SUBWAY SLEUTHS GUIDE

This guide serves to illustrate the power that special interest

areas (SIA) of children with autism can bring to educational

programs and how these interests can both motivate and

support students’ social engagement. This guide presents how

the New York Transit Museum has harnessed this power and

encourages other museums and after-school programs to

consider how they, too, could incorporate the principles of the

Subway Sleuths program.

New York Transit Museum Subway Sleuths Guide, 2012

Developed by Susan Brennan, CCC-SLP and Lauren Hough, MSEd

๏ GOAL OF THE GUIDE

๏ INTRODUCTION TO SLEUTHS

๏ HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY

๏ PROGRAM BASICS

๏ SESSIONS

๏ Lesson plans

๏ Structure, supports, & strategies

๏ Note-taking sheets

๏ Parent communication

๏ Positive impact

๏ GALLERY

Table of Contents “This was my son’s first after-school program, and I

am happy it was such a positive experience for him!

He loves trains and the Sleuths helped him feel more comfortable with his peers.

He can now join other programs with confidence. “

- Mom of Subway Sleuth

The goal of the Subway Sleuths is to honor strengths of students on the autism spectrum and tap into a shared interest to add feelings of comfort, competence and excitement to

social interactions. This guide aims to inspire the development of similar strength-based programs for other students with autism.

  At the New York Transit Museum, our Sleuths get to engage in an environment in which they are passionate and where they are the experts. People are drawn to others who share their passions. Individuals with autism are no different. This shared interest can be a foundation for investigating social interactions.

  While children with autism often have challenges in pragmatic language, social communication, reading others’ emotions, and processing sensory input, studies have found that these deficits diminish when participants are engaged in their special interest areas1.

  Because trains are a popular SIA of individuals with autism, the New York Transit Museum is perfect for this type of work. The museum itself serves as both the motivator and the organizational structure for highlighting, modeling, investigating and experiencing social interactions. For The Subway Sleuths, it’s all about trains and transportation! And, once we embrace the idea that children can be experts in the things that interest them and that the feeling of competence this yields is the place to start social learning, the possibilities are endless.

 We invite you take a short tour on our Subway Sleuths train. We will give you an overview of our environment and one special interest

area that we hope will inspire and lead to the use and celebration of many many more.

1 Winter-Messiers, M. A. (2007). From Tarantulas to Toilet Brushes: Understanding the Special Interest Areas of Children and Youth With Asperger Syndrome. Remedial and Special Education, 28 (3), 140-152

The New York Transit Museum’s Subway Sleuths is an after-school program

designed for train enthusiasts on the autism spectrum. Groups are facilitated by an experienced special educator and speech-language pathologist trained in supporting with students with autism spectrum disorders, who work in collaboration with museum educators from the Transit Museum. A core goal of this program is to capitalize on students’ authentic interests in the transit system to help them navigate shared social experiences with their peers. Anchored in Self-Determination Theory and promising practices in the field of ASD, the program facilitators utilize social-pragmatic language and social cognitive strategies to target four specific goal areas. During the 10-week program, the facilitators use strategies within an interest-based framework to encourage students’ enthusiasm for the transit system and also to address areas of difficulty common for students on the autism spectrum.

The New York Transit Museum, one of the city's leading cultural institutions, is the largest museum in the United States devoted to urban public transportation history, and one of the premier institutions of its kind in the world. The Museum explores the development of the greater New York Metropolitan region through the presentations of exhibitions, tours, educational programs, and workshops dealing with the cultural, social, and technological history of public transportation. Since it's inception over a quarter century ago, the Museum, housed in a historic 1936 IND subway station in Brooklyn Heights, has grown in scope and popularity. As custodian and interpreter of the region's extensive public transportation networks, the Museum strives to share, through its public programs, this rich and vibrant history with local, regional, and international audiences.

