Daily Excerpt: Understanding the Challenge of "No" for Children with Autism (McNeil) - When No Means Yes
Excerpt from Understanding the Challenge of "No" for Children with Autism (McNeil) -
Chapter 3
When No Means Yes
Augustus
One Summer Day in a
Class for Elementary School Students with Autism
Story originally
printed in Autism Parenting Magazine, June, 2017
“Good work, Josiah. You are all done! Let’s
check your schedule.” Josiah smiles brightly and hurries to his schedule,
knowing swimming is next.
As
he and Miss Leaky walk through the quietly bustling classroom, a small voice
calls out, “Miss Leaky, swimming?”
“Yes,
Augustus, first work then swimming. Hurry up and finish your work.”
Augustus
smiles and continues working. Miss Leaky and Josiah walk outside and across the
courtyard to the restroom.
Returning,
the pair is met with a commotion of loud crying, pounding noises, and the sight
of Augustus lying on his back kicking his feet.
Miss
Leaky inquires, “What happened?”
Miss
Ellie shares, “Augustus is mad because he was not allowed to go with Miss Alan
to get ready for swimming.”
Anxiously,
Augustus cries out, “Miss Leaky, swimming?”
“Yes,
Augustus, first work, then swimming.”
Augustus
shoots to his feet and returns to his tasks, only two more easy folders to
go.
“Miss
Ellie, swimming?” Augustus solicits.
“Finish
your work, then swimming,” replies Miss Ellie.
Augustus
grins and increasing his pace, rushes to finish. Seeing Jean and Miss Alan walk
through the door, Augustus implores, “Miss Alan, swimming?”
“No
Augustus, no swimming until you finish your work!”
Instantly,
the room is filled with an ear-piercing shriek, a chaotic flurry of materials
flying through the air and Augustus dropping to the floor, wailing. Miss Leaky
approaches. Augustus pauses his frenzy, pleading, “Miss Leaky, swimming?”
“Yes
Augustus, first work, then swimming,” answers Miss Leaky.
Augustus
weepily gathers his materials and steels himself to begin working. Tentatively, he questions, “Miss Leaky,
swimming?”
Miss
Leaky reassures, “Yes Augustus, good working. First work, then swimming.”
Appeased,
Augustus begins to complete his last few items when Miss Alan again returns
from the restroom with students ready for the pool.
Augustus
apprehensively voices his persistent question, “Miss Alan, swimming?”
“No
Augustus, no swimming. You can’t swim until you do your work!”
With
rapid-fire motions papers are flung, the tipped desk slams to the floor and
Augustus is again flat on his back, kicking and screaming.
Miss
Leaky stands nearby and Augustus screams, “SWIMMING! MISS LEAKY,
SWIMMING!”
Miss
Leaky waits for that moment of silence that occurs as Augustus takes a breath,
then clearly delivers a simple, “YES!”
Augustus
curiously ceases his howling. Breathing heavily, he looks hesitantly at Miss
Leaky then tearfully, frightfully probes, “Swimming?”
Miss
Leaky’s answer is slow and deliberate, “Yes Augustus, first work, then
swimming.”
Miss
Leaky assists Augustus in reorganizing his materials, and remaining close,
encourages him to finish his last folder.
Once
again, Augustus anxiously asks, “Miss Alan, swimming?”
“No.”
Augustus
flinches.
Miss
Leaky interjects, “YES SWIMMING!”
Stunned
with conflicted emotion, Augustus stands wide eyed, pupils darting between Miss
Alan and Miss Leaky.
Locking
his gaze with hers, Miss Leaky thoughtfully enunciates her consistent retort,
“YES, SWIMMING, first work, then swimming.”
Miss
Leaky assists Augustus to place the last two items in his folder and
enthusiastically declares, “Finished! Time for swimming!”
Augustus
hurries to join his classmates walking to the pool, smiles broadly, and
exclaims, “SWIMMING!”
Breaking it Down
Communication
In
countless social conversations, when responding to questions and requests from
children such as Augustus’, “May I go swimming?” many adults would start their
answer with a gentle, “No,” then add, “Not right now. You will go after you are
done working.” For a typically developing child with competent social skills
and communication abilities, this is a perfectly nice answer. The child
comprehends the message, I may go
swimming after I finish my task. This understanding will inspire the child
to focus and quickly complete the assignment.
For
many children, the communication difficulties caused by autism block their
ability to understand the full content of a message of such length and
complexity. Children with autism are
often only able to process the first and/or last words in lengthy
verbalizations. Further, structuring the information to identify what is not going to happen requires an
interpretation of this information into its reciprocal of what is going happen. The lack of any further
information leaves the child to make a guess as to the correct meaning and
expected response. This translation process delivers many potential inaccurate
outcomes.
In
the story of Augustus, our protagonist struggles in processing the entire
indirect message stated in the negative, “No Augustus, no swimming. You can’t
swim until you do your work!” Many mainstream practitioners and trainers in autism
teach that, with training, the use of short phrases and repetitive scripted
sentences can build meaning for students with autism. The specifically taught
short phrases are learned as language chunks that the child can process as if
they were single, multisyllabic words. “I want,” “Sit down,” and, “Check your
schedule,” are examples of short phrases that children in autism-focused
classrooms become adept at understanding fluidly. Phrases such as, “First—, then—,” and, “Do this,” become
predictable cues for the children, helping them to identify that they are
expected to mentally attend to the following information.
Augustus
was doing fine as long as Miss Leaky used regularly scripted language and few
words, stating, “Yes, first work, then swimming.” He also managed well with Miss
Ellie’s response, which was less scripted but was still stated in a positive
phrase and followed the same progression, “Finish your work, then swimming.”
