Attention and concentration

Points to note

• Children with autism can be easily distracted. They may find it hard to concentrate when they are disturbed by background noise, flickering lights or movement of other children. Classrooms that are very bright and colorful can overload a child with visual information. Children with autism find it particularly hard to ‘filter out’ background noise and visual information.
• A child with autism can have trouble understanding what he needs to focus on; he may be unaware of the ‘big picture’, concentrating instead on small, irrelevant details.
• A child with autism is likely to have obsessive interests that intrude on his thoughts. He may pay little attention to an activity that does not fall into his particular area of interest.
• A child with autism may not pay attention to group instructions because he does not consider himself to be part of the group.
• Attention may be poor if there is a problem with receptive language and the child has not understood what is being said.
• The child may have difficulty understanding the concept of time. If the child is uncertain how long an activity is likely to last; this uncertainty may affect his concentration.

What you can do

• In some classrooms it may be acceptable to play background music to mask out unwanted noise.
• When demonstrating an activity you may need to repeatedly remind the child what he needs to focus on.
• Try to incorporate the child’s particular topic of interest into activities to increase his attention and motivation.
• Use the child’s name frequently when addressing the class as a group. This helps the child with autism recognise that he is part of the group. If the child has an aide, ask the aide to repeat group instructions to him individually.
• Keep your language clear and precise, giving one instruction at a time. Give the child sufficient time to process the instruction, then check that he has understood.
• Try to keep tasks as relevant and functional as possible. Children with autism will lack motivation when given tasks that have little relevance or meaning to them personally.
• Make sure the child understands the activity and knows how to start and when to finish. Use a kitchen timer or analogue clock to show the child how long the activity will last. This will help him develop a concept of time. You might say, “We’ll do this work until the big hand is on the 12.”
• If all else fails and the child just won’t pay attention, he may need some time out. Remember we all have our bad days!

Effective rewards and motivators

Points to note

• Children with autism usually do not have an 'in-built' desire to please others.
• Rewarding positive behaviour helps children with autism understand what is acceptable behaviour.
• The child with autism might become anxious when asked to do something that is unfamiliar, preferring the activities he knows. This makes him feel safe and secure. This is why it’s important to identify and use appropriate rewards and motivators.
• The rewards that motivate normally developing children often do not appeal to a child with autism.

What you can do

• Assess the child’s interests to establish what will be the most effective rewards and motivators. Conduct regular reviews as the child’s interests can change over a period of time.
• Creative teaching staff can try working the child’s preferred interest into lessons.
• Very young children will need to learn there is a connection between rewards, praise and good work. Give praise immediately, remembering to look and sound happy so that the child understands your meaning even if he doesn’t understand your words.
• Allow the child free time at his preferred interest if he completes his work before the other children.
• Give the child ‘Behaviour Bucks’ as a reward for good behaviour. Photocopy dollar ‘notes’ that can then be used to ‘buy’ a larger reward. A great method for teaching money maths.
• Another tangible reward system is a sticker card with a grid of squares. The child earns one sticker for good behaviour. When the grid is full it can be traded in for a reward. Use stickers that relate to the child’s interest.
• Use a communication book between home and school to report on progress, skills learnt, behaviour etc. This will give parents the opportunity to learn about and praise their child for good behaviour.
• Initially offer the child frequent rewards to improve motivation - you can be more selective later.

Encouraging handwriting skills

Points to note

• The child with autism may have fine motor difficulties that it makes it hard for him to write neatly. He may not have enough control in his hands to hold a pencil properly.
• The child may be a perfectionist who insists on always forming his letters perfectly. He may become so obsessed that he constantly erases his writing and starts over, never completing an activity. Other students may be extremely slow writers or they may write well at the beginning of an activity but quickly tire.
• Some children with autism insist on writing in capital letters.
• The child’s handwriting may suffer if he is anxious about his writing or some other issue.
• The child may have difficulty taking notes from the blackboard; as this involves reading the words, keeping the words in his memory momentarily, writing them down, often while listening to verbal instructions from a teacher! It is very difficult for a child with autism to attend to more than one stimulus at a time.

