Classroom interaction

Points to note

• In the classroom, a student with autism will have difficulty reading the intentions of the teacher and understanding why things happen the way they do.
• The child may find the social dimension of shared learning to be confusing, which is why many students with autism learn a great deal from educational computer programs. Computer programs present information in a logical and sequential format, perfectly suited to the unique learning style of the student with autism.
• The child may not understand that he is part of a group and may ignore instructions given to the class as a whole.
• The child will need frequent remidners to pay attention, and importantly, what he needs to pay attention to.
• The student may have sensory processing difficulties that make him feel threatened by the close proximity of other students. Group work may cause anxiety and the student may insist on working alone.
• The student may have difficulty with turn taking and waiting his turn. He may ask a lot of irrelevant questions and constantly interrupt the teacher or his peers.
• The student may seem to 'switch-off' at times and seem incapable of tuning into classroom activity.
• Be aware that a student who seems quiet and well-behaved may be most at risk in the classroom. Problem issues that are unseen may well go unaddressed until intense frustration results in verbal and/or physical outbursts.

What you can do

• The student will respond best in a classroom environment that is ordered and quiet, with an atmosphere that is encouraging, not critical.
• It is essential that the classroom teacher has a positive and supportive approach toward the student with autism, the child's peers will pick up on this and also adopt a welcoming attitude.
• Watch for peers who may obviously or subtly annoy the student and ensure they do not sit together. Some peers may feed off or feedback inappropriate behaviours to the student - perhaps the student with autism likes these peers but the relationship is not necessarily desirable.
• Consider taking the student out of the classroom to a quiet area for short periods to teach new concepts in a setting free from distraction.
• Avoid doing things for the student that he can do for himself.
• Written instructions, or a combination of text and pictures, should be used to support verbal instructions where possible.
• Be very explicit when giving verbal instructions - don't assume that the context in which it is given will make the meaning clear.
• Don't assume that the student will read your intentions from your behaviour.
• Make sure the student clearly understands the daily routine. Use a written timetable reinforced with images if necessary. See Visual schedules for more information.
• Take advantage of the number of quality educational computer programs available - if the student has a particular interest in computers he could be rewarded for good behaviour with extra time on the computer. A student who has difficulty with written tasks could type and print his work.
• Don't automatically assume misbehaviour if the student is not responding to an instruction. He needs to understand that he is part of the group. Say his name to get his attention before giving instructions, even when giving group instructions. If the student is embarrassed by this, agree on a signal, such as a hand clap, that alerts him to attend.
• The student may not focus on what you consider to be the obvious focus of attention. Again, be explicit. For example, you might need to say, "Look at what I'm holding." Not simply, "Look over here."
• Sit the student in the most appropriate place in the classroom, where he is unlikely to be disturbed by the movement and close proximity of others. See also Physical setup of the classroom.
• If the student resists working in small groups, have him work with an integration aide or classroom assistant, if one is available. Then progress to working with one other child, before attempting group work.
• Use teacher-selected group for classroom activities to ensure the child with autism is not left out by his classmates.
• Allow for periods of solitude. The social demands of the classroom can be demanding and frustrating for a child with autism.

Coping with recess and lunch breaks

“A student with autism was allowed to choose one friend to join him and play his Nintendo at recess. He quickly went from being ostracised to the most popular boy in school! ”

