Classroom modifications: An introduction
Here at Spirit Lake Consulting, Inc. we are big believers in universal design. What exactly is universal design? It is the idea that whatever we design, from websites to our office space should be usable by the greatest number of people possible. When we create a new web page, all of the pictures will have an alternative text, so that the site can be the same experience for people who are blind and using a screen reader or people who have older computers or browsers that don't use graphics. Our office has a ramp and our electrical cords go around the edge of the wall. This makes it easier for one of our employees who uses a wheelchair as well as for another employeee who has a small child and may want to bring her in a stroller.
The modifications we recommend for your classrooms are simple, inexpensive and are designed to benefit all of the children in your classroom. For example, a child with autism may eat non-edible objects such as dirt, glue, paint chips, paper or wood. Keeping the area clear after craft time, making sure the pain in the building is not peeling is a good idea for providing a better environment for all children, not just the child with autism.
It is not just our own experience - the number of children with autism is increasing dramatically. Some researchers say that there really isn't an autism epidemic, that we are just better at identifying it now. We personally believe there has been a big increase. When we look at the figures from the Center for Disease Control that show children are eight times as likely to be diagnosed with autism now as a dozen years ago, it fits with our own experience. We have been teaching in North Dakota and in California for over twenty years. In the 1980's, when we would ask educators in our classes about their experience with students with special needs, autism was rarely mentioned. Now, it is normal in our workshops for at least one of the participants to mention working with a child with autism, and more and more often there are two or three individuals who have a child with autism in the classroom. While we cannot offer any suggestions for why this increase is occurring, we can suggest some modifications.
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