MESA Project Description

The University of Iowa
Regional Autism Services Program
Child Health Specialty Clinic

Description

Modified Experience Story Approach:
Making Experience Stories
That Enhance Learning for Children
with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Parents may find behavior expectations of various community activities can be a challenge for their son or daughter with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Many say they could benefit from learning more ways to communicate these appropriate behaviors when they prepare to use services and recreation in their community. Can parents provide meaningful activities that help their child understand and predict the appropriate behaviors that mark successful participation or use of services? What can parents do to structure some pre-reading type activities that might assist with this challenge?

A Modified Language Experience Approach has been described in literature for children with autism. It is an instructional method that utilizes children’s language and experiences as a basis for reading instruction. It has been modified, since most children with autism don’t have the expressive language to tell about an event at this early stage, for children with autism. The success with this approach by other parents in Iowa has shown the improved behavior within a routine targeted in the story is often very likely. They also report improved attention to reading this story, some reading independently (memorization)!, and shared in their child’s delight of seeing themselves in a picture and print story.

The Regional Autism Services Program is offering an opportunity to address these learning, behavioral, and reading needs for parents, families and children that impact on some behavioral routine (in the community or in the home). This offer provides Iowans materials (kit - camera and book formats for photos) to:

Plan a short experience (event) for your child with him/her as the focus
Capture the steps of interaction with objects and people in photographs
Make a book by writing a phrase or sentence per page with each picture illustrating the sequence
Revisit that new experience in the book you’ve created (parents read to the child or child reads pictures/words)

This offer helps to structure a short event that you want to teach a new language word or concept, a new behavioral skill, or introduce a new routine/ activity. We recognize that this population learns new skills, new words, and ways to behave when they are presented:

Within a routine (predictable sequence pictured in our experience story kits)
Are visual in nature (we ask you to write a phrase or sentence description for each picture)
And can be reviewed by the child.

This kit does not provide reimbursement for film developing or glue to affix pictures into the two books available. In addition, there are commitments for you to share the results of this free starter kit in an informal way (data) or more structured way via a presentation at a conference. It is our goal to provide these kits to Iowa families with children with autism spectrum disorders, their waiver providers, summer school staff, or extended year special education providers or others. This approach to structuring free time, involving the child in the process and provide new leisure reading sequences will hopefully bring you strategies and power to impact on child learning and satisfaction.

Your application for this Experience Story Kit is required, and your commitment to make time to create two books (you can choose 4-8 page or 8 to16 page books) for the 27-exposure camera. Please complete the online application if you have not done so. Or print it out and send it to:

Sue Baker, M.S.
Regional Autism Services Program
Child Health Specialty Clinics
100 Hawkins Drive, Room 239
Iowa City, IA 52242-1011
sue-baker@uiowa.edu