My name is Katie Rosta and I'm a 2020 graduate with majors and elementary and special education and a minor in communications. This summer I had the opportunity to go to South Africa where I was able to speak with numerous educators and discuss different strategies that are being used to achieve the goals of students with autism. With this information, I created this project with Dr. Cheryl George with the intent of highlighting strategies that are being used between South Africa and the United States and how they have changed in the recent years. Therefore, the title of my project is A Conversation of the Effective Intervention Strategies and Societal Acceptance of Individuals with Autism in the United States and South Africa.

 

An intervention used by schools in both countries is applied behavioral analysis or ABA. The goal for ABA from the perspective of the organization, Autism Speaks, is to increase behaviors that are helpful and decrease behaviors that are harmful or affect learning. This definition leaves room for interpretation, as behaviors that affect learning can be subjective. Thus, the behaviors that are being reinforced occasionally fall more towards compliance, rather than improving meaningful skills. As brought up by members of the autistic community and advocates. In recent years, many schools have realized the inadvertent harmful effects that ABA has caused and have adjusted their strategies to better meet the needs and goals of their students rather than the goals created solely to meet social norms. For instance, the US private school, A Step Up Academy, implements compassionate ABA, focusing on mutually-agreed upon goals and helping students strive for independence and self advocacy.

 

Additionally, having staff take the time to build relationships with their students can create a much more positive learning environment. Green Tree Schools and Services located in the Philadelphia area talks about the importance of pairing or building rapport on their blog. There's another strategy that stems from this called DIR floor time, a child lead play-based approach. Allowing the student to engage in scaffold upon areas of interest may be more comfortable for the student than a therapist placing unfamiliar demands. This is used in Livingstone Primary School in Durban, South Africa, where an occupational therapist takes students to an OT gym or playground to promote physical and social skill development.

 

With autism having a wide scope of capabilities, there are some students who may not communicate verbally. Augmentative/alternative communication, or AAC, can create other ways for students to communicate. The Key School in Johannesburg, South Africa. Some students may use Makaton sign language, a language that involves both verbal and visual prompts while still using English grammatical format. As I continue to research, I hope to learn more about how schools are working with the autism community to continue improving their interventions and create a greater global acceptance for autism.