Preview

Hidden Curriculum

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
730 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Hidden Curriculum
Socialization is one of the biggest challenges faced by students with disabilities, especially autism. Based on the diagnostic criteria for autism, set forth by the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), one of the main criteria states that there is a “persistent deficit in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts” (APA, 2013). When growing up, children learn social skills through many different avenues such as interactions with family and peers, dramatic playtime, and even television. While many social skills are taught, there are some that are learned through observations and encounters. These skills, or rules, are also known as the “hidden curriculum,” …show more content…
Simpson, authors of the article “Understanding the Hidden Curriculum: An Essential Social Skill for Children and Youth with Asperger Syndrome.” There are many rules that people are expected to understand, but children with autism have trouble with. Most people are able to pick up on non-verbal cues when in a conversation. They can “read other people’s expressions and reactions throughout a conversation to decide whether they should continue to talk about a topic, change the topic, or end the discussion,” according to Hyo Jung Lee, author of “Cultural Factors Related to the Hidden Curriculum for Students with Autism and Related Disabilities.” (2011) Another criteria for autism, according to the DSM-IV is “restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities.” (APA, 2013) The autistic student might have an intense interest in DVD’s, for example. When in the conversation with peers, they might not understand subtle cues given during the conversation. They might just continue to ramble on and on, without realizing the peers may not be as interested in the topic of DVD’s and may not see they no longer want to be apart of this conversation. Due to this, students with autism might have trouble making and keeping friends. They might come across as strange or …show more content…
“What is the hidden curriculum for talking to and/or taking rides from strangers,” asks Myles and Simpson (Myles & Simpson, 2001). There are different rules for each setting that a child may come across. From the earliest age, children are taught to avoid strangers. Students learn that strangers are dangerous and they shouldn’t talk to them, let alone take anything from them. Sometimes in a supermarket, there may be people handing out free samples of food. When does it become okay that we take the sample from the person in the supermarket, but not on the street? Being able to distinguish between these things is difficult for the autistic child. They need to be taught these things or you could find a child running up and down the aisles screaming “stranger

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Autistic individuals may not be able to communicate using speech and language to verbally communication with staff to explain that they would like to participate in activities. They also struggle to express their feelings and understand body language and facial expressions. They find it hard to understanding the norms of behaviour, i.e. proximity and turn taking and this may be a difficulty in participating in activities in groups or being polite, therefore individuals find it hard to make friends or have relationships with others even though they may…

    • 1196 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Autistic people often do not understand the unwritten social rules which most of us pick up without thinking…

    • 1149 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    People with Autism have difficulties with the following; social communication, social interaction and social imagination, these are known as the ‘triad of impairments’. The difficulties these cause in people’s lives include finding it difficult to form friendships, understanding and interoperating people’s feelings and actions, understanding danger, coping with changes and new or unfamiliar situations. The main problems with communication that people with autism have, are taking what people say literally, understanding jokes and sarcasm and people’s body language and facial expressions, it is important to speak in a clear and consistent way to enable people with Autism time to process what has been said.…

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Autism is a developmental disability caused by neurological dysfunction. It affects the way a person understands and responds to the world, how they hear, see, feel, sense, perceive and interpret everything around them. This may affect how they eat, sleep, dress, work, spend leisure time etc. They are likely to have repetitive behaviour patterns and restricted repetitive interests. Individuals with an autistic spectrum condition can have difficulties with language and communicating with others and with social interactions and relationships because there is an impairment of 2 way verbal and non verbal communication and impairment of flexible thinking and social imagination. People with autism can often have accompanying learning difficulties but everyone with the condition shares a difficulty in making sense of the world. Inflexibility and restrictiveness in activities and interests can lead to a person on the autistic spectrum having difficulty relating to others and making friends, an inability to engage in imaginary play, it can lead to ritualistic behaviours , obsessions and fears.…

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    For more than 40 years Children with Autism typically have employed developing children and adults as models of appropriate behavior, and other developmental disabilities. The effectiveness of peers, adults, and siblings have had positive effects.…

    • 248 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    THE AUTISTIC SPECTRUM According to the National Institute of Mental Health, all children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders demonstrate deficits in, social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviours or interests. Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders do not follow the same patterns of child development. In some children, hints of future problems may be apparent from birth. Most of the time, problems in communication and social skills become more noticeable as the child lags further behind other children the same age. There are also many other disorders that often go hand and hand with ASD, such as Attention Deficit Disorder. There have been a lot of studies showing the correlation between the two. Which of course makes learning that much harder, considering it is often difficult to teach the Autistic child, due to the lack of social cues and skills. In addition, the lack of attention is often problematic. (National Institute of Mental Institute)…

