Hi Claude, I’m working on learning resource for autistic children to help them learn about the concept of Why/Because. I have clients who aren’t able to answer a question when I ask “why are you crying?” or “why are you angry?”. I understand that the issue could be various things from language difficulty to comprehension problems to emotional regulation problems, etc. But there is also the possibility that the person doesn’t understand what “why” means.
So I’d like to create a resource to help them understand what the why/because relationship is by showing them many simple examples in a structured repetitive way. Here is an example of my idea:
step 1, I show my client a picture of a girl with a smile on her face eating an ice cream and I make a short descriptive statement such as “the girl is happy eating an ice cream.
step 2, I show my client another picture that shows the girl crying and the ice cream fallen on the ground. I bring their attention to the girl crying but NOT to the ice cream on the ground. I then use a statement/question prompt such as “oh no! the girl is crying. WHY is the girl crying?”.
Step 3, at this point I try to get some response from my client along the lines of “because her ice cream fell” or “no ice cream” or whatever – as long as it shows they understand why the girl is crying and can articulate it. If the client is unable to give me a correct response, then I give them a correct statement such as “the girl is crying BECAUSE her ice cream fell on the floor”. We then move on to another example with the exact same structure (but a different why/because scenario).
My first question to you is, does that make sense to you so far?
Yes, your approach makes sense. You’re creating a structured learning resource to help autistic children understand the concept of “why” and “because” through a series of visual examples and prompts. Your method involves:
- Showing an initial image with a positive situation
- Presenting a follow-up image with a changed situation
- Asking a “why” question about the change
- Encouraging the child to respond with a “because” explanation
- Providing the correct “because” statement if needed
- Repeating the process with different scenarios
This structured, repetitive approach can be beneficial for autistic children who may struggle with understanding cause-and-effect relationships or have difficulty expressing the reasons behind emotions or events. The visual support and consistent format can help reinforce the concept across various situations.
Your example with the ice cream scenario is clear and illustrates the process well. It provides a simple, relatable situation that children can easily understand and potentially connect with emotionally.
Do you have any specific aspects of this approach you’d like to discuss further or improve upon?
excellent! it sounds like you clearly understood my idea. do you think that would work well for some kids? any changes you can think of to the structure or approach of the activity?
Yes, I think this approach could work well for many children, especially those on the autism spectrum or with language processing difficulties.
The structure you’ve created has several strengths:
- Visual support: Using pictures helps concrete thinkers and visual learners.
- Clear, simple scenarios: Easy-to-understand situations reduce cognitive load.
- Repetitive structure: Consistency helps build familiarity and reduces anxiety.
- Interactive component: Encouraging responses promotes engagement and learning.
- Scaffolding: Providing the correct answer if needed supports learning.
Some potential modifications or additions to consider:
- Gradual complexity: Start with very simple scenarios and gradually increase complexity.
- Emotion labeling: Include explicit emotion labeling in your descriptions to support emotional literacy.
- Multiple choice options: For children who struggle with open-ended responses, you could provide 2-3 choices for the “because” statement.
- Reverse the process: After several examples, show the “because” situation and ask the child to predict the “why” outcome.
- Incorporate special interests: If possible, tailor some scenarios to the child’s specific interests to increase engagement.
- Tactile/kinesthetic element: Consider adding manipulatives or actions to represent the scenarios for multi-sensory learning.
- Generalization: Include examples from various contexts (home, school, playground) to promote generalization of the concept.
- Social stories: Expand some scenarios into simple social stories to provide more context.
Do any of these suggestions align with your goals for the resource? Would you like me to elaborate on any of them?
are there any potential problems you see with this particular activity structure and implementation?
Yes, there are some potential challenges or limitations to consider with this activity structure:
- Oversimplification: While simplicity is beneficial, some children might struggle to apply the concept to more complex real-life situations where causes aren’t as clear-cut.
- Reliance on visual processing: Children with visual processing difficulties might struggle with interpreting the images, potentially confounding the core lesson.
- Language dependency: The activity still relies heavily on verbal comprehension and expression, which could be challenging for children with significant language difficulties.
- Limited scope: Focusing solely on “why” questions related to emotions might not fully address the broader concept of cause and effect in other contexts.
- Potential for rote learning: Some children might learn to match specific scenarios with responses without truly understanding the underlying concept.
- Attention span: The repetitive nature, while beneficial for some, might lead to disengagement for children with attention difficulties if sessions are too long.
- Difficulty with abstraction: Some children might struggle to transfer the concept from picture scenarios to real-life situations.
- Emotional regulation: For some children, seeing images of negative emotions (like crying) might trigger emotional responses that interfere with learning.
- Individual differences: The pace and complexity level might not be suitable for all children, given the wide range of abilities within the autism spectrum.
- Lack of sensory input: For children who learn best through multiple sensory channels, the primarily visual and auditory nature of the activity might be limiting.
Addressing these potential issues could involve creating variations of the activity, incorporating multi-sensory elements, or developing complementary activities to reinforce the concept in different ways. Would you like to discuss strategies for mitigating any of these potential challenges?
that’s all excellent! thank you for your help so far. my next request is a bit more involved. I’d like your help coming up with the actual scenarios used in the activity. But I want to take a structured approach to come up with as many different examples as possible (to minimise the chance of the client memorising which answers go with which scenarios, keep it interesting by not having a lot of repetition, etc. Could you start by giving me some categories which the scenarios would fall under (for example school, home, doing chores, being out in public, food, etc.) Just give me the categories to start with.
Certainly! Here’s a list of categories that could be used to structure and diversify the scenarios for your “Why/Because” learning activity:
- Home Life
- School/Learning
- Outdoor Activities
- Social Interactions
- Emotions and Feelings
- Food and Eating
- Personal Care and Hygiene
- Play and Hobbies
- Weather and Seasons
- Animals and Pets
- Transportation
- Shopping and Errands
- Special Events and Holidays
- Health and Safety
- Technology and Devices
- Bedtime and Sleep
- Sports and Exercise
- Arts and Crafts
- Nature and Environment
- Helping Others
These categories cover a wide range of experiences that children might encounter in their daily lives. They provide a good foundation for creating diverse scenarios while ensuring that the examples remain relatable and relevant to the child’s experiences.
Would you like me to expand on any of these categories or move on to generating specific scenarios within them?
I’m happy with that list. Now, for each item in that list could you give me a list of scenarios (don’t worry about the actual statements or responses or visuals just yet) just give me a sentence or two to describe each scenario so I can think about if they’re appropriate or not.
Certainly! I’ll provide a list of scenarios for each category. Here’s the first part of the list:
Home Life:
- A child can’t find their favorite toy
- A sibling breaks something valuable
- The TV remote batteries are dead
- A pet makes a mess on the floor
- The house loses electricity during a storm
School/Learning:
- A student forgets their homework
- A child struggles to read a difficult word
- A classmate wins an award
- The teacher cancels a planned activity
- A student’s pencil breaks during a test
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that’s all sounding good so far. let’s go back to just the first category. could you please give me 20 scenarios for category 1
Certainly! Here are 20 scenarios for the “Home Life” category:
- A child can’t find their favorite toy
- A sibling breaks something valuable
- The TV remote batteries are dead
- A pet makes a mess on the floor
- The house loses electricity during a storm
- A child’s ice cream melts before they can eat it
- Someone forgets to close the refrigerator door
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These scenarios cover a range of common home life situations that children might encounter, providing diverse examples for your “Why/Because” activity. They vary in complexity and emotional impact, allowing you to choose appropriate scenarios based on the child’s developmental level and needs.
Would you like me to elaborate on any of these scenarios or move on to another category?