Points to note

• The playground can be a really threatening environment to a child with autism. There is no structure or routine to recess and lunchtime. A child with autism prefers routine, so he is likely to feel stressed or anxious during this time. Normally-developing children use their breaks to release stress and unwind; the student with autism may return to the classroom too stressed to concentrate and participate in any way.
• The child may prefer to withdraw during this time because he is tired from the social demands and sensory overload in the classroom. In the school ground, there is a lot of free movement, noise and vast open spaces. There are unwritten rules that must be adhered to. There are many sights, sounds and smells to deal with. These often cause stress and anxiety.
• The child may lack imaginative and creative play skills; he may prefer solitary or repetitive pursuits, such as computer games. This puts him at a disadvantage socially. He may have little interest in his peers' conversations about clothes, the opposite sex, the latest fads etc.
• The child will be vulnerable to teasing and bullying, both physical and verbal, during this time. His unusual behaviour and poor social skills make him stand out as an easy target. He might lack assertiveness and coping mechanisms to deal with this behaviour, which may result in angry outbursts in class sometime after the event. He may not be able to express his feelings of distress to an adult.
• The child may be naïve and trusting and may be easily led into trouble by others who seek to manipulate him, perhaps suggesting he go 'out of bounds' or outside the school grounds.
• In the playground, the poor motor skills of the child with autism will be painfully obvious to all. While other students enjoy playing ball games, the child with autism may avoid doing so due to his lack of co-ordination and poor motor skills. Attempts to join in ball games may lead to ridicule.
• Some children with autism are 'wanderers' who have little sense of personal danger and no understanding of school boundaries.

What you can do

• Accept that the student may need to be on his own at times, but provide support should the child wish to join social activities.
• Encourage the child to learn by watching others play. If the child has an integration aide it would be helpful to assign some aide time to supervising and supporting the child in the playground. Talk through the activities to explain the role of each person.
• Incorporate social skills training in class. Have the students act out social situations, such as how to join in a conversation in various circumstances.
• Teach and encourage the child to practise playground games and ball handling skills.
• Ensure the student clearly understands the rules regarding school boundaries and 'out-of bounds' areas for his own safety. Use a color coded map of the school grounds.
• Help the student develop strategies to respond to teasing and unwanted social approaches by other children.
• Autism is an invisible handicap - a child with autism looks much like any other student making it difficult for the rest of the teaching community to understand the child's needs. All teaching staff should be aware of the child's social difficulties to make allowances - but not excuses - for his behaviour. Place a photo of the student in the staffroom along with notes about his behaviour and difficulties. (Check that this is OK with the parents first.)
• Have a pre-arranged place for the child to go to if it all gets too much. The student should also be aware of who he can turn to for support when he is distressed, such as a school counsellor. Provide the student with photo cards/names of staff he can go to when he needs help.
• If possible allow the student access to a resource room, computer room or library at break times. See also Creating a home base.
• Make a picture schedule of lunchtime activities. One hour can seem like a long period of unstructured activity for children with autism. Split the hour into segments: 20 minutes - eat lunch, 20 minutes - ball games, 20 minutes - other activities.
• Allow the student 10 minutes of time out after returning from recess or lunch. Give him a favourite activity, time at his special interest or listening to music. Some students may prefer a solo run around the oval; others might like to hide in a box or cupboard, or between a couple of bean bags for a period to de-stress.
• Choose a mature student to keep an eye on the child with autism during recess and lunch breaks. Rotate students on a roster system. Some students may need close supervision from their integration aide.
• Use a business card holder the student can keep in his pocket, with ideas for conversation starters, activities to try, etc.
• All students in the school should be aware that bullying is unacceptable through a school policy of positive behaviour management.
• A social story can help students with autism cope with breaks, giving him ideas for activities and helping him understand school boundaries. See Social Stories.

Improving social understanding

Points to note

• Social skill deficits are a core characteristic of autism and should not be overlooked when assessing reasons for inappropriate behaviour. Social skill deficits impact on the child's social acceptance.
• The child may have difficulty understanding the thoughts and feelings of other people. He may have difficulty understanding and monitoring his own emotions. He may also have difficulty adapting to the needs and personalities of other children.
• Impairments in social behaviour include limited ability to use gesture, limited or inappropriate facial expression, awkward body language and a peculiar gaze. The child may also be unable or have limited ability to interpret gesture, facial expression and body language. The child may misinterpret what is implied by an affectionate touch, such as a touch on the arm or pat on the back.
• The child might find it hard to understand the intentions and motivation of other people - that is, why people behave the way they do.
• Impairments in social interaction lead to difficulty with conversational turn-taking, maintaining a topic of conversation and maintaining eye contact.
• As a teacher, you may need to teach a student with autism social awareness skills that you didn't have to learn yourself - ie. social skills that you acquired naturally, like listening without interrupting, and pausing to allow others a turn in conversation.
• Children with autism generally lack an ability to understand the consequences of their behaviour.