    • 4926 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I had the pleasure of visiting Mrs. McCotter’s Autistic classroom. I arrived at 1:00 PM on Tuesday, November 27th. Her classroom is at Ealy Elementary in West Bloomfield, which has a wonderful special education program. I chose to observe in an autistic classroom because it is something I had never experienced before until now. The classroom was incredibly nice and everyone was so welcoming! The classroom is arranged with a variety of stations. There is the play station, the movement station, their independent work stations, and a table and chairs. There were three paraprofessionals along with Mrs. McCotter working with the students. There are six students in the classroom, however only five were present that day. The ages range from 4 - 5. There are five boys and one girl in the classroom. Three of those students can work independently, while three of the students need one-on-one work. Five students were Caucasian and one was Hispanic. Three of the students are cognitively impaired, but I was told that autism is primary for them.…

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Autism is a disorder that is diagnosed when a child is at a young age. These children will show a lack of social interaction and communication even before the age of three. Supposedly, autistic children are very restricted in their range of interests and they perform repetitive behavior all the time. Also, it is said that autistic children have social impairments, meaning that they have a harder time being social on a regular basis. One can imagine that because of such impairment, it becomes difficult for an autistic child to have a lot of good friendships. These autistic children therefore probably have a difficult time sitting in class with regular-ed students. Autistic students may be very disruptive in class towards the regular-ed students because they most likely become uncomfortable around a large group of people.…

    • 1560 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Do children show evidence of innate cognitive abilities? Discuss with reference to any topic covered in the module.…

    • 1473 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Informative Speech

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages

    It was the Saturday before our topic choice was due, for professor Lee’s class. I was stressing, I could not figure out what to talk about. I literally google searched informative speech topics, but I did not find anything I really wanted to talk about. So I went to work like any normal Saturday. I was bagging groceries like usual, and there is a little boy in my way, so I politely say excuse me and the little boy stares at me with a blank expression. Next thing I know, the little boy runs and hugs my co-worker Darryl, who is bagging next to me. Darryl’s reaction was priceless. He was like “oh my gosh ahhh” and I tell him to chill, because I do not want him to scare the boy. So this happens, and the mother tells me “oh sorry he can not help it, he has autism.” At that moment, it was like God had slapped me in the face with a topic, that is when I decided on my topic of Autism in children, how it is difficult living with autism.…

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    Using this approach correctly means you have to be flexible in your teaching and training to get the most out of your instruction for the learner to be successful. To obtain greater generalization and maintenance of skills, teaching is occurring during the normal routine to create a more comfortable setting and to relate skills more directly to the child. Adaptive tools are becoming more available and can promote greater independence for the individual. The inability to effectively communicate and interact with others is such a debilitating part of the disorder of ASD that every attempt to promote growth and improve communication and social skills should be encouraged. Implementing an approach that focuses on general social interactions and strives to provide understanding to an individual so that he can begin to make sense of their environment can be very effective. For the reasons documented in this paper, and due to the enigmatic nature of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), research suggests that Mesibov”s (1984) model, “The treatment and education of autistic and related communication handicapped children” (TEACCH) has more effective outcomes for students with diagnoses in the ASD spectrum than the Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) model because the ABA model focuses on task specific trials, the use of TEACCH focuses more on generalized teaching strategies, and TEACCH places emphasis on individuals learning how to communicate more effectively with others and…

    • 3389 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Best Essays

    Scheuermann, B. & Webber, J. (2002). Autism: Teaching does make a Difference. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth…

    • 3923 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is defined by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) as a developmental disability that is characterized by “social, communication, and behavioral challenges” (Centers of Disease and Protection [CDC], 2015). ASD limits the individual’s ability to communicate verbally and nonverbally, ability to learn how to give and receive information from others, to tolerate…

    • 1503 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Divalproex Autism

    • 1499 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a disorder found in around 1 in 68 American children (CDC, 2014), appears in early brain development. Children with this illness usually have irregularities in brain parts such as the corpus callosum, amygdala and cerebellum. They face challenges in the following main areas: behavioral, developmental, cognitive and psychological. It is hard for these children to interact and communicate with other people because they often close themselves off and have hard times understanding others’ feelings. It is also hard for them to learning, pay attention and stop certain behaviors. Since being able to interact with one another is one of the most important ability that one should have in the living world and without this…

    • 1499 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    'Every school has two curricula. One is the open curriculum, which we are already familiar with. The other curriculum, the hidden one, often has the greatest impact on an adolescent boy or girl. It is the hidden curriculum that molds self-esteem, aids or hinders confident social development, that helps make high school a time of pleasant memories, or turns the high school experience into an ordeal.' (Ruby Ausbrooks, Ed.D.)…

    • 1471 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays