Many young preschool children may need to be monitored as they progress through educational settings. The same monitoring idea holds true for young children with autism. Multidisciplinary team reports will often have a recommendations section that will include areas to be monitored for special education. There are several areas that could be monitored in relation to young children with autism:

cognitive performance

Often times, when a child’s cognitive abilities are assessed, there may not always be an accurate picture of the child’s true abilities and performance. The child with suspected autism may withdraw from direct requests from an unknown person. A child with possible autism may refuse to sit at the table to engage with the school psychologist. Participation can also be varied when a child does a few things and suddenly ‘shuts down’.

Parent interviews and observations are often used to obtain information about the child’s cognitive abilities. However, to see how the child’s cognitive abilities are presenting, the preschool teacher will want to monitor how the child completes a variety of tasks. This will allow the preschool teacher to see if the child with autism is making progress toward various goals and objectives that have been developed in the child’s individualized education program.

Communication

Another area that can be monitored is the child’s communication skills. During an initial assessment, a child may feel uncomfortable speaking, but in a more play-focused setting, the child may or may not use more language with her peers. A child with autism may need to be monitored to see if she responds to language and communication practice activities in the educational setting.

Social interaction

A child’s social interaction skills may need to be monitored, especially if the child seems to engage well with adults but not with children. Some children with autism will participate individually, but will decline when there are more children in the preschool activities. A preschool teacher can monitor a child with autism to see if the child initiates social exchanges and responds to other children during free play or structured play activities.

consistent responses

Young children with autism can also be monitored to see how they respond when working with a variety of people. One could easily see if the child consistently engages with most people or if the child only engages with one particular person. One can also monitor which strategies or approaches the child responds to most consistently in the preschool setting.

incentives

In the preschool setting, a child with autism can be monitored to see if he or she responds to various incentives and rewards in the classroom. A child with autism can be easily monitored to see if she responds to verbal praise during activities. It can also be monitored to see if different types of rewards encourage the child to engage or engage in appropriate behavior more often (or less often) in the preschool setting.

Conclution

In conclusion, monitoring is a great way to help parents understand how a child with autism is progressing during educational activities. These monitoring activities can also provide parents and teachers with more information to see if the curriculum or classroom activities need to be modified or adjusted for the child with autism.