http://www.autism.org/temple/tips.html
Teaching Tips for Children and Adults with Autism
Temple Grandin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
(Revised: December 2002)


Good teachers helped me to achieve success. I was able to overcome
autism
because I had good teachers. At age 2 1/2 I was placed in a
structured
nursery school with experienced teachers. From an early age I was
taught to
have good manners and to behave at the dinner table. Children with
autism
need to have a structured day, and teachers who know how to be firm
but
gentle.
Between the ages of 2 1/4 and 5 my day was structured, and I was not
allowed
to tune out. I had 45 minutes of one-to-one speech therapy five days
a week,
and my mother hired a nanny who spent three to four hours a day
playing
games with me and my sister. She taught 'turn taking' during play
activities
When we made a snowman, she had me roll the bottom ball; and then
my sister
had to make the next part. At mealtimes, every-body ate together;
and I was
not allowed to do any "stims." The only time I was allowed to revert
back to
autistic behavior was during a one-hour rest period after lunch. The
combination of the nursery school, speech therapy, play activities,
and
miss manners" meals added up to 40 hours a week, where my brain was
kept
connected to the world.
1.) Many people with autism are visual thinkers. I think in
pictures. I do not think in language. All my thoughts are like videotapes
running in my imagination. Pictures are my first language, and words are my
second language. Nouns were the easiest words to learn because I could make
a picture in my mind of the word. To learn words like "up" or "down,"
the teacher should demonstrate them to the child. For example, take a toy
airplane and say "up" as you make the airplane takeoff from a desk.
Some children will learn better if cards with the words "up" and "down"
are attached to the toy airplane. The "up" card is attached when the
plane takes off. The "down" card is attached when it lands.

2.) Avoid long strings of verbal instructions. People with autism
have problems with remembering the sequence. If the child can read, write
the instructions down on a piece of paper. I am unable to remember
sequences. If I ask for directions at a gas station, I can only remember
three
steps.
Directions with more than three steps have to be written down. I
also have
difficulty remembering phone numbers because I cannot make a picture
in my
mind.
3.) Many children with autism are good at drawing, art and computer
programming. These talent areas should be encouraged. I think there
needs to
be much more emphasis on developing the child's talents. Talents can
be
turned into skills that can be used for future employment.
4.) Many autistic children get fixated on one subject such as trains
or maps
The best way to deal with fixations is to use them to motivate
school work.
If the child likes trains, then use trains to teach reading and
math. Read a
book about a train and do math problems with trains. For example,
calculate
how long it takes for a train to go between New York and Washington.
5.) Use concrete visual methods to teach number concepts. My parents
gave me
a math toy which helped me to learn numbers. It consisted of a set
of blocks
which had a different length and a different color for the numbers
one
through ten. With this I learned how to add and subtract. To learn
fractions
my teacher had a wooden apple that was cut up into four pieces and a
wooden
pear that was cut in half. From this I learned the concept of
quarters and
halves.
6.) I had the worst handwriting in my class. Many autistic children
have
problems with motor control in their hands. Neat handwriting is
sometimes
very hard. This can totally frustrate the child. To reduce
frustration and
help the child to enjoy writing, let him type on the computer.
Typing is
often much easier.
7.) Some autistic children will learn reading more easily with
phonics, and
others will learn best by memorizing whole words. I learned with
phonics. My
mother taught me the phonics rules and then had me sound out my
words.
Children with lots of echolalia will often learn best if flash cards
and
picture books are used so that the whole words are associated with
pictures.
It is important to have the picture and the printed word on the same
side of
the card. When teaching nouns the child must hear you speak the word
and
view the picture and printed word simultaneously. An example of
teaching a
verb would be to hold a card that says "jump," and you would jump up
and
down while saying "jump."
8.) When I was a child, loud sounds like the school bell hurt my
ears like a
dentist drill hitting a nerve. Children with autism need to be
protected
from sounds that hurt their ears. The sounds that will cause the most
problems are school bells, PA systems, buzzers on the score board in
the gym
and the sound of chairs scraping on the floor. In many cases the
child will
be able to tolerate the bell or buzzer if it is muffled slightly by
stuffing
it with tissues or duct tape. Scraping chairs can be silenced by
placing
slit tennis balls on the ends of the legs or installing carpet. A
child may
fear a certain room because he is afraid he may be suddenly
subjected to
squealing microphone feedback from the PA system. The fear of a
dreaded
sound can cause bad behavior. If a child covers his ears, it is an
indicator
that a certain sound hurts his ears. Sometimes sound sensitivity to a
particular sound, such as the fire alarm, can be desensitized by
recording
the sound on a tape recorder. This will allow the child to initiate
the
sound and gradually increase its volume. The child must have control
of
playback of the sound.
9.) Some autistic people are bothered by visual distractions and
fluorescent
lights. They can see the flicker of the 60-cycle electricity. To
avoid this
problem, place the child's desk near the window or try to avoid using
fluorescent lights. If the lights cannot be avoided, use the newest
bulbs
you can get. New bulbs flicker less. The flickering of fluorescent
lights
can also be reduced by putting a lamp with an old-fashioned
incandescent
light bulb next to the child's desk.
