Working with children with autism: recommendations from a practitioner
For many parents, teachers and psychologists, the stumbling block is precisely the lack of understanding: how to involve, interest a child who does not want anything? It is possible to make an unmistakable choice in each specific case (choice of manuals, tasks, speed of material delivery and everything else) only if you understand how the child's psyche works. I first revealed this for myself in 2015 at the training "System-vector psychology" by Yuri Burlan. And it was a real breakthrough in understanding the nature of autism …
The questions are answered by Evgenia Astreinova, a psychologist, who works with autistic children 11 years old individually and in groups.
- Working with autistic children certainly has its own specifics. What's the hardest part of your job?
- The main difficulty is that the autistic child initially craves to be left alone. Tries to avoid contact with the outside world. So, perhaps the most difficult task is to involve such a child in activities, to awaken in him a desire to cooperate.
Of course, you need to use coercion in moderation, too, as when raising any child. But coercion alone cannot solve the problem of rehabilitation. For many parents, teachers and psychologists, the stumbling block is precisely the lack of understanding: how to involve, interest a child who does not want anything?
If this problem can be solved, all other problems are surmountable.
- Do you manage to involve children? How?
- All living things, including man, are arranged in such a way that they try to preserve themselves. Avoids negative, traumatic influences and is drawn to beneficial, useful ones. So the main question is which influences should be avoided when working with autistic children, and which, on the contrary, should be used, because they awaken the child's desire to cooperate.
It is possible to make an unmistakable choice in each specific case (choice of manuals, tasks, speed of material delivery and everything else) only if you understand how the child's psyche works. I first revealed this for myself in 2015 at the training "System-vector psychology" by Yuri Burlan. And it was a real breakthrough in understanding the nature of autism.
Any child with psychogenically conditioned autism is a traumatized and retarded owner of a sound vector. He is naturally highly sensitive to hearing. A sound engineer is born as an absolute introvert, and the desire to “go outside”, to listen to the world arises exclusively on the basis of the principle of pleasure.
If it is pleasant outside (a quiet speech, colored with warm emotions sounds, quiet classical music plays, etc.), the baby listens with joy. But if he grows in an atmosphere of strong noises (loud music, constantly working household appliances, and especially quarrels and shouts of adults), his development is disrupted.
Screaming and loud noises are unbearable over-stress for the developing psyche of a sonic child. He stops listening and can almost completely lose the ability to perceive the meanings of speech. Sensual connection with the world in this case also does not develop adequately.
Based on this, it is clear that work with autistic children should be based on the principle of sound ecology. It is worth talking to a child in low tones, and if he painfully perceives even such sounds (for example, closes his ears), then sometimes it is appropriate to even switch to a whisper.
In an atmosphere of quiet sounds and a favorable emotional state of others, the lost feeling of security and safety returns to the child, and gradually he begins to show interest in the world outside.
- Is there a plan for working with a child with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder)?
- There is a general principle that I apply both in individual and in group work with autistic children. For the vast majority of them, music lessons work well at first. The child may not be ready to listen to speech yet. But listening to the sounds of music is easier: it does not carry meanings, but conveys certain images or sensations.
Assignments may vary depending on the condition and age of the child. The simplest ones, for example, are to identify an object that makes a sound (a quiet maraca, a bell, rustling paper, pouring water). Then we learn to identify high and low sounds by ear, find them on the keyboard, associate with "rain" or "bear", that is, objects of the real world.
Learning to recognize short and long sounds. Here you can also add logo rhythmics - combine listening with body actions. For example, “tap” short sounds with your hand on the ball and “roll” long, drawn-out sounds. This helps many children begin to imitate not only movements, but also sounds.
With the ability to imitate, you have to work in a complex way, because it is impaired in the vast majority of autists. The traditional development of the disease most often looks like this: up to a year old, the child generally complies with the norm, but at the age of 1 to 3 years he is delayed in development. Thus, he misses the most important period during which children master visual-active thinking, acquire the ability to act according to the model.
