Every child is unique. Students with autism can force parents and teachers to change their plans and curriculum to better suit the child. Every autistic student is different and has unique needs and strengths. Your privilege as the parent is to find what works best for them! After all, you are their parent and know them best. You’ve known them the longest and spend the most time with them out of anyone else.
So, where do you start? Think about what they are interested in and find ways to incorporate that into learning. I have had students absolutely obsessed with Lego. What were their essays about? Lego. What did we use for math? Lego. It helped them be engaged in their learning. Suddenly, they were interested.
Incorporating interests is not always possible. What else can you do? Offer short stints of bookwork/learning followed by breaks. The timing of this would be different depending on the age and ability of the child. It may look like 10 minutes of work followed by 5 minutes of free time. If the student is really focused on an assignment, you could stretch out the work time and allow for a longer break.
Stimming is critical to productivity. Teaching students with autism has shown me how important stimming is to them. Without allowing for time for students to calm down, things can escalate quickly. Even a couple of minutes for them to calm their minds will encourage them to be productive when they return. While it can seem counterproductive, it is actually beneficial in the end.
As humans, we all need to do things to calm our minds. Stimming is one way that autistic children calm themselves. I had one student who would read a math problem, jump up and down a few times, and then come back to write the answer. Sometimes he just needed a brain break.
For kindergarten and younger grades, hands-on activities is important for engagement. Try to find ways to incorporate learning into every day life or use hands-on resources such as the ones I’ve listed below.
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A “calm down kit” such as the one below is a good tool to have to manage emotions.
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This letter building activity is fantastic! Students can build letters and even practice tracing them with their fingers.
I also love sets like these, where students can make words (real and nonsense!). It helps build creativity, while also keeping them engaged by “playing a game”.
