New Zealand Autism Spectrum Disorder Guideline - Ministry of Health

Appendices
2. Systematic instruction
This involves carefully planning for instruction by identifying valid educational goals, carefully
outlining instructional procedures for teaching, implementing the procedures, evaluating their
effectiveness and adjusting the instruction based on the evaluations.
7–12 years 13–20 years
Teachers and specialists require professional learning and development to have the
expertise to target meaningful skills that need to be taught and to plan and implement
systematic instruction and data collection.
• Programmes need to set priorities with an
emphasis on communication and social
skills along with other ‘pivotal’ skills.
• It is important that all instruction is well
considered and goal directed.
• Curriculum adaptation is usually
required, but there is often a tension
about who will do this. This needs to
be addressed. It is likely there will be
different solutions for different students.
• Provision may need to be made for a
number of teachers to receive release for
professional learning and development.
• The emphasis needs to be on:
- the student’s understanding of the
aim of the task
- getting step-by-step (visual)
instructions
- the social, communication and
cognitive elements being transparent
- student motivation and feedback.
3. Comprehensible and structured learning environments
This includes strategies such as organising the instructional setting, providing a schedule of activities that
is kept up to date, carefully planning and providing choice-making opportunities, providing preventive
behavioural support and providing supports to assist with transitions, flexibility and change.
7–12 years 13–20 years
Providing a comprehensible learning
environment requires good planning, time
to communicate with others, access to
resources for making visual supports, and
an understanding of and empathy with the
student’s perspective.
This provides significantly more challenge at
this level as students have multiple teachers,
use different rooms and have different
timetables. It is important that one person
takes responsibility for coordinating what
is required so that everyone understands
the situation and has the right information.
Students with ASD require clear boundaries
and expectations. It is particularly important
that students have a lot of support at the
beginning of each year to learn the routines
and rules, as well as the exceptions.
Appendices
New Zealand Autism Spectrum Disorder Guideline 295