PDD Pervasive Developmental Disorder

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PDD Pervasive Developmental Disorder

• A Profile of the Child with PDD / Autism

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The Definition of PDD

• PDD or Pervasive Developmental disorder is
  diagnosed when
• (a) impairment in social interaction, manifested
  by impairment of the nonverbal behaviour, lack of
  spontaneous sharing, lack of social / emotional
  reciprocity, and / or failure to develop peer
  relationships
• (b) impairment in communication, manifested by
  delay in or lack of development of spoken
  language and gestures, impairment in the ability
  to initiate or maintain conversation, repetitive
  and idiosyncratic use of language, and / or lack
  of pretend play
• (c) restricted repertoire of activates and
  interests, manifested in preoccupation with
  restricted patterns of interest, inflexible
  adherence to routines, repetitive movements, and
  / or preoccupation with parts of objects
  (Wetherby et al).

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A Profile of the General Characteristics of PDD

• The condition of PDD is characterized as having
  amongst other tell tale signs and symptoms,
  difficulties in communication.
• The authors identify the following behaviours as
  characteristic of the expression of PDD,
  conventional preverbal and verbal means of
  communicating, lack of pretend play, and limited
  use of shared positive affect and gaze to
  regulate communicative interactions (Wetherby et
  al).

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How the Profile of PDD affects the Classroom

• PDD is often not diagnosed until a child reaches
  school age.
• The signs and symptoms of the condition are often
  innocuous at the outset and this makes early
  intervention difficult.

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PDD in the Classroom

• The PDD child entering the classroom for the
  first time may also be a child who has had little
  to no intervention in the pre-school years and it
  is especially important that the primary teacher
  be aware of the profile and symptoms of this
  condition.

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Research Studies on Social Abilities
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PDD and Communication in the Classroom

• The authors of the article suggest that the child
  with PDD often communicates only to have needs
  and demands met a regulatory communication.
• Further, it has been observed that the PDD child
  does not engage in joint attention meaning the
  seeking of interaction and response from an
  other.
• These two symptoms affect classroom interaction
  significantly.

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The PDD Child in the Classroom

• The difficulty experienced by these children in
  the acquisition of conventional means of
  communication is cited by these authors as being
  the reason behind the resorting to tantrums,
  aggression or self injury as a means of
  expression.
• Therefore the classroom teacher must provide
  opportunities for the child with PDD to express
  themselves.

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PDD in the Classroom

• It has been noted that children with
  communication disorders are not given the same
  opportunities to express themselves in class and
  this is elemental to the potential for behavior
  issues to arise.
• The teacher of the PDD child, in providing a
  forum for expression, question asking and
  feedback from the PDD child may reduce the
  frustration of the PDD child and this may reduce
  outbursts.

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PDD in the Classroom

• The misinterpretation of frustration for
  aggression puts the child with PDD at a
  disadvantage in the classroom.
• The acceptance of the aggressive behaviours as
  expressions of frustration rather than violence
  may help the classroom teacher and the PDD
  childs peer group understand and bond with the
  PDD child.
• The PDD child can easily become trapped by the
  behaviours that provide the only means for that
  child to communicative.
• The teacher would benefit from seeking
  alternative means of communication, using
  symbols, pictures, and hand gestures.

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Communication and PDD

• The deficits related to communication are
  variable in children diagnosed with autism or
  PDD.
• Generally, 50 of the population of children with
  autism are categorized as acquiring useful
  speech.
• This is important to instruction and classroom
  involvement.
• The inability of a child with PDD to communicate
  is not an indication of overall ability to
  acquire some useful speech.
• In the classroom there are opportunities to
  promote language acquisition and increase the
  useful speech a PDD child can acquire.

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Communication and PDD

• In providing opportunities for echolalia so that
  the child might be given opportunities to develop
  communicative interaction with the teacher and
  peers.
• Provide the PDD student with key phrases and
  responses and the conditions in which to apply
  these echoed phrases allows the student to
  develop some useful communication and attachment
  to the community of the classroom.

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PDD and Play

• The authors state that, children with autism/PDD
  show significant deficits in symbolic play (using
  pretend actions) and limited abilities in
  functional play (using objects functionally)
  (Wetherby et al).
• The PDD / autistic child, perform lower levels
  on symbolic play but higher levels on
  constructive play (Wetherby et al).
• What does this mean to the classroom and what can
  the teacher do with this?

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Focus on Strengths

• This is significant because it identifies the PDD
  childs area of strength and comfort.
• In that through the providing of these
  opportunities for constructive play the students
  are provided with the opportunities for success
  in this area.
• Frustration reduction may be achieved by
  providing the PDD child with opportunities for
  constructive rather than pretend play.
• To the classroom teacher this means a significant
  use of constructive manipulative and practical,
  logical tangible tools for instruction rather
  than abstract and social relation learning
  experiences.

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More Classroom Implications

• Further findings suggest that joint attention
  responses increase when the PDD child is engaged
  in constructive play.
• By providing single person activities related to
  constructive play, but gradually increasing the
  possibilities of success of completion of these
  tasks through co-dependence and shared learning,
  the PDD child will be more inclined to use joint
  attention and demonstrate spontaneous sharing in
  order to complete the construction task and
  further engage in reflective and expressive
  language use and acquisition.

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Even More Classroom Applications

• The inability of these children to respond and
  use body language cues can often be
  misinterpreted as a lack of these attachments and
  connections.
• It is important that the classroom teacher
  continue to express attention and emotion to the
  PDD child and to assist in the development of
  appropriate responses.
• Adaptations such as providing a mirror for the
  child or using exaggerated gestures may assist
  the child in developing cue identification
  techniques and might result in an echolalia of
  sorts in these gestures.

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Conclusion

• Difficulties experienced by the PDD child can be
  addressed by classroom interventions.
• Suggested interventions include one on one
  interaction wherever possible.
• It is important to recognize the ability of these
  children to respond to intervention and success
  of interventions is dependent upon available
  resources.
• The suggested approaches may benefit the child in
  the inclusive classroom and are particular
  non-invasive methods of including the PDD child
  into a classroom setting.

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Last Words on PDD

• Make the classroom environment and program
  consistent and predictable.
• Provide instruction in both oral, visual and
  tanglible modalities to promote the learning of
  the student with autism or PDD.
• Encourage interaction with non-disabled peers -
  these students provide models of appropriate
  language, social, and behavior skills.
• To overcome frequent problems in generalizing
  skills learned at school, it is very important to
  develop programs with parents, so that learning
  activities, experiences, and approaches can be
  carried over into the home and community.
• (adapted from www.nichcy.org)

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Article Critique

• Annalee Clarida
• EDUC 1235 Special Education Part 1
• Dr. T. Ryan
• 2004-06-08
• Article Title
• Communicative, Social / Affective, and Symbolic
• Profiles of Young Children with Autism
• and Pervasive Developmental Disorders