For more information, please visit the New York Transit Museum at www.mta.info/mta/museum/

History & Philosophy

The New York Subway Sleuths program is an after-school program with a therapeutic lens that is designed for train enthusiasts on the autism spectrum. Sleuths capitalizes on its students genuine and authentic interests and uses them as a base for encouraging social development. Sessions focus on encouraging natural engagement through participants’ motivation to share their interest in trains with others. The Transit Museum and its content is used as a platform for investigating the social. Support is provided so that students on the spectrum are able to share their love an knowledge of the transit system with peers, and giving them access to participating in an after-school experience tailored to their interests and needs.

Program Basics

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STAFFING: The Subway Sleuth groups are facilitated by a speech-language pathologist and a special educator with training and experience working in the field of ASD. Sessions are also supported by Transit Museum staff who share their expertise in the museum content.

OUTREACH & SCREENING: Information about the groups are distributed to schools, posted on blogs, and advertised on the museum website. Interested students are screened by autism consultants and group facilitators to determine program and group compatibility.

SESSIONS: The Sleuths program consists of 10, 1 hr. 15 min. goal-directed sessions that utilize the Transit Museum as a classroom. Groups are made up of 5 to 7 train enthusiasts on the autism spectrum who work together, ultimately producing a culminating project.

CONSULTATION: Sleuths groups are supported by experienced consultants who specialize in autism spectrum disorders. Consultants conduct mid- and post-session observations to support facilitators and help to guide note-taking and goal-tracking procedures.

PARENT COMMUNICATION: Newsletters highlighting pictures, projects, and sleuth vocabulary are sent out at the mid-point of the sessions as well as at the close of the 10 weeks. These newsletter share groups’ main goals and key concepts with Sleuth families and also invite parents to the Sleuths‘ end of session project presentation.

FUTURE PLANNING: As the Subway Sleuth program continues to grow, the Transit Museum is exploring ways to expand the number of groups offered, to standardize the program, to explore options to track its success, and to provide training for new facilitators.

1. Structure sessions with visuals such as a schedule

Sleuth Strategies

Example: Sleuth schedule

Why: To capitalize on visual strengths, to organize the session time for students, to provide a visual to support shared memory recall, and to promote shared thinking

2. Structure dyad work relating to the larger group activity

Example: Break up into dyads to do part of a project for the whole group

Why: To support gestalt processing and flexibility, to consider various social regulation strengths/challenges

3. Build and utilize shared memories Example: Taking and reviewing pictures and labeling shared moments

Why: To build self-awareness and connectedness (use of shared memory to relate/connect to others), to support emotional memory recall (episodic memory)

4. Model shared language rooted in social concepts2Sleuth Strategies

Example: "Solo-car” / “Six-car train” for “out of the group” / “part of the group” and "runaway train thought" for topic changes 

Why: To build social concepts through motivating area of interest, to build connections and social self-awareness, to use language specific to the group and to capitalize on shared dynamic thinking for concept building

5. Use of roles to collaborate & understand place in a groupExample: “We’ll be the Z-line logo designers to help the map cartographers and train engineers with the group project.”

Why: To support understanding one’s place in a group, maintain interactions, consider self as part of a whole (facilitated by assigning roles, start in dyads), support appraisal of group work

6. Reflect as a group and provide feedback to every student Example: “When you added your ‘Z-train’ idea to the other group’s ‘White-line’ idea you connected your thoughts and kept our six-car train running! Nice sharing your thinking. Great teamwork.”

Why: To provide labels and summaries of social concepts in action, highlighting their active use to lock-in understanding and encourage generalization

Whoa! That was a

‘six-car train thought’! Nice

group thinking.

2 Such as concepts from Michelle Garcia Winner’s Social Thinking™ paradigm

Each session is designed by the facilitators to meet the needs of the students in that group.

