You will be having a fabric art activity with class. Children are to cut
out fabrics and use the cut-out fabrics to form shapes, characters, buildings
or anything they wish. After which, children will paste their design on a hard
base using glue.
Visual art is a mode of non-verbal communication that appeals to
children who experience language difficulties or social anxiety, and these are
quite common for children with Autism. Not only does it helps to develop
creativity and imaginative thinking, visual arts also help children with Autism
to visualize their difficulties and allows the child to gain awareness to
his/her thoughts and feelings. (Yusof, 2010)
Adaptation 1: Provide visual instructions on what you want the class to do. You can use picture cards. For example, if you want the children to listen to you when you are explaining, you can show a picture card with fingers on the lip. Children will then know they have to keep quiet. Or you can set as an example first. For example, by demonstrating the right way of holding a scissors and cutting the fabric in different shapes in front of the class. After which you glue and design your own art work, and narrate a story on your own art work.
Rationale: Most of the children with Autism have auditory processing
difficulty. They have difficulties in dealing with verbal information and are
slow to process that information. So they need something very visual, and by
having visual instructions helps them to better understand what they are
supposed to do.
Adaptation 2: Arrange
their work area near to the teacher and further away from the windows and
sounds distractions such as fans, music and noises from other classes.
Rationale: Most of the children with Autism have extremely acute sensory
abilities, particularly in areas of hearing and touch. Thus they are more
hypersensitive to certain sensations. For example, sounds that may be barely
audible to most individuals such as faraway sirens may often be distracting for
children with Autism. These background noises may be too overwhelming for them,
causing them to lose focus and a rise in their anxiety level. (Klein, Cook, & Richardson-Gibbs, 2001)
Adaptation 3: Get
children to narrate a story based on his/her newly created design in front of
the class.
Rationale: Through examining the art works done by children with Autism
and getting them to talk about it, teachers can gain insights into their
various social, emotional and cognitive developmental aspects. When the child
verbalized his/her thoughts, not only does he/she improve her language and
expressive skills, it also helps them to gain awareness to his/her thoughts