LISTEN+Strategy+Paper

Children with autism perceive the world very differently from many of their typical peers, thus making communication and social interaction difficult for them. The social challenges faced by children with autism often manifest as deficits (such as a lack of social initiation) or excesses (such as one-sided conversation). Because of the neurological nature of autism, symptoms and characteristics usually persist throughout a lifetime, but can be managed considerably with interventions and training. The U.S. government estimated that 1 in 110 children are diagnosed with autism; because of this, it is becoming a disability that is commonly seen in the general education classroom, and many teachers are finding themselves faced with new challenges, including but not limited to: developing an extremely scheduled classroom routine, establishing effective communication, using direct instruction, using applied behavior analysis, and helping children with autism develop social competence. We chose to investigate types of social skills stategies that have been proven to promote social competencies in children with autism.
 * I. INTRODUCTION **

**II. SYNTHESIS OF FINDINGS** **a. How It Is Implemented** The article, "Improving Inappropriate Social Behavior of Autistic Students Using the LISTEN Intervention Strategy", written by Al-Shammari, Daniel, Faulkner, and Yawkey (2010), discusses a case study that involved a male student with autism who showed an inability to have social interactions, especially with people he did not know. The purpose for this case study was to develop an effective intervention strategy for improving what was considered inappropriate social behaviors of a student with autism. The strategy begins with a 21 year old male with an autism level of 40.5. He was selected because he showed signs of inappropriate social behaviors needed for testing of the LISTEN intervention. A factor that affects their strategy is that the male also experienced problems with hearing and communication, as well as, repetitive behaviors and aggressiveness.The strategy LISTEN is an acronym for improving the inappropriate social skills behaviors. Each letter stands for a different component of the strategy: L for learn, I for interact, S for study, T for training, E for emulate, and N for normalize. This LISTEN strategy is a planned process that includes procedures based on play. For learn, the teacher discussed the inappropriate behavior shown with the student and that it caused others to be upset and that they could work together towards greeting others. This was helped using a checklist that the student followed when a person entered their classroom. The checklist was used when the students observed the desired behavior during role-play activities portrayed by a different student and adult. For interact, the student engaged in a role-play activity with the teacher in which involved a visitor entering the classroom and the student remains seated. For every time the student effectively exhibited the desired behavior, he was awarded with one sticker and a prize. This is when the teacher introduced a play activity, interacted with the student and explained the activity. For study, the student studied and memorized the steps on his checklist by matching the symbols, until the student demonstrated the necessary behaviors on the form. Afterwards, the student received a reward after meeting the target goal. For training, the teacher planned time for visitors to come in to their classroom at specific moments. The teacher then informed the student five minutes ahead of time about the visitor’s arrival in the classroom. The teacher informed the student once again that the visitor would be arriving and asked the student appropriate things to do with the visitor, and was repeated if needed. The visitor then entered the classroom where the student observed other students interacting appropriately with the visitor. For emulate, outside of the classroom is where the teacher planned a social activity in which the student joined while using the LISTEN form. The student received a reward for following each step of the strategy correctly and without any help. Finally, for normalize, the student was observed by school staff as well as visitors while using all steps of the strategy on his own while out of the classroom. “LISTEN procedure yields evidence that this approach has the potential to decrease inappropriate behaviors of an autistic student.” (Al-Shammari, Daniel, Faulkner, and Yawkey, 2010) Because imitation is a critical social skill (Ganz, Bourgeois, and Flores, 2008), it is also a struggle for students with autism. This, of course, presents certain challenges for the implementation of the LISTEN strategy; after all, if children have yet to learn how to imitate appropriate behavior that is shown to them, adult and peer modeling would be entirely ineffective (Kleeberger and Mirenda, 2010). Thus, before the strategy can be implemented into a classroom, the student must already be capable of imitating modeled behavior. Another factor to consider when implementing LISTEN is the age of the student. In the Al-Shammari et al. study (2010), the student was 21 years old. Although autism is not determined by or limited to racial, ethnic, or social groups (Twedell, 2008), the student's developmental age would certainly influence how much of the strategy teachers could use, and what modifications would be necessary. For example, a first grader with autism might not be able to perform the more involved behaviors, such as memorizing steps or observing peers. These are all factors that teachers need to consider before putting LISTEN into practice. The benefits of this strategy are obvious: students with autism can be taught the LISTEN strategy in order to overcome the many difficulties they often encounter in a variety of social situations. However, teachers and parents should be cautioned that this strategy must be modified for each individual student, since autism is a spectrum disorder and therefore takes many different forms. Thus, an instructional method or positive reinforcer that works for one child with autism might not be at all effective for another. In other words, although these steps worked for the student in the above study (Al-Shammari et al., 2010), there is no sure guarantee that it will also be successful for others with autism, unless modifications are first made and the strategy is tailored for each individual student's needs and interests. The researchers who developed LISTEN claimed that the strategy would be even more powerful in teaching children important social skills if it were done with video modeling (Al-Shammari, Daniel, Faulkner, and Yawkey, 2010). This is consistent with past research on this topic, as video modeling is an extremely beneficial and common strategy that is often used for students with autism. It is a way for them to see and study appropriate behavior, so they can then adapt the behavior themselves. Researchers have found that establishing reward systems and token economies in classrooms is effective for children exhibiting various forms of behavior problems (Higgins, Williams, and McLaughlin, 2001). Moreover, for children with moderate to severe autism, rewards are particularly motivating when they are related to the student's individual object of obsession (Charlop-Christy and Haymes, 1998). This might, at first glance, seem like a strange and rather unproductive approach to teaching social skills. After all, if a child is so intensely fixated on airplanes that he refuses to engage in any activity unrelated to airplanes, parents and teachers might be inclined to discourage his obsession so that he will not be ostracized by his peers and will then be exposed to a healthy variety of experiences and interests. However, these objects of obsessions and ritualistic behaviors, although problematic at times, are also extremely motivating for children with autism; thus, when use appropriately, they can actually increase desired behavior and social interactions (Baker, Koegel and Koegel, as cited in Baker, 2000). This is one of the most important reasons that the LISTEN strategy is such an effective one for teachers to adopt and implement into classrooms for students who need support in developing appropriate social skills; after all, in steps 2, 3, and 5, it makes considerable use of a positive reward system when the student was awarded with stickers and prizes whenever he correctly followed a step of the strategy. However, research tells us that teachers can make this strategy even more successful in teaching and promoting social skills by rewarding the students during each of these steps, not with neutral objects, but instead with awards that are related to the student's individual interests and unique objects of obsession. The use of visual cues is another characteristic of LISTEN which makes it an especially ideal strategy for students with autism. For example, the checklist which the student was given enabled him to visually see the sequence of steps that he was expected to observe in others and then perform himself. Ganz et al. explained that "teachers and parents have found that the use of visual cues and strategies assists individuals with autism in understanding expectations, demands, and sequence of events" (2008, p. 57). This makes sense with everyday experience also, as individuals with autism tend to interpret language very literally and consistently have difficulty with picking up and understanding auditory signals. Presenting material visually so that the student can continually read and refer to it is something which the LISTEN strategy does very well, thus further explaining its effectiveness.
 * b. Factors Affecting Implementation **
 * c. Benefits and Cautions **
 * d. What Research Says **

