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.

Using IPADS with Children on the Spectrum

IPADS are great educational tools to use  when working with children with autism. This is especially true for those children who are not yet using verbal language as their main source of communication. There are several applications that can be found on the IPAD. For example; the Tap Speak application allows the teacher or parent to create a menu for the child to choose from in order to communicate. In my current preschool classroom, we use the IPAD for circle time. The children use the Tap Speak application to greet their peers. They first select a picture of one of their peers from a basket, they must match the picture to their peer's face and walk over to say "hello."  If the child is non-verbal, I will have the IPAD ready with the "Hello" symbol ready on the IPAD and the child will press this and the IPAD will simulate a voice that clearly states: "Hello." A simple activity such as this helps all of the children participate in the morning greeting. Another application that is helpful is the morning weather  activity which all of the children love to use. The IPAD is loaded with pictures of suns, clouds, rain, snow, wind, cold, hot, warm, and chilly. The children simply touch the picture they think best represents the weather and the IPAD will again simulate a voice that states the weather aloud.

Another great way to use the IPAD for children with autism is to create your very own social stories. The IPAD is equipped with a camera ( in most cases) and the teacher and/or parent can take pictures of the child engaging in the desired activity as well as type in the words they would like to use for the story. The IPAD will also simulate a voice to read the social story aloud for the child.

*One other fun fact to know is that you can record your own voice or the actual voice of the child on the IPAD!! The children are fascinated with this and it really helps motivate them to pay attention to the activity!

Fine Motor Activities for Children with Autism

For many students who are somewhere on the spectrum in relation to autism, it can be challenging to find pre-k activities that are motivating and stimulating for the students to participate in.   Teachers are continuously searching for new activities to help children work on their fine motor skills, which are essential skills for little ones to acquire during these critical years. Here are some ideas as well as activities for teachers and parents to use, that may help.

*Matching Colors/Clothespins Activity
-Gather about a dozen clothespins and color each one a color (red, orange, blue, green, yellow, purple, black, brown, etc). Then use a paper plate to create a pie chart that are divided equally into sections and paint each section one color. Next, model for the child how you use the clothespin to match the colors. Place one or two clothespins onto their matching color on the plate. To individualize, place motivating stickers of their favorite characters onto the clothes pins as well as the paper plate. This activity can be adapted for any child and from what I have seen in my own preschool classroom works very well with all of the children.



*Sensory Letters Activity
-Get a can of shaving cream and spread across a flat surface. Begin to model for the children how to make various letters and allow them to trace your letters. Next, allow the children to make their own letters. Other tools that can be used: sand and for children who do not like to get their hands dirty place pudding in a zip locked bag and allow the children to trace this way. This is a great sensory tool for children on the spectrum as well.