Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

The Affect Dyad: Communication and Rigidity

The current diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is structured around two major areas of difficulty, known as the "impairment dyad".

The first is communication and social interaction. This does not necessarily imply that the student does not speak, but that they have difficulty using language for social purposes: understanding sarcasm, reading the non-verbal language of their peers or respecting conversational turns.

They may appear aloof or, conversely, be overly insistent on their topics of interest without picking up on the interlocutor's disinterest.

The second area is restrictive and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests or activities. The ASD brain seeks security in predictability.

This manifests itself in inflexible adherence to routines (distress if the order of the class is changed), obsessive interests (e.g., knowing everything about the city sewer system) or motor stereotypies.

Understanding this dyad is vital for the teacher not to interpret rigidity or lack of eye contact as disobedience, but as an intrinsic feature of their neural processing.

TEACCH Methodology and Structuring the Environment

The most successful educational intervention for students with ASD is the TEACCH methodology, which is based on visual structuring of space and time.

Since these students are often excellent visual learners but have difficulty with abstract organization, the classroom must become a predictable environment.

This is accomplished through the use of visual agendas that anticipate the sequence of activities for the day, thus reducing anxiety about the unknown.

Physical structuring involves clearly delineating work areas (where what is done).

For example, one can mark with colored tape the assembly area or use labeled trays ("tasks to be done" on the left and "tasks completed" on the right) to organize individual work.

This external organization makes up for their internal organization deficits, allowing