What you can do

• Children with autism are resistant to change so it is important to show the correct method of holding a pencil right from the beginning.
• The child will need ruled paper or lines as a guide when he is writing to keep his letters even and uniform.
• When starting out, the beginner writer may be more motivated to copy or trace words related to his special interest.
• The child may benefit from having a ‘physical experience’ of writing rather than watching or listening to instructions on how to do it; put your hand on top of his and guide his hand to form the letters.
• A child who insists on writing in capitals may have learnt to write this way prior to school entry and has become ‘stuck’. Individual teachers can decide whether it is worth tackling this problem. There are many other ways of recording information.
• The child will benefit from a reference close at hand. Place a laminated alphabet card on the child’s workspace.
• Show the child that everyone makes mistakes and show how you handle them.
• The child may write better if you tape his page to his desk so that he doesn’t have to hold the page with his spare hand. Or the child might just need prompting to use his 'helping hand’ to stop the page from moving about as he writes.
• The child might write better if his writing surface is raised on an angle.
• While handwriting difficulties need to be addressed, consider alternative methods of recording such as using a laptop or mini tape recorder. These can be useful when the student needs to record a lot of information.
• Advise the student of how much he will need to write at the beginning of the lesson so that he knows what is expected of him.
• A social story can be help teach a child that it is OK to make mistakes. See the page on Social stories.
• It can be difficult for children with autism to switch from printing to cursive writing. You might consider teaching cursive writing from the beginning.

Encouraging numeracy skills

Points to note

• The child with autism may find it easy to learn things by rote, so you may find they are very good at counting and number recognition. Counting is predictable and ordered, which is very reassuring to a child with autism.
• While the child with autism may be excellent at counting, he may become confused when shown how to add, especially if he is yet to develop a concept of number.
• Another confusing aspect of numeracy is the perplexing array of words that mean the same thing. For example, when talking about subtracting you may say ‘minus’, ‘less’, ‘take’ and ‘take away’. When adding, you might say ‘plus’, ‘and’, ‘add’ etc. Just as it can be difficult for children with autism to learn that some words have more than one meaning, they can be confused to learn that one concept can be described by so many different words. Avoid using just one term, thinking that this will avoid confusion. The child is likely to become ‘stuck’ and have even greater difficulty later on.
• Some children will have difficulty with concepts like more, less, half, double, quarter.
• Some children with autism like the rigidity of maths; doing the same problems over and over and getting the same answer.
• Some children will grasp the concept of a new exercise after doing one or two questions – they won’t see the point in completing an entire worksheet.

What you can do

• Use the child’s special interest and meaningful, real life concepts to help develop an understanding of numbers. If the child likes trains, for example, you could make up activities where the child has to put a certain number of passengers in each carriage, or add cargo cars to a locomotive.
• Teach the child to generalise information and think flexibly by making a dictionary of math words that have the same meaning. Put this on the wall as a visual reminder.
• Computer programs that teach early numeracy skills will be helpful in motivating the child with autism.
• You might reduce the amount of work the child has to complete if you feel he has quickly grasped the concept of the exercise. Forcing the issue will only lead to conflict.

Improving organisational skills

Points to note

• The child with autism may have deficits in his executive functioning skills. This means he has difficulty with organisation, task sequencing, planning and getting started.
• The child might become easily overloaded and confused by having to cope with the social demands of school life, this in turn will affects his personal organisation.
• The child may be unable to see the point of being well organised if he has little motivation to please others or master new skills.
• The child may have particular difficulty remembering items he should bring from home, what he needs to take home each day, the materials required for certain classes, knowing where to put his answers on a work sheet and finding his way around the school.

