Assessment of Techniques for Teaching School Children with Autism - 27/03/20

Doi : 10.1016/j.irbm.2019.10.003

K. Adalarasu ^a, M. Jagannath ^b,^{^⁎} , O. James ^c
^a School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, SASTRA Deemed to be University, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India
^b School of Electronics Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600127, India
^c Center for Neuroscience Imaging Research, Institute for Basic Sciences, Sangkyunkwan University, South Korea

^⁎Corresponding author.

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Graphical abstract

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Highlights

•	Assessed communication and social interaction of autistic children.
•	Horseback riding and yoga improves stereotyped behavior of autistic children.
•	Cue cards are seemed to be an effective teaching strategy for autistic children.

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Abstract

Background

In the modern era, researchers are facing a big challenge in diagnosing autism disorders. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention 2014 report, the prevalence of autism among children in the United States is approximately 1 out of 88 children; whereas, in South Korea, the prevalence is 1 out of 38. In India, most of the children with autism are yet to be diagnosed partly due to the lack of self-screening test compared to the other countries. Currently, no data is available for analyzing the prevalence of autism in India. In order to improve the behavior, the social interaction, and the verbal communication of these children, scientists are using various kinds of teaching methods.

Objectives

The objectives of this work were to screen the level of autism among school children using Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (GARS-2) questionnaire and evaluate the effects of various teaching methods on social behavior of school children with autism.

Methods and results

Ninety children in the age group between 3 – 16 years from three schools (S1 – 30, S2 – 30 and S3 – 30) with autism are participated in this study. In S1, the autistic children are trained with horseback riding and yoga therapy; whereas in the S2, the children are trained with normal teaching using blackboard and in the S3, the children are trained with cue cards. The GARS-2 questionnaire was used for assessing the communication, the stereotype behavior and the social interaction with the help of parents or the caregivers.

Conclusion

Results of our study revealed that raw and the standard scores of stereotyped behaviors was notably (p<0.05) low in S1 school children when collated with the other two (S2 and S3) schools. Similarly, the raw and the standard score of communication, the socially interaction sub-score was notably (p<0.05) low for the children in S3 when collated with the children in the other two schools. The study concluded that the horseback riding, the yoga therapy and the cue cards-based teaching methods improve the stereotyped behavior, increase concentration power and also helps in maintaining the children's mind stability.

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Keywords : Autism disorder, Stereotyped behavior, Communication, Social interaction, Gilliam autism rating scale (GARS), Horseback riding, Cue card teaching, Yoga therapy