Shaila Rao

Learning through Seeing and Doing: Visual Supports for Children with Autism.

mental disorder that causes impairment in the way individuals process information. Autism belongs to heterogeneous categories of developmental disabilities where neurological disorders lead to deficits in a child’s ability to communicate, understand language, play, develop social skills, and relate to others. According to the National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities (NICHCY; 2004) autism and pervasive developmental disorder–NOS (not otherwise specified) are developmental disabilities that share many of the same characteristics. The Centers for Disease Control (2005) reported that although an exact count is not available in the United States, up to 500,000 individuals between the ages of 0 to 21 have an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). According to Greenspan (2006), children with autism face challenges such as using language, using words creatively, using imagination, and, later, thinking abstractly. These challenges significantly affect understanding and using language for communication. Because of increasing awareness of the number of cases of ASD there is a push to obtain information about how to help children with autism. The individual nature of successful programs and strategies for children with autism was a concluding theme in Hamlin (2005) who stated that although there is a specific criterion that defines autism, the individual manifestation is as complicated and multidimensional as the human being itself. There is no one best teaching/learning method for all! In 1996 Janzen posited that it takes many years, sometimes decades or centuries to research a subject, get the findings published, and have those findings either verified or discredited. Simpson (2005), after almost a decade, contended that in spite of crucial and meaningful gains in information about ASD and procedures and intervention strategies that benefit individuals with ASD, persons with autismrelated disorders remain an enigmatic group. Simpson stated “professionals and parents require access to straightforward information about the efficacy of various methods, as well as supplementary information that will assist them in determining a method’s suitability with individual students” (p. 143). Although there is no one best program or one best way of helping children with autism, the importance of using supports based on concrete and visual teaching aids is largely upheld. Visual supports can be provided in different ways in all settings: school, home, work, and community. Kluth and Darmody-Latham (2003) suggested using visuals such as graphic organizers, flow charts, and Venn diagrams in addition to verbal instruction with students with autism. Temple Grandin, author of the book Thinking in Pictures and Other Reports From My Life With Autism promoted use of visual supports when she explained how she processed information. Grandin (1995) stated “Spatial words such as over and under had no meaning for me until I had a visual image to fix them in my memory” (p. 30). Janzen (1996) emphasized the importance of providing visual support that is essential so that the student with autism can process the whole message.

Special education today in Spain

Abstract The focus of special education around the globe may be to provide specialized instruction to meet unique needs of children to help them achieve their full potential. However, each country around the globe may also have its own unique issues, barriers, legal frames, policies, and practices, as well as a history of its origin and evolution of policies and practices that govern special education in that country. This chapter describes how special education in Spain originated and evolved to its current state. It includes the following chapter sections: origins of special education in Spain; legislative acts; prevalence and incidence of various recognized disability areas; an overview of Spain’s education system including special needs education; current assessment and intervention practices; teacher education practices; family involvement considerations; and future challenges to special education.

Teaching Children with Hyperlexia

inclusion movement and the government’s focus on “leaving no child behind,” educators have begun to identify a group of children who have difficulty learning but do not fit into more commonly understood categories of disability. One little-known category of exceptionality is known as hyperlexia. For teachers it may be a quandary for program development as they confront children who exhibit a group of characteristics that seem to conflict with each other. Thus, the teacher may note “characteristics of precocious reading development and disordered language acquisition, with concomitant social and behavioral deficits” (Kupperman, Bligh, & Barouski, n.d., p. 1). According to Charlotte Miller (1999): Hyperlexic children are intelligent, often highly-gifted individuals. They have an intense curiosity and interest in learning. Older hyperlexic children may often be highly verbal and obviously academically gifted. These gifts at times may be so obvious that little attention is paid to the language difficulties of hyperlexia, or to the very nature of the hyperlexic learning style. Only through an understanding of these language difficulties, and the visual and gestalt processing style of these children, can we help them to maximize their potential.

Repeated Interactive Read-Aloud: Enhancing Literacy Using Story Props

Learning to read is one of the greatest achievements of childhood. Not only is the ability to interpret meaning from the written word exciting in its own right, it is also a fundamental skill necessary for development and all future learning. Many people believe that children learn to read once they begin formal schooling; however, emergent literacy actually begins as early as birth. Young children learn literacy skills through interactions with the adults around them and gain the most when those adults, particularly parents and teachers, are both knowledgeable and intentional in how they support and nurture early literacy. Repeated Interactive Read-aloud (RIR-A) is one research-based technique that has been effective in increasing childrens engagement in and understanding and appreciation of reading in preschool and kindergarten settings. Disadvantaged children who have fewer at-home opportunities for literacy development can especially benefit. In this article, Rao, Newlin-Haus, and Ehrhardt provide a highly descriptive, step-by-step explanation of how early childhood educators can incorporate RIR-A into their teaching practice.