teaching - Handling Disruptive Student on the Autism Spectrum

I have a student who's on the autistic spectrum. He exhibits several disruptive behaviors in class, such as

1. Inability to moderate his volume/interjections: he will shout out questions and comments irrespective of whether others are speaking (be it myself or other students).


2. Unintentionally mocking other students: when other students ask questions, he will sometimes say things like "you should know this stuff by now!"


3. Physically inappropriate behavior: he will lie down on the floor in front of his seat, or sneeze loudly. He will sit in the front row and at times pick up stuff from my table (e.g. my notes or my markers) and play with them.

I recognize that he cannot control most of these things, and that they're not done with ill intent. Thus, my inclination is to handle it in a more forgiving manner than I would a normal disruptive student, but this is not a straightforward solution. First, there are many other students who shouldn't suffer because of one disruptive student. Second, when I do make a harsher comment he often completely shuts down for the rest of the class, which makes me feel really guilty.

The undergraduate office is aware of the situation and has already received numerous complaints from other courses he attended. The problem is that their hands are mostly tied as he is not registered as a special needs student (I'm guessing his parents are refusing to do this for their own reasons), though he is officially diagnosed on the autistic spectrum. Other lecturers have basically been treating him increasingly harshly, or ignoring him.

I am wondering whether anyone here has any experience with these kinds of situations, and how did you approach it. I am more than happy to accommodate him, but would not want to compromise the course quality for everyone else.

Edit: thank you all for the great suggestions. The other question mentioned here is somewhat similar but the behavior pattern strikes me as sufficiently different to warrant a separate discussion. In any case, I have scheduled a personal meeting with him and we’ll try to establish a better interaction dynamic. I will definitely try to strike a positive tone rather than a disciplinary one. He told me his parents will kick him out of the house if I contact them so that’s definitely not happening. The undergraduate office is sympathetic but is limited in what they can do...

Second Edit: I had a talk with the student and things are much better. He’s been a positive force in the class since (albeit a slightly loud one). Thank you for the suggestions!

Answer

"they're not done with ill intent"

Although disruptive behaviours by people with autism/autistic people are not done with ill intent, they do usually respond well to clear boundaries and feedback. A useful concept to consider here is Theory of Mind (ToM), something that is almost always impaired in this group.

Individuals with autism are impaired in ToM; the ability to understand mental states such as thoughts, intentions and beliefs that influence human behavior. ToM is about the mind and how it is needed for all human interactions, such as understanding, explaining, predicting, and manipulating the behavior of others (Adibsereshki et al., 2015)

As the result, firm communication about the impact on others is worthwhile, "I am not sure whether you are aware that I (or X) was speaking, I would like to finish my point please". You should offer explicit, clear boundaries around disruptive behaviours, so consider emailing the appropriate policies and refer to the code of conduct and describe clear behaviours that will result in an escalation process. Avoid irony and sarcasm as concrete and literal thinking is common; ironic/sarcastic negativity may be misinterpreted causing damage to the relationship. Consider asking whether he would like to contact anyone else when you email, which may be a good way to get his parents involved if they are preventing support.

Having said that, praising seems to be effective with people with autism. Praising has been shown to decrease disruptive behaviour in a study of 73 self-contained autism support classrooms (Piotrowski et al). Try to squeeze in as much positive reinforcement on non-disruptive behavior as you can, without being too awkward. Piotroski's study (unpublished) found the minimal increase from 1.3 to 1.7 praises (on average) produced a significant change in disruptive behaviour (p<0.01).

Gelbar, Smith & Reichow (2014) did a systematic review of college support for students with autism. They found 20 articles that had first-hand description of services or experiences of the individuals. "Non-academic" interventions were found in 45%, 9 out of 20 studies examined -

• Peer mentorship programs (5 of 9, 56 %)


• Assigned counselors, aides, or liaisons (5 of 9, 56 %)


• Parental involvement (3 of 9, 33 %)


• Single instances using Social Stories, disability teams, support groups, video modeling and cognitive behavioral interventions were also described.

A study from Belgium which examined over 23 student by Van Hees, Moyson & Roeyers (2015) recommended "more extensive and effective coaching of students with ASD". That the usual "academic" support structures are not sufficient for ASD students, so if coaching is available at your institution, it may be worth making sure that your student and any decision-makers are aware of that useful option.

References:

Adibsereshki, N., Nesayan, A., Asadi Gandomani, R., & Karimlou, M. (2015). The Effectiveness of Theory of Mind Training On the Social Skills of Children with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders. Iranian Journal of Child Neurology, 9(3), 40–49.

Gelbar, N. W., Smith, I., & Reichow, B. (2014). Systematic Review of Articles Describing Experience and Supports of Individuals with Autism Enrolled in College and University Programs. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44(10), 2593–2601.

Piotrowski, Z., Erhart, A., Cidav, Z., Reisinger, E., Locke, J., Downey, M., & Mandell, D. S. (n.d.). The Effects of Increasing Teachers’ Praise-to-Behavior Correction Ratios on Disruptive Behaviors Among Students with Autism. Conference poster.

Van Hees, V., Moyson, T., & Roeyers, H. (2015). Higher Education Experiences of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Challenges, Benefits and Support Needs. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45(6), 1673–1688.