Friendship Village, Vietnam

Welcome to our series of short videos designed to improve your understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder commonly known as ASD. Once you understand what Autism is and how it affects individuals you will be better prepared to support teachers and students with the disorder and successfully integrate strategies into the classroom. What is Autism? Autism is a developmental disorder characterised by an individuals inability to connect with and understand others. Symptoms begin from early on in life typically before the age of three and vary from case to case. It is a pervasive developmental disorder marked by impairments in Social interaction Communication Sensory Processing and a preference for stereotyped repetitive and rigid behaviour. Approximately 1 in every 100 children have ASD, with a higher prevalence among boys than girls. The range and serverity of the difficulties people with ASD experience varies greatly between individuals. Autism in Vietnam It is estimate that there are approximately 160 000 individuals with Autism in Vietnam. However, no official statistics exist. This rate is comparable to that of developed countries. Unfortunately, and discussion of Autism in universities is servery lacking when compared to western nations. Autism in the Classroom As you can imagine the school environment may pose challenges for children with Autism. Language disorders and specific learning difficulties with literacy numeracy and other academic skills are common. Characteristics such as difficulty coping with change in routine and abnormal responses to auditory, visual and vestibular stimuli may impact on a child's ability to learn. While fine motor problems associated with Autism can affect self help skills and include slow laboured handwriting. Which can lead to frustration and problems at school. Important things we want you to remember Lastly, we want to finish off with some important points we want you to remember. First, Autism presentation are unique. Autism is a huge spectrum each individual has their own talents and skills. Some just need more assistance and demonstrations than others. 2. Routines and transition warnings make life so much easier for you and the child. By providing a 2-5 minute warning prior to the conclusion of an activity you allow an individual time to process and conclude their current activity. Reducing anxiety and unexpected behaviours. This leads to point 3. Individuals with Autism need extra time to process language. Be patient and provide visual supports, when possible. 4. Individuals with Autism commonly see the world very black and white. Therefore, they are very literal by nature. So, be direct with instructions and please be mindful of sarcasm. 5. They can get stuck on one subject. Commonly individuals with Autism have a special interest, an area they are particularly bright in. However, at times this can get in the way of their learning of other things. Do your best to incorporate this to extend their learning in other areas. 6. They will have challenges in Social interaction, communication and processing of sensory information. 7. Children with Autism will use repetitive behaviours when they are excited, bored or stressed. So basically when they are not in the optimum level of arousal. Finally, eight (8) Use positive reinforcement. Children with Autism often experience anxiety and therefore repeated punishment, especially when they do not understand why, can result in shutdown behaviours. I hope you have enjoyed our educational video and Thankyou for listening. We hope this has provided you with some insight on Autism and some current considerations for working with children in the classroom. Thank you