What you can do

• A child with autism should not be punished for deficits in his executive functioning skills, ie. being disorganised, forgetting class materials, difficulty getting started on a task.
• The child may benefit from having a map of the school. You could use different colored highlighters to mark play areas, home room, canteen, etc.
• Use a homework assignment book or sheet. This should clearly state what is expected as well as listing the books and resources needed to fulfil the requirements.
• Talk to the child’s parents about providing a suitable place at home for the child to complete his homework. It is essential for a child with autism to have a space that is free from distractions.
• It is very important that a child with autism has time to ‘unwind’ at the end of the day so you may need to lower your expectations regarding the amount of homework he is required to do. You could even set aside some class time for the child to complete a homework assignment.
• Use a visual or written timetable that shows the items that are required for each lesson.
• Enlarge worksheets onto A3 size paper and using a highlighter, mark the spaces for each answer.
• The child may need some help getting started with an activity. A physical prompt may be necessary. Try providing a list sequencing the tasks to reach the goal of the activity.

Learning to ask for help

Points to note

• The child with autism will often have difficulty asking for help; he might continue with a problem until his tolerance runs out, becomes very frustrated, then erupts in a tantrum. He doesn’t seem to appreciate that other people may be able to help him. This is because a child with autism is likely to have an impaired ability to recognise the thoughts and intentions of other people. He doesn’t understand that someone else might be able to offer a solution to his problem.
• Even a child with good language skills may not recognise the need to tell people that he is frustrated, that he wants something or that something is troubling him. He may think that others already know what he is thinking or feeling, without the need to verbalise these thoughts..

What you can do

• Be aware of the tasks that cause the most difficulty. Work alongside the child and help him to recognise when he is having difficulty. Teach a standard phrase to use such as “I’m stuck” or “I can’t do this.”
• The child will need to be specifically taught how to convey his sense of discomfort. If he has difficulty interpreting his emotions, he will need help to identify these feelings. See Social Interaction > Lack of social understanding.

Literacy and comprehension

Points to note

• Many children with autism are fascinated with numbers and letters from an early age. Some will teach themselves to read by the time they reach school.
• The child may acquire reading ability without fully understanding the sounds that different letters make. It is typical for a child with autism to have an uneven developmental profile.
• The child may be very good at reading. He may be able to decode the words but does not understand what he has read. This is known as hyperlexia.
• Some children will have more difficulty learning to read. They may learn the names and sounds of letters by rote but may not understand how these sounds fit together to make a word.
• Some children with autism only read non-fiction books; this allows them to gather facts and knowledge on their preferred interest.
• Some children have excellent rote memories. They may appear to be a competent reader but are actually recalling a story they know word-for-word.
• Children with autism are visual learners. When learning new words, it is best to take a ‘whole word’ approach rather than a phonetic approach, as this may teach the child only to sound out the word, not the word itself.
• Comprehension is often difficult for a child with autism because of his ‘theory of mind’ deficits. This means he has difficulty understanding that others (including characters in books) have motivations, intentions and beliefs different to his own. There is difficulty in understanding questions, in particular ‘why’ as this requires reasoning.
• In creative writing, a child with autism may lack imagination and have difficulty organising his thoughts in sequence. He may not provide enough information to ensure reader understanding, assuming that the reader knows as much about the plot and characters as he does. He may only write on a limited range of topics.

