|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
Manifestation of Deficits in Advanced Areas
Imagine a child interacting with peers who dominates the conversation
and is only attentive to those portions of the conversation that are of
interest to them. If a peer changes the topic, the child has a
difficult time rejoining the conversation, identifying a topic to enter
the ongoing dialogue or capture their peer's attention. Likewise, the
child never changes the topic and perseverates on rigid interest.
Envision a child who is reading a book to his classmates. He is required to read the story and share the pictures with his peers. As he reads, he rarely turns the pages around to show his classmates. The child is operating from the perspective that "I can see the pages, so it is obvious that my classmates can see them as well."
How often has a child with ASD gone to a park or other community location and pushed themselves to the head of the line of the slide, swing or at the grocery store, knocking over other children, infants or adults in the process. They display a complete lack of awareness regarding the perspective and feelings of others.
It is a sibling's birthday and the child is told "we just wrapped your sister's birthday present together. Make sure that you don't tell her what it is." Later that day as the sibling is opening her present, she states "I wonder what it is?" Her brother, who is unable to inhibit his impulsiveness, blurts out "it is the new Harry Potter book."
How many times have you engaged in a conversation where the child is providing information to you as if you were there too, when you were in fact at work or some other distant location?
Imagine the child who is a good student, but lacks the organizational tools to write a complete story, manage their belongings, keep track of time to complete projects, and as a result, their school performance is below their potential.
All the instances above are classic examples of children who demonstrate deficits in areas associated with Executive Functioning, Theory of Mind, Subtle Cue Recognition and other advanced social areas, which extend far beyond what can be taught in social skills groups.
What is Theory of Mind?
Theory of mind is the ability to interpret behavior in terms of
underlying mental states, such as intentions, beliefs, and desires
(Baron Cohen, 1995; Wellman & Lagattuta, 2000). Most normally
developing children understand that other people have different beliefs
and desires from their own and that a person's actions and motives are
based on his or her own beliefs and desires. Children with ASD often
require support to develop this understanding. There are several areas
related to Theory of Mind remediation that are a part of TLC's service
provisions for advanced learners. These areas include, but are not
limited to:
- False belief (perspective taking and thinking)
- Appearance Reality
- Interpretive Diversity
- Irony
- Bluff
- Double Bluff
- Second Order belief
- Figures of speech
What is Executive Functioning?
Executive
Functioning (EF) is a cognitive construct that is used to describe the
behaviors mediated by the frontal lobes. It is the processes that
underlie goal directed behavior and the ability to maintain an
appropriate problem solving set to attain a goal. It involves a child's
representation of the situation, a representation of the objectives of
the task (that is, the desired outcome), and a representation of the
particular strategies or procedures for solving the problem, completing
the task or obtaining the goal. Furthermore, it involves the ability to
monitor progress towards goals and recognize when goals have been
achieved. EF can be summarized as processes related to the following
interrelated sub-skills:
- Organization
- Goal selection
- Self regulation
- Impulse control
- Set maintenance
- Flexibility of thought and action
TLC's Advanced Curriculum
Tri-State
Learning Center has comprehensive services to meet the needs of
advanced learners. TLC has created an innovative program that focuses
on targeting deficit areas associated with Executive Functioning,
Theory of Mind and many other abstract reasoning, language and social
areas. TLC's initial phase includes conducting an observation, having a
detailed work session and skills analysis to identify the pivotal
deficit areas. Once the assessment has been completed, a comprehensive
treatment package is designed and targeted in TLC's advanced treatment
modules. Each module has a specific function and varies in length
depending on the nature of the deficits and the growth of the learner.
Some concepts within each module include, but are not limited to:
Module One: Direct instruction, expectation explaining and definining the concept for the learner.
Module Two: Modeling concept, demonstrating and feedback.
Module Three: Peer practice, with feedback, re-enactments and video training.
Module Four: Concept integration - incorporation of concepts into everyday life with specific examples to practice and target across all environments.
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website Supported by NY IT Consultant