Al-Shammari, Z., Daniel, C., Faulkner, P., and Yawkey, T. (2010). Improving inappropriate social behavior of autistic students. //Journal of Instructional Psychology,// 37(4), 286-294. Baker, M. (2000) Incorporating the thematic ritualistic behaviors of children with autism into games: increasing social play interactions with siblings. //Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions.// 2(2), 66-84. Charlop-Christy, M. and Haymes, L. (1998). Using objects of obsession as token reinforcers for children with autism. //Journal of Autism and Developmental// Disorders, 28(3), 189-198. Ganz, J., Bourgeois, B., and Flores, M. (2008). Implementing visually cued imitation training with children with autism spectrum disorders and developmental delays. //Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions,// 10(1), 56-66. Higgins, J., Williams, R. and McLaughlin, T. (2001). The effects of a token economy employing instructional consequences for a third-grade student with learning disabilities: A data based case study. //Education and Treatment of// Children. 24(1), 99-106. Kleeberger, V. and Mirenda, P. (2010). Teaching generalized imitation skills to a preschooler with autism using video modeling. //Journal of Positive Behavior// Intervention, 12(2), 116-127. Twedell, D. (2008). Autism: part I. Deficits, prevalence, symptoms, and environmental factors. //The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing,// 39(2), 55-56.
 * References **