Lesson plans includes the following components:

1. Overall goals

2. Learning and social

objectives

3. Materials (e.g., cameras,

projectors, materials to

create visuals)

4. Procedures for session activities

5. Notes for future sessions

Sessions

Subway Sleuths SAMPLE Lesson PlanTuesdays Fall 2012

Session 3

Overall Goals: Overall group goals targeted across multiple sessions

•To build the concepts of: o being part of a group and working as a groupo using flexible thinking to help the groupo learning new information and sharing what you know about the transit

system

Learning & Social Objectives: Focused goals for this session

o To follow a session structure (using visual train schedule)o To share space and experiences with adults and peerso To explore the idea of “the group” in different configurationso To accept and assign roles in a larger group and dyado To collaborate and apply train knowledge to solve riddles

Materials: Materials to support the session’s activities in the museum

o Train schedule visualo Name-tag buttonso (5) full-size images and (3) reprints of those images from last sessiono Digital camerao Subway maps and bookso (3) sets of (4) riddleso Museum materials: Keys and locks

Procedures: Activities and strategies used to target goals and build concepts

1) “All Aboard” / Warm-up (4:15 – 4:45)• “Waiting time” spent in the location: On the Streets [-4:25]

o During waiting time, take restroom breaks• “Exploration time” with subway maps / books [-4:35]

o Spread out maps and books- encourage independent exploration-­‐ Use declarative language to encourage communication

• “Super Subway Sleuth Train” [-4:50]o Spread out materials across more tableso Show group images – draw out memories of names

-­‐ “What were we doing?,” humorous moments, “label the moment”o Model assigning/accepting roles with the limited tools (i.e. one pair scissors,

one glue stick, etc.)

2) Next Stop (4:45– 5:15)• “Mystery of the Missing Keys”

o Introduce activity: Introduce pretend scenario-“We have a problem! We had a special train treat for you guys, but Virgil locked it in his locker. He went to go look for his keys and now they are missing! Someone left a note that says, ‘Ha-ha I played a trick on you! Good luck finding those keys!’ We have a train mystery to solve, Sleuths!”

o Each dyad gets 1 set of 4 train museum riddles to solve togethero Teams work together to solve each riddle, which will take them to a different

place in the museum. The final location contains a note saying “These letters are a clue! Bring them back to the station to work with group to solve the mystery!”

o Each group brings back a set of letters spelling ___________? The whole group puts the letters together to find the “key word”.

o “Key word” tells the group the location of the keys. The group gets the keys and brings them to the locker to get the special Sleuths treat.

o Celebrate!

3) Last Stop (5:15 – 5:30)• “Wrap-Up/Reflection”

o Discuss experiences from the session and highlight teamwork behaviorso Provide constructive reflectiono Discuss what helped keep the group together during the sessiono Celebrate and build anticipation for next session

Student name(s): ______________________________________________________________ Date: ____________!

Notes below for: ❒ Student/session observation ❒ Session/activity planning ❒ Other: __________________________

Social Engagement Problem solving

For example...❒ Makes connections with others around train experiences❒ Checks to see if partner agrees with an idea❒ Accept roles to further a group goal

For example...❒ Recognize a problem, determine cause❒ Recognize known versus unknown information❒ Makes predictions and provides solutions

Pragmatic Language Social Cognition

For example...❒ Read nonverbal cues of others❒ Assert in interaction without dominating❒ Ask/answer questions

For example...❒ Think about and recognize another’s interest❒ Recognize shared interest- basis for social interaction❒ Consider partner’s perspective/compromise

Flexibility Self-Regulation

For example...❒ Demonstrate flexibility during change in schedule❒ Recognizing and following someone else’s plan❒ Compromise for the sake of the group

For example...❒ Coordinate actions with a partner❒ Cope with challenging situations by asking for help❒ Transition between different activities

NotetakingGroup facilitators take notes following each session to document how the session went and to record individual student present functioning. Overall impressions are recorded, and facilitators discuss students‘ social engagement, problem solving, pragmatic language, social cognition, flexibility, and self-regulation.

Abridged Notetaking Sheet

The Transit Museum is committed to tracking the positive impact of the Subway Sleuths program on its participants. Capitalizing on the students’ interest in trains and their motivation to explore this content, we create a place for shared learning and imagination where students with autism can explore the Social World.

