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The Interrupted Task... And "Starting All Over Again"... There was something else I noticed in Zachary as I came to understand him more and more. It was the fact that if a task or activity was interrupted, no matter how far along in the task or activity at the time of the interruption, Zachary seemed to always have to "start all over". He could never simply "pick up" where he had left off. This again, is easily explained by my theory of the autistic child's inability to deal with "partiality" and the autistic child's inability to allow for the "in between" situation. Thus, to the autistic child, there is no such thing as a "started task" that needs to be completed. Once a task is interrupted, it must be started all over again. I believe the key to helping the child overcome this issue is to make use of fractions... to show the child that the task was "1/2 done" for example and to show him to "start again" at the "other half" or where he "left off". The understanding and use of fractions, in my opinion, is the best tool a parent has in helping his/her child overcome issues of partiality. Where the task involves multiple steps, labeling each step as "step 1, step 2, etc." may also help. That way, if a task is interrupted, the concept of "continuing on" from a "specific step" may be more easily grasped. :o) The fact that the autistic child is unable to distinguish the "parts to a task", by definition, means that the child is also unable to determine the "beginning" and the "end" of a task. This, in my opinion, is the reason we see so many issues with what is so often referred to as "transitions" or the moving from one task to another in the autistic child. This, combined with the fact that "all new parts" for the "new task" must be defined before the "whole task" can be understood, and the fact that the child also has issues with direction changes, as explained in my section on "Odd Behaviors" makes that transitions, are indeed quite difficult for the autistic child. The inability to properly process the parts to the whole, when examined in terms of the "interrupted task", issues with "transitions" and "direction changes" thus make teaching the autistic child quite a challenge - especially when combined with issues with touch, auditory issues, the breaking of eye contact, hyperactivity, process completion/sequencing issues, communication, socialization, behavioral issues, the inability to "rest" and coping mechanism engaged in by the autistic child - and so many other factors related to motor skills, dietary issues, and immune system issues that are simply part of daily life for the autistic child. All these issues are further discussed in other sections. Without addressing all these variables, teaching the autistic child will continue to be a source of frustration not only for the child, but for the teacher/parent as well. For optimal learning to occur, all these issues must be addressed... a difficult task indeed! |
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