What you can do

• The student needs to be specifically taught social skills; he will not acquire them naturally by being in a social environment.
• Draw the child's attention to the use of facial expressions, gesture, voice inflection and proximity in social interaction and explain the attitudes and meaning they convey. This could be done through drama and role play.
• Improving social understanding will help all students become more aware of direct and indirect means of communication, improving relationships with peers and teaching staff.
• Some suggested topics to improve social understanding:
  - developing self-awareness,
  - developing social interaction skills such as turn taking and waiting,
  - recognising that other people have feelings, thoughts, attitudes and beliefs that may be different to their own,
  - using and interpreting body language, facial expression, gestures,
  - understanding metaphors and idioms,
  - understanding inference and implied meaning,
  - understanding words and phrases that have more than one meaning. The student may have difficulty putting himself in 'another person's shoes'. He may also have a limited ability to take an introspective view of his own behaviour. The above topics are a good starting point for students with autism to develop better social understanding.
• The student needs to be made aware that he is being addressed when the teacher speaks to 'everyone' to enable him to respond to group instructions.
• Encourage the student to join in any groups or clubs at the school that relate to an area of interest. This will provide him with an opportunity to interact with his peers and be included.
• Point out students in the class who are good role models so that the student with autism can see how he should be behavng. This is important as children with autism are easily led astray by others who are a bad influence.

Lack of tact

Points to note

• The child may have great difficulty appreciating the thoughts and feelings of other people due to impaired 'theory of mind'. (Definition on Introduction page.) This impacts on the child's ability to understand how his comments affect others.
• The child might comment on a person's physical appearance, perhaps pointing out in a matter of fact way that they are overweight, bald or have bad skin! This is not done to hurt or embarrass the person; children with autism just tend to 'tell it like it is'. However, others in the class are likely to find these comments hysterical so it can cause disruption.
• Teaching staff may also face criticism of their teaching style and ability to keep the class under control. For example, this may occur if the student becomes stressed in a noisy environment; he may become angry and criticise the teacher for not controlling the noise level.

What you can do

• It would certainly help to have a thick skin and keen sense of humour. Remember the child is not being malicious.
• Choose a quiet moment after class to talk to the student, explain that the comments are disrupting the lesson.
• Talk to the rest of the class when the student with autism is absent. Encourage them to imagine what it must be like to have an impaired 'theory of mind'. Seek permission from the child's parents first.
• Social skills training using role play can assist all students to develop better interpersonal skills and increase awareness of the thoughts and feelings of others. See Improving social understanding.