So we learn to imitate both through tasks on fine motor skills (finger gymnastics), and through general motor exercises (movements to music), and through actions with objects (put cubes in a certain way, fold a figure from counting sticks, etc.).
For the rest, the plan for working with a child with ASD should take into account all the vectors set by nature from birth. After all, the sound vector is dominant, but not the only one in the structure of the psyche of such a child.
- How do the methods of working with an autistic person differ depending on his individual set of vectors?
They are radically different: from the choice of manuals to the form and speed of information delivery.
For example, babies with a skin vector are naturally restless, move a lot. With autism, such a child may have many obsessive movements, he jumps up every minute, runs away. It requires a frequent change of tasks, and some of them - in a mobile, playful way. It is easier for an autistic with a skin vector to assimilate any meanings when they are supported by movements or tactile sensations. Instructions to such a child must be given very briefly, concisely - otherwise he will not listen at all.
It happens that a child with great difficulty is able to perceive meanings by ear, but it is the sensitivity of other vectors (for example, tactile, skin) that helps. With such children, we learn the concept of "big-small", for example, feeling balls of different sizes - from large gymnastic balls to small tennis ones. The child distinguishes them by touch, and gradually associates them with the speech concepts "big" and "small". And in the future he is able to show this both in pictures and on other objects. We use the same principle when mastering other concepts.
But the methods of working with an autistic who are endowed with an anal vector are completely different. These children are unhurried, they need repeated repetition of the material. In no case should such a child be rushed, urged on, cut off in the middle of an action or an attempt to say something.
Children with an anal vector are assiduous, they like work at the table more, they prefer board games and aids. With autism, it is in these babies that the most difficult is the skill to control their own body, since they are naturally not prone to high mobility. Here it is important to pay special attention to the skills of visual-action thinking - it is more difficult for them to develop.
- Are those features of the behavior of an autistic child that you described immediately striking? Or does it take some time to observe and only then choose the appropriate working methods?
- Thanks to the training "System-vector psychology" by Yuri Burlan, any features of children are immediately noticeable and understandable.
This makes the job much easier: before, you had to move blindly. It took a lot of time to pick up tasks, almost by typing. Any approach could work great with one child and not work at all with another. Today, of course, I understand why: just psychologically they were completely different children.
This is invaluable when working with polymorphic children. Today, almost every urban child is like that - he is endowed with the properties of 3-4 vectors at once. Accordingly, the behavioral features of an autistic child in this case are more complex. For example, he can at one moment jump up and run around the room, demonstrate a lot of obsessive movements. And then, after a minute, fall into a stupor, begin to monotonously perform the same action, and switch it to another does not work.
It used to discourage me, but now everything is clear. It's just that the baby has both the properties of the anal and skin vectors at the same time, so the symptoms change, as if there are two different children in front of you.
Add a visual vector here, and you will see that such a child is playing with light-shadow (for example, squinting his eyes, examining objects in the light). Previously, these symptoms would not tell me anything. Today I understand that it is important for such a kid to remove all visual disturbances - it is better that there are no colorful posters in the room, the atmosphere is monochromatic. But the manual you will be working with must certainly be bright and colorful, it is guaranteed to attract the attention of the baby.
- And how does correctional work with an autistic child go if he has several different vectors? Do you have to change the presentation and form of the assignment right in the course of the lesson?
- When you perceive the psyche of a child from the inside, it does not constitute a problem. There is an effect of a special conscious and sensual "attunement" with the ward. For example, even earlier than the child reached for his ears in an attempt to close them, I feel and perceive that he is tired of the semantic load. The voice just automatically drops to a whisper, the instructions are shorter.
Or, for example, we sit and leisurely repeat something with the baby while he perceives information through the anal vector. But even before he switches to the "skin" perception of reality, I catch that now he will jump up and run. And I immediately switch to something else, change the task, connect manuals designed for tactile perception.
