Frustrated by homework issues?

We often hear, "He is so capable...but he never turns in homework!" Homework frustrations are common for students with AS. The following tips are part of a list which comes from Michelle Garcia Winner. She is a speech language pathologist and author in the field of social thinking and social cognitive functioning. You can visit www.socialthinking.com for additional info and resources.

Steps to Foster Organization Skills

1. Clearly define what needs to be done
Too often, parents and schools view organization goals too simply: “the student must write the assignment in his planner.” Clearly this is not nearly enough detail for most tasks and may not even be the best starting goal for a particular student. Adults must be organized in their own thinking if they are to effectively teach students with EF deficits this skill. Go beyond giving out assignments; help the student understand how to also approach the task from an organizational standpoint. Adults must be organized in their own thinking if they are to effectively teach students with EF deficits this skill.

2. Move it with motivation
Almost all students with weak organizational skills also struggle with motivation to accomplish homework tasks. Parents and teachers often don’t realize this lack of motivation can stem from feeling overwhelmed by the task demands. Students with the greatest motivational challenges are often our most intelligent students (e.g. those with high IQ scores). We often assume “smart” means “organized” and say things like “come on, I know you can do this, I know you are smart.” Yet, they may have the hardest time motivating themselves when overwhelmed because they have never had to work at learning. Learning just happened if they stayed attentive. By adolescence, students need to appreciate that completing work – even work that seems somewhat ridiculous to them – has its rewards. It establishes them as hard working in the eyes of others, improves their grades and increases feelings of self-worth through meeting their grade level academic expectations. However, as obvious as this sounds, this level of cause effect can still be too overwhelming to some students because it requires delayed gratification. Many students need to start at a much more concrete level of motivation, with very small work steps combined with reward early in the task completion process.

For example, if a student cannot easily work for an hour, have him work successfully on a single part of the task for just 10 minutes before he gets to pause and congratulate himself. Self-motivation increases when students feel confident in understanding and accomplishing the task before them. It doesn’t matter how “well” you teach students these EF skills; if they are unmotivated, they will not implement the ideas. directly on helping students tackle and overcome motivation challenges.

3. Prepare the environment
Most adults familiar with helping students “get organized” understand this point. Establish a dedicated workspace for homework that includes the essential tools: pen, pencil, paper, etc. Color coding tasks, making sure the student has an organized binder, possibly access to a time-timer (www.timetimer.com) create structures that promote success during homework time.

4. Chunk and time it
Assignments that sound coherent and structured to teachers can still overwhelm a student with EF challenges. For example: “write a report focusing on the economy, culture, weather and climate of a specific country.” Clear enough, you think? Maybe to us, but not to them. Make sure the student understands how to “chunk” an assignment (break it down into smaller pieces) and how the individual parts create the larger whole. For example, not all students will know their report needs four sections, essentially “mini-essays” worked on separately and then joined together. Furthermore, once they “chunk” the project students also need to predict how long each chunk will take to complete. The majority of students with poor organizational skills have a resounding inability to predict how long projects will take across time. In fact, they tend to be weak
in all aspects of interpreting and predicting time.

Consider this: Is there anything you do without first predicting how long it will take? We “time map” everything, gauging how the task will or will not fit into what we’re doing now, an hour from now, later in the day or later in the week. Homework functions in much the same way. Students are more willing to tackle homework when they can reliably predict how long they will have to work on the task. For example, a student will usually calmly do math if it should only take 5-10 minutes. However, for those students who can’t predict time, the nebulous nature of the activity incites anxiety such that they may cry for 45 minutes over doing a 10-minute math assignment.

When the student does not – or cannot- consider time prediction as part of his organizational skill set, he is likely to waste a lot of time rather than use time to his advantage.

5. Use visual structures
As the school years progress, homework shifts from mostly static tasks doled out by one teacher to mostly dynamic tasks assigned by many different individuals. We expect students to self-organize and know how to juggle the many pieces of learning that make up each class, grade and level of education. Yet, this valuable skill is never directly taught! Visual long-term mapping charts, such as a Gantt Chart, (www.ganttchart.com) can help students plan and monitor multiple activities. These bar type graphs allow a student to visually track multiple projects across time, determine when they are due and
how much time is available to work on each. For example, a history paper may be assigned in February and due in late March; a time-line would run from early February to late March to indicate the time allocated to the project. A math project assigned in early March is also due in late March; another line would represent this project. Visually the student can see that two big projects are due at about the same time, and both are worth significant grade points. This then helps the student understand why he should not wait until the last minute to start one or both assignments. Gantt charts are frequently used in business, but have yet to make it into student software for school/homework planning. However, they are easy to create and use at home or in the classroom. For students who struggle with time management, they are invaluable tools for organization.

