Educational Strategies for Deaf Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Abstract

In this paper we highlight some of the difficulties that deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are likely to exhibit in the classroom, such as echolalia and insistence on sameness, deficits in perspective-taking and theory of mind, difficulty producing and comprehending facial expressions and pronouns, articulation difficulties, and challenges with social interaction. For each challenging area we propose educational strategies that teachers may find useful, including video modeling, visual schedules, Social Stories, Power Cards, and peer support groups. We encourage educators to be flexible and creative in their use of multiple teaching strategies with these children, so that we can meet our ultimate goal of serving students’ diverse educational needs more effectively.