Welcome to Part 3 of 4 of my Autism Case Study Series. I am going back over my last 20 years of experience in public education, non-public programs, and teletherapy working with autistic learners.

Today I am sharing about an elementary learner from a non-public program. He came to me with no communication and unsafe behaviors that were a barrier to his learning, community, and school environment. This student actually brought with him a beautifully set up AAC on his iPad but had zero tools for utilization.

As we worked with this student in this non-public program, we collaborated with his parents, his home district (a rural area 1 hour away), and he was in a private classroom with 2 male assistants to keep everyone safe. I worked with this child for 1 hour a week in his classroom. We began work on building receptive language, requesting, understanding basic vocabulary: nouns and actions, joint attention, social engagement, and utilizing his iPad.

Several things helped me be successful with this learner. I was able to meet the learner where he was and engage in a way that was respectful of his preferences. I helped him with modified leisure skills like modified memory, where we used video modeling. During my work with this student, my idea for Action Build Cards also came to life.

Things took a big turn when this student realized his AAC was his voice. He began to use his iPad with pride. We even took community based outings to lunch places where the learner was able to use his AAC with a cashier to order his lunch. If you’ve taken my course, Help Me Find My Voice, you may have even seen this learner in some of my videos.

Stay tuned for Part 4 of this case study series next week, where I will share about a 2 year old learner!

#autism #speectherapy

What’s Inside:

• A case study from a non public program.
• Working with learners with unsafe behaviors.
• Finding a learner's voice with barriers to learning, community, and school environment.
• Teaching a learner to utilize AAC.
• From zero communication to AAC utilization at home, school, and the community.
• Teaching modified leisure with modified memory.
• Action Builder Cards for action phrase vocabulary.

Mentioned In This Episode:
Social skills for students with autism- Modified Memory
School-Age Course
Action Builder Cards