What you can do

• Some young children will need encouragement to develop an interest in books. Try lift-the-flap books, noisy books and books related to the child’s preferred interest. To make sure he does not get stuck on one topic, try to expand his interest toward related topics.
• Choose books with repetitive, simple stories at first. There is no point reading a story with complex sentences or concepts if the child does not have the language skills to understand the story.
• Home made books with familiar photos and stories about the child’s family, pets and activities can be more meaningful to a child with autism.
• Help the child to understand that words have meaning by attaching labels to items in the classroom. Encourage the child’s parents to do this at home, also.
• If the child lacks imagination he may have difficulty relating to fantasy stories, preferring books that are more meaningful to him personally. A children that is a competent reader may be more interested in gaining knowledge by reading non-fiction books about things that interest him.
• If the child has a favorite, familiar story, photocopy the text, cut into sentences and have him put them in the right order.
• Computer programs that teach sounds and word recognition will be of great benefit to a child with autism and will encourage him to work independently.
• Encourage the child to make his or her own story using computer images, photos, pictures and drawings. Encourage him to describe what is on each page, write the words for him if necessary.
• Practise sequencing using sets of cards that show a series of events. Ask the child to retell the events in his own words and help him to understand and answer questions such as “What happened before …?” and “What happens next …?”
• After reading a story ask the child ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’ and ‘how’ questions. Many children with autism find questions confusing, so it may help to provide two alternative answers to prompt the correct response. As the child’s verbal ability and comprehension improves you could introduce ‘why’ questions, again giving the child prompts to develop his understanding.
• In creative writing, allow the child to write about personal experiences, then to expand the activity and develop creativity, pose questions like, “What would have happened if…”
• If the child has difficulty getting started in creative writing, write a starting sentence for him.

Memory recall and reflecting on learning

Points to note

• Most children with autism can easily recall established facts and general knowledge. They may have excellent rote memories.
• According to some theories, many learning difficulties experienced by children with autism arise from their failure to develop an experience ‘of self’. It is as if they have difficulty experiencing events as happening to themselves; as if they are watching a video of life. This lack of experiencing self has a profound effect on the child’s ability to process information.
• The child may have difficulty accessing and retrieving memories without a specific cue. The child may not have a meaningful framework in which to link events and personal memories.
• The child may have difficulty responding to open questions, such as “What did you do on the weekend?’ but may be able to answer questions when given alternatives, such as, “Did you go the park or the beach on the weekend?”

What you can do

• Be aware of the child’s difficulties with open questions, only use these if you feel he will be able to give a correct response. Otherwise, ask questions that give him a cue as to the correct response.
• There are several strategies to try that may help children with autism to memorise specific information.
  These include:
  1. when talking about experiences, discuss the child’s personal response, ie. how he felt and what he was thinking. Most children will need assistance to identify these feelings,
  2. working the information into a diagram or picture form,
  3. helping the child to establish links between new information and information he already knows.
• When a new skill has been learnt it is helpful to reflect on this learning before moving on.
  This can be done by;
  • identifying key points,
  • asking the child to clearly state what he thinks he has learnt,
  • make connections between what has been learnt and prior knowledge in the subject,
  • make a judgement about how this new skill or information will be useful in future.

Modelling and prompting

Points to note

• It is hard for children with autism to acquire new skills by being told what to do; they rely more on modelling and prompts.
• The child may be unable to imagine what it would be like to master a new skill; that is, to imagine himself performing the activity and the feeling of pride and sense of achievement associated with learning that new skill.
• The child may have poor imitation skills. He may not ‘pick up’ new skills by simply watching another person. He may focus on irrelevant details and miss the point of the demonstration. He 'can't see the forest for the trees’.
• Some children with autism have quite good modelling skills and may be able to copy what you do. However he may still require a physical or verbal prompt in order to complete an activity because he gets ‘stuck’ and forgets what he has to do next.

What you can do

• When teaching new skills, use a simple verbal prompt accompanied by a physical prompt (as long as the child is comfortable with physical contact.) Physical prompts should be withdrawn quickly but gradually, otherwise the child will come to depend on them. The verbal prompt can then be gradually withdrawn and replaced by a sign or gesture.
• Hand over hand modelling is a useful way of teaching physical skills, particularly those that require fine motor skills and manipulation, such as removing lids, threading beads, using pencils or painting. This method will give the child a ‘physical experience’ of performing the activity. This assistance can also be withdrawn gradually by allowing the child to complete more and more steps of the activity on his own.