Despite the seeming difficulties, it is much easier to convey a certain concept or meaning to a polymorphic child. After all, he has many different sensitive zones, different ways of perceiving reality.
Let's say we need to study the sea dwellers topic with a polymorphic child. We use finger gymnastics - we show a jellyfish, a dolphin, etc. Then we use sound and train visual-active thinking - we learn a song about the sea and repeat large-motor movements for imitation. Further, the properties of the anal vector (the desire to put everything in order) help us, and we do sorting, arrange land animals in one direction, in the other - the inhabitants of the sea. The anal-visual ligament of vectors helps the child to perform colorful work on this topic - an application, a picture from plasticine.
Thus, a single line of meaning, a single theme passes through the whole lesson. And the necessary meaning ideally and from the first time fits in the child's head, since it is perceived through several different channels of communication with the world.
- Do you give any recommendations to parents based on the method you use?
- Of course I do. Even though they want the best for their child, parents often do not understand what is necessary for their successful development. For example, a mother with a skin vector, and it seems to her that her baby is too slow, a mess. In fact, it just has different properties - the anal vector. But they do not coincide with mom's, and she gets nervous, begins to rush and urge him on. As a result, the child falls into a stupor more often and for a long time. That is, unwittingly, mom hurts him.
But unfortunately, mothers cannot always follow the recommendations, even if they themselves really want to. For example, I immediately explain that you can't do without sound ecology at home. But how long can mom withstand attempts to speak softly and calmly, if she herself is in severe stress and is "pounding" from the inside?
We are not in control of our unconscious states. The only way out here is for mom to undergo Yuri Burlan's training herself in order to get her result, to change her internal states for the better. Then she will be a reliable guarantor of a sense of security and safety for her baby. Will be able to correctly educate him, understanding his psyche. And sensually - it will fill the child with the joy of life. And he himself will be much more willing to reach for her.
For children under 6-7 years old, this connection with their mother is so significant that there are cases when the diagnosis of "autism" is removed from the child after the mother undergoes training.
- What age audience do you work with? And how serious is the condition of the children?
Recently, the main category of my wards is 8-9 years and older. Often these children are actually "school refuseniks". That is, they are nominally listed there, but cannot study. Teachers cannot find an approach to a child, they do not know how and what to teach him.
It is especially difficult for school teachers with fully autistic, non-speaking children. After all, we are accustomed to the fact that we generally have a feedback from a person - this is his answer. And here the child cannot give it. Not only teachers, but also parents are lost. They say: we showed and taught this and that with him, but we don't know how much he understands and knows anything at all.
In fact, feedback can be easily obtained with such a child. This is a simple principle of choice: give, show (the desired number or letter). Place as many items as the number indicates. In this way, you can train a completely non-speaking person in both reading and writing and help them learn many other skills. So you have to "replace" the school in those cases when the child cannot get the necessary knowledge in the usual way.
- What are the results of systematic work with autistic children?
- Children learn the material much faster, make contact. If the mother implements the systemic recommendations at home, then she quickly notes that the child's behavior is changing, becoming "healthier". For example, a child begins to play ordinary children's games, tries to involve his mother in them. He himself initiates contact with her - he tries to show something, to show his desire.
There are also real breakthroughs. One of the latest cases was when it was possible to start a speech for an 11-year-old girl who had not spoken before. At first, the imitation of sounds went, then syllables, then the first light words appeared - like in one-year-olds. And this dynamic was embodied in a matter of 3-4 months. Although it is generally accepted that if a speech does not appear before the age of 7, then it will not appear at all - however, a systematic approach refutes this.
- What advice can you give to specialists who work with such children?
- Both for parents and for specialists there is only one recommendation - to undergo the training "System-vector psychology" by Yuri Burlan. Today, the number of children with developmental abnormalities is constantly growing. Only by relying on systemic knowledge can we all together be able to reverse this dynamic. A little more, and today's children will be the basis of the state, will become our common future. And what it will be depends on each of us.
