978-1572305441

Ernest 157
skills available to him. He could basically protest and request—that was
all.
Imagine being deprived of all forms of communication except these
two. If I’m feeling particularly mischievous and cranky at a school conference,
I will suggest to teachers that they pretend they can communicate
only two messages; they can protest something by saying ”no” or
else request something by pointing. At all other times, they are to ignore
the other person. Through this little thought experiment, adults soon
learn to appreciate the implications of the communication disability
that children with ASD have—that it involves both verbal and gestural
forms of communication. It also helps them to be perhaps more sensitive
to the messages that are being sent by the child. Very subtle nonverbal
messages that signal mounting stress and frustration are sometimes
overlooked. In Ernest’s case, these included making loud sounds, flapping
his arms, slamming objects on the table, and a shortening of his
attention span. Paying close attention to these signals allows an adult to
intervene before the behavior escalates into a crisis situation. Intervention
in this case involved moving on to another activity that Ernest
found more enjoyable and then back to the more demanding task. This
turned out to be a much more effective way of dealing with his behavior
and led to more opportunities for learning in the classroom.
Aggression is always a communication. It’s a signal of distress that
cannot be communicated except through aggressive behavior, either because
the child is nonverbal or because he does not understand the
meaning of a social interaction. The key to treatment is either to provide
the child with an alternative form of communication or else to intuit
what the child is communicating and respond appropriately. When
adults understand the function a disruptive behavior serves, why it occurs
in the first place, and are able to change the environment so that it
is less stressful, the child learns the value of communicating, and this
awareness fosters the development of his own communication skills.
Aggression is often reduced when children with autism learn to use
augmentative forms of communication such as pictures, form boards, or
signs. When Ernest went back to school in the fall, he had a new consultant
who was quite knowledgeable about ASD. She suggested that
the teachers use a picture exchange system as an augmentative form of
communication. She also suggested that a visual schedule of the day’s
activities be placed somewhere in the classroom so that the teacher
could show Ernest it was time to move on to another activity. She also
recommended that the first activity of the day be time on the computer