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Autism (13 images)

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  • Staff photo by Christy Wooten.Amanda Johnson receives a high five from Oscar Sifuentes, 6, after completing a math task. Oscar, like many autistic children, will use physical touch of come kind to communicate. He sometimes uses hugs as agression or other physical contact that will hurt you. "He just doesn't have language," Johnson said. "That's basically what a lot of this boils down to is they don't have the words. They don't have the language to tell you what they want or don't want." As a result, many autistic children will hit or scream when frustrated in an attempt to communicate. Not all physical contact is negative, though, and it can vary depending on the individual child.

  • Staff photo by Christy Wooten.Alex Stoker, 7, works on a math task during his school day. He can count to 100 but it will take him longer than other children his age. This activity also helps with his motor skills because he has to write the answers then erases them after he finishes. Math is just one of six work stations at The Helping House. Students also work at reading, writing, listening, talking and an independent work stations. For listening, The Listening Program, a music based auditory stimulation method, is used. It is modified classical music designed to stimulate different functions of the auditory processing system, according the The Listening Program website. At the talking station, students are engaged in conversation with a staff member about anything the student is willing to talk about. For Alex, Spiderman is the most common topic.

  • Staff photo by Christy Wooten.Each morning at The Helping House begins with group time to encourage interaction among the students. "Kids with autism don't really reach out much," Johnson said. "They don't make the effort to communicate with other kids so it has to be facilitated." Some days, when Madison, front, does not want to participate, she will curl up into a ball, which is one of her escape behaviors. Teacher's aide Maria Tostado helps her sit back up and continue the activity along with Oscor Sifuentes and Alex Stoker. Intern Nikki Roberts supervises from behind. As with other things, each child is different regarding their interactions. Meadow, a student who attends part time, enjoys trying to play with Oscar and Alex likes to play chase during outside time.

  • Staff photo by Christy Wooten.A visual daily schedule help keep the day structured and assist the students in moving from one task to another. As an activity is complete, the picture, which has velcro on both sides, is turned over and the marker is moved to the next task. The schedule also lets the students know there will be a conclusion to each activity. Autistic students do not like open ended activities, according to Amanda Johnson. They want to know how long they are going to have to do something, even when they like the activity. Sometimes, like all children, the students try to pull one over on the teachers and will change their schedule by moving up playtime. Madisan would at the zoo picture to her schedule everyday for two weeks after a field trip to the Ellen Trout Zoo in Lufkin because she wanted to go back.

  • Staff photo by Christy Wooten.Diet is an important factor for autistic children, according to Amanda Johnson, who recommends a gluten and casein free diet for all her students. In The Kid-Friendly ADHD & Autism Cookbook, the author state that gluten (wheat) and casein (dairy) are processed in an autistic child's body like an opiate eventually causing the child to experience a "high." Autistic children often crave dairy and wheat products for this reason and when they are removed from the diet, children may suffer withdrawal symptoms such as irritability to rage. One of the goals at The Helping House is to get students to try new foods, especially if they are put on a gluten and casein free diet. With the limited vocabulary and understanding, teachers cannot explain or negotiate with them. Students may scream or cry when given a food they do not want to try. Teachers simply have to wait for the student to make the connection to eat what they do not want to get what they do want. One particular day, Oscar was given a small piece of carrot to eat. After some crying and screaming, he ate the carrot and received a bit of ham then spaghetti. Within minutes he was eating four or five full slices of carrot without hesitation to receive the food he really wanted until he was full.





  • Staff photo by Christy Wooten.Autistic children are very visual. They also mimic and mirror behavior better than producing them on their own so teachers and speech therapist use these techniques to help Alex Stoker,7, left, with his speech therapy. Activities include pronouncing certain sounds such as vowels correctly or making statments like "I want this" or "I want that." "We want to make language functional for them," Jan Ward, not pictured, of Professional Speech and Language Service said. "Requesting what you want is important for all autistic children because they need to communicate. We use language to think." But, Ward said, across the board, autistic children do not process what they are hearing the same way as non-autistic children. "It doesn't mean they can't hear," Ward said. Tactical cues like pictures or objects help them pronounce and remember the words.

  • Staff photo by Christy Wooten.Madisan Johnson, 9, completes a task of fitting shapes into the correct place at the independent work station at The Helping House. Activities are lined up along the shelf above the desk. As a student finishes one task, he or she will place it in the completed basket and move on to the next until every task is complete. Then, the student will replace all the tasks on the shelf for the next person. Each child at the school has his or her own schedule for the day. For Madisan, her schedule is the law because she needs a lot of structure. The schedule, which is a strip of pictures for each days activities, helps her move from one thing to another through visual reinforcement. Changes in schedules are accepted differently by different children. Some are more flexible where others have great difficulty doing things outside their daily routine.

  • Staff photo by Christy Wooten.Four-year-old Meadow Wilson is assisted by Amanda Johnson as she works on the generalized behavior of sitting in a chair with her hands in her lap before lunch begins. Even though autistic children do not have language like most other people, they learn to connect words with behaviors, actions and objects. Depending on the child and the degree of autism, some children respond quicker than others. Meadow, who is a more severe case, has difficulty with simple tasks. Teachers use Applied Behavior Analysis as their teaching method at The Helping House. Basically it requires the child to do something for the teacher before the child gets what he or she wants. For example, when Meadow completes a task, she may get two minutes of play time. Teachers coach parents on these techniques for home because autistic children do not understand the behaviors they learn at school should be applied at home or in public.

  • Staff photo by Christy Wooten.Teacher's Aide Maria Tostado pushes Madisan Johnson on a swing at The Helping House. Spinning is a big deal for autistic children because stimulates their entire body, making them feel better. Spinning can also be a "stim," a self stimulatory behavior. Madisan ends each day by tapping a pen repetitively on a book. She also says the word "orange" and the number 18 louder than other words. Oscar bugs his eyes out, carries around objects such as a toy hammer or golf club. The school helps students develop appropriate stimulatory behaviors such as playing with acceptable objects. Stimming is common even among non-autistic people. Examples could be shaking your foot while sitting cross legged, clicking a pen continually, or grinding your teeth.