Alex

Meet Alex.
Grade: 7
Identification: Asperger’s Syndrome and Gifted
Strengths: Language, at a high school level in oral and written communication. Excels in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Curiosity about how and why things work.
Academic Challenges: getting stuck on details (hyperfocus), easily frustrated – especially in Math. Interested in Art, becomes frustrated when his work does not come out as planned.
Social Challenges: shy, stubborn, interrupts others, difficulty reading social cues, difficulty making eye-contact, empathy, he is self aware and knows that there are differences between him and the other classmates, but he does not know what to do about them. Often has one-sided conversations. Doesn’t know how to manage his frustrations.
Alex’s needs (issues stemming from social interactions, calling out, arguing, etc) often get him in trouble. His teacher spends much of her time calming him down and sorting out arguments, which leaves little time for him to challenge and extend his thinking by capitalizing on his academic strengths (giftedness).
Setting: Regular classroom placement, 6/7 split in his home school. Urban setting in Toronto, ON with over 500 students, active parent community. Resource Room but Alex does not like to visit.
Separate office area in the Resource Room – Alex feels comfortable here one-on-one

Monday, 7 March 2011

Pros and Cons of ABA

The goal is to ultimately teach Alex social norms and appropriate reactions while maintaining his interest and academic strengths.

Pros of Aba:
-A point system to help acquire social skills
-Can modify behaviour in older children
-Help with determining causes of unwanted behaviour and take preventative steps
-Teach strategies
-Individualized therapy
-Help to understand expectations in situations

Cons of ABA:
-Less effective with older and high functioning people
-Charting each desirable behaviour is time intensive (Could possibly find a more effective use of time)
-Thoroughness may not be consistent
-May be difficult for all parties involved to maintain consistency, and remain objective
-May disrupt other students’ learning
-False sense of real social interaction
-Consistency may be hard to maintain during unsupervised time such as recess
-Hard to determine if true understanding is achieved, or if desirable behaviours are simply being regurgitated
-May become bored and risk academic failure due to inability to challenge Alex’s giftedness
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)