10.) Some hyperactive autistic children who fidget all the time will
often
be calmer if they are given a padded weighted vest to wear. Pressure
from
the garment helps to calm the nervous system. I was greatly calmed by
pressure. For best results, the vest should be worn for twenty
minutes and
then taken off for a few minutes. This prevents the nervous system
from
adapting to it.
11.) Some individuals with autism will respond better and have
improved eye
contact and speech if the teacher interacts with them while they are
swinging on a swing or rolled up in a mat. Sensory input from
swinging or
pressure from the mat sometimes helps to improve speech. Swinging
should
always be done as a fun game. It must NEVER be forced.
12.) Some children and adults can sing better than they can speak.
They may
respond better if words and sentences are sung to them. Some
children with
extreme sound sensitivity will respond better if the teacher talks
to them
in a low whisper.
13.) Some nonverbal children and adults cannot process visual and
auditory
input at the same time. They are mono-channel. They cannot see and
hear at
the same time. They should not be asked to look and listen at the
same time.
They should be given either a visual task or an auditory task. Their
immature nervous system is not able to process simultaneous visual
and
auditory input.
14.) In older nonverbal children and adults touch is often their most
reliable sense. It is often easier for them to feel. Letters can be
taught
by letting them feel plastic letters. They can learn their daily
schedule by
feeling objects a few minutes before a scheduled activity. For
example,
fifteen minutes before lunch give the person a spoon to hold. Let
them hold
a toy car a few minutes before going in the car.
15.) Some children and adults with autism will learn more easily if
the
computer key-board is placed close to the screen. This enables the
individual to simultaneously see the keyboard and screen. Some
individuals
have difficulty remembering if they have to look up after they have
hit a
key on the keyboard.
16.) Nonverbal children and adults will find it easier to associate
words
with pictures if they see the printed word and a picture on a
flashcard.
Some individuals do not under-stand line drawings, so it is
recommended to
work with real objects and photos first. The picture and the word
must be on
the same side of the card.
17.) Some autistic individuals do not know that speech is used for
communication. Language learning can be facilitated if language
exercises
promote communication. If the child asks for a cup, then give him a
cup. If
the child asks for a plate, when he wants a cup, give him a plate.
The
individual needs to learn that when he says words, concrete things
happen.
It is easier for an individual with autism to learn that their words
are
wrong if the incorrect word resulted in the incorrect object.
18.) Many individuals with autism have difficulty using a computer
mouse.
Try a roller ball (or tracking ball) pointing device that has a
separate
button for clicking. Autistics with motor control problems in their
hands
find it very difficult to hold the mouse still during clicking.
19.) Children who have difficulty understanding speech have a hard
time
differentiating between hard consonant sounds such as 'D' in dog
and 'L' in
log. My speech teacher helped me to learn to hear these sounds by
stretching
out and enunciating hard consonant sounds. Even though the child may
have
passed a pure tone hearing test he may still have difficulty hearing
hard
consonants. Children who talk in vowel sounds are not hearing
consonants.
20.) Several parents have informed me that using the closed captions
on the
television helped their child to learn to read. The child was able
to read
the captions and match the printed works with spoken speech.
Recording a
favorite program with captions on a tape would be helpful because
the tape
can be played over and over again and stopped.
21.) Some autistic individuals do not understand that a computer
mouse moves
the arrow on the screen. They may learn more easily if a paper arrow
that
looks EXACTLY like the arrow on the screen is taped to the mouse.
22.) Children and adults with visual processing problems can see
flicker on
TV type computer monitors. They can sometimes see better on laptops
and flat
panel displays which have less flicker.
23.) Children and adults who fear escalators often have visual
processing
problems. They fear the escalator because they cannot determine when
to get
on or off. These individuals may also not be able to tolerate
fluorescent
lights. The Irlen colored glasses may be helpful for them.
24.) Individuals with visual processing problems often find it
easier to
read if black print is printed on colored paper to reduce contrast.
Try
light tan, light blue, gray, or light green paper. Experiment with
different
colors. Avoid bright yellow--it may hurt the individual's eyes. Irlen
colored glasses may also make reading easier. (Click here to visit
the Irlen
Institute's web site.)
25.) Teaching generalization is often a problem for children with
autism. To
teach a child to generalize the principle of not running across the
street,
it must be taught in many different locations. If he is taught in
only one
location, the child will think that the rule only applies to one
specific
place.
26.) A common problem is that a child may be able to use the toilet
correctly at home but refuses to use it at school. This may be due
to a
failure to recognize the toilet. Hilde de Clereq from Belgium
discovered
that an autistic child may use a small non-relevant detail to
recognize an
object such as a toilet. It takes detective work to find that
detail. In one
case a boy would only use the toilet at home that had a black seat.
His
parents and teacher were able to get him to use the toilet at school
by
covering its white seat with black tape. The tape was then gradually
removed
and toilets with white seats were now recognized as toilets.
27.) Sequencing is very difficult for individuals with severe autism.
Sometimes they do not understand when a task is presented as a
series of
steps. An occupational therapist successfully taught a nonverbal
autistic
child to use a playground slide by walking his body through climbing
the
ladder and going down the slide. It must be taught by touch and
motor rather
than showing him visually. Putting on shoes can be taught in a
similar
manner. The teacher should put her hands on top of