Final Class Reflection

Final Course Reflection

This Counseling Interventions class as part of Antioch's Autism Certificate Program has encouraged me to reflect heavily on the significance of attending to the self-perception and emotional stability of these kids identified with Asperger’s Syndrome. In class Larry Welkowitz
(12/17/06) suggested that we tend to focus on the “topography” as opposed to the "function" of negative behaviors. He used the example of medicating a child that isn’t attending in school as opposed to understanding the function of the inattention and working with it. This made me think. We in the elementary schools, at least in the elementary schools I am associated with, have a tendency to attend to the external behaviors, social skills, and academic progress and overlook the emotional/self-perception piece of the picture. All the former mentioned are important components of our students’ educational programs, even critical, but without direct attention to the emotional well-being of the student we could be setting these kids up for disaster.

We spent some time discussing the co-morbidity issues with Asperger’s. There is some research indicating that co-morbidity is the rule rather than the exception (Gillberg & Billstedt, 2000). Ghaziuddin (2002) suggests that while these disorders often present as hyperactivity and disruptive behavior in younger children with Asperger’s, depression is more prevalent with the adolescent population (Barnhill & Myles, 2001). Knowing that the middle school years can be like navigating through a mine field for our kids, it occurs to me that we may be able to provide them with anti-mine toolbox through taking a more proactive stance.

Just this week we had a progress update meeting regarding a delightful fourth grade boy identified with high functioning autism that I case manage. It was at this meeting that I started thinking about things a little differently and making some connections.

This young man, I’ll call him DJ, presents as an intelligent, lively, humorous student. Not surprisingly, he struggles with stressors within the classroom and the unstructured social parts of his day (mostly recess). Some of the current issues that we are working on include helping him to recognize when he is escalating in the classroom and getting himself out before he has an outburst. Once he is able to process his concern he is quick to deescalate. Our hope is to minimize the “social penalizing” (Elsa Abele) effects of the outbursts by helping this student to understand himself and develop strategies to deal with the stresses in his life in more socially acceptable ways. He is making gains.

Not surprisingly DJ also has many struggles on the playground. His Theory of Mind and executive functioning deficits make for routine issues in free play. He, of course, would like to be the “lord of the playground” – in charge of all game decisions, rule making, and partner choices. Again, we consider these struggles as opportunities to help DJ understand more about how the “neurotypical” world works, and work through why particular issues present problems for him. We do our best to allow for pre-recess planning time, and post recess processing time – if needed. We use a combination of movement and Carol Gray’s Comic Strip Conversations (1995) to help deescalate and frame the necessary processing as misunderstandings occur. DJ also participates in a small social skills group where games are played and explicit instruction is provided in an effort to, as Steve Gutstein(2000) would say, "highlight" social dynamics.

In an attempt to be proactive with my case management I typically schedule monthly meetings to discuss the students identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Meeting regularly has so many advantages. First, it allows for strong team building – the foundation of the program. The parents come to understand of what utmost importance they are to the team and the direct service providers feel supported. It minimizes program misunderstandings and enables clear communication regarding focus and procedures which in turn maximizes progress. Meeting regularly with the family offers a more complete picture of what the ever-changing issues at home and school might be. Over time the ways in which the team might be able to help individual families becomes clear. Each family is the expert on their child, but some of the team members are likely to have more “autism” experience which can be of great benefit to the parents.

It was at this meeting that DJ’s mother happened to mention a few new concerns that sent up a red flag. She stated that DJ has just recently begun to say that he was dumb, and that the kids at school think he’s dumb. While DJ gets in recess dilemmas and has some outbursts in class when he gets overly stressed, there is no evidence to us teachers that he is not liked or thought of as dumb by his peers. As a matter of fact, it appears to the adults that he is liked very much. But, we also know that most bullying goes on when teachers are not looking or listening. And we know that what we teachers see and think is not nearly as important as what the student believes and how he perceives himself. At school DJ has not yet verbalized any of these negative thoughts. Without this monthly meeting this critical information would have passed us by.

Before this “Interventions to Counseling” class I probably would have listened with concern. I was already aware of how vulnerable these kids on the spectrum are to bullying (Welkowitz stated that about 90% of Asperger kids are bullied or teased), social isolation and depression especially a little later in life. We would have continued to work diligently in helping DJ understand the social dynamics of our culture and to develop strategies around his personal issues – which we will still do. We try to be explicit within our school community about what bullying is and have zero tolerance for it. This, too, will continue and our alertness peaked even more when it comes to looking out for DJ. But in addition, we are looking at counseling for this young man. To attempt to manage the external signs no longer seems enough. To take the same proactive stance with early intervention for emotional stability has to be at least as important as our proactive stance with early intervention for academics and social skills! If we provide counseling now before this student goes into the mine field of pre-teen and adolescence just maybe he will be better prepared to avoid the mine field explosions.

We, as a society, have got to be prepared to assist these kids and adults identified with ASD. Wouldn't it be a step forward in being able to provide more comprehensive programs to our students if our guidance counselors were provided with the tools they need to work with this population effectively? Is my school typical in that it’s usually the special education personnel and the classroom teachers that provide the services for the ASD students? Bringing our guidance counselor onto the team could hold so much potential for our students. It seems important to share information about this population and encourage more professional development around these issues with the guidance counselors so that they can provide meaningful direct services to these kids.

References

Barnhill, G.P., Myles, B.S. (2001). Attributional style and depression in adolescents with
Asperger Syndrome. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 3, 175-182.

Ghaziuddin, M. (2002). Asperger Syndrome: Associated psychiatric and medical conditions.
Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 17, 138-144.

Gillberg, C., & Billstedt, E. (2000). Autism and Asperger syndrome: Coexistence with other
clinical disorders. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 102, 321-330.

Gray, C. (1995). Social stories unlimited:Social stories and comic book conversations. Jenison,
MI: Jenison Public Schools.

Gutstein, S. (2000). Autism Aspergers: Solving The Relationship Puzzle. Arlington, TX: Future Horizons, Inc.