Engaging students with ASD: Cultivate a mistake-friendly environment
Introduction — Believe they can!
Imagine you have a student, “Simon”. Simon was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As such, he had a few learning challenges.
First, Simon finds social interaction challenging. He had difficulty understanding social cues and how to respond to teachers (Gonyon, 2023). As such, his friends think he does not like them.
Second, Simon could get sensory overload very easily. There was so much shouting and movement in Physical Education (PE) lessons. When the lessons were overwhelming, he found it difficult to be engaged.
Third, Simon finds it difficult to follow new rules and routines. You thought you were making PE lessons fun by having different activities. But that made him confused and anxious!
I get these questions a lot: “Would it benefit Simon if he studied in a school for students with ASD?” and “If we cater to the needs of students with special education needs (SEN), are we shortchanging the rest of the class?”
I think many people still have misconceptions about neurodiversity. We might think people with SEN have disabilities. And as a “compassionate society”, we should include them.
We need to understand that all brains function differently. But that does not mean some of us have difficulties learning. We just learn differently. Therefore, teachers must design tasks that is universal for different learners.
I was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of 42. When I told people about my condition, they thought I had difficulty reading and writing. Yes, I had. And I still struggle with them.
But I can!
I can even read and write all day. And I would still enjoy the process. You might think I have overcome dyslexia. But it is not. I just found ways to overcome the challenges.
First, I know rote learning does not work for me, and I cannot focus on long lectures. To overcome that challenge, I use active learning strategies, such as talking about it or finding the answer myself.
Second, I made more mistakes than others. Because teachers often judged me for my mistakes, I feared making them. Whenever I made mistakes, I got anxious, and then I could not learn anymore.
To overcome the challenge, I always give myself positive self-talk. And I would tell myself to embrace my mistakes. For example, while writing this blog, I will tell myself, “The first draft will be ugly. But I have what it takes to edit it well!”
In academics, I did as well as most people. That’s because I was lucky. I had teachers who taught me problem-solving skills. They also develop my self-confidence. They knew students like me could learn, but not the same way as others.
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
— Albert Einstein
These teachers gave me problems to solve. And they gave me the space to figure out the answer. I learn better this way. Over time, I developed the self-belief that I can.
These strategies did not just work for students like me. They worked for ALL STUDENTS!
However, it is never easy to conduct a “problem-solving” lesson. And it is not easy to give pep talks in a limited time. I believe my teachers found it difficult too. They just believed I could learn. And those beliefs made them persevered to find the way.
You might have three students with SEN, or half your class are students with SEN. If you believe in them, you will find the way. You will prove that these students can learn just like anyone else.
When you have found the ways, not only can students with SEN learn, but everybody else can learn better!
I was always given “very challenging” classes. The students in the class were so difficult to manage! Before we knew about SEN, we called them “lazy”, “rude”, or “people with anger management issues”.
Now that more students are diagnosed with SEN, we try not to label them. However, it is not about whether we should label these students. It is about whether we believe in them!
“If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.”
— Ignacio Estrada.
When we believe in them, we will try to understand how they learn. And when we understand how they learn, we will understand how ALL STUDENTS learn!
The importance of neurodiversity in the classroom
If you are a farmer, would you rather grow one type of crop, or would you prefer to grow a variety of crops?
Growing a diversity of crops sounds complex. We need to spend more time understanding each crop. We also need to know how to put the crops together. That is why most farmers prefer monoculture.
However, studies have proven that crop diversity has more benefits than monoculture. It improves the soil health, controls pests better and enhances the resilience of the crops (Technology Networks, 2023).
Similarly, we learn better when we learn with people who think differently. When we interact with neurodiverse peers, we learn to see from different perspectives.
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
— Jim Rohn.
For instance, as a dyslexic, I could easily make connections between different concepts. As such, I could see the bigger picture better. My friends often told me I helped them see the links better.
Seeing the big picture is my strength. But that is also my weakness. Because I always look at the bigger picture, I do not notice the small details.
That is Simon’s strength. He could spot details easily. If I learn together with Simon, I will understand the details I could not see.
People like me learn through trial and error. We follow our gut feelings a lot! Sometimes, the strategies work. But because I cannot see the details, I may not understand why they work.
People with ASD can remember details very well. They also thrive on rules and routines. Working with them helped us understand why some strategies worked. And they helped us stick to the proper rules and routines.
People with ADHD also have strengths we can all learn from. They are creative and dare to try. When we learn with them, we develop a sense of resilience. We will try again and again until we achieve our goals.
If we include neurodiverse students, they contribute more to the learning of others! But the caveat is that it only works IF WE MANAGE to include them. If we could not, the lesson could be a disaster!
That is why we need years of deliberate practice to be good at it.
Cultivating a mistake-friendly environment
As discussed earlier, if our approaches worked for students with SEN, they would work even better for everyone else.
