Fred,
I would not worry too much about 1/4 of the year being over by the time you meet w/ the IEP team. She'll be in school for the next twelve years! In the meantime, it is almost good to see she's not paying attention in certain settings because this is a great indicator of strengths and weaknesses. Since it appears she needs to be actively engaged, maybe the teacher can have her pass out materials or collect pencils or something. With my son, his teacher had a star chart and would make a big deal when she caught him doing the right thing! Another fun thing is for the teacher to say, "Evie, I will be calling on you to share next/soon, so be ready!" It's a gentler way of saying pay attention. But I can't stressthe importance of preferntial seating and visuals. Try and find the book VISUAL STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING COMMUNICATION--Linda hodgdon. This is awesome and very easy to read and share with the teachers. I actually bought one for my son's teacher. Good Luck.
My youngest son has social delays, no diagnosis (yet...). He just started his first year of school, and we're dealing with the same concentration problems. He's constantly putting his head down on the desk while the teacher is talking to the class, and is missing out on so much of what's said. He only has an assistant 3 hours a week, and because the deadline is past, we probably won't get anything more until the next schoolyear. How the heck were we supposed to know what he needed at school when he had never been in that situation before???
We're in the middle of writing the IEP now, and struggling with how to put in a goal about that -- it's a complex problem, you can't really identify any one source and just deal with that. Language ability, sensory issues, etc. are all contributors.
Anyhow, my older son was allowed to draw while listening to the teacher, and it definitely helped him. As he has gotten older, he is able to listen better in the classroom.
Good luck with everything. I'll be interested in hearing more tips.
I agree w/Donny's mom - maybe some sensory input would help her to focus (especially since she's obviously looking for it by "schooching" - my dd does a lot of self-stimulating as well .) That and the visual cues would probably help a lot, it's been very effective w/my dd. We are going through this with Tyler right now as well. The Autism Coordinator wants to schedule another IEP and we have done this. It will be after his next Psych eval so that the Psychologist's input about Ty will be as current as possible. My son is able to play Disney's websites and PBSKids sites games and read the stories with out any lack of focus. When they started using the computer lab at school, Tyler was allowed to run with it and his abilities and concentration showed the school staff that he can focus. We are trying to get his school work to stimulate and challenge him so he remains interested. However this is not always possible and Ty has to step up and learn what is acceptable behavior and how to act properly in school.
doing ok when engaged in centers based work and is busy, but when the teacher is addressing the class, she is not able to follow, zones out, and starts self stimulating in her chair (you know what I mean).
[/QUOTE]
This was C in kindergarten, minus the self-stimulating. Intead of self-stimulating though, he would simply be looking around the room and reaching out and touching (sensory seeking) whatever/whoever was nearby. His 1:1 aide helped alot with this. She would sit with him and try to keep him focused and grounded. She used a variety of techniques to do this, including a visual "sit still" and "eyes on the teacher" cards. In the beginning of kindy, his aide was right with him all the time. As the year went on she was able to step back more.
Fred my little guy is a Kindergartner this year. His teacher is the sameI agree Fred, there was so much Mason's preschool should have been doing with him and it didn't happen! That's why so much of it falls on the parents.
You can really make her do it for anything...say she likes reading a book after school. Have her do a chore for 2 minutes and then let the reward be the book. Or even in the car ride...make her talk about what you want for 2 minutes and then she can do what she wants. I definitely know how hard it can be...we are a family of 6 and it seems we are always running here or needing this, etc. It doesn't have to be something she can't do and needs to learn, just something she doesn't enjoy as much as the other things.
Now that Kathy said the thing with eye contact, I remember that being in there too...eye contact or some sort of physical motion needs to be established...I remember with Mason it was just placing our hand on his shoulder to make sure he knew we were addressing him. He would hear us but until that contact was made it just didn't sink in with him.
And I like what Kathy said about introducing it ahead of time...we also did that with Mason. It was a preteaching thing, where before bed I would just talk about the pumpkins etc the week before, just a few minutes. That way the next week when it was introduced Mason actually had some things to share with the class and didn't feel so left out to wander in his own little world.
And visuals ALWAYS help, no matter how verbal she is. I think a lot of teachers do this anyway, but if they could just make up some visual cards that show what's coming next for her, rather than having the teacher announce it, she might be able to think ahead a little and be more willing to participate etc...maybe she just needs some time to think about what she wants to share etc and she isn't getting enough time to process that. Have the teacher use it for the entire class and that way Evie doesn't have something "different" than the other kids...if it doesn't work you can add her own personal schedule later.
These are all things you should have them put in her IEP.
Have a great day at work!
...becoming a big problem for Evie. She is doing ok when engaged in centers based work and is busy, but when the teacher is addressing the class, she is not able to follow, zones out, and starts self stimulating in her chair (you know what I mean).
I don't know what to do. Evie seems to not be able to pay attention to anyone who is trying to speak with her unless they are telling her something that she is very interested in. She just does not do the "joint attention" thing, and is just shutting down during the teacher's presentations and totally tuning out. She probably can't understand much of what's being said and just disengaged because it doesn't hold her interest.
What in the heck am I supposed to do about this? This is a regular ed teacher and a regular kindergarten class, and the teacher has no idea how to deal with this, and the resource teacher doesn't really have a clue, either (not too experienced with autism) - though she is consulting with the AU teacher.
I posted awhile back on how you are supposed to train a child's attention, I will search and see if I can find it.
Are you worried that this is becoming so much a problem that meds might have to become involved, or do you really want to try to work this out on your own?
