Qualitative Analysis of Autism Spectrum Disorder Student Body Language and Teacher Pedagogical Techniques while Scanning for Frontal Lobe Activation Using fNIRS

Abstract

IntroductionAutism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurological and developmental disorder that often becomes evident in early childhood. The common signs of ASD are difficulty with communication, difficulty with social interactions, repetitive behaviors, and difficulty dealing with emotions. In this study, we examined how students with ASD displayed their thinking physically through their body language. We were also interested in studying the frontal lobe activation using functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) during a teaching/learning experience.MethodsTeachers and students wore fNIRS NIRSIT (Soterix Medical, Inc.) systems during a 30‐minute simulated math lesson consisting of three phases: didactic instruction, facilitated practice problem solving, and supervised independent study. fNIRSs were used to indicate what teaching and learning moments resulted in the most frontal lobe activation of the students, and the results were compared between groups. In addition, we used grounded theory thematic analysis to analyze the video recordings of the learning space.ResultsTeaching techniques were coupled with student body language to compare activation levels within the brain. Although body language for each student was presented differently, frontal lobe activation for the following examples were high. One student stared at his paper throughout the lesson and bounced his finger while reading his paper. Another student was staring at the table; however, was able to acknowledge the teacher when she was speaking to him and answer her questions. Other students chose to sit up straight and engage with the teacher the entire lesson. In regards to teachers, they used a variety of techniques to engage with students. In each of the following examples, frontal lobe activation in teachers was high. One teacher made sure that she did not have her back to the students for a long time. Another teacher made use of deliberate pauses which allowed students the time they needed to process information.ConclusionThese results demonstrate that even though body language may be different for the students, it cannot be used as a measure of engagement as different presentations of body language still displayed high activation on the fNIRS. Several students who did not appear engaged were processing and retaining the information according to the high frontal lobe activation. It appears that ASD students use different signals in their body language, such as the finger bounce, as a way to show that they are thinking and concentrating. Therefore, teachers should examine the body language of the student and adjust their teaching techniques accordingly. For example, the teacher who used pauses in their lectures allowed the students to take a moment to think about whether or not they truly understood what was being said. This group of students had more verbal “aha” moments, displaying true understanding of the material and a higher activation in their frontal lobe. This also required a higher level of thinking for the students and encouraged them to engage in metacognitive processes beyond the typical memorization paradigm of learning.