Amelia Gunn Spencer

Glenwood, Inc., USA

Title: Cultivating Student Generated Questions in Young Children with Autism

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Biography

Amelia Gunn Spencer is the Director of Glenwood Kindergarten at Glenwood, Inc., where she supports kindergarten students with autism and other behavioral challenges. Her professional career is grounded in special education, educational psychology, counseling, and inclusive education, with a strong commitment to preparing educators to effectively serve learners with diverse needs.

She previously served as Department Chair of Education and Special Education Faculty at Birmingham-Southern College (BSC), where she spent 15 years as a faculty member and was awarded Faculty Emeritus status. During her tenure, she worked collaboratively with colleagues to strengthen the preparation of future special education teachers, developing coursework and field-based experiences designed to equip educators to support students with and without disabilities, including typical learners, at-risk learners, and students with exceptionalities.

A graduate and alumna of Birmingham-Southern College, She has also been deeply involved in international service-learning. In collaboration with the BSC Bunting Center, she developed the college's inaugural Education service-learning project in 2012. The program provided undergraduate students with opportunities to teach in rural schools in Ghana and Uganda. Across multiple trips, approximately 116 students participated, gaining hands-on experience in teaching English, writing, science, social studies, and reading while working alongside local educators.

One of Her's notable professional accomplishments is the Use Your Noodle (UYN) program, which she co-directed with Dr. Cora Causey in 2023. The innovative program was designed to support children from underserved schools by encouraging curiosity, literacy, numeracy, scientific thinking, and problem-solving. The three-week camp served 40 children from 10 schools through partnerships involving community organizations, Birmingham City Schools, UAB, and Birmingham-Southern College. Program findings demonstrated improvements in oral language, literacy skills, and the number and quality of student-generated questions, including a substantial increase in children's ability to ask open-ended, curiosity-driven questions.

Her's research interests include autism, special education, young adult literature, student-generated questions, teaching practices that encourage inquiry, oral language development in early childhood classrooms, and equitable education for students in underserved communities. Her work reflects a commitment to connecting research, teacher preparation, community engagement, and evidence-based educational practice to improve outcomes for children with diverse learning needs.

Abstract

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and significant behavioral challenges often rely on adults to direct interactions, answer questions, and solve problems. Limited spontaneous questioning can reduce opportunities for communication, self-advocacy, social engagement, and flexible thinking. Each of these skills directly impact behavior and independence. Teaching students to ask meaningful questions creates opportunities to increase communication, decrease prompt dependence, and build cognitive flexibility.

This presentation shares findings from a 14-week intervention conducted at Glenwood Kindergarten with children ages 4–7 with autism and complex behavioral needs. Using an adapted teaching strategy, Question Formulation Technique (QFT), students demonstrated substantial growth in both the frequency and sophistication of their spontaneous questions. As questioning increased, students became more engaged, initiated more peer interactions, demonstrated greater persistence during problem solving, and showed increased independence during inquiry-based activities. Researchers also observed a powerful peer-modeling effect in which one student's curiosity frequently prompted collaborative questioning and discussion among classmates.

• Participants will leave with practical, evidence-based strategies that can be immediately incorporated into behavioral and educational programming, including:
• The Twenty Questions Bridge: Using a highly structured game to teach categorization, discrimination, and flexible thinking while increasing spontaneous verbal behavior.
• Two-Session QFT Implementation: Separating question generation from investigation to reduce cognitive demands and support students who benefit from predictable routines.
• High-Interest Q-Focus Materials: Using novel, surprising, or sensory-rich objects to evoke curiosity and naturally increase communication initiations.
• Visual and Behavioral Supports: Incorporating visual question stems, icons, modeling, reinforcement, and extended wait time to increase independent question asking while reducing adult prompting.

This session demonstrates how teaching children to ask questions can become a powerful behavioral intervention not only increasing communication and social interaction, but also fostering curiosity, self-advocacy, flexible thinking, and independence. Participants will leave with practical strategies they can implement immediately to help students become active participants in their own learning rather than passive recipients of information.