Autistic student help

gingercat · **Autistic student help** 11-01-2009, 07:51 AM

I have a 6th grade student with an eligibility of autism but he is very high functioning. Has some OCD characteristics. Almost fits spectrum end of Aspergers, but instread of having good decoding and poor comprehension, its the other way around!!! The student has excellent listening comprehension, but is unable to retain high frequency words nor read simple CVC words without taking minutes on a word. I have tried color overlays which help with the glare he complains of....
I am looking for suggestions/help!!!! Has anyone ever tried pairing sign with high frequency words? Wasn't sure if the tactile element would open another pathway in the brain?

blueheron · **Signing sounds like a good idea.** 11-02-2009, 05:54 AM

Have you tried word and letter sorts and using easy readers with words in contexts? One thing that I try to do when one of my students isn't understanding a concept despite all my strategies is to back off and work on other goals for awhile. Lord knows that there is no shortage of things to work on. I think there is a converse relationship that stems from our feeling unable to teach a concept and the student feeling unable to grasp a concept that hinders learning.

gingercat · **Word sorts** 11-04-2009, 03:23 PM

are one activity I do with him, as well as daily sight word drill/game. I just feel like I am not making any progress and feeling the pressure of RTI and meeting IEP goals....

blueheron · **Meeting goals** 11-05-2009, 06:08 AM

I think that not meeting goals because the IEP is not being followed is one thing. However, there are times that students don't make progress on goals even if they are being taught them in a variety of ways. That is one of the criteria for extended school year. (Another criteria is if a child suddenly makes exponential growth in learning or behavior.) I don't wrap up every IEP with met goals. I really don't think that any honest teacher can. We all have inherited IEPs that have goals that are not reasonable for the level of a particular child, or even written goals that we might not have if we knew the child better. I have carried over goals into the next IEP with slight variation from the original. You can always amend and add additional goals if it takes 15 months rather than a year.