Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
John Reynolds
Committee Member
David Masoner
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Committee Member
Claudia Santin
Keywords
autism, auditory stimuli, behavior disruptions, cafeteria, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, daily schedules, developmental disabilities, eating environments, engineering adaptations, food throwing, individual work systems, learning problems, Metro School, North Carolina, North Carolina Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children, overcrowding, pervasive development disorders, physical organization, poor eating habits, routines, screaming, self-abusiveness, self-stimulation, serving lines, special schools, structured teaching model, students with autism, visual stimuli, visual structure, work systems
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to identify, select, and evaluate available options for engineering and adapting the eating environments for students with autism at Metro School located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Teachers in the autistic program were concerned about behavior disruptions when students ate in the cafeteria. The noise level, excessive movement, overcrowded conditions, limited space for seating in the cafeteria, and the wait time in serving lines were conditions identified by teachers of the autistic that appeared to frustrate and overstimulate some of the students, thereby intensifying behaviors. The behaviors included being self-abusiveness, exhibiting self-stimulation, throwing food, displaying poor eating habits, banging the walls, running, grasping food, and screaming.
Planned solution strategies included the implementation of the North Carolina Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children Structured Teaching Model that includes (a) physical organization or structure, (b) routines, (c) daily schedules, (d) individual work systems, and (e) visual structure. Some behavioral disruptions continued due to the behavioral makeup and nature of autism.
The outcome of the applied dissertation resulted in the identification and evaluation of available options for engineering and adapting the eating environments for students with autism that reduced the amount of visual and auditory stimuli in the cafeteria and other eating environments and, thereby, reduced student disruptions. In addition, the researcher’s investigation and results were presented at the 1999 North Carolina Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children Conference in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.