Students Who Do Not Respond to Typical Discipline Strategies
Possible Reason Due to ASD:
Students with ASD often do not respond to scolding, isolation, guilt or shame. He may have receptive language limitations which impact his ability to understand the meaning and content of a scolding. Lack of social awareness often lessens the effect of ‘shaming’ a student. He may have inconsistent memory retrieval skills resulting in him not remembering the rules or why he shouldn’t do something. He may not understand the relationship between behavior and consequences. Further, typically fun and rewarding activities like assemblies, PE, lunch, recess, and music may be difficult for students with ASD. Missing out on those things may actually be rewarding.
Possible Reason Due to ASD:
Students with ASD often do not respond to scolding, isolation, guilt or shame. He may have receptive language limitations which impact his ability to understand the meaning and content of a scolding. Lack of social awareness often lessens the effect of ‘shaming’ a student. He may have inconsistent memory retrieval skills resulting in him not remembering the rules or why he shouldn’t do something. He may not understand the relationship between behavior and consequences. Further, typically fun and rewarding activities like assemblies, PE, lunch, recess, and music may be difficult for students with ASD. Missing out on those things may actually be rewarding.
- Work with the speech pathologist on strategies to increase his receptive language skills. Use simplified language at his level of understanding when you talk to him to increase his understanding. Using visual models and visual cues will also increase his receptive understanding.
- The speech pathologist can give suggestions and strategies for activities to the adults who work with a student with memory retrieval problems. Visual cues are very important. Provide written information that the student can refer back to when he has forgotten. This also helps him feel more successful and less dependent on adults to complete tasks.
- Work on expected and unexpected behaviors based on common daily situations. Michelle Garcia Winner (Thinking About You, Thinking About Me) has some very good suggestions on how to teach this, along with a visual model.
- Help him to learn about basic sequences. (“First x, then y.” “If x, then y will happen” ) Natural consequences that happen at school can be good learning opportunities. (“First work, then play.” “If you hit at recess, then you sit at the wall for 5 minutes.” )
- Choose consequences that are meaningful to the student. If you say you have to eat before recess and this is a student who does not like to eat and gets overloaded by going outside with 100 other students, he won’t mind getting to sit in a quiet cafeteria after everyone leaves.
- Consider having the student or his parent(s) complete a reinforcement inventory to find out what motivates the child.
- Rather than using verbal warnings, use a visual warning system. (Make some examples on Boardmaker and Word and insert examples on website!) Using a visual will help the student remember what his or her status is and how many more chances he or she has left before the stated consequence will occur.