Trouble Student

[Armbar]

We've got a predicament here on the coast.

The students in our school all get along great. Over the years we've trained together, we've really been pulled together into a pretty close knit group. Every class is fun, exciting, and everyone simply can't get enough...that is until he shows up.

He has a tendency to be rude to other students, talk out of turn (especially when Sensei is giving his belt level instructions), act inappropriately (we've been mooned....more then once), has trouble keeping his limbs to himself, and is sometimes aggressive toward other students, striking with kicks or pushing when their backs are turned. He's six foot four inches, 190 pounds, and 14 years old. He's been warned about his behavior several times before (not to mention has done quite a few push-ups) and his parents have been notified, although this had limited success.

The normal solution to this problem: expulsion from the Dojo.

Why that solution is just another problem: this kids autistic. Somehow throwing out an autistic kid seems wrong. What do we do?

[solar_kid]

Throw him out. At least temporarily. When you teach at a school (martial arts or not), you have a responsibility to create an appropriate learning environment for all of your students. Although there may be reasons why your troublesome student can't meet your behavioral expectations, ultimately, the obligation to the school and the student population as a whole must outweigh your obligation to help any single student.

Even for that single student, there must be consequences for his actions. Expulsion or suspension may even get through to him in a way that will help him in the future.

[Squawman]

You might have to do a one-on-one with him. Separate him from the rest of the class with another instructor, someone who can handle him, and lay down the law. If he is disrespctful then he sits out. Talk to his parents and tell them that he can only come to class if they are there so if he sits out then he sits with them. An Autistc person is very difficult to teach because they all have their own little quirks. Make sure that this one person doesn't ruin the other students workout espescially if they are paying good money to be there.

By the way, what part of the OR coast are you from? I'm in the Portland area.

[Sam]

The other problem with teaching an autistic kid is that they have a problem looking at things [actually cant do this] from another persons perspective so they may not realise what they're doing is wrong.... i havent encountered many autistic people in the MAs, I would just advise being strict constantly with him, and if it persists and persists, you have to expel him, only real choise - likes already been said you have to look after the other students.

[cheeks]

remember, that you dont 'have' to teach him, if he doesnt show respect then get rid off him. just because he is autistic, doesnt mean he should be allowed to run riot and ruin your other students training.

like sam said, all autistics have a problem with 'Theory of Mind' (the posh psychology term) there are also problems with the change of enviroment, if he has just started, then he will still be getting used to the dojo enviroment, and will take longer to adapt than others. in this respect the best thing you can do here is be consistant in the order you do things, and the way you teach.

i wuold suggest repeating yourself over and over again, and getting his parents more involved in sorting out his behaviour and to help back you up

[octopic]

First, let me specify that I am not an expert on autism or working with autistic children. However, I've seen them excel in the dojo. My first instructors were a husband and wife team. She had been a juvenile probation officer and he had been a special ed teach before going into martial arts. They were great with problem kids. That said, the reason they were so good is that they had training in how to deal with them. If faced with this situation, I might do a combination of a couple of different things. The first would be to do some research on working with autistic individuals. There have to be a ton of resources out there with information on this. Second, I'm sure that this kid has a teacher/tutor/therapist that he works with. Get their phone number from the parents and give them a call. Talk with them and pick their brain about how to get good results when working with the kid. While it would be easy to expel the student from the dojo, and might eventually be necessary, that would be a tragedy as it sounds like this is an individual that needs the training more than most.

[Sam]

just to add to that - it would depend on how autistic they are.... obviously if they are out and about they probably arent autistic savonts.... but they may have more serious issues.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

I had an autistic adult in class 10 years ago, and it was difficult at best. When he grabbed a females students butt during warmups (I mean two handfulls people), I figured enough was enough and kicked him out. That would be my recommendation here also. You have to consider the majority of the class in this scenerio, not just the one individual.

[Armbar]

Wow...thanks for all the replies.

