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In recent years many schools in BC have been using the work of Stuart Shanker and Leyton Schnellert, among others, to create classrooms and learning activities that promote self-regulation and self-regulated learning. This work is very serendipitous to plans for supporting students with ASD.
What are some of the environmental adaptations that could be made to overcome these challenges?
Reading these articles made me think of my students who covers her ears when some sounds like waves crashing are being played. When I realized my student had some sort of issue with the sound, I chose a different sound and she seemed to be ok. It was more instrumental. I wonder if she has an SPD with sound issues. I wonder if I could have approached it differently by pulling her aside and having her show me using her communication book, how she feels when I play certain sounds before I use them with my class.
It also made me think about my own sensitivities to sound. When I was little they used to be particularly tested at my grandma’s house where there wasn’t any white noise because it was very secluded. The night would be very quiet apart from the sound of the grandmother clock and sometimes my own heartbeat would disturb me so much I couldn’t sleep. I remember once carrying my pillow around to different parts of the house trying to get away from the sound of the clock. I imagine having an SPD must feel like that but maybe more intensely.
Environmental adaptations that could be made to overcome these challenges:
Visual: change in lighting by taking some lights out of classroom; reduce visual distractions such as posters, student work, etc around the classroom;
Auditory: headphones, have student with SPD share how sounds makes them feel
Smell: no perfumes or scented oils, or have student with sensory issue share how they feel about certain oils before choosing them
Touch: allow students to use gloves with paint or play dough, plan sensitively around kinesthetic activities
Wallace, M. (2019, August 9). Timing is key to understanding sensory, social issues in autism. Retrieved May 24, 2020, from https://www.spectrumnews.org/opinion/viewpoint/timing-key-understanding-sensory-social-issues-autism/
Sensory Discomfort -Self-regulation
- "90 percent of individuals with autism have unique in the way they process sensory information"
-timing -larger social and cognitive difficulties- brains create a window of time allowing us to understand that something we perceive with sight and sound are integrated, but this is different for people with ASD. People with ASD have longer windows to make sense of sight and sound, and think of events as simultaneous events rather than one event.
-Typical people match sounds and visual cues 1 to 1 but people with ASD match 1 to several -causing confusion
-McGurk Effect typical persons says “ba” and person sees lips perform “ba”, atypical hears ba see’s “ga” and makes sense of the event as “da” because of the information from visual and auditory cues.
-It’s possible to narrow a window of time with neurotypical people by providing feedback, each time a person labels an event as simultaneous or sequential, you provide feedback and let them know if they are correct
-It could be possible to help narrow atypical people’s time windows in training through feedback
Bennie, M. (2016, November 14). Does my child have sensory processing disorder? Retrieved May 24, 2020, from https://autismawarenesscentre.com/does-my-child-have-sensory-processing-disorder/
-Sensory processing disorder NOT a symptom of autism but a stand-alone disorder
What is SPD? The brain and nervous system have trouble processing or integrating stimulus.
“SPD is a neurophysiological condition in which sensory input – either from the environment or from one’s body- is poorly detected, or interpreted and (or) to which atypical responses are observed.”
-processing temperature, light, sound, hunger, etc can be challenging and overwhelming
-can evoke irregular responses that can lead to health issues such as not detecting temperature and not dressing for specific weather
-exist on a spectrum mild to profound and people can have challenges with one sense or many
SIGNS
-under or over responses to sensory input
-intolerance to textures or certain clothing -labels, seams
-intolerance to certain noises that may cause people to feel almost physical pain
-food textures and colours causing extreme responses
-difficulty using fine motor skills
-difficulty with change or transition
-clumsiness
Checklist:
https://www.spdstar.org/basic/symptoms-checklist
What does it feel like to have SPD?
Treatment
-There is treatment
-Occupational therapists skilled at sensory issues can be helpful
-Some things need to be left out of diet or closet until the child is old enough to develop coping mechanisms
-Develop a mutual language to help child share how they are feeling (PECS, thermometer of discomfort, etc)
Other useful resources on sensory dysfunction and self-regulation:
Selfreg.ca -Free resources to support learning of Shanker Self-regulation.
Autismspeaks.org -This link will take you to information about sensory issues some people with ASD experience and lists helpful accommodations. The page also offers an insight into sensory overload via a video that is shared.
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