Laura Thurman

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Module ITE105 Triad of Impairment and Strategies

The triad of impairments are three areas in which children and adults who have autism share difficulty in, these three areas are: Social Interaction Communication/Language Rigidity of thought/Inflexibility of thought (Imagination)

Rigidity of thought/Inflexibility of thought (Imagination) The ability to think flexibly is a core aspect in our development of life e.g. in our play, our social development, our thinking and understanding and our ability to be adaptable and flexible in our behaviour. One of the key problems of being inflexible, is problem solving of all kinds. It much more complex to problem solve than what we think. Some problems that autistic children struggle with are things that a neurotypical child wouldnt even see as a problem, for example:

1. Social/Emotional: How to ask? How to Play? What should I do when? What

should I say when? 2. Academic/Intellectual: What to use? Where to Find? How to do? ProblemSolving 3. Every Day Issues: What to wear? What to eat? What to play with? What to do with my time? 4. Physical: Where to sit? Where to find? Where to go and how to get there/ Physical proximity, Physical routines. The 5P approach to flexibility of thought is a strategy that uses the Red, Amber and Green traffic light colours to outline the three main elements: Thinking Skills and Conceptual Understanding, Play and social Development and Adaptability all in which are effected by poor flexibility of thought. 5papproach (2013) suggest that the 5Ps represent a five-step pathway which helps an individual and tutor identify certain behaviours to then go on to implement a comprehensive intervention programme. 1 = Profiling (Knowing all about the individual) This could be done by using things such as a diary, this will let the child express their feelings exactly how they are and gives the tutor and child an opportunity to talk about things that may not have come up in conversation before. 2=Prioritising (Working out what is the most important thing to tackle) Activities such as a poster, or even writing a make-believe letter to the rest of the class explaining what the child feels like they struggle with and how the rest of the class could help with improvement. 3=Problem Analysis (Working out what is happening) This is again could be grasped from tasks such as writing a letter, or even general chatting to parents.

Laura Thurman
4=Problem Solving (Working out why it happens)

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An activity such as a timeline over the past week or two weeks of particular incidents that have happened and the Childs reaction, and over a certain period of time a pattern may appear, this then shows when certain incidents occur, and what triggers certain negative reactions. 5 = Planning (Working out what to do about it) To look back at the rest of the four Ps and make some sensible decisions on what to work on.

I feel that this strategy to improve flexibility of thought could increase positive behaviour, however I do feel that this may work more effectively on younger children, as they tend to be more open about situations and how they feel.