Many people with ASC ( autism spectrum conditions ) have intricacy in placing emotions in themselves and other people. For immature kids larning to talk, enduring from autism nowadays a particular job to their instructors every bit good as parents as they are faced with the challenge of learning these unfortunate kids how to show themselves through address. The importance of effectual communicating can non be underestimated. Yet learning pupils with autism is non an easy undertaking, it requires forbearance and usage of particular assistive engineering tools to assist these kids learn how to organize words and utilize them efficaciously. There are assorted engineerings that can be used, while other are simple some of these engineering are so advanced and needs excess preparation to utilize them. One of the basic engineerings that has been used for a figure of old ages is Picture Exchange Communication Systems ( PECS ) surveies have indicated that this engineering improves communicating of kids with autism This paper intends to discourse on the usage of this assistive engineering to educate pupils with Autism.
Introduction
Peoples with autism spectrum conditions have damages in public communicating ; included in this nucleus damage is an elaborateness with the societal emotional reciprocality in add-on to gestural communicating such as gestures, facial look and oculus contact. Regularly, people with autism spectrum conditions have troubles placing emotions peculiarly complex emotions that call for metalizing ( covetous, abashed, sarcastic ) in both themselves and other people. All of these complications can add to challenges in maintaining and doing friendly relationships and other promoting peer relationships.
WHAT IS ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY?
Assistive engineering tool means any piece of equipment, point, or merchandise system, whether acquired commercially, modified, off-the-rack, or customized, that is used to keep, increase, or better functional abilities of people with disablements. Assistive engineering service straight assists people with a disablement in the acquisition, choice, or usage of an assistive engineering.
The Use of Assistive Technology to Educate Students with Autism
The theory of head is one conceptualisation used to explicate the societal damage in autism spectrum conditions ( Golan and Bauminger, 2006 ) . The theory states that people with autism spectrum conditions have an intrinsic disablement in footings of acknowledging the psychological position of others. That is, they have job imputing emotion, significance, and purpose to other people. Deficits in this portion are serious to effectual societal interaction, to a great extent it is anticipated on cognizing what other people are experiencing or thought.
Geting to cognize emotions is one facet of the capableness to take another individual ‘s position. A figure of surveies have researched on the intercessions to educate persons with autism spectrum conditions to place emotions. These comprise societal accomplishment direction ( Golan and Bauminger, 2006 ) and assistive engineering intercessions. For case, Bauminger ( 2006 ) examined the usage of a behaviour based intercession to help in the emotion acknowledgment accomplishments of 15 high reacting childs with autism, ages 8 to 17. The intercession involved lessons from a societal accomplishment course of studies used in the school puting for 2 to 4 hours per hebdomad for 7 months. The lessons comprised of activities such as function drama and merely dramas with a usually developing equal and working on the accomplishments acquired from each hebdomadal lesson with parents at place. The terminal consequences showed advancement in the child ‘s emotional ability and cognition to give illustrations of hard emotions. Specially, at station intercession, the sharers with autism were likely to get down societal communicating with their equals and spent a batch of clip exposing promoting societal behaviours.
In another survey, Hadwin, Baron-Cohen, Howlin, and Hill ( 1996 ) taught kids with autism spectrum conditions to anticipate and place emotions in others utilizing a computing machine based intercession called the Emotions Trainer. Partakers between the ages of 12 and 20, incorporated in either a control group or an experimental, were diagnosed with either Asperger syndrome or autism. The plan comprised of five subdivisions that incorporated inquiring the user to choose the right emotion out of four options explicating photographed facial looks, events or state of affairss, and descriptive captions and objects. Contrasted to the control group, the experimental group showed betterment in their ability to acknowledge emotions in narrative and cartooned fortunes that triggered an emotional response, but non in their acknowledgment of emotion in images ( facial looks ) , on which both intercession and control groups demonstrated betterment. The undermentioned subdivision will analyze Picture Exchange Communication Systems ( PECS ) as one of the cardinal assistive engineering used to help pupils with autism.
Picture Exchange Communication Systems ( PECS )
This is a low engineering assistive system created as an augmentative and alternate communicating ( AAC ) , where images are used in topographic point of words to help kids with autism to pass on because of their jobs in address development.
At the initial phase of utilizing PECS, a kid is provided with a figure of images of favourite playthings or nutrients. If the kid requires any of these things, he merely gives the image of the specific point to a healer, instructor or even caregiver ( Charlop-Christy, et Al. 2002 ) . The individual having this image in return hands the plaything or nutrient to the kid. Through this exchange, communicating is so strengthened.
Similarly PECS can every bit good be applied to do suggestions sing things viewed or heard within the surrounding. For case, a pupil might see a auto passing by and give a image of a auto to his instructor. The aim of this method is that, when a kid starts to admit the importance of communicating, the kid will get down utilizing natural address alternatively of images.
