Guidelines for Teaching Students
with Autism Spectrum Disorders

• Teaching Students with Autism
• Teaching Highly Verbal Students with Autism

By Marrea Winnega, Ph.D.

Guidelines for Teaching Students with Autism

• Teach all the skills you want the student to know or do.
• Teach across settings and environments. Teach in natural settings.
• Make the tasks functional and meaningful to the extent possible.
• Use visual cues—pictures or written schedules, lists, manipulatives, counters, etc. Consider using containers to structure the student’s activities.
• Use schedules to organize the student’s day and organize the staff working with the student. Build sensory breaks into the schedule.
• Make sure tasks have clear, visual beginnings and endings.
• Vary tasks and activities to minimize fatigue, boredom, and frustration.
• Implement a work/break routine. Provide sensory breaks.
• Provide the student with autism with a “safe spot.” This is a place the student can go to relax and take a break. The student may need to take such a break when overstimulated by sensory input.
• When you speak to a student with autism, keep your language short and simple.
• Do not be deceived by your talkative student with autism. Note that his/her understanding of language is probably not at the level of output.
• Teach receptive language. Consider using Discrete Trial Teaching to accomplish this.
• Give the student time to process what you have said and time to respond. The student may take 60 seconds to do this. Do not repeat yourself if the student is thinking or within ten seconds of the first command, statement, or question.
• Encourage communication during all aspects of the school day.
• Be aware that students with autism can become dependent on prompts, especially verbal prompts and gaze.
• Praise them for each correct response. Use a variety of reinforcers that the student finds reinforcing.
• Ask indirect questions, such as “What should you be doing?” This will decrease dependence on verbal prompts and help the student think about what he/she is doing.
• Watch for teachable moments.
• Teach reading decoding and comprehension. Pair the printed word with the real object; include objects in the environment such as trees, grass, bushes, flowers, sidewalk, etc.
• Teach emotions by identifying pictures and identifying feelings in others and in self.
• In small groups, teach leisure skills such as game playing and turn taking.
• Teach the meaning of idioms, metaphors, and sarcasm.
• Remember that students with autism are very literal.
• Teach time and money concepts. Teach length of time. Use real money.
• Teach organization and study skills.
• Teach relaxation techniques. Remember that these children show anxiety in unconventional ways. Read the student’s behavior and make hypotheses about the possible meanings of it. Anxiety is often one of these meanings. Document behaviors that are signs of anxiety. Examples are pushing staff away, that is, not letting staff help, or not engaging in a task.
• Rules are very important to students with autism. If you do not make them, they will. Utilizing a rulebook is often helpful.
• Consult with the Occupational Therapist about sensory interventions. We probably will not fix their sensory integration, but the treatment can help them cope better with each day.
• When shaping or teaching a behavior, think about how you want it to look when the student is 18 years old or older. Have a plan for teaching the future behavior and share it with subsequent teachers and therapists. This includes how the student puts on a coat or learns to write letters. Students with autism have difficulty generalizing, from tracing to printing.
• When problem behaviors occur, consider the behavior from the student’s theory of mind. Then assess the communicative functions of the behavior. Consider performing a functional analysis.
• Learn about Social Stories.
• Teach the student to develop a theory of mind by encouraging guessing and predicting.
• Teach social skills.
• Be flexible and creative!

Guidelines for Teaching Highly Verbal Students with Autism

• Teach how to interact socially, how to have a reciprocal conversation, and how to read others’ nonverbal behaviors, such as facial expressions, gestures, and body language.
• Teach all the skills you want the student to know or do, especially organization and study skills.
• Teach students the reasons for what they are doing, especially the reasons behind social interactions.
• Teach across settings and environments.
• Use visual cues—written schedules, lists, manipulatives, counters, etc.
• Praise students for appropriate social behavior, paying attention, having a conversation, etc.
• Ask indirect questions, such as “What should you be doing?” or “How do I know you are listening to me?”
• Highly verbal students with can talk about issues and problem solve in a therapeutic or small group setting, but cannot put this into action. When a problem occurs, they respond in an unexpected or immature manner. If you want them to generalize, facilitate/coach their social interactions on the playground, in the gym, or in the lunchroom, that is, wherever the difficulties are occurring. Set up situations in these settings and coach the student to a successful resolution. Provide choices if possible.
• Watch for teachable moments.
• When teaching in small groups, be careful about how many students are in the group. Some highly verbal students report that they cannot follow what is being said when more than two other students are present. Teach strategies for keeping track of more than two people.
• In small groups, teach leisure skills, such as game playing and turn taking.
• Teach conversation and writing skills using the students’ special interests.
• Teach the meaning of idioms, metaphors, and sarcasm.
• Highly verbal students can be very literal. If they are not following a directive, think about what you said that might have been misinterpreted.
• Some high verbal students perceive things differently than we do and misinterpret social situations. Try to understand how your student perceives different social situations.
• You may teach something one school year and see it being done by the student the next school year. Keep teaching even if you do not experience the results you would like to see—what you teach today may have an impact next year.
• Some verbal students with autism are perfectionists. Try using Social Stories to lessen the need for perfection.
• Some students have poor self-esteem. Be gentle when correcting these students.
• Teach relaxation techniques. Remember that these children show anxiety in unconventional ways. Read the student’s behavior and make hypotheses about the possible meanings of it. Anxiety is often one of these meanings. Document behaviors that are signs of anxiety. Examples are pushing staff away, that is, not letting staff help, or snapping at staff for no apparent reason.
• Rules are very important to students with AD. If you do not make them, they will. Utilizing a rulebook is often helpful.
• Behavior modification systems may have to be classroom-wide to impact the student with AD. Some students know what is special for them vs. what the class must do, and they respond better to the class rules than to specific behavior programs.
• Maintain close communication with the home. Sometimes, the parents know about their child’s difficulties before the child will share them with the school. The parents are a critical part of the team and often have valuable insights about their child’s behavior.
• Assess the student’s handwriting ability and determine whether it is time to consider assistive technology, such as computers and alpha pro writers. Since many students with Asperger’s have difficulty with fine motor skills, writing wears them out. Consider letting them dictate journal stories or homework answers, or provide a copy of the lecture notes with key words missing so that they have to fill in the blanks (this will also maintain their attention) to decrease time spent on writing.
• Some highly verbal students have hypersensitivity to all of their senses. This will affect how they are learning or responding in a given situation.
• Consult with the Occupational Therapist about sensory interventions. We probably will not fix their sensory integration, but the treatment can help them cope better with each day.
• Some verbal students with autism have a constant feeling of flight or fight that is not obvious to us. For us, it would feel like constant adrenaline flowing through our systems. Keep this in mind when thinking about the student’s behavior and what he may be experiencing and communicating.
• Some highly verbal students have difficulty with time. They can tell time, but do not perceive how long something can take. For them, taking out the garbage takes as long as reading an epic novel. We need to try to teach a sense of time using timers, stopwatches, etc.
• Consider one-on-one teaching.
• Every year is different!