When Miss Alan approached the question answering in a mainstream manner, “No
Augustus, no swimming until you finish your work,” a communication gap occurred.
In this diction, Augustus likely only heard and understood the words, “No,” and,
“Work.” He then became upset and expressed negative behaviors because he
understood the message to say, “No, you will not go to the pool. You will stay
in class and do work.” The intent of the message is really, “Yes, after work.” Stating the answer in a “Yes, first/then” format, as Miss
Leaky does, provides Augustus the support he needs. This statement is a direct
answer that uses predictable scripted phrasing, few words, and doesn’t need to
be interpreted from the negative statement to a positive connotation.
Numerous
autism researchers and practitioners hail the importance of using visual
supports with students such as schedules, task lists, first/then cards, picture
based expressive communication, and more. Miss Leaky’s message, “Yes, first
work then swimming,” is clear, concise, familiar to Augustus, and can be
reinforced easily with visual supports. A visual support may be as simple as a
gesture towards one item and then another while speaking. Miss Leaky could have
been gesturing to Augustus’ work materials and swimsuit while stating, “First
work, then swimming.” Other visual supports that assist communication are more
concrete such as representative objects, pictures or written words. The benefit
of using objects, pictures and written words is that they are constant. Spoken
words are fleeting and are gone as soon as they are emitted. In the story, Miss
Leaky could show Augustus pictures of work and the pool while providing her
answer. Augustus could visually attend to these pictures for reassurance that
he understood the answer to his question. Further, he could independently
reference these pictures to remind himself that he will go swimming when he
finishes his work.
Supplementary Influences
All habits are the
result of our previous conditioning—things we learned to do,
and then practiced
them until they became what seem like a natural way to behave.
Dr. Shad Helmstetter
Over
the years Augustus has ingrained behaviors to convey his negative emotional
state. He has developed a habit of expressing an adverse reaction that
instantly fills him with fight or flight anxiety in response to the word, “No.”
Relationship researcher John Gottman’s findings explain that when people are
feeling strong negative emotions, fight or flight responses hijack the
physiology of a person and flood them with hormones, visceral reactions and
emotions that overwhelm their ability to accurately receive, process and
interpret information. Therefore, upon hearing Miss Alan’s, “No,” Augustus
experiences an emotional response that automatically sends him into a state of
physiological dysregulation and prohibits his ability to take in the entire
verbal message. Augustus expresses his
distress in tantrum behavior.
When people are
flooded they can’t listen, even though they might wish to.
It’s not anyone’s
fault that they can’t listen when flooded;
it’s a natural
fight-or-flight response, though operating a bit out of context.
John Gottman
In
the story, Augustus begins by dropping to the ground, kicking and screaming, to
show his disagreement. As he becomes more emotionally compromised and confused
by the different answers he is receiving, he escalates his behaviors to
throwing materials then tipping over his desk.
These
behaviors may have worked for him in the past to change the adult’s response,
thereby resulting in the desired answer Augustus is seeking, “Yes, let’s go
swimming now. I don’t want you to be upset.” On the other hand, the tantrums
may have resulted in adult directed reprimands and punishment for his dangerous
behavior. A reprimand that includes a punishment, “Tantrums don’t earn you
swimming. Bad boys must stay back in class,” would further reinforce the
negative association between the word, “No,” and anxiety, thereby fortifying
Augustus’ habitually explosive response.
We will usually give
up behaviors that don’t work if we are capable of better ones.
William Glasser
Fortunately,
in the case of Augustus, Miss Leaky identified the issue and took charge of the
communication repair by interjecting her message, “YES, SWIMMING, first work,
then swimming.” Instead of punishing the behavioral outburst or even
acknowledging it, Miss Leaky remained steadfast in her communication. Further,
Miss Leaky did not allow Augustus’ behavioral episodes to get him to the pool
without finishing his work. While she chose to assist him in the end, Miss
Leaky was firm in her resolve that he complete one activity before earning the
other. Persisting with the request will habituate Augustus to realizing that
the expectations Miss Leaky expresses will be constant, and his engaging in
tantrum behavior will not work to hasten the delivery of his longings.
Therefore, this habit of behavioral outbursts will decrease over time, as it
will no longer work to satisfy Augustus’ desires.
Relationship Dynamics
The degree of social
cohesion that you feel with other people
is the greatest
predictor of success during a time of challenge and stress.
One Day University
Miss Leaky’s actions served to provide Augustus a fulfillment of his communicative and psychological needs. Miss Leaky utilized a communication style with which Augustus is accustomed. She spoke in a short, pre-trained phrase he could process. She further focused her interaction with him to the issues of work and swimming. By doing so, she did not allow his tantrum to change the topic to his, “bad behavior,” or to the accuracy of his work. Miss Leaky also supported Augustus’ emotional state by encouraging his work, genially responding to his repeated questioning, and breaking-in when she realized Miss Alan’s message was causing him distress. These components assist in developing attunement and trust between Augustus and Miss Leaky. As this is not the first time Miss Leaky and Augustus have engaged in interactions developing attunement, Augustus feels a sense of social cohesion that allows him to seek her out for reassurance. Since Augustus trusts Miss Leaky, he is able to recover from his tantrums relatively quickly and become amenable to her requests to finish his work.
KOPS-FETHERLING INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARD
LEGACY AWARD IN EDUCTION
READERS VIEWS LITERARY AWARD
SILVER AWARD
ADULT CLASSICAL NONFICTION
For more posts about McNeil and her books, including more excerpts, click HERE.
For more book excerpts, click HERE.
Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter
Follow MSI Press on Twitter, Face Book, and Instagram.
in exchange for reviewing a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book?
Contact editor@msipress.com.
Want an author-signed copy of this book?
Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25)
and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.
Comments
Post a Comment