It is our vision that the Subway Sleuths program will give participants a unique

opportunity to access the social experience of working with peers around an area of

competence, and that we will able to see the positive impact of this experience.

Even across a limited number of sessions, we hope to give our Sleuths the opportunities and supports to learn new information on a subject of interest while exploring new ways of engaging with peers. We hope to tap into our students’ motivation to reach out to their peers as they interact around a mutual interest within the walls of the Transit Museum. In this environment, we hope to see an increase in students’ social engagement that can be documented across the 10-week sessions using a Progress Tracking Sheet.

Ultimately, we hope to see the Subway Sleuth’s social concepts extending to experiences outside of the museum. Parent pre and post-session questionnaires are used to collect feedback, helping us note students’ use of concepts in other environments and also helping us determine parent perspectives on the success of an after-school program tailored specifically for their children with autism. These tools are used to not only document the positive impact of Sleuths’ train enthusiasts, but also to help to continually guide improvements to the program from group to group.

Positive Impact

Positive Impact: Sample Tools

Sample Questions from Parent Survey:

Does your child make comments on their own to you/to others when engaged in an activity he/she enjoys (e.g. “I love coloring!” or “My train is going faster than your train”, “This is awesome!”, give a high five)?

Does your child ever talk about an experience he/she remembers having with you (e.g., “Remember when we went to Coney Island that time last summer? That was fun!”)?

Does your child ever change what he/she is doing or invite another into their game when playing with another person so that the play can continue (e.g., “Oh, you’re putting the tracks together? Ok, then I’ll start working on the bridges.” or “I’m building the space ship. You can put the people together!”)?

When your child is in an interaction with another person, does he/she ever tell them his/her ‘plan’ before leaving for a short period of time (e.g., “I’m just going to go get us some glue!” or “I’ll be back- I just have to go wash my hands.”)?

Sample from Progress Tracking Sheet:

How often does the child... Might look/sound like...

BASELINE

After Session 2

FINAL

After Session 9

Use verbal and nonverbal language to make connections with another in the moment?

- Pointing to establish joint attention in an interaction.

Dyad: Dyad:Use verbal and nonverbal language to make connections with another in the moment?

- Pointing to establish joint attention in an interaction. Group: Group:

Use verbal and/or nonverbal language to demonstrate memory of shared experiences?

- Referencing memories with, “I remember when we...”

Dyad: Dyad:Use verbal and/or nonverbal language to demonstrate memory of shared experiences?

- Referencing memories with, “I remember when we...” Group: Group:

Use roles to collaborate? - “I’ll be conductor, you can be the mapper.”

Dyad: Dyad:Use roles to collaborate? - “I’ll be conductor, you

can be the mapper.” Group: Group:

Demonstrate an interest in being part of the group?

- Staying physically with the group to work on a shared project.

Dyad: Dyad:Demonstrate an interest in being part of the group?

- Staying physically with the group to work on a shared project. Group: Group:

In the Subway Sleuths, train

enthusiasts share thinking, stay

connected, explore together, and

talk about trains to their

hearts’desires!

Our Ultimate Social World Classroom!

Contact us for more information!Marcia Ely, Assistant DirectorNew York Transit Museummarcia.ely@nyct.com

Susan Brennan CCC-SLP & Lauren Hough MSEdThe Social Undergroundinfo@thesocialunderground.org

The authors of this publication hereby acknowledge Autism Speaks Family Community Grants as the funding agency for the project leading to this publication. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily express or reflect the views of Autism Speaks or any other funding agency.

We hope that this guide has served both to introduce the mission of the New York Transit Museum’s Subway Sleuths program and also to inspire

others to consider the possibilities for their own museums and after-school programs. Strength-based programming has tapped into the natural

curiosity and enthusiasm of our train enthusiasts, and has given them a place to explore the social world while also sharing with us their strengths,

talents, and passions.