Teaching Children with Autism

Our teachers encompass a lot of difficulties while they teach and work with children with Autism on a day to day basis. Here are some tips that may ease out the routine of the teachers.

1. Use Visual Support for Communication – Children understand and retain visual cues better than verbal instructions. Try and use more visuals in communication and teaching.

2. Provide a Structured and Predictable learning environment – A structured/planned day is always helpful. For example, a morning cycle followed by noon and then day end, if communicated in the morning, create a mental picture in the mind of the children and it becomes easier to work with them.

3. Plan for Transition and Prepare the students for change – Prepare the kids for the next activity a few minutes in advance as such kids take time to wrap up and come out of the mental frame.

4. Evade long Verbal Information – Try to keep the communication in few and simpler words instead of longer sentences or multiple instructions.

5. Motivate Independent effort – Kids love motivation. Appreciate and promote if someone has performed a task or activity on his own.

6. Support Challenging Behaviour – Child might show challenging behaviour at times. One needs to understand the antecedent of the behaviour and provide positive support to the child.

7. Keep in mind the Sensory Issues – We need to identify the individual sensory issues and have a mental note. Example, a child may not like loud music but loves to sit on his favourite chair.

8. Have a Self-Calming space – Keep taking short breaks for yourself to relax and recharge. Listen to some music, have a cup of tea/coffee or do anything that refreshes you.

9. Provide Positive Praise and Meaningful Reinforcement – Try not to say NO. Inculcate the habit of using positive words even of the child has done something wrong. Example, if the child is standing on the chair, instead of saying “Don’t stand on the chair”, try saying ,” Stop, we do not stand on the chair, we sit on it”. Extend meaningful reinforcement, like do activities which the child likes to do and can relate to it. Example, a reward for a child can be playing with toys, but instead, try to extend and communicate a specific toy that he likes to play with.

10. Use Concrete Examples and Hands-on activities – The child should have practical learning experience from the teaching. For example, while narrating a Bear story, a Bear can be shown in the form of a teddy bear or video or a big picture.

Happy Teaching .......