Peer relationships

Points to note

• The child may appear withdrawn and to prefer his own company but usually wants to have friends - he just doesn't know how to go about it. Sometimes he may need to withdraw because the social environment of school can be so stressful and demanding. Just socialising with his peers can be exhausting.
• The child might prefer adult company over hisr peers. The child may seek friendship for what he can learn from another person, not for social enjoyment. Adults are likely to be more understanding of the child's peculiarities. The child may think his peers have little knowledge on the topics he finds interesting.
• The child may have a controlling, dictatorial style of play. He may be very resistant to the suggestions of others. He may become aggressive toward his peers if he has to change his play and incorporate the ideas of others. Peers may see the child with autism as bossy and authoritative, acting more like a teacher than a friend.
• The child may have difficulty with concepts such as sharing, waiting and taking turns. He may become over-emotional if he loses a game, he may always want to win or be first. This is probably because he dislikes surprises and has a great fear of uncertainty. Children with autism tend to perfectionists.
• The child may actively seek friendship but lacks the ability to interact with others. He can become quite distressed by his failed attempts to make friends. His response to this failure can range from arrogance and denial, to poor self-esteem or complete withdrawal.
• Children with autism have poor ability to make character judgements. While others can judge a troublesome child that is best avoided, the child with autism may be attracted to peers that are poor role models. Similarly, the child with autism may be unable to judge whether a comment or action has malicious intent or is a friendly overture.
• Sometimes a child with autism will tolerate being teased and tormented at school just to have company. Some will steadfastly believe that another child is a friend when it is obvious his peer is exploiting his naivete.
• A child with autism may 'burn-out' his friends by being too demanding and possessive. The intensity of an exclusive friendship may become intolerable to some children. The child with autism may not understand that his friends sometimes want to play with others. He might react quite rudely or end the friendship if this occurs..
• For some children, the only social interaction they have with their peers is at school because they don't seek out their friends out of school hours unless this is prompted or arranged by their parents.
• Conversational topics may be limited for a child with autism. Some will want to talk exclusively about his preferred interest, not recognising the signs of boredom from his friends. While his friends may prefer to talk about the opposite sex, TV shows and social gossip, these topics may have little interest for a child with autism.
• When children reach an age where they have to wear the 'right' clothes, the student with autism will struggle to fit in. Fashion is not usually a high concern for children with autism; they tend to dress for comfort and practicality. In adolescence, there may be little motivation to maintain a socially acceptable standard of personal hygiene.
• A child with autism may lack empathy, an important factor in any relationship. Friends expect compliments, compassion and kind gestures. The child with autism can be unintentionally rude or unkind due to his inability to understand the thoughts and feelings of others. For example, if a friend falls over and is hurt, the child with autism may act the clown to make his friend laugh, rather than offer compassion and a helping hand. The friend may think this behaviour is uncaring.
• The play of normally developing children frequently involves imaginative, pretend play - children with autism often have impaired creativity or lack imagination. They may not see the point of these games or know what they are required to do.
• Adolescents with autism can develop real social phobias. They can become acutely aware of their social errors and the fact that they are 'different'.
• As you can see there are a great many reasons why it is difficult for children with autism to make and keep friends. However it is not impossible. Remember that when children with autism fail to make friends, they are denied access to the very context they need to practice their social and communication skills - a very unfortunate 'catch 22' situation.
  
  
• Note: for information on peer relationships with the opposite sex, see this topic in Education > Later Years.

What you can do

• Recognise that the student is socially immature. Interpret and explain social situations. Incorporate social skills training into the curriculum. Role play social situations. Developing interpersonal skills will help all students learn the benefit of team work, the ability to manage conflict and enjoy successful relationships with peers and teaching staff.
• Some suggested topics for social skills training:
  - recognising how and when to help others, and when to seek help,
  - the ability to judge when criticism is appropriate or inappropriate,
  - the ability to tolerate, accept and respond to criticism appropriately,
  - how to join in an activity or conservation,
  - knowing when and how to give compliments,
  - acknowledging the suggestions of others and incorporating their ideas into play / activities and conversations,
  - conversational turn-taking,
  - using vocals to convey tolerance, empathy, sympathy, arrogance, nonchalance etc,
  - compromise and conflict resolution,
  - active listening, reading and using body language and facial expression,
  - recognising when it is appropriate to make empathetic comments,
  - recognising character traits of others and one's own personality to determine the type of person likely to be a compatible friend.
• Promote tolerance and understanding amongst the student's peers by helping them to understand his difficulties. Encourage others to interact with the student in group work.
• The student may need some help interpreting pretend play and understanding how to join in. Encourage imaginative and flexible thinking in classroom activities with "Let's pretend …" and "What if …" scenarios.
• Teach the student how to respond to unwanted approaches from other children. Business size cards with suggested replies can be carried in the child's pocket.
• Select a socially mature child in the class to act as buddy or interpreter. Arrange for them to have a regular, private Q & A session.
• To compensate for a lack of friends, make yourself or a school counsellor available to discuss any concerns the student may have.
• Encourage the student to befriend other children in the school with autism spectrum disorder. Even if there is an age difference, friendship with another student with autism can be very successful. They are likely to have similar interests and be more understanding of each other's peculiarities.
• Social stories are a good way for the student to learn friendship skills. Older students could benefit from having a list of friendship rules.
• Depression often develops in the pre-adolescent and adolescent period as a reaction to loneliness and feeling socially awkward. Talk to the student's parents if you feel he could benefit from psychological services.

