Micaela Reed

Final Project

SED 729

Seton Hill University

Spectrum Disorder with auditory processing disorder. ASD and auditory processing disorder

have been noticed to often be connected to each other. It is not uncommon for a person with

ASD to also have auditory processing disorder. Auditory processing disorder does not stem

from impaired hearing. It instead involves difficulty processing sounds from the brain. “Central

auditory processing involves how the brain processes, or makes sense of, sound detected by

the ear” (Autism and auditory processing disorder, n.d.). It can be extremely difficult for

someone with auditory processing disorder to do the sound processing that is required in order

to understand what another person is saying to them, especially in a noisy environment. Some

struggles with autism are an inability to focus on details, may have language delays and fine

motor developmental delays, and typically do not understand social ques and body language.

In order to make my training meet the needs of this type of learner, I have included

many adaptations and modifications into my training. The first is using a presentation tool like

Nearpod. Nearpod in itself is a tool to help me meet more learners’ needs. Nearpod is going to

help me meet this learner’s needs because of the ability for the presentation to be on each

individual’s own device. This means it will be much closer to them instead of just being cast

onto a screen in the front of the room. This will help learners attend to the presentation better

because they will be able to see all of the information clearly and closely. Nearpod also allows

me to have the ability to be either teacher led or student paced. This can ensure that a student

is able to read all the material on their own multiple times before moving on to ensure absolute

mastery is reached. An additional modification I added was including both a recording of me

reading the questions during the assessment parts of the training and having them typed out.
This will help with auditory processing disorders because it reduces the processing needed to

be done by the students’ brains. They can both read and hear the information which will assist

in overall understanding of both the material and the questions asked. Another added bonus of

using Nearpod is the ability to allow students to submit their answer to an open ended question

by either typing or by an audio recording. This audio recording feature will make responding to

the open-ended questions much easier if a learner has fine motor developmental delays. With

this type of delay, typing may be tedious and might take them longer to do than a typical

learner. The audio recording will allow the learner to record their response in less time than

typing it out would.

In order to create an inclusive classroom environment, it is especially important to first

look at your own values and approach to sensitive topics such as disabilities, race, and so on. It

is important that when planning lessons, we are ensuring that we are acknowledging different

backgrounds, varying experiences, perspectives, and so on. It is important to promote diversity

and fairness in your classroom in order for it to be considered inclusive. You should “create a

supportive peer culture both inside and outside the classroom. This is when you empower

learners to respect and trust each other, making empathy and caring ‘fashionable’ and

reinforcing positive and pro-social attitudes by encouraging learners to help each other” (Unlu,

2017). This is a goal we should have for all of our students – that they are good, kind people to

to others and have a heart that cares for others and how they are feeling. We should also plan

learning so that each child in our classroom can participate and succeed. When we plan for

success, all of our students reach it! Taking a community approach to learning by recognizing

that “inclusive values are developed through a student’s lived experience and their exposure to
other cultures and world-views” (Unlu, 2017). By exposing our children to different ideas,

cultures, opinions, and world-views, we are instilling that thinking differently is okay and

accepted. Providing this inclusive environment teaches all children – not just children with

learning differences how to be more aware, tolerant, and understanding of each other not only

in your classroom, but in the world as they grow older.

Many modifications can be put in place to help a child with autism and an auditory

processing disorder succeed in the classroom and beyond. Having a cool-down area in the

classroom can allow a child to learn how to recognize feelings and have a safe space to work

through the feelings they feel so intensely on their own without the audience of the rest of the

classroom. A safe space makes everyone feel more at ease, and it can immediately help a child

with autism cope with the overwhelming feelings they could be feeling. A child with autism and

an auditory processing disorder can be overstimulated by the hum of florescent lighting. By

switching the lighting source from the overhead lights to lamps or natural sunlight from the

windows, we can drastically decrease the noise that a child with autism and an auditory

processing disorder may be focusing on instead of the lecture of the day. Being mindful of how

many pictures or posters are hung on the walls or how much clutter is around the classroom

can also help decrease the overstimulation that children with autism typically feel. While these

are just a few of the modifications you can make to help children or learners in your classroom,

there are so many others that may work too. It is important to remember to find what works

best for the individual you have in your classroom.

Autism and auditory processing disorder: What's the connection? (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.autismspeaks.org/expert-opinion/autism-and-auditory-processing-disorder-

whats-connection

Unlu, V. (2017, November 15). How to create an inclusive classroom environment.

Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2017/11/15/create-inclusive-classroom-

environment/