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With Monica Multer's help, Kevn calms down enough to complete his assignment at the board. |
Kevn's task is fairly simple: the six-year-old is supposed to take cards numbered 1 through 20 and put them in the correct order on a chart. Getting the numbers right is easy, but everything else is an exercise in frustration for the boy with the angelic face.
Things start smoothly enough as he puts the numbers in the proper order. With the correct placement of each card, his teacher, Monica Multer, praises him and pops a treat into his mouth. But when Multer moves some of the cards together and asks him to close a large gap between some numbers in the chart, Kevn comes unglued.
Unable to express himself verbally, he squeals in frustrated rage, throws the cards, kicks the wall, and cries as if heartbroken. When he picks up the stapler on Multer's desk, she takes it out of his hands before he can throw it. Facing the wall, he continues his tantrum.
"I'm sorry I moved the cards," says Multer. "I know you're mad. Say to me, 'I'm mad. I'M REALLY MAD.'" He turns around and in a small voice repeats the word "mad." She shows him a chart of facial expressions, and he points to the mad face.
"That was good," says Multer. "Want a hug?" She stretches out her arms, and he slaps both of her hands. She takes his hands in hers, kisses them, and asks him again if he wants a hug. Again, he slaps her outstretched hands angrily.
"That is not okay, Kevn," says Multer, unruffled. "We don't hit. Hitting is bad. Do you want to go to the calming area?"
He shakes his head no. The tantrum is over. Kevn goes back to the chart and resumes putting up the numbers, as if nothing has happened. When he's finished, he walks up to Multer with a smile, and she obliges him with a big hug.
Kevn is highly advanced academically. But his autism prevents him from being able to function in a regular classroom - or to communicate what he knows. But Multer is hoping that will change in time. She has already seen him make enormous progress.
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Henry tries to think about his math classwork. |
"I can calm him in five minutes now, where it used to take half the day," says Multer, a member of United Teachers Los Angeles. "He's mad because I'm pushing him. But he's smart, so I should
push him. Also, there is the conflict between his wanting to be successful and his wish to have total control. Part of autism is wanting to control everything. The input these kids receive from their surroundings may be so disturbing internally that their bodies instinctively want to control every outside stimulus."
Autism, a complex brain disorder that interferes with communication and social skills, is the fastest growing disability among children today. Two decades ago, between two and five cases of autism were reported per 10,000 people nationwide. New studies show that it now affects as many as one in 500 people. It is not known whether autism has actually increased - or whether improved awareness and diagnosis are behind the skyrocketing figures. Some believe that environmental factors or vaccinations may be to blame.
Autism affects four times as many boys as girls and is considered incurable - although those with the condition can show tremendous improvement and sometimes lead relatively normal lives. Most autistic individuals are not developmentally delayed and a significant percentage have higher-than-average intelligence.
Melvin Elementary School in Reseda where Multer teaches was the first of six schools to become an autism demonstration site under the Intensive Comprehensive Autism Program. ICAP tries to meet the needs of autistic students while it trains teachers and parents to teach and reach them. Demonstration trainer Multer's goal is to prepare her seven first-graders and kindergartners for mainstreaming and to train fellow teachers (both special ed and general ed) to help autistic students succeed.
The classroom and the training she provides are part of an intense, integrated pilot project for young children developed three years ago by Debra Moss and Pat Grayson-DeJong of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Grayson-DeJong, whose 34-year-old son is autistic, says there is a desperate need for such programs in schools because teachers may not be trained in how to cope with autistic children. Their disabilities can be some of the most challenging for teachers.
Educators in the program are trained in the current "best practice" methods and techniques for teaching children with autism. The curriculum emphasizes language, socialization and behavior. Parents in the program are taught to use the classroom techniques with their children at home. And data on which strategies are most successful is being collected.
Multer's students have a wide range of symptoms and abilities ranging from extremely verbal to nonverbal. Some of them have met first-grade standards or are working toward them. Some are able to interact socially and appropriately much of the time - and some need assistance in simple tasks such as feeding themselves. Two of her high-functioning students are mainstreamed in a general education kindergarten class half day.
"Every child is an individual, and that's why I use an individual education plan (IEP) to chart their way through the year," says Multer. Instruction is also individualized at various workstations in her classroom, where students receive one-on-one instruction from Multer and her assistants.