How this assistive engineering plants
A pupil with autism can be taught how to utilize this engineering by his instructor, health professional or a healer, who understands the manner this engineering works. Normally, an applied behaviour analysis ( ABA ) method is applied. Through this method, prompts are offered to command the image exchange. More so, in the initial phases of PECS preparation, the pupil selects a image he wants and gets what is on the image, for case nutrient. Receiving nutrient is meant to give a positive support to the pupil for his usage of the image in communication.
Normally PECS preparation entails six phases:
Phase I: the instructor lists down a list of the pupil ‘s favourite points usually get downing with nutrients. A individual point from the list is chosen for the gap preparation lesson, and point ‘s image is drawn. The point can be put in a topographic point seeable to the pupil, to let the pupil to see the point but non to pick it. When the kid seems interested in the point, the instructor gives such a pupil a image card of the point. The instructor guides the pupil ‘s manus to pick the image and give it to the instructor. The minute the instructor receives the card from the pupil, he communicates aloud the privation the pupil wants, for case, he say “ so you want the bar ” and give the bar to the kid.
Phase Two: the instructor moves a small distance in order for the pupil to travel towards him to give the image card to the instructor.
Phase Three: the pupil is provided with several image cards so that he can take the one stand foring what he wants. The selected image card is given to the instructor, at this minute ; the pupil may utilize a binder or a communicating board where the cards will be held.
Phase Four: at this point, the pupil is provided with a card written on “ I want____ . ” The pupil has to utilize this card together with the image card exemplifying what is wanted. The construct is that the pupil will larn the manner to pass on through complete sentences. Those pupils who can non read the words can be in a place to acknowledge the words written as symbols on the card.
Phase Volt: prior to this phase, the pupil has ne’er been straight what he wants, at this phase, the instructor asks the pupil straight what he wants, and so delaies for the pupil to choose a image stand foring what the pupils wants. This lesson builds the footing for future communicating between the pupil and the instructor when the instructor wants to happen out what the pupil wants.
Phase Six: the minute the pupil is able to fluently utilize PECS, and has managed to generalise the system to utilize it to pass on with other people apart from the instructor ; the pupil is taught the manner make suggestions on something that he has observed. The instructor picks up something interesting and asks the pupil to state what the point is. At that phase the instructor besides picks a card with “ I see _____ . ” The pupil is to fit the card with what he is seeing. In this mode, the kid is able to larn how to pass on what he observes together with his experiences to other people ( Charlop-Christy, et Al. 2002 ) .
Theory behind this engineering
The express support coming from instantly having what a pupil with autism is the chief rule of PECS. A pupil is able to demo his inner wants without talking any words, and be rewarded. Such touchable wagess greatly reinforce such a kid compared to societal wagess, peculiarly during the initial phase of communicating. PECS could every bit good better the societal dealingss of an autism kid. This is because the kid is able to larn to originate communicating ; more so, at this point the kid is non expected to talk, so the kid is less intimidated.
How effectual is the engineering
A figure of surveies carried out have indicated that PECS is utile tool in assisting kids with autism. For illustration, a survey carried out by Schwartz, et Al. ( 1998 ) on 18 preschool pupils enduring from autism and with address troubles established that those kids were able to pass on through PECS in their school yearss. However, after a preparation of one twelvemonth, about 50 per centum of these kids stopped to utilize PECS and alternatively began to natural communicate ( Schwartz, et Al. 1998 ) . More surveies back uping this observation were found by ( Charlop-Christy, et Al. 2002 ) . by and large, grounds from a figure of surveies have established that PECS assistive tool is an effectual technique in developing natural address in kids enduring from autism, peculiarly if they are taught how to utilize this tool when is below six old ages of age ( Bondy, 2001 ) .
Side issues
This engineering has no known side effectives to kids with autism. Though a figure of parents showed concerns that their kids could stop up depending on PECS as their communicating tool, and fail to develop their natural address, this concern lacks any believable support from surveies. On the Contra, there is believable grounds demoing that kids enduring from autism are able to larn through PECS to develop their address quicker compared to those who have non used PECS ( Bondy, 2001 ) .
Decision
Children enduring from autism conditions have damages in public communicating ; included in this nucleus damage is an elaborateness with the societal emotional reciprocality in add-on to gestural communicating such as gestures, facial look and oculus contact. Such kids need particular aid when at school to better on their communicating particular address. Teachers and health professionals have a figure of assistive engineerings that they can utilize to help these kids. As discussed above one of the really effectual and easy to utilize assistive engineering is Picture Exchange Communication Systems ( PECS ) , though it involves merely six phases, they offer the kid with the needed address mechanism and enable a pupil with autism to al least be able to organize words and pass on his feelings. However, as noted by Charlop-Christy, et Al. ( 2002 ) this engineering can be used together with other engineerings for better consequences.
