Strategies to Use:
1.Daily and Task Plans
Difficulties with transitions between tasks and activities is common through the full range of the autism spectrum. Therefore, a daily and task schedule is a helpful tool for students to break down how much time they have to do certain types of work.
2.Alternate Media
Students in the autism spectrum normally exhibit difficulties in more than one learning style. Teachers should try to identify the students learning type and tailor the lesson to their needs.
3.Sensory Tools
95% of autistic children have difficulties regarding their sensory system. Therefore, sensory tools, or fidgets, can help relieve the resulting stress and improve focus for autistic children as they attempt to learn in a busy classroom environment. Examples include stress balls, pencil toppers, and fidget cubes.
4.Quiet Corner
A busy classroom has many distractions that a child with autism has trouble to drown out. Things like flickering lights, or screeching chairs, will too easily distract a child with autism. To prevent sensory overload, teachers can provide their students with a place to escape the constant barrage of noise and visual stimulus by creating a quiet corner in a low traffic area of the classroom.
5.Extra Breaks
Teachers can help the school day go much smoother by building breaks into the schedule. A single five minute break every hour provides much needed time to transition between tasks and recover from the demands of the classroom environment.
Breaks should also be available on an as-needed basis to allow students with autism to learn how to respond to internal cues and take the actions required to regulate their being. Without an adequate number of breaks each day, students may be prone to meltdowns from sensory overload and fatigue from constantly attempting to regulate themselves.
