Teaching a child can be quite challenging. And, if that child happens to be autistic, with learning disabilities, it can prove to be even more difficult. However, with proper planning and patience, anybody – whether a teacher or a parent, can face this challenge. Here are some autism teaching strategies, which if applied well, can prove to be quite effective vis-a-vis an autistic child.
Autism Teaching Strategies
Physical Environment
The space where the autistic child is going to be taught, whether it is a classroom or home, should be very plain, calm and quiet. Avoid putting any colorful charts or posters on the classroom walls. Stimulating things like lots of colors or loud music, often distract the autistic child and he is not able to concentrate properly. Also, select a particular space for extra activities. For example, if you have chosen the space near a window for doing art activities, keep it like that and don’t change it. By doing this, the moment you ask the child to sit near the window, he will know that it is time for the art class.
Repetitive Routine
The classroom daily routine should remain the same, i.e. there should be no surprise for autistic children. One of the most used autism teaching strategies is to use pictures for depicting the classroom schedule. By using pictures that represent a particular class activity, the autistic child is well aware of what is going to be taught next. Since everything becomes predictable for the autistic child, he is able to learn and concentrate more. Thus, a consistent routine is very effective in helping children with autism learn.
Fewer Choices
Don’t cloud the autistic child’s mind by giving him a number of choices, as it may confuse him and he will not know what to do. For example, if you want to know which class activity he likes the most, do not show him pictures of 5-6 activities together, instead show him 2 pictures and let him pick one out of the two.
Communication
Be very clear, when communicating with an autistic child. Use very simple words which are easy to understand when teaching children with autism. Keep the level of your voice very low, as a loud voice might disturb and agitate an autistic child. Also, while communicating with the child, keep the physical contact to the minimum. This is because the autistic children can’t understand the body language and thus, might not be able to interpret your “touch”.
Activities
Another teaching strategy is to plan the autistic children activities in such a way, that they help the children to learn social skills. Encourage the students to interact with each other as much as possible, so that they learn the appropriate social behavior. The activities should be such that they teach the autistic child to identify emotions in others as well as oneself. The teacher might use certain short social stories, based on certain social situations, to teach the children how to respond when in a particular situation. Such activities have to be supervised properly by the teacher, as the autistic children often face major difficulties with social skills and behavior. Also, the teacher should use as many pictures and visual aids as she can in the teaching activities, as these can help the autistic children learn faster.
Curriculum Planning
The curriculum for autistic children should be planned in such a way, that it incorporates the daily living skills which will help the autistic child to work independently as an adult. Examples of the skills that should be a part of the curriculum are self-care skills, social skills, social behavioral skills, skills related to employment, reading and writing skills, time management skills, money skills, and some hobbies according to the interest of the child.
Besides these autism teaching strategies, a few things should be kept in mind while dealing with autistic children. Firstly, they should never be put under stressful situations, as it might trigger an aggressive behavior on their part. Secondly, autistic children have difficulty expressing themselves, so keeping the eyes and ears open, and trying to understand them as much as possible, can make the teaching job easy. With the help of these teaching strategies and a little sensitivity and patience on the teacher’s behalf, a marked improvement in the autistic child’s behavior can be brought within no time.
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