Week 11 Case Study: Using systematic instruction and graphic organizers to teach science concepts to students with
autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disability.
Knight, V., Spooner, F., Browder, D., Smith, B., & Wood, C. (2013). Using systematic instruction and graphic organizers
to teach science concepts to students with autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disability. Focus on Autism and
Other Developmental Disabilities, 28(2), 115-126. doi: 10.1177/1088357612475301
Personal Reflection
Good Teaching is Universal
In there 2013 Paper V. Knight et al. studied the effectiveness of using systematic instructions and graphic
organizers to teach science concepts to students with autism and intellectual disability. The study involved
three students, one girl and two boys ranging from 13 to 14 years old, IQs ranging from 44 to 55, they had
below average oral reading and reading comprehension scores and each of them were diagnosed with ASD
and a moderate intellectual disability. The intervention as outlined in the study was shown to be successful
for two of the three subjects. The third subject did reach the criteria for mastery; unfortunately no follow up
was possible to assess maintenance. With assistance developing resources that align to the science
curriculum and a small amount of professional development about Constant Time Delay (CTD) procedures
the intervention as outlined in the paper is reproducible and transferable.
This paper has an unattended consequence of illustrating that good teaching practices have a positive effect
on all students. Science education is often thought of, and taught as, a distillation of interconnected facts that
need to be memorized. The ultimate goal of science education is to help students develop problem-solving
skills, a higher order cognitive process. The classic note-based science classroom lesson accompanied with a
strictly adhered to laboratory procedure does not ultimately lead to the goal of science education, namely
independent thinking and problem-solving abilities. The use of graphic organizes does promote the goal of
science education in that they allow students to foster independence through the interpretation and
transformation of knowledge.
Graphic organizers that use pictures have a universality that makes them more accessible to a diversity of
learning styles and developmental levels. With this universality students can more easily grasp the links
between various scientific concepts and explore the idea of cause and effect.
Students of all capacities still require guidance, coaching and a safe environment to explore the world around
them. CTD is an effective teaching practice because is helps students build confidence and develop the skills
they need to become problem solvers and abstract thinkers later on in their education. Often young students
need to feel the euphoria of success to become risk-takers in later years when they deal with complex and
abstract problems. By using prompts early and frequently in a student’s educational career a teacher provides
a safe learning environment for a student to achieve. As the prompts decrease in a safe learning environment,
learning independence is instilled in the students.
This article focused on three students that have ASD and intellectual disability. There is a high transferability
of the intervention strategy being investigated amongst students with ASD and amongst the entire student
population. This is an example of how an excellent teaching practice is beneficial for everyone in a
classroom.
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