ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — There’s probably not a classroom like it in all of Robertsdale Elementary School. A tire swing occupies one corner of the room. There are places for the youngsters to work, and more importantly, there are places for them to “decompress” if things get a little too difficult for them.

Their teacher frets about the new lights being too bright and the hum of the fluorescent bulbs overhead being maybe too “noisy” for her sensitive young students.

Jennifer von Eberstein is the special education teacher in charge of the classroom, one of several at Robertsdale Elementary. Many of von Eberstein’s students have autism-spectrum disorders (ASD). The University of Iowa defines autism this way: “"Autism" means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, … Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences.”

While youngsters with ASD used to be shunted to the back of the classroom or warehoused in a “special” classroom, von Eberstein believes each of her students has something to offer. Often, autistic children have normal or above normal intelligence. Their ability to process information coming in to them and communicate normally is scrambled by their illness.

“Our main goal, along with Project Reach is to see these children go back to their schools, to the general education environment,” said von Eberstein. “We want them to do as many normal things as possible.”

Not all the youngsters in von Eberstein’s classroom are from Robertsdale Elementary's normal area.

According to Robertsdale Elementary Principal Charles Downey, “Eight of the nine students are from different school zones. Student return about every other year to their base school. However, it depends on the ability level of the child.”

Downey added that there are about 14 teachers in the school who have special education certification. Eight of them work in self-contained classrooms, while the remaining teachers work with both teachers and students in general education classrooms.

Those “usual responses” in the description, involve some odd behaviors. ASD students can react to “loud” noises, even sounds that most children don’t find objectionable, and often don’t like to be touched. That makes teaching them to do well in a “regular” classroom a challenge.

The process begins with von Eberstein carefully evaluating each child.

“The challenge is seeing the severity of the behaviors. You want to address them all,” said von Eberstein. “However, you select the most severe and work on them first.”

While von Eberstein has a master’s degree in autism and behavior disorders from Auburn, she has returned to the classroom. She now attends the University of West Florida to earn a credential as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, a person trained to understand the different behaviors people (not just those with autism) have.

“I would like t become a resource for all the teachers in the county,” von Eberstein said.

von Eberstein added that working with parents is a big part of her day.

“I make sure they know how to reach me,” she said. “We talk and commiserate. We send graphs home(detailing behavior) and there is an everyday behavior report.”

She’s seen some big changes in her time at Robertsdale Elementary.

“People are much more accepting now,” said von Eberstein. “The teachers are wonderful. They have given their own students books that show that they (special education students) are not different, they just learn differently.”

Working with “special ed” students is not all that different from working with “normal” students.

“We use a lot of positive reinforcement,” said von Eberstein, “a lot of edible things, high five's, and pats on the back.”

“No” is not a word heard a lot in von Eberstein’s classroom.

“We reserve the word, “no” for danger,” she said. “If we said “no” to everything, it would get repetitive.”