Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Autism in the Classroom
I have an autistic student in my class. How can I incorporate the learning so he can fit in with my class? He is at kindergarten level. I want him to feel included in class activities. He has an IEP but I want my class to remember he is still a part of our class and that we're a family.
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I think your wonderful attitude is going to be the most helpful thing in helping your students all feel like one class. I used to have a position supporting classroom teachers who had students with autism, and I would have loved to work with you! When the teacher models it, the children certainly do pick up on it.
One thing that can be helpful in furthering this is to help the children understand that everyone has things they are really good at, and also things they have a hard time doing. So, just as you might pair someone with strong social skills to interact with your child with autism during free time, you might find something he is really good at and pair him with someone who has trouble in that area. You say he is at kindergarten level, but kids who have autism often have some splinter skills that you become aware of after a while, sometimes even functioning higher than others in those areas.
As far as specifics, differentiated instruction can be such a challenge, but if you have some specific activities or subjects in mind, please share them and we can brainstorm. For example, I worked with a kindergarten class who did short spelling tests every week. My little student had a very hard time focusing on handwriting and written expression at the same time, so we made a letter folder for him - laminated letter cards with Velcro on the back, and Velcro strips on the folder. Then he just had to pull and stick to spell the words, and the teacher wandered the room and corrected his as she passed by.
I hope your school year is going well!
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