Timers and Choices

Working with children that have Autism I have always found that they would rather swing the entire recess than play on the playground with their friends. Children with Autism need that sensory of swinging but they aren't going to socialize if that's all they do during recess. So a technique I have found that works is using timers. I usually give my child a choice between two different times that work for me but I let him/her choose between the two. That makes the child feel like they are in control. I would tell him/her FIRST: Swing THEN: Friends. Then I ask them "would you like 4 minutes or 5 minutes". You would think they would always answer with 5 minutes, that's not always the case. This technique works every time with my children because they are prepared to leave after the timer is up. One great thing about the IPhone timer is you can let the child set the sound he/she wants to go off when it is up.

Teaching With Books

My Mouth is a Volcano by Julia Cook is a great book to teach children with Autism how to be socially appropriate in public. I highly recommend this book for grades K-3rd.

FIRST / NEXT / THEN

For the past three months I have been working with this individual who has high functioning Autism. He is obsessed with sharks, Halloween, and LEGO Alien Conquest. He is currently in Kindergarten but was held back this year because of his lack of maturity and social skills. We have been using work systems with him. We all know that children with Autism are so different and with this child, we have found that the FIRST / NEXT  / THEN system works the best. You can use a white board or if you don't want to always write the FIRST / NEXT / THEN you may want to type it up then laminate it to use dry erase markers. To use a work system like FIRST / NEXT / THEN you write FIRST: Math / NEXT: Speech / THEN: Shark book (reward depending on the child). If that is too broad, then you can do FIRST: Name / NEXT: count the birds / THEN: write the answer. Some days we go through more struggles than other days. So depending on the day I may use M&M's to accomplish a worksheet. If we are struggling to do a worksheet that has six problems I will write on my work system FIRST: Number (1) / THEN:  a M&M. the great thing about children that have Autism is they are very routine, so once they have done the first couple problems they understand if they do one they earn a M&M.