Working with children (ages 3 to 5) who have autism

I have been working with children who have autism for some time now and each and everyday I am learning new concepts and strategies to implement in my classroom that are beneficial for my students. One concept that is crucial for those who choose to work in the area of special education; specifically I am referring to working with children in an early intervention program who have autism, is to understand their individual needs. Children who have autism are not all the same, they all have different needs, different desires, different motivators, and different life experiences. This is true to all children; however it is important to know that children on the spectrum often times learn in different forms.
 Children with autism tend to exhibit sensory needs. Sensory needs include displaying sensitivity to various fabrics or anything that can have physical contact on their skin. Sometimes they enjoy pressure to parts of the body for example, rubbing their hands and focusing on adding pressure to the center of the child's hand. Another strategy that you can attempt is allowing children to work with various textures. For example, when teaching the letter of the week, I will allow the children to practice drawing the letter in shaving cream or sand. Now, not all of the students enjoy having their hands covered with different textures so it is important for the teacher to respect this and not to force the child to continue with the activity. Plan for adaptations ahead of time and allow the child to work with letter recognition by matching letters, tracing letters with a pencil, or tracing and drawing letters on an IPAD application.
Another great way to implement sensory needs in the classroom is to have a sensory table. This is usually a large table or storage bin filled with various forms of materials that help children with autism. Examples of materials used are: water, sand, cotton balls, squishy balls, Velcro, velvet material, and felt material.
Overall, each child is different and it is again, very important for teachers to remember this when working with students who have autism.