Many techniques of general education are not effective when learning how to teach autistic children. Whether you are home schooling your child or working on an Individualized Education Program (IEP) as part of a public or private school program, autistic children require special considerations.
People have three basic learning styles. Visual learners learn from reading or seeing a demonstration of a skill. Auditory learners learn best from lectures, spoken instructions, or even music. A kinesthetic learner finds that movement helps and that they learn faster, for example, if they imitate a demonstrated action rather than just observing it.
Most people use two or three of these learning styles. A particular person might, for example, learn best visually but can still learn effectively from auditory or kinesthetic lessons. Autistics, however, often focus on only one of these methods sometimes to the complete exclusion of the other two. An autistic child might get restless and start wandering around the classroom during a lecture because he doesn't understand that the lecture is the lesson.
There was a time that it was believed that many autistic children simply couldn't learn. Today it is understood that teaching autistic children requires some modification in technique, but these students can not only learn but can usually learn in a typical general education class. For more information on educating special needs students in regular classes, see How To Understand Special Education Inclusion.
Here are some tips on teaching autistic children. None of these are ironclad rules as every autistic child responds to the environment differently. It will require experimentation and careful observation to see which of these is most effective.
- Determine which learning style best suits the child and emphasize that method of learning and communication. Taking the example of the child who is ignoring the lecture, if he were a visual learner you might show him his seat or a picture of a chair to help him understand it is time to sit down. If he were a kinesthetic learner, you might lead him over to his seat with light pressure on his shoulders....
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Author: Andy Humphrey