Module 7: The Hidden Curriculum for Students with ASD

1. Module 7: The Hidden Curriculum for Students with ASD

2. Module Overview • What does the hidden curriculum mean? • Hidden curriculum items • Knowing what to teach • Strategies for teaching the hidden curriculum

3. What Does the Hidden Curriculum Mean? • The hidden curriculum refers to the set of rules or guidelines that are often not directly taught but are assumed to be known (Hemmings, 2000) • For the most part, typically developing students learn these social rules incidentally • If these rules or guidelines are not followed, it can negatively impact a student’s social interactions, school performance, and sometimes safety (Myles, Trautman, & Schelvan, 2004) • Students with ASD often have difficulty understanding the hidden curriculum (Myles & Simpson, 2001) and require explicit instruction for many of the hidden rules across school, home, and community contexts.

4. Hidden Curriculum Items • It is not possible to provide a comprehensive list of hidden curriculum items because there are just too many. • The next slide lists some examples of hidden curriculum items just to give you an idea of some of the things that students with ASD don’t always learn incidentally

5. Examples of Hidden Curriculum Items at School (Myles, Trautman, & Shelvan, 2004) • Bathroom issues (ex. Quietly telling the teacher that you need to use the bathroom instead of shouting it out) • Locker room rules (ex. Don’t stare at people who are taking showers) • Recess and P.E. rules (ex. If throwing a ball to someone, first call that person’s name and wait until he/she looks at you) • Lockers and the hallway (ex. Usually if you get bumped into by someone, it is an accident) • Cafeteria (ex. Avoid bringing tuna fish to school because it smells and other kids might not want to sit next to you) • Assignments (ex. It is inappropriate to comment on the quality of another student’s work) • Talking to your teacher (ex. Always use a polite voice)

6. Knowing what to teach • Because all students with ASD are different when it comes to which hidden curriculum rules they understand and which ones they don’t, you cannot simply go down a list of items and begin teaching each hidden curriculum item you can think of. • Instead, it is best to assess each child individually to see where they are “breaking down.” • For example, if you notice a student is often picking her nose where everyone can see her, you will want to teach her the hidden curriculum for nose picking (really).

7. Strategies for Teaching the Hidden Curriculum

8. Safe Person (Myles, Trautman, & Shelvan, 2004) • It is important to identify a person who the student feels comfortable discussing hidden curriculum issues with. • This person should: • Respect the student • Be able to listen without interrupting or judging • Be able to take the perspective of the student • Be able to problem solve without engaging in a power struggle

9. Social Autopsies (Rick Lavoie, http://www.ricklavoie.com/competart.html) • Social autopsies entail helping students analyze social situations to figure out what went wrong so they know what to do the next time they are in a similar situation • The social autopsy should be done as close to the time that the social error occurred as possible. • The teacher asks the student questions such as, What happened?, Who was hurt? Why was that person hurt? What could you have done differently? What will you do next time? • Social autopsies should always be implemented in a positive, supportive manner

10. Steps of Teaching Social Rules(Bellini, 2008) • Scott Bellini discusses the following steps for teaching rules: • Provide a clear description of the concept • Include relevant contextual information • Use multiple exemplars • Make connections to the child’s prior knowledge • Include hands-on demonstrations and modeling

11. Other Strategies • The strategies discussed in Module 4 to teach social skills are also helpful when teaching hidden curriculum items. These include: • Direct instruction • Social stories • Power cards • Comic strip conversations • The Incredible 5-Point Scale • Video modeling • Thought bubbles

12. Journal Article • Read the following journal article to learn more about teaching the hidden curriculum: • Myles, B. S., Simpson, R. L. (2001). Understanding the hidden curriculum: an essential social skill for children and youth with Asperger syndrome. Intervention in School and Clinic, 36(5), 279-286.

13. Module 7 Activity • Conduct an informal assessment on a student with ASD to determine some hidden curriculum items that student may not understand. • Provide a list of three hidden curriculum items that you will teach the student and describe which strategies you will use to teach each one. Be specific in your explanation. For example, instead of saying, “I will use social stories,” include the actual social story you created and describe how you will use it to teach the student the hidden curriculum rule.

14. References Bellini, S. (2008). Building social relationships: A systematic approach to teaching social interaction skills to children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders and other social difficulties. Shawnee Mission, KS: Autism Asperger Publishing. Hemmings, A. (2000). The hidden curriculum corridor. High School Journal, 83(2), 1-10. Myles, B. S., Simpson, R. L. (2001). Understanding the hidden curriculum: an essential social skill for children and youth with Asperger syndrome. Intervention in School and Clinic, 36(5), 279-286. Myles, B. S., Trautman, M. L., & Schelvan, R. L. (2004). The hidden curriculum: Practical solutions for understanding unstated rules in social situations. Shawnee Mission, KS: Autism Asperger Publishing.