I don't know, Niki - thanks for responding, though. It's just worrying - she's in there humping her chair while the teacher is presenting to the class. She's fine when actively engaged in an activity. She has no motivation to listen to anyone and is just zoning out when her desk has been cleared of work and she's supposed to be paying attention to the teacher. This is going to be a big problem as the year progresses, and there's no way she could be sit in a regular ed first grade class unless she somehow becomes motivated to pay attention, but no one (me included) seems to know how to do this.
We're trying to schedule and IEP meeting, but everyone apparently needs to be present, and so with scheduling coflicts, we're looking at the end of the month, at the earliest, and at that point, a quarter of the year will be over. We've been trying to get an IEP meeting since before the school year started.
The good news is that they don't need any academic help, so our resource teacher time (30 mins, day) could be dedicated to behaviors and classroom skills, but if she doesn't know autism and how to motivate Evie to comply, then I'm at a loss.
Kathy - how do you have such wisdom? I need someone who can rattle off brilliant advice like that to help me help these people!
Frankly, this is a problem at home, too - not the scooching, so much, but Evie's unwillingness to concentrate and try to understand what people are saying to her (unless it's something of interest to her, of course).
Oh - this is happening in her chair. She has a "thing" for certain kinds of chairs (yuk).
I completely understand how frustrating that is!
For some reason my search isn't working...it keeps timing out everytime I try to use it.
I will look for Mason's neuropsych report that teaches this, but I'm so disorganized, sorry!
But I know the main thing to do is to make her sit and do something she doesn't want to do for a real short time...I think we started with 2 minutes...if Mason did the thing we wanted him to do we let him have 2 minutes of what he wanted...I know Evie loves to draw so make her do 2 minutes of something that is difficult for her and then let her draw 2 minutes.
You just keep doing this everyday, and once she starts consistently doing the 2 minutes you just keep upping the time. We only added 30 seconds at a time for Mason because that's how short his attention span was! But you can adjust the numbers according to Evie's attention.
Mason still struggles on days, but overall his attention is getting MUCH better...when he is struggling really bad we know it's more than the attention with him, it's him not comprehending the work or sensory etc.
Once you have her attentioned better trained you might even notice that it's not the attention, that it is sensory or verbal instruction etc.
Hope that helps, and I will look for Mason's report and see if I am leaving anything out.
Good luck with getting the IEP together! I know how hard it can be sometimes!
Fred
Modelmekids has a dvd called "Time for school" that is geared for our kids...we had ABA programs addressing this issue and not had the success that this dvd did. It is very visual with simple facts on how to pay attention to teacher by looking & listening and many examples on how we show we are engaged by our eyes and ears and body language...
I had the teacher also give Sarah visual and verbal instruction with Sarah giving feedback that she understood before moving on. If you can get the teacher to do this and give her rewards for good listening/looking would be idea..stickers or stamps..ect..whatever Evie will work for.
This is a workable issue but it takes consistency by everyone involved with her..even at home try to constantly reward her when she is looking and listening all the time...she will learn to tune in more and more. Sarah was completely zoned out at all times when we started therapy..we had to make things rewarding for her even when she could care less...she has moments but I just get in her face and turn off all distractions if necessary to get her to focus on me. She has a real problem with doing computer/tv/crafts ect...and listening to me at the same time so I turn them off until she responds...eventually she learns she needs to respond or else:P
It is a skill they need to learn and takes tons of time and patience..good luck:)
Thanks Niki - that's great advice. It's so hard now - with her in school full time. By the time we're all home, she's exhausted and we need to make dinner, and then to bed. This is the stuff they should have been workign with her while she was in developmental preschool, but since we're in a very stingy (actually, overburdened) school system, she got the bare minimum and placed into this class unequipped with the listending/attention skills that she will need.
At least Abbie, so far, isn't having this problem - ironic, she's not as "high functiong" as Evie - right :)
Thanks Shelley and all for the great advice - keep it coming - I need to get back to work - will check in later.
Thanks again - you guys (gals) are incredibly wise and helpful.
I ran across this article again while adding to my IEP goal resource topic today. I'm definitely going to tell my son's teacher about the idea in bold. If he gets a warning before instructions are given out, maybe he'll be able to pay attention and follow them.
<quote>
To Focus and Sustain Attention in an Instructional Setting:
Ensure that the student is close to the source of information.
Keep distractions to a minimum and demonstrate/model strategies to cope with classroom distractions. (This may involve some role-playing.)
Establish a cue/prompt to ensure you have the student's attention prior to starting. (This could be a touch on the shoulder, saying the student's name etc.)
The student will repeat directions or instructions on a regular basis.
1 to 1 instructions/directions will happen as is necessary.
The student will use organizers for lessons - main points, subheadings, materials needed etc.
Peer facilitation will be used.
Established consequences will be in place for the lack of attention given during instructional times.
<unquote>
Source: http://specialed.about.com/od/iep/a/iepattention.htm
Could a para offer her perhaps a 5 minute exercise break before the "lecture" style instruction? I have heard of nice focusing results for kids with ADD and ADHD after doing some big, gross motor work.
In the old days, the teacher would make the class do jumping jacks before the spelling test.
Do you think she responds to this sort of thing? Could you try it out at home? Cole zones out too in these settings, but we have found that ADD/ADHD meds do help him. He was able to focus for a solid hour on his kindergarten testing once we had him on meds.
You do know, I think, that ADD is very frequently a comorbid situation found with kids on the spectrum. Don't know if the teachers think its that bad, but you might consider it when she's a bit older.
Good luck!