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Autism &
Autism-Like Disorders
Where to Start: Understanding
Social Issues
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Attention & Self-Regulation
Difficulties in Attention,
Motivation, Memory, or Self-Regulation may be difficult
to distinguish by behaviors alone.
Attention is not a single entity in the brain. When we
focus, we direct our attention, we resist distractions,
and sustain it over time. Sometimes attention can be
overwhelmed by sensory irritability, something competing
for attention, and emotions. Fuzzy sensory processing
(like murky sounds or blurry vision) make it difficult
to persist with attention; likewise, a weak memory
system may make it almost impossible to sustain
attention for that particular type of information. Our
memories are the threads connecting a tapestry's
different patterns.
If a student has severe impairments in attention, then
the first search should be undertaken for the student's
greatest strength. Great in auditory attention may
co-exist with great strengths in visual attention, or
vice-versa. In The Mislabeled Child, we talk more
about how visual supports can be used to support
auditory learning. Auditory attention also matures a
great deal into the teen years, but it can be boosted by
practice and visual imaging.
Also rule-based memory and personal or autobiographical
memory may be very uneven in children. If you know your
child has relative strengths in rote memory or personal
/ experience-based learning then different school
subjects like math, literature, or science can be routed
through these channels. Rule-based learners excel in
detail and fact-based areas. In mathematics, they may
prefer learning based on general axioms rather than by
example. Personal learners tend to like learning through
personal experience, humor, and real-life applications.
For mathematics, personal scenarios and manipulatives
may ways to get number learning to "stick".
We'll talk more about sensory regulation
here on
our Sensory Processing pages and in Chapter 9 of our
book.
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