Search results for "autismi"

Special education without teaching assistants? : The development process for students with autism

2020

Many children may need the help of another person to attend school. It is common for children with disabilities to receive help from a teaching assistant at school. Assistants are provided in many countries as a legal right and are often publicly funded. It is also widely assumed that having teaching assistants in the class is an effective and cost-efficient way to support students with disabilities. In this study, the research task was to monitor and document the development process carried out by the teacher, with the aim of making visible the development of a more dynamic classroom interaction. The focus in this development process was the teacher’s idea of minimizing the conta…

Teacher Training for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Finland

2019

This chapter first provides a short description of the historical background and development of special education teacher training in Finland. The relationship between special education and teaching pupils with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is covered by chronologically presenting the main events, turning points, publications, and people that have had a significant effect on the education of pupils with ASD in Finland. This is followed by a description of the organization of teacher training, in general, and the particular characteristics of teaching pupils with ASD. In the context of ASD, it is essential to examine questions concerning the link between learning as social practice and the …

Neural-level associations of non-verbal pragmatic comprehension in young Finnish autistic adults

2021

This video-based study examines the pragmatic non-verbal comprehension skills and corresponding neural-level findings in young Finnish autistic adults, and controls. Items from the Assessment Battery of Communication (ABaCo) were chosen to evaluate the comprehension of non-verbal communication. Inter-subject correlation (ISC) analysis of the functional magnetic resonance imaging data was used to reveal the synchrony of brain activation across participants during the viewing of pragmatically complex scenes of ABaCo videos. The results showed a significant difference between the ISC maps of the autistic and control groups in tasks involving the comprehension of non-verbal communication, there…

MINIMALIST THEORY OF FICTION AND THE ICTHINKING® METHOD AS A BACKGROUND FOR NEW INSIGHTS TO AUTISM

2021

The standard approach to conceptual understanding in the case of autism uses the distinction of abstract versus concrete thinking. This approach has its benefits but fails to explain all features of language use. For example, some concepts change their meaning in different contexts in contrast to concepts that are more rigid in their uses, such as mathematical concepts. This idea has its background in Minimalist theory of fiction (MTF), a theory that considers ‘skills to use words’ essential for understanding fiction, contrasting with theories that require pretending or make believe to understand fiction. From this background, the theory of Integrative Complexity (IC), and the method animat…

The involvement of autistic children in early childhood education

2023

Research on the involvement of autistic children in daily activities in inclusive early childhood education is scarce. In Finland, all children, including autistic children, under the age of seven (before basic education) are entitled to participate in early childhood education and care. Children also attend compulsory, free-of-charge pre-primary education during the year before their basic education begins. Furthermore, attending early childhood education and care is not dependent whether a child requires day care because of their parents’ work. Autistic children attend early childhood education in inclusive day care centres. Thus, in this study, we examined the involvement of autistic chi…

Authorship in Facilitated Communication: An Analysis of 11 Cases

2014

Abstract. We studied the authorship of messages produced through facilitated communication (FC) for all users of FC in two comprehensive schools in a small city in Finland. The participants were 11 children with intellectual disabilities, including autism, all having used FC from 1 to 3 years. The test conditions involved open and blind information-passing tasks in which the participants were directed to write down the contents of written or pictorial stimuli. The results failed to validate FC as a method of communication for any participant or facilitator. An analysis of the messages produced under the FC condition revealed a large degree of facilitator influence on the content of the mess…

Coactivation of Autonomic and Central Nervous Systems During Processing of Socially Relevant Information in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Re…

2023

AbstractBody-brain interaction provides a novel approach to understand neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this systematic review, we analyse the empirical evidence regarding coexisting differences in autonomic (ANS) and central nervous system (CNS) responses to social stimuli between individuals with ASD and typically developing individuals. Moreover, we review evidence of deviations in body-brain interaction during processing of socially relevant information in ASD. We conducted systematic literature searches in PubMed, Medline, PsychInfo, PsychArticles, and Cinahl databases (until 12.1.2022). Studies were included if individuals with ASD were compared…

Autististen lasten kuntoutus TEACCH-orientoituneessa pienryhmässä päiväkodissa : neljä tapaustutkimusta

1998

Social inclusion as a therapeutic and educational factor in a music therapy setting

2016

Inclusive approaches for children with special needs are applied in both the fields of music therapy and (music) education. In practice, inclusive music therapy groups consist only of children with special needs, whereas an inclusive kindergarten group for example may consist of typical and non-typical children, yet not in an actual therapy setting. Both practices hold explicit benefits for typical and non-typical children, however mutually exclusive of one another. The aim of the study is to explore the effects of social inclusion in a group consisting of typically and non-typically developing children within a music therapy setting. The focus lays on the therapeutic benefits for the speci…

For a real job? : Views on the teaching of competence in working life by students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

2021

In this study, twelve young students on the autism spectrum were interviewed on preparation for working life, employment guidance, the challenges and strengths of the autism spectrum, and suitable teaching methods. Interviews were supported by a structured and illustrated questionnaire. The data were analysed using key statistics. The results showed that, from the students’ perspective, the most important issues in preparation for work are familiarisation with different jobs, guidance in searching for a suitable job, evaluation of the suitability of the working environment, integration of occupational safety into work skills, and acquiring conversational skills in the workplace. The selecti…