Toileting

Points to note

• A school aged child with autism may be toilet timed not trained – he may rely on adults or routine cues to prompt him to go to the toilet.
• A child with autism may have associated learning difficulties that make it harder for him to learn the skills he needs to use the toilet independently.
• The child may need a very clean toilet and bathroom environment in order to be comfortable using the toilet. School toilets may be very different and frightening compared to those the child has used at preschool. They may be very dirty, noisy, smelly, crowded, in a poor state of repair, ie. doors won’t lock, no toilet paper, taps too hard to turn on, etc. This is a sensory nightmare for a child with autism!
• The child may have trouble communicating his needs. He may not appreciate what other people may or may not know about his state of mind, so he may not tell an adult that he needs to use the toilet.
• The child may have difficulty generalising tasks that he has learnt from one setting to another. The child may be toilet trained at home but has difficulty using the toilets at school, or vice versa.
• The child may be lacking in social awareness; he may not understand that it is inappropriate to do a wee or a poo someplace other than the toilet.
• The child may have developed fears or phobias around using the toilet. He may be fearful of spiders, worry about being splashed with water or he may not clean himself for fear of making a mess and getting dirty. In extreme cases, these fears can lead a child to developing constipation and stomach upsets if he refuses to use a toilet at all for long periods.

What you can do

• Establish regular times for toilet visits throughout the day. Check with the child’s family for suitable times. Try placing reminders on a visual timetable.
• The child may not recognise body signals that tell him he needs to go to the toilet – he may need frequent prompting.
• Use a picture chart that shows the sequence of steps for going to the toilet.
• Learn to recognise any non-verbal signals the child may use to suggest that he might need to go to the toilet. Make all staff aware of the meaning of these signals. Teach the child a standard phrase to use when he needs to go.
• Discover what works best as an effective reward; perhaps time spent at a preferred activity will motivate him to sit on the toilet.
• Reassure the child that he can return to his activity once he has been to the toilet.
• Ensure student toilets are regularly inspected and cleaned. A child with toileting phobias might be allowed supervised visits to the staff toilets if the student toilets are in a poor state of repair.
• Consult with an occupational therapist - the child may avoid using the toilet because of sensory avoidance issues, such as the sound of the hand dryer.
• Sometimes a child will try to establish elaborate routines around going to the toilet; this should be discouraged if possible. This can be a hard habit to break.
• A child who has frequent accidents at school may learn that this results in mum or dad coming to the school with a change of clothes (or taking him home for a bath) – another hard habit to break.

Transfer of learned skills

Points to note

• The child may be very rigid in his way of thinking. He may have great difficulty transferring the skills learnt in one setting to another, similar setting.
• Problems with memory recall lead to difficulty searching the memory for useful information. Unless specifically cued, a child with autism may lack the ability to spontaneously search his memory for knowledge that can be transferred to a new situation.
• The child may be unable to display certain skills at school yet he can perform them independently at home, or vice versa.
• This inability to generalise skills can be a big problem if the child’s teacher is unaware of just how rigid the child can be.
  

What you can do

• It is important to always generalise what is being taught with a range of examples and situations. Children with autism need to be given the opportunity to learn the same thing in different situations.
• For example if you are discussing the types of houses that people live in, you would show pictures of detached houses, old and modern houses, high rise apartments, flats, huts and even igloos. In money maths, show how 50 cents can be made up from a number of coins of different amounts.
• If the child learns to add using blocks, he will need to practise this skill with a range of practical examples in different settings before he is taught more complex ideas.
• There needs to be good communication between home and school. Keep a record of skill development in a Communication Book and send it home with the child each day. Newly acquired skills can then be practised at home.
• When a new skill has been learnt, reflect on the learning experience by talking about what has been learnt and how this skill might be used in the future.
• The child needs to be given the opportunity to enjoy what he has learnt. Reflect on the child’s achievement, pointing out that he is happy, proud etc.