He's low-level autistic, meaning he doesn’t really sound or appear autistic at all. When the parents are confronted about his behavior, they seem to believe that we should change the entire class in order to cater to him, even if it means hindering the progress of other students.

We haven't had the option of expulsion until just last week. A community program that disallowed such action was funding us. Last week they dropped our funding, but we've found other means to keep teaching classes.

This behavior has lasted for quite sometime; more or less as long has he's been attending classes.

Having his parents there doesn’t work well. We've tried this and he became distracted allot, talking or looking over to them during bunkia and such. This posed a health risk, as he wasn't watching where his fists were being thrown and nearly took a student’s head off.

We've tried the strict route, which worked for a little while. It slowed down class but got him in line. Every once and awhile, he’d refuse to do any pushups if he owed them, which was always troublesome. We might try the strict path again.

His resource teachers use our karate program as discipline. If he doesn’t do what they want, they'll say, "You best behave or we'll tell Sensei”, and he'll stop what ever he's doing.

I'll read up on such Low-level autistic behavior and see if I find anything that works.

Sorry if this sounds like a rant…. We just really need a few good, well informed ideas…

[Sparkey]

Hey there Armbar,

Greetings from Portland! I think I've got a few ideas, too.

I work with Autistic kids regularly, I'm a Speech Language Pathologist. Just because he's Autistic doesn't mean that he can't be expected to learn appropriate behavior. He absolutely should be expected to learn appropriate behavior! One of the things that Autistic people have, though, is knowing what appropriate behavior is. And also, what is the consequence of not behaving appropriately.

One technique is to make something called a "Social Story". Here are the guidelines on a Social Story:

The 10 criteria that define each Social Story™:

A Social Story™...

1) meaningfully shares social information with a patient and reassuring quality, and at least 50% of all Social Stories™ applaud achievements;

2) has an introduction that clearly identifies the topic, a body that adds detail, and a conclusion that reinforces and summarizes the information;

3) answers “wh” questions;

4) is written from a first or third person perspective;

5) uses positive language, omitting descriptions or references to negative behaviors in favor of identifying positive responses;

6) always contains descriptive sentences, with an option to include any one or more of the five remaining sentence types (perspective, cooperative, directive, affirmative, and/or control sentences);

7) describes more than directs, following the Social Story™ Formula;

has a format that is tailored to the abilities and interests of its intended audience,

and is usually literally accurate;

9) includes individually tailored illustrations that enhance the meaning of the text.

10.) has a title that meets all applicable Social Story™ Criteria.

So, one way this could go is this:

On Thursday's I go to my Karate class. I greet my teacher by bowing and saying "Good afternoon, Sensei". This shows my respect for him.

 

When we line up, I stand up straight and keep my hands at my side. I don't want to distract the class, so I stand still. I look to the person on my right to make sure I'm lined up in a straight line. I listen very carefully to what the sensei has to say.

What would be really great for adding to this, is taking digital photographs of the boy doing exactly what it says in the story, bowing to sensei, holding still, lining up straight, and so on. And then making a sort of picture book of Karate class.

The idea is that it's a guideline for "How am I supposed to act" rather than, "how am I NOT supposed to act". Of course you could add in a section about absolute No-nos. It could go like this:

"In the dojo I must always use polite langauge. This shows respect to my teachers and classmates. Swear words are not OK to use in the dojo. Sometimes I get frustrated and angry and I feel like using swear words. When this happens, it's better to be quiet, or ask for a break. If I use swear words, I will have to ((insert consequence here)). I don't want to ((whatever)) so I will try to either be quiet or ask for a break.

YOu know the kid, so you can tailor it to fit whatever his actual responses are.

I know what I've written seems pretty basic, but I'm just trying to give an example of the way it would work. After it was written, the parents job would be to review the information in the story before class. I've seen this work well with kids. Clear expectations, clear consequences. If you think I could help out with anything, please let me know!

Here's a link to a useful website:

http://www.thegraycenter.org/Social_Stories.htm

Take care,

Laura

**edited for spelling...can't spell worth a darn!**

Edited June 18, 2005 by Sparkey