It requires great effort by the parents, teachers and professionals to help autistic children to grow professionally and get the best educational success out of the classroom experience. Every autistic child has unique style of learning. Every autistic child in the class needs individual attention. Below are some tips to ensure educational success in the classroom for children with autism.
- Children with autism work best according to a particular routine. When anything happens different from his/her routine he/she may demonstrate stereotype behavior such as rocking, shouting or screaming. Teachers should make efforts to gently teach the autistic child to cope with such changing routines by providing him/her with a written routine or schedule to follow during the school day. Paste a written time table showing the daily schedule on the student's table. This will help him/her to cope with the change in schedule and adhere to a consistent routine.
- Children with autism are easily excited by the excess stimuli in the classroom. If such a stimulation arises, the teacher or resource staff should quiet the class, take the autistic child to a quiet area. To calm down the situation, the teacher should try to reduce the volume and clutter in the classroom which could cause distraction and excess stimulation for autistic children.
- Autistic children may find it difficult to adjust to a particular task. Teachers should try to find other ways for autistic children to process the task (e.g. if the autistic child understands better in the resource room, take him/her out to explain the things being taught). In the same way some autistic children may learn better while sitting on a swing. The motion may help them with processing learning objectives.
- Attention span of the autistic children may include short timeframes of being on task and larger ones being within self. While teaching in the class, teachers should keep a constant check on the autistic child. Autistic children get distracted if something is not of their interest. Therefore teachers should keep an eye on the autistic children so that autistic children should get the most learning from the lesson.
- Teachers should use various concepts to teach autistic children such as taking large assignments and breaking them down into smaller fragments or parts of learning objectives. Teachers can use songs, poems, diagrams and other visual aids to help autistic children in learning.
Thus, instructional strategies for autistic children in the classroom must be individualized to gain maximum success. Specific modifications must be made to cater to the unique needs of the autistic children in the classroom.