The first step is to do whatever we can to help them develop a sense of belonging, which I discussed in my last blog. The next step is to cultivate a mistake-friendly environment.
Students with ASD often excel in detail-oriented tasks. While this is a strength, they may find it challenging to read complex situations, such as in games.
Imagine your teacher taught you to form a “triangle” to support the pass. During the game, you tried to find the triangle. But everyone is moving so fast, and everyone is shouting at you. You got distracted by the shouting and the messiness.
Do you think you can still stay focused on the game?
Unlike many of us who could see the bigger picture, Simon needed to follow the rules (Form the triangle). When he could not do what he needed to do, he lost concentration. And he would make a lot of mistakes.
Over time, peers did not want to group with him. They thought he was slow or that he was not interested. In some years, his classmates ostracised him. With all these negative experiences, Simon developed a fear of mistakes.
Sometimes, his fear of failure was so high that he would avoid trying. When that happened, the classmates would complain to the teachers. If you were Simon, would you be motivated to learn?
Students with ASD often have a fear of failure (Clayton, n.d.). Not because this is a symptom of ASD, but because of the negative experiences they had.
However, they can read games better if they practise more. That is why cultivating a mistake-friendly environment is so important. When they overcome the fear of mistakes, they will want to do more.
A mistake-friendly environment means students are not afraid of mistakes. In this environment, students see each mistake as a step towards success. And they would not think negatively about it.
In your next lesson, observe the practice. And look at the students’ faces. When they made a mistake, what was their expression? Are they eager to try again? Or do they hesitate to make another try?
If it is the latter, the environment is not safe enough. Then, do something about it. Stop them from thinking mistakes are bad.
Every child can learn and wants to learn. But if the environment is not safe, they cannot learn. Hence, ensure the environment is safe first, even if that means not giving them corrective feedback!
It is not easy to cultivate a mistake-friendly environment. Many of us tried to tell students to embrace their mistakes. And that’s it. But it is not enough!
When we were two years old, we started to understand words. It was the first time we heard feedback. However, most of the feedbacks were negatives: “Don’t do this”, “Don’t do that”, and “Why are you not hardworking?”
After ten years of learning, we still do not know our strengths. We only knew what was wrong with us. If we did not have a supportive environment, we might develop a fixed mindset that we are not talented. Then, we developed a fear of mistakes.
If it takes ten years to develop a fear of mistakes, a statement will not make any difference. As such, if we want them to embrace mistakes, we must constantly talk about them. And we must do it as often as we can!
Tell the students, “I want to see you making many mistakes!” Then, every time you spot them making mistakes, tell them, “Good! You are making an effort!” Then encourage them to make more mistakes.
Do not do this only in one or two lessons. Do this every lesson. Follow the 80/20 rule. Praise the effort 80 per cent of the time. And give corrective feedback only at 20 per cent.
Hold your assessment checklists and your video analysis tools. Focus on building a safe environment first. When they are not afraid of mistakes, they will make their self-assessment. But when they are afraid of mistakes, no assessment tool will work.
Recently, I had a volleyball lesson. And I told the class, “I want to see you making many mistakes. And I don’t want to see anyone aiming for perfection!” Throughout the lesson, I kept praising their effort. And I kept reminding them what I said.
Surprisingly, they made fewer mistakes! In retrospect, I can understand why. The environment is safe. They are more relaxed. As such, they could play better.
All students want to do well. Who wants to fail? If that is the case, do we need to tell them to go for perfection?
Conclusion — The approaches also help ALL OTHER students
Try this test: Draw on a piece of paper. Tell yourself, you will draw a very ugly drawing. Then draw this “ugly first draft”.
Next, draw the same thing again. Tell yourself, “I am going to make a slight improvement, but it will be ugly as well.” I’m sure it would be much better than you expect.
Then draw a third draft. And so on.
By the fifth draft, I believe the drawing would be quite good. Of course! You have practised the drawing five times!
But how often do we think we could do well on the fifth try? We might not even dare to draw the first. If this fear of failure happens to us, think about people with ASD in PE!
“I don’t care whether you do very well. I only care whether you are practising a lot!”
— My favourite line.
Have you seen how elite athletes cracked under pressure? They made more mistakes than they did in practice. At times, they might even give up the match! If it happens to top performers, it can happen to anyone else.
Similarly, many of our students feared making mistakes. More so for students like Simon. If you have a student who has meltdowns often, look at the learning environment. Then, ask yourself, “Is it a mistake-friendly one?”
References
Clayton, S. (n.d.). Fear of Making Mistakes: Strategies for Autistic individuals. Attwood & Garnett Events.
Gonyon, A. (2023, October 12). ASD Classroom Difficulties — Lighthouse Autism Center. Lighthouse Autism Center.
Technology Networks. (2023, December 20). Researchers uncover why diverse crops do better than monocultures. Applied Sciences From Technology Networks.
