More and more children have learning difficulties, leading to an autism diagnosis more and more frequently these days. They often have few activities to keep them occupied, which leads to a vicious circle of fewer and fewer new and narrower experiences. This in turn results in them doing less and less and therefore learning less.
Delayed speech development
The first thing that parents and professionals notice and worry about is that the child does not speak, does not listen and has no interest in repeating words.
Lack of interest
If an adult wants to show him something, the child does not seem interested, often simply walks away or returns to his usual movement activities such as running, jumping or climbing - whereby the movement of the legs and lower extremities seems to be the focus of his attention.
Passive and lying around on the floor
Other children are more passive and instead of moving themselves, they constantly move something, such as a car, back and forth in front of their eyes while lying on the floor.
Always on the run and on the move
Some children are constantly on the move, running, jumping, climbing as if they want to go somewhere without ever arriving. But the child never really comes to rest to play and explore toys and play materials with real interest.
Talking instead of exploring things
Some children impress adults because they talk incessantly. On closer inspection, however, it becomes clear that the child often does not really understand what they are saying or what is being said to them. In fact, the child's talking seems to serve the purpose of avoiding something like playing and actively exploring with their hands, and the child is often unable to engage themselves and get involved in an activity.
Caught in a CIRCLE OF THE DEVILS
In all of these situations, the child is not playing or exploring objects or the world around them with curiosity. He seems to have no interest in new experiences and his activities seem to involve little or no thinking or cognition. It does not connect hands and mind, which is the prerequisite for active exploration and how children learn from experience.
Instead of seeking out new experiences and actively exploring the world around them, which is the foundation of all learning, children with developmental delays, learning disabilities, autistic-like behaviors or autism seem to be trapped in a vicious cycle.
Conventional behavioral approaches
Conventional teaching methods
There seem to be countless approaches and teaching methods aimed at supporting and educating children with autistic-like behaviors and/or autism.
Conventional ideas and methods often focus on teaching words, letters, numbers, shapes, following and obeying verbal instructions, the outcome and completing a specific task and what a child should be able to do at this chronological age, including fine motor skills that require precise movements such as holding a pencil, stringing small beads or using scissors.
Even approaches such as Montessori and Waldorf education are based on the assumption that imitating and copying what the adult demonstrates can be taken for granted. But what about children who don't „just copy what I show you“, who don't respond to verbal language and who seem to lack interest and motivation?
Modern toys and electronics
Initially, parents, educators and professionals often hope that buying more educational toys such as puzzles or picture books will help. But then it turns out that most modern toys are not the solution - mainly because they are usually designed to be used in a very restrictive way (which tempts parents to buy more and more toys).
Some parents find electronic screens such as televisions, iPads or cell phones irresistible as simple babysitters and hope that they will teach the child to talk through modern educational programs. But while they keep the child still and quiet for long periods of time, often fixed in a car seat or baby bouncer, they only exacerbate the problem. This is because young children can only learn through their own movement experiences
Focus on teaching and behavior
Modern parents and professionals also go to great lengths to teach their child the desired behaviors and cognitive skills such as letters, numbers, colors, shapes, etc., but are often disappointed that this does not lead to quickly overcoming the child's difficulties. Or they hope that the child will learn the missing skills if they take them to as many therapists as possible.
Words and language
Consistently, both parents and professionals tend to focus on talking, on verbal instructions and explanations, on asking questions and „getting words“ - but without much success with the children who don't know how to learn or play.
This is based on the assumption that understanding words and spoken language is innate and automatic, or that communication only consists of words or verbal language. The fact that this is not true is a big surprise for many adults, and then a relief, as is the discovery of how important voice and emotional tone of voice are for meaningful communication.
Get tasks right and done
In schools, the focus is often on teaching children with autism through repetition to perform a task in a certain way, e.g. from left to right, and to perform each task correctly before starting a new one. The problem, however, is that you don't learn anything new by doing something correctly or in the right way. Before a child is able to understand what is right and what is wrong, they need to have plenty of experience experimenting freely with objects to learn „how it works“.
Diagnoses and confusion
A lot of hope is invested in the „diagnosis“. But once the child has a diagnosis, many parents are even more confused about realistic expectations and how best to support their child, and often end up doing too much FOR the child, or focusing on keeping the child happy and quiet.
Disappointing results with traditional approaches
The results of these behavioral training and educational measures often do not live up to expectations because the child
- learns to say words to get something or to satisfy the adult, not as a means of dialog and interaction
- ‚does ‘it' quickly and without real commitment to get it over with
- Develops negative associations
- practises what it can already do, e.g. doing the same puzzle over and over again
- gets stuck in restrictive movement patterns, e.g. NOT crossing the center line, NOT using both hands, or not using his hands at all ...
- feels treated like someone who „can't do it‘ and experiences themselves as such
- giving up or, worse, developing avoidance or secondary defensive behaviors that can be anxious and negative, or even triumphant or mocking
- gets bored, which leads to repetitive behavior because it does not know what else to do and how to do it.
- is not making the hoped-for progress
Vicious circles and underlying causes
The reason for these problems is that most of the skills taught in traditional behavioral programs are actually later and secondary (or even tertiary) cognitive developments that cannot be learned without a solid foundation of primary sensory and movement experiences.
But because children with learning difficulties don't explore much, avoid new experiences or get stuck in self-stimulating activities, they lack these foundations of all learning: the active sensory and movement experiences that nature demands as fundamental in the first months and early years of a child's life
What children with learning difficulties need
What children with learning difficulties need is an approach and method that matches the child's current understanding and follows the universal pattern of development, focusing on the early stages where the foundations are laid.
Children who cannot or do not want to learn or play need
- more orientation and guidance on how to play and what they can do
- Co-regulation and a tactful, empathetic approach
- without verbal instructions and without being told what to do
- Simple play materials that can be used in a variety of ways
- lots of experience with practicing a wide range of the underlying movement patterns
- Experiences to become familiar with the movements and space around their body