Social stories

It is important that a social story is introduced in a relaxed, positive environment where the student is attentive and can 'learn' the social situation and develop an understanding of the social context.

How to present social stories

• Read them to the student.
• Read the story onto an audio tape so the student can listen and read along to the story.
• Act them out in role play situations.
• Have the student read them aloud.
• Afterwards, you can ask the student questions about the story, such as "How would you feel if ….?"

Tips for using social stories

• Use the student's name or nickname.
• Use 'kidspeak'.
• Personalise the story with the names of friends and favourite things.
• Write realistic dialogue that is age appropriate and matches the student's reading level.
• Don't write about what needs to be learned, have the character actually do what needs to be learned.
• Use the present tense.
• Repeat the important points of the story.
• Involve the student in writing and illustrating the story.
• Insert clipart or photos of the student to add interest to the story.
• Try to end each story with a 'confidence statement' such as "I can do it."

Note!
To avoid literal interpretations and to accommodate changes in routine and expectation, use the following words in the story:
Usually
I will try
Sometimes
Probably

Some students will memorise the stories and may criticise you or become upset if you change the text even slightly. To avoid this it may be a good idea to create several versions of the same story; rewriting it from different viewpoints and altering the wording of the key statements.

These social stories are in MS Word format. They are intended as a guide only - you can alter them to suit the individual needs of each student.

The following stories are adapted from "Addressing the Challenging Behavior of Children with High-Functioning Autism/Asperger Syndrome in the Classroom: A Guide for Teachers and Parents" by Rebecca A. Moyes, with permission from Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Copyright © 2002 Rebecca A. Moyes.

Click a story to download.

• Being a Good Sport
• The Consequences of Hitting and Pushing
• Using My Quiet Spot

A great little site that explains the use of visual supports and social stories can be found at
www.angelfire.com/ky/touristinfo/index5.html (link to external website opens in new window.)

You are welcome to contribute your own social stories to this site.

Please email to the web administrator

Teasing and Bullying

Points to note

• The student may tolerate teasing from his peers just to have company. He may have difficulty understanding whether the comments or actions of other children have malicious intent; he might be very naïve and doesn't know when he is being manipulated. Some children are so eager for acceptance they are tricked into breaking school rules, stealing, etc.
• A child with autism can be a soft target for bullies. He may be a 'loner', have unusual behaviour, poor social interaction skills and lack assertiveness; this really makes him stand out from the crowd.
• Children with autism are frequently subjected to bullying when others learn that they can tell the child to do or say almost anything and they will then go off and do it. This type of bullying is particularly hard to spot.
• The student may have no desire to conform to his peers; this will be especially noticeable as he reaches adolescence. He may not be interested in wearing the latest clothes, preferring comfort and practicality over fashion; girls with autism may choose not to wear make-up or perfume because the smell is aversive. These differences single the student out from the 'in crowd'.
• Teasing and bullying can trigger an angry or emotional outburst without warning, some time after the event. When challenging behaviour occurs in the classroom, always consider whether it is the result of bullying. Many children with autism have great difficulty communicating their distress.

What you can do

• Appoint a mature child to watch over the student with autism, a kind of 'guardian angel'. This can be done without the student's knowledge to save embarrassment.
• All students in the school should be aware that bullying is unacceptable through a school policy of positive behaviour management.
• Ensure that all staff have an understanding of the social difficulties experienced by students with autism.
• Set up a home base or resource room for the student to retreat to when he feels threatened or anxious. See Creating a home base.
• Talk to the student's peers, explaining the characteristics of autism and the difficulties the student experiences. Seek parental permission first.
• Help the student to develop appropriate responses to unwanted or hostile approaches. 'Business cards' with suggested responses can be carried in the student's pocket. This is important as a student that is being regularly tormented may have outbursts of rage and aggression.
• Make sure the student has someone to talk to when he is upset, either a school counsellor, a compassionate peer or another adult who is readily available. It may help to give the student a map with directions, so he can easily find help when he needs it. A student that is distressed may have added difficulty finding his way around the school grounds. Walk the route a few times to familiarise him or write a list of directions if the student has difficulty reading maps.