Background and setting
Tyler is 11½ years of age and in the first year of secondary education. He attends a special school for children with visual impairment. Tyler has optic nerve hypoplasia and an abnormality of the cornea. He does not have any useful vision and is registered as severely visually impaired.
Tyler is physically mobile. He uses a long cane for independent mobility. In unfamiliar situations he relies on a sighted guide.
School staff and his parents consider Tyler to have autism, but a formal diagnosis has not been made. His skills are a little below the level expected of children of his chronological age; however, he does not have significant learning difficulties.
Communication
Tyler's expressive language is good in that he has an extensive vocabulary and creates long, complex sentences. However, his social communication skills are poor. He is deeply interested in vehicles and talks a great deal about this topic. Once he is talking about vehicles, Tyler finds it very difficult to change the topic or to stop talking.
Tyler often used to talk about vehicles during lessons. Therefore, staff avoid triggers in lessons; they do not:
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initiate any conversations with him about vehicles
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mention vehicles within his hearing.
He has now been given a clear boundary concerning this issue: "Work in lessons. Talk about vehicles at break." If he does talk about vehicles in a lesson, the rule is repeated and he is redirected to the task. He is also praised when he is attending to the task by being told "You're working well. That's good." Tyler now rarely talks about vehicles during lessons.
Tyler is sociable, and enjoys having conversations with adults. He rarely interacts with his peers.
Tyler's understanding of language, written as well as spoken, is very literal and he is unable to understand metaphor, simile, sarcasm, irony or idioms. Staff therefore use reduced and simplified spoken language when asking him questions, providing explanations and giving him instructions. In addition, in any one situation, only one member of staff gives instructions.
Tyler becomes confused when he happens to hear a member of staff speaking to a colleague or another pupil. Tyler always assumes the remark, question or instruction is addressed to him. Therefore, staff always place first the name of the person being addressed, before making the remark, asking the question or giving the instruction.
Tyler needs additional time to process spoken language, so it is important to allow sufficient processing time and use the "wait for eight" rule. If Tyler fails to respond to an instruction or question after an appropriate interval, the instruction or question is repeated in exactly the same form.
Because Tyler interprets language literally, he has sometimes responded in what might seem to be a rude, cheeky or flippant manner. He has done so in response to instructions such as "Can you go to dinner now?" and "I want you to go to your classroom now." Staff now avoid giving such indirect instructions, and give explicit instructions.
Routine
Routines are very important to Tyler and he copes most effectively when there is order in his life. Thus, staff keep to his usual routine as far as possible, and class layout remains constant for extended periods. Tyler becomes anxious when any change affects his belongings or learning space. Staff try to minimise change and the effects on Tyler. They do so by making only one change at a time, and ensuring those changes are as small as possible.
Tyler is fascinated by regular patterns in the environment. His teacher therefore builds tasks and activities around this interest and skill. For example, he motivates Tyler and extends his number skills with the use of a braille number square.
Structured teaching
Some elements of structured teaching are employed. To support Tyler's understanding of what he is required to do, the classroom is zoned. He also has an individual work space, which helps to address his distractibility. Staff also try to provide a low arousal environment.
Tyler learns most effectively with numerous short periods of work rather than fewer, longer sessions. He is also provided with "space" between educational activities with periods in which he is able to relax, or exercise.
As he works very slowly, Tyler is allowed extra time to complete tasks and to make transitions from one part of the school building to another.
Tyler responds to praise which is used to motivate and encourage him.
He has mild tactile defensiveness. This is not considered to present Tyler with any significant difficulties, and is therefore not currently being addressed.
Triggers
Tyler has support from a mobility officer. Because of his deep interest in vehicles, Tyler has difficulty attending to what he is doing in mobility sessions in the community. The mobility officer therefore monitors the environment; she also avoids the trigger of referring to vehicles as much as possible. Indeed, she understands that it is not appropriate to communicate at all with Tyler, unless she needs to do so in relation to his mobility task. This is because he is single chanelled: if he is listening to the mobility officer, or talking to her, he cannot attend to using his long cane or think about where he is going. In fact, the cane can be seen as part of the task structure, a component of structured teaching. It may help him to stay on task, as long as there is no conversation.