opening the email come-ons, you never know what might work when it comes to teaching special skills to special kids.