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Henry counts items hidden in a tub of birdseed at Melvin Elementary. In order to process information, autistic children need alternative ways to make up for stimulation that doesn't happen on its own. |
The classroom is highly structured - almost regimented - because children with autism have trouble making transitions. Bells ring every few minutes to signal a change in activity. Each part of the daily schedule - such as snack or language arts - begins with Multer pointing to the card with the name of the activity. The card is turned when the activity is completed. Before children go to a new workstation, or attend occupational therapy or speech therapy, they place a colored circle on a chart that corresponds with that. The program is based on "discrete trials," meaning that there is a formal beginning and end to everything, which helps students cope.
Multer uses a lot of visuals and positive feedback. When a child gives her a correct answer, she knows exactly which pocket of her apron holds that child's favorite reward, such as an M&M. Endlessly patient - and affectionate but firm - Multer is also flexible and able to communicate with students on their level. When Multer tries to put some beads away after a counting exercise, Tatum screams, "Those are my babies." Rather than argue, Multer says, "Don't do that; they might get scared." Tatum relinquishes them without a struggle. During a lesson with another boy, she constantly rubs his arms, because he needs tactile stimulation to stay focused.
Students use the "calming area" frequently. However, rather than sitting quietly, they may be jumping up and down. "It's really a sensory area," explains Multer. "It's a place where they can get their bodies regulated." Autistic children often make up for the stimulation that doesn't happen naturally in their brain by "self-stimulating" - jumping or rocking - which can help them to process information. There are drawers in the calming area with items for each child's particular sensory needs. Andrew, for example, sometimes wears a "sensory jacket" that looks like a wetsuit. The pressure feels like a hug, says Multer, and makes him feel reassured. Marshall has a small brush for rubbing his arms.
In addition to mainstreaming two of her students individually, she also mainstreams her entire class for an hour each day with the general education first-graders for character education, science, history and art.
"Each child has social and emotional goals written into his or her IEP, and we target those goals in mainstreaming. One student's goal may be to sit next to a general education student and model his or her behavior. Another might be to initiate conversation. It helps them to see how their peers behave."
Each autistic student is assigned a general education student buddy for the entire year. During a recent art lesson, Multer's students and their buddies took turns tracing each other's outlines on paper.
Before bringing her students into a general education classroom, Multer prepares the other students. She explains that a ticking clock or a change in light may be totally distracting to someone with autism. Some students may tune out outside stimuli and be unable to hear something as loud as a train crash. Others may be ultrasensitive to touch.
"I give them a sense of what it might be like to be autistic. I might put goop on glasses or sandpaper on a pencil, or have them wear headphones that play noise while I read a story. Then they understand what it's like for my kids. It can be hard for them to understand, because autistic children look just like us. When they scream or hit their head, it can be shocking." Giving regular ed students an understanding helps them deal with it a little better.
Multer shares her strategies and teaching techniques with other teachers whenever possible. "Typically they come to my room for two days, I go to their room for two days, then we each have a day at our own campuses. This may go on for six weeks." Another teacher fills in for Multer when she is training. ICAP also produces educational videos on how to teach autistic children effectively.
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Lynette Yick uses techniques she learned under Multer to help autistic children at Monlux Elementary in North Hollywood. |
Lynette Yick, a member of UTLA who teaches autistic children at Monlux Elementary School in North Hollywood, says the training provided by Multer last year has been invaluable.
"She showed me how to set up my classroom and different teaching techniques for children who are nonverbal or have little language. She helped me to deal with certain behavior problems. She helped me to make my classroom flow better."
Teaching autistic children is rewarding, challenging and at times exhausting, says Yick. "Some days you want to pull your hair out and other days you feel great because a kid can say his name. Some of them work so hard just to say their name."
Yick, who teaches a pre-K and kindergarten combination class of eight autistic students, was so impressed with the mainstreaming Multer does that she now does the same with her students.
"I have seen the general education students build more tolerance to things and people that are different in society," says Yick. "Before my children came to visit their classroom, there was not a lot of interaction. But now they walk them to get in line, walk them to their next activity and help them get crayons, etc."
"There have been tremendous benefits for my kids," she says of the mainstreaming visits. "I can see them modeling the other kids. Sometimes the behavior of the general education students really rubs off. My kids absorb a lot, even if they can't express what they see or feel. I have really seen some progress."
