Presentation given at NCSS Annual Conference, Washington, DC, 2016

1. Our Evolving Classrooms:
Involving Students with Autism
in Social Studies
NCSS 2016
Washington, DC

2. University of South Alabama
Mobile, Alabama
Dr. Linda Reeves
lreeves@southalabama.edu
Dr. Susan Santoli
ssantoli@southalabama.edu

3. What is Autism
• Autism is a developmental disorder that
impacts the way a person perceives and
communicates.
• It is a spectrum disorder that affects each
person to a varying degree, ranging from
mild to severe.
-Organization for Autism Research

4. “You have children with autism who are non-
verbal, and then you have children with
autism who know more words than a
university professor. You have children with
autism who would rather be by themselves.
And then you have those who want friends,
but who do not know how to make them.”
Brenda Smith Myles, Ph.D.
Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence
Columbus, OH

5. General Considerations
• Communication Difficulties
– Don’t initiate conversations, asking for help,
clarifying, or expressing needs
• Sensory Sensitivities
– Anxious
– May have sensitivities to noise, scents, touch
• Routine Oriented
– Like structure

6. General Considerations, Con’t
• Social Interaction Difficulties
– Some students have very specific or fixated
interests
• Repetitive Behaviors
– Some students may engage in prominent or
less prominent body movements
– Need a “Home Base”-safe place

7. Activity Schedules
• Provide explicit instructions on:
– What will they be expected to do?
– How much will they have to do?
– How will they know when they have finished?
– What’s next?
THESE ARE THE FOUR KEY QUESTIONS
FOR ANY ASSIGNMENT.

8. Examples of Social Studies
assignments with
accommodations

9. Group Jigsaw on Naming the
Canadian Provinces
• Students will be in groups of 4
• Each group will be responsible for submitting a
correctly labeled map of Canada from an outline
map distributed by the teacher
• Each student will have a clue card with four
clues which are unique-no one else in the group
has the same clues.
– Some clues will be helpful in filling out the
map, some will not

10. • Each group will decide on who will fill out
the map and how the clues will be read
• The groups will then brainstorm the clues
to come to conclusions about the location
and names of the provinces
• The class will come back together as a
whole, go over correct answers and
talk about which clues were most
helpful and the process each
group used.

11. Suggestions for this assignment
Written Instructions
 Choose who will fill out the map
 Choose how the clues will be read
 Listen to each clue and try to figure
the location and name of province
 Fill in the map
 Next, the class will go over the correct
answers and discuss clues
 When finished get ready for lunch

12. Think-Pair-Share Activity
• Students are asked to individually give
their opinion on what factor was the most
significant in causing the Great
Depression. They will write down their
answers.
• After writing down their own answers, they
will share answers in pairs and will be
asked to write down something about their
partner’s factor that they hadn’t
considered.

13. Suggestions for this activity
What was the
most significant
factor that caused
the Great
Depression?
_____________
_____________
One thing I
learned from my
partner was:
____________
____________
Written Instructions
 Write one important reason that
caused the Great Depression.
 Share your answer with your
partner.
 Listen to your partner’s answer.
 Write one thing you learned
about the Great Depression from
your partner.
 Place your paper in the
completed tray.
 Get ready for PE

14. Lecture/Note Taking Scenerio
• The teacher will begin discussing the
immediate causes of the American
Revolution in a 15 minute segment, using
a powerpoint as the outline for his/her
lecture.

15. Suggestions for this activity
• Enhance lecture with visual
information
• Provide graphic
representation of the
content
• Provide notes
• Provide explicit instructions
about taking notes
Immediate Causes of the
American Revolution:
1.
2.
3.

16. Working with Primary Sources
• Differentiated Lesson Activity on the Black Death
• Four student groups examining four different
sources on the Black Death
• Each group focusing on the same questions:
1. How did the Black Death affect the treatment of family members toward one
another?
2. What were the symptoms of the disease?
3. How did people of the time view what was happening to them?
4. What methods of prevention/cure were used and how successful were they?
5. What was the effect on the population of the cities and towns?