Visual structures can represent entire projects and then also be used for individual chunks, creating the visual organizational framework students with weak EF. Once assignments are understood as needing to be worked on across time, we can encourage students to “chunk” tasks to be worked on during specific weeks, then make related lists of things to do on specific days.

Hidden Curriculum One-A-Day Calendar

This calendar gives a quick daily tip for students with autism. Each page features a social situation that only requires a few minutes to cover with a student. The pages contain no pictures. The calendar is black and white. All the pages are easily removed, to make future usage easier.
Teachers, therapists, and parents are encouraged to send in a situation for the upcoming calendar. The deadline is March 15th and if your situation is chosen then you will receive a complimentary calendar for the upcoming year. Submit ideas to: calendar@asperger.net

Here are some samples from the 2007 calendar:

"Avoid talking to someone who is on the telephone. This makes it difficult to hear what the person on the other end of the line as well as what you are saying."

"If someone has something in his teeth or nose, don't announce it so that everyone else can hear. Tell the person quietly so that he can remove it privately."

"Just because someone shares her lunch with you one day does not automatically mean that she will share her lunch with you again."

"When you go to someone's house, don't kick off your shoes, lie on the couch, or help yourself to food from the refrigerator, unles the adults have given you permission to do so."

"When you are waiting for an elevator and the doors open, allow the people who are getting off to do so before you enter the elevator."

Nightline Story

GIRLS WITH AUTISM ON "NIGHTLINE"
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23rd

On Wednesday, Nightline continues its series on autism by exploring the relatively rare occurrence of girls with autism. In the U.S., far more boys than girls are diagnosed with autism. That fact alone has consequences: it tends to focus most of the research, effort, and money on boys. But in a surprising twist, correspondent John Donvan and producer Caren Zucker talk to several researchers and psychologists who believe there are actually more girls with autism in the U.S. than diagnosed. Not only may there be many under-diagnosed girls, according to these experts, but some girls with autism may be assigned some other diagnosis. In fact these girls are often being under-diagnosed or diagnosed with something else. The researchers believe that many of the symptoms are being missed, or that they are just more subtle in girls. Nightline takes an in-depth look at how girls and boys are brought up culturally, and how these differences could contribute to a misdiagnosis in girls, resulting in the harsh reality that we just don't know how many cases of girls with autism really exist.

Brenda Smith, a psychologist, suggests girls with autism can fake "normal," because girls in general get more lessons than boys in how to behave. Smith tells Nightline, "They are told not to get angry, to be nice, they are told to share, all of those behaviors." She goes on to say, "It's more appropriate if you will for a boy to have a tantrum and major meltdown than a girl."

John Donvan talked to 14-year old Victoria Roma, about the differences between girls and boys with autism:

Donvan: Do you think it is more challenging for a girl with autism than a boy?

Roma: "It's really harder to hook up with friends, especially the neighborhood kids."

Donvan: Harder for girls than boys?

Roma: "Yeah."

Donvan: Why would that be?

Roma: "Because girls are concerned about how the world thinks of them, less than boys."

Donvan: What are the things that are challenging for you?

Roma: "I feel like I'm thinking but I'm not thinking at all. And also, it's a challenge for me to be aware of everything; am I flapping? Was that a joke I just heard? Should I be laughing? Should I not be laughing? Should I be serious at this time? Can I be a little silly at this time? You know..."


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Nightline's in-depth report on girls with autism airs on ABC News World News with Charles Gibson at 6:30pm (ET) and then on Nightline, Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 11:35pm (ET/PT).

Free January Printables

Slater Software offers free monthly pdf printables. They have some nice January themed ones geared for younger students. They have included some visual recipes and social studies related stories. You can print them out for free from this link.

http://www.slatersoftware.com/document.html#jan