B9L5 Guidance and Counselling

Teaching is a very important process for the welfare of the society. This is because of the fact that the students are the future of the country and the role of the teachers lie at the very root of the development of the students. The teachers therefore maintain a set of certain rules and regulations in order to teach their students. However all the students are not same. There can be some special students who need special attention (Knight et al 2013). The regular rule of normal classroom learning is not applicable for them. For instance students with disabilities are the ones who are always in need of some special attention. In such cases, teachers must adhere by some special rules. One such commonly dealt case is teaching the students with autism (Baron et al 2013).

Avoid stereotyping

V1 (Respecting the learners and encouraging them)

The first and foremost thing that is to be done by the teachers is to include those autistic students within the mainstream rather than marginalizing them. The step that the teachers must take is identifying this disability among the students (Knight et al 2013).

Communication strategies/ Visual support

K1 (The subject material)

As a HE teacher, one can make use of different interesting pictures. Male teachers often have a keen interest in photography and can make use of their own photography skills in order to make the classes interesting. Photographs can be a good teaching material for the autistic students. The autistic students will always be hesitating making direct eye contact with the teachers. Autistic students usually have several obsessions and interests. The teachers must construct a suitable classroom environment which will not make the students afraid since the autistic students are very sensitive to very loud voices. The teachers can make use of the following steps

 Photograph stage

The teacher can make use of real pictures of people, places and objects. As HE teacher, he can also make use of his photography skills. He can use his camera and other photography tools to capture colorful pictures for teaching the autistic students.

Picture symbolic stage

As a HE teacher, he can go for painting training classes for teachers which will enable him to gather knowledge about teaching the autistic students with proper color and paintings.

Writing style

• The teachers must use words and numbers that are not paired with a picture.
• The teachers can make use of black and white colors in order to write the fonts or draw the lines in the line drawing stage.

Lists and charts

Lists and chars are to be made with the help of bright and colorful pictures. As a HE teacher, he must make sure that the subject materials that are being used must be set in the right manner as per the needs of the autistic students. Charts depicting any particular object must have the exact term written beside it. In other words, teachers must make sure that the list and charts are not confusing the students. For instance, the teacher is trying to make the students get acquainted with the figures of different furniture. In order to do so the teacher might include the picture of a chair in the list and the chart. Now, if the picture is that of a chair and if the teacher calls it a couch, it will make the student confused.

Communication strategies

K2 (Apt methods for teaching)

As males are usually more socially active than females they can make use of these social skills in their classroom. They must encourage the autistic students to interact socially with each other. Autistic students often avoid direct eye contact and some may not look at the teachers at all. Another common feature of the autistic student is that they are very reluctant towards physical contact. Hence, teachers must make sure that they check physical contacts with their students. The teacher must try and promote social skills among the students. Autistic students usually have a problem in interacting socially. Hence, the teachers must make sure that they promote social interaction among the students. They must encourage the students to interact with one another. However this approach might be very difficult to be implemented in the beginning. However the students might become familiar with this practice slowly and gradually.

Classroom environment construction

The UKPSF that is applicable here are A3 (Developing proper learning environment) and K2 (Apt methods for teaching).

The teacher must make sure that the classroom environment is built keeping in mind the special needs of the autistic students. The environment in which the autistic students are to be taught must be done in a well structured manner. As a HE teacher, he must be very organized and carefully design the classroom environment. In other words, the classroom sessions must be conducted with routines that can be easily predicted by the students. Since the autistic students are very much associated with some particular kinds of obsessions, the teachers must be using the same picture schedules in the everyday classroom so that it gives the students a feeling that they are secure and are within the same environment (Spooner et al 2014).

For instance, if the teachers are asking the students to select the blue color from among several other colors, then the teachers must make sure that they are giving not more than two options to the student. In other word the teacher must ask the student to select blue color from within two other colors like red and green. If the teacher uses more than two color options, it will confuse the students.

Lastly, the male teachers must know to eliminate stress. Some good ways in which he might get rid of stress is by taking work breaks, avoiding multitasking and also hitting the gym in free time. This is because teaching the autistic students is a hard job and one has to have lot of patience. This will not only tone their physical strength but also their mental health as well. The autistic students are comfortable in calm, quite and familiar classroom surroundings. The teacher must know how to manage their own stress. If they are feeling stresses or frustrated or bored, they must go out of the classroom and then come back only after refreshing their mood. This is because if the teacher somehow behaves rudely or scolds the students to his own stress, it might harm the students since autistic students are very catchy towards emotions.

The UKPSF that is applicable here are A3 (Developing proper learning environment) K1 (The subject material), K2 (Apt methods for teaching), K4 (Using the appropriate teaching aids and technological means of teaching), V1 (Respecting the learners and encouraging them).

References:

Baron-Cohen, S., Tager-Flusberg, H. and Lombardo, M. eds., 2013. Understanding other minds: Perspectives from developmental social neuroscience. Oxford University Press.

Knight, V.F., Spooner, F., Browder, D.M., Smith, B.R. and Wood, C.L., 2013. Using systematic instruction and graphic organizers to teach science concepts to students with autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disability. Focus on autism and other developmental disabilities, 28(2), pp.115-126.

Laghi, F., Lonigro, A., Levanto, S., Ferraro, M., Baumgartner, E. and Baiocco, R., 2016. The role of nice and nasty theory of mind in teacher-selected peer models for adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 49(3), pp.207-216.

Laghi, F., Lonigro, A., Levanto, S., Ferraro, M., Baumgartner, E. and Baiocco, R., 2016. The role of nice and nasty theory of mind in teacher-selected peer models for adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 49(3), pp.207-216.

Spooner, F., Ahlgrim-Delzell, L., Kemp-Inman, A. and Wood, L.A., 2014. Using an iPad2® with systematic instruction to teach shared stories for elementary-aged students with autism. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 39(1), pp.30-46.