readerswithautism.com

By readers1 　http://readerswithautism.com/2010/10/first-then-a-kindergartner-with-autism-part-ii/

By Richard Finegan

Experiencing some success with the rule cards I devised for Jacob, and taking further advantage of his desire and willingness to read, I took another step this week.

Jacob (not his real name) is a kindergartner with autism  who decodes well, better than most of his peers, but is easily distracted, especially by the knowledge that just across our small playground there are cars passing by– cars he’d rather watch than do just about anything else. I am his one-on-one paraeducator.

Except in the morning, when he is at his most attentive, it has been a nearly constant job to redirect him to whatever task is at hand, using the five “Jacob’s Rules.”  Usually I don’t have to read the rule aloud any longer, simply get his attention to it by placing it in front of him and perhaps prompting: “What should you be doing?”

But rules alone don’t help much with transitions, of which there are dozens in the day of a kindergartner; and when the kindergartner has a constant distraction just outside the window, something else was called for.

Both Jacob’s mom and his new speech therapist mentioned that he had some success in the past with a “First ___, Then ___” approach to get him to do something less desired before doing something desired.

My thought about how to utilize “First ___, Then ___”  in the classroom was not to reward every appropriate behavior but simply to get him to do things in sequence, to focus on what he should be doing now and then proceed to what he will be doing next, without walking to the window during every transition.   I am not helping him become a better student if I lead him by the hand to each new activity.

With the support of his classroom teacher and case manager, I got a small whiteboard, maybe 10×12 inches (about 25×30 cm) and used painter’s tape to divide it into four panels.  The left side I labeled “First” and the right side “Then.”  It looks like this…

Now I carry around my ring of Jacob’s Rules, the whiteboard, a dry erase marker, and a small square of felt cloth I use for an eraser.  I write the activities in sequence, always showing what he just finished, what he should be doing now, and what he’ll do next.

 He’s a kindergartner, after all, even if he decodes well, but I often have to tell him what it says.  Still, he loves to read, and will attend to any new entry on the board.   I let him hold the board in his lap so he can see what the current activity is and what the next one will be.

An added bonus:  Because Jacob is fully included with students that do not have special needs but read less well than he does, they are fascinated by his rules and his “First ___, Then ___” board.  They want to read them too! 

Even though all his classmates are learning to write their letters, and he lags well behind them, Jacob is held in high regard by the other students for his ability to read.  For a child with autism, it can only be a good thing when his peers early recognize him for his strengths.

Related posts:

1. Writing rules for a kindergartner with autism
2. Autism and hyperlexia, part 1: Anaphoric cuing?
3. Don’t stop advocating for the child with autism!