978-1572305441

Ernest 153
only for a very limited time. At best, it allows the school an opportunity
to cool off and gain some breathing space. There are few if any positive
outcomes for the child. Suspension deprives the child of the opportunity
to benefit from being with other children in a “normal” environment.
Also, it does not work as a deterrent. Instead, it often acts to
maintain the disruptive behavior because the children learn that if they
misbehave they can go home and play on the computer or watch TV.
For young children with autism and AS, there is a real advantage to being
in an environment with other typically developing children: It provides
them with the opportunity to learn appropriate social and communication
skills in a natural setting.
Several studies have demonstrated the benefit of peer tutors for
children with ASD. In these demonstration projects, the peers interact
with the child with ASD in a supervised way under the direction of a
therapist, who ensures that the activities are fun and that there are opportunities
for social interaction and communication. The children
with ASD can be involved in many aspects of social play appropriate to
their developmental level and communication skills. Even being the
center of a game such as ”Ring around the Rosie” can teach the child
with ASD to enjoy being close to other children rather than actively
avoiding them. As a side benefit, peer tutoring gives typical children
even more opportunity to be with classmates who have special needs,
an experience that fosters the development of empathy and caring—an
experience denied to them if the child with ASD is suspended the moment
that disruptive behavior arises.
Peer interaction that benefits both the typical children and those
with ASD can take place at home too; children with ASD who have
younger sisters are especially lucky, since sisters are usually eager to include
their older sibling in play and games. Families lucky to have lots
of cousins or who live on streets with lots of children can easily take advantage
of these opportunities for exposing their child with ASD to social
interactions,. The more exposure a child with ASD has to social
interaction, the more the opportunity to gain social and communication
skills. Such activities have led to demonstrated gains in social and communication
skills for some children with ASD. Other children with ASD
may not yet have some of the very basic social or attending skills necessary
to benefit, however, and in that case more one-on-one therapy with
an adult (see Chapter 9) will be needed to prepare them for more naturalistic
learning environments.
In the same way that suspension usually is not a disincentive for a