17. • Group 1: Quotes from the time of the Black Death
• [The black death victims] “ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their
ancestors in paradise.” Giovanni Boccaccio
• “Neither physicians nor medicines were effective. Whether because these
illnesses were previously unknown or because physicians had not previously
studied them, there seemed to be no cure. There was such a fear that no one
seemed to know what to do…” Marchione di Coppo Stefani
• “Physicians could not be found because they had died like the others. And
those who could be found wanted vast sums in hand [lots of money paid up
front] before they entered the house…Child abandoned the father, husband
the wife, wife the husband, one brother the other, one sister the other.”
Marchione di Coppo Stefani
– “They died by the hundreds, both day and night, and all were
thrown in…ditches and covered with earth. And as soon as those
ditches were filled, more were dug. And I, Agnolo di Tura…
buried my five children with my own hands…And so many died
that all believed that it was the end of the world.” Agnolo di Tura
del Grasso

18. Group 2: Description of the Black Death
•http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/pla
•http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/pla

19. Group 3: Prints, engravings and paintings of the Black
Death
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/black-death-1.jpg
http://www.uncp.edu/home/rwb/black_death.jpg
http://i2.wp.com/scienceheathen.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/01/image48-e1421693267291.jpg
http://openplaques.org/plaques/8254

20. Group 4: Video about the Black Death
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=pNHQlaT0MIM&feature=player_embedde
d#!

21. Suggestions for this Assignment
 How did the
Black Death
affect the
treatment of
family
members
toward one
another?
 What were
the
symptoms of
the disease?
 How did
people of
the time
view what
was
happening
to them?
 What
methods of
prevention/
cure were
used and
how
successful
were they?
 What was
the effect on
the
population of
the cities
and towns?
1.
1.
2.
3.
1. 1.
2.
1.
2.
3.

22. Analyzing a Photograph
All students will be
asked to use the
Photograph Analysis
Sheet from Digital
History and the
National Archives
and Records
Administration for
their analysis
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/te
achers/worksheets/photo_worksh
eet.pdf

23. Suggestions for this assignment
Observation Knowledge Interpretation
 Describe three
things you see in
the photograph (for
example, the
people, the
objects, the place,
the season).
 Name two things
you know about
this time period or
event?
 Would you
conclude that the
people in are
happy or upset?
1. 1.  Name one reason
why?
2. 2.
3.

24. RAFT Assignment
• ROLE- Kaiser Wilhelm II
• AUDIENCE- European Heads of
State
• FORMAT-Recipe
• TOPIC-How to Start a World War

25. Suggestions for this assignment
Ingredients:
 1 cup
 1/2 cup
 1/4 cup
 1/4 cup
Directions:
 Combine ___ & ___
 Slowly mix in ______
 Blend in _____ and mix well
 Bake 1 hour, or until ___

26. Analyzing Perspective
• French Revolution Diary
– Decide who you will be: nobleman/woman, visitor
from England or U.S., peasant, bourgeoisie, clergy,
royals, city worker
– 1. Give yourself a name
– 2. You are going to produce 10 excerpts from a diary
that might have been written during the French
Revolution. These should only be a few sentences
long, but they should reveal what might be
happening to you as a member of your
particular occupation or Estate and how you
feel about what is going on, at various times
from 1789 to 1794

27. Diary, con’t
3. Include the month and year of your event
and day, if important.
4. Seven of the entries need to be based on
actual events. Your first entry should
also include an introduction to your
character.
-Some suggested dates are: June, 1789, July 14,
1789, August 1789, October, 1789, summer
1791, January, 1793

28. Suggestions for this assignment
• Provide step by step written instructions
• Provide diary excerpts and have the
student identify the character, feelings,
and time period or event.
• May require alternative assignment.

29. Homework Scenerio
• Students have been asked to compose an
epitaph for a tombstone for Booker T.
Washington, for homework, after studying
him in class that day.
• They have been given the outline of a
tombstone and are to write four lines or
descriptors on the tombstone, then explain
on the back of the sheet why they chose
what they did.

30. Suggestions for this assignment
Written Instructions
 Write two facts about
Booker T. Washington.
 Write two things he
accomplished.
 On the back of the sheet
explain one reason you
choose each of the facts
and accomplishments.
 Put away in homework
folder to turn in tomorrow.
Booker T.
Washington
1856-1915

31. Assessments
• Consider student’s best mode to
demonstrate understanding

32. Resources
• Understanding Autism: A Guide for
Secondary School Teachers- 4 videos
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=4yAAOI6JUsM) and a resource guide
(http://csesa.fpg.unc.edu/sites/csesa.fpg.u
nc.edu/files/UnderstandingAutismSeconda
ryTeachersGuide.pdf)

33. Resources cont.
• Schopler, E., Mesibov, G., & Hearsey, K. (1995).
Structured teaching in the TEACCH system.
In E. Schopler & G. Mesibov (Eds.), Learning
and Cognition in Autism(pp. 243-268). New
York: Plenum Press.
• Mesibov, G. B., & Howley, M. (2003). Accessing
the curriculum for pupils with autistic
spectrum disorders: Using the TEACCH
program to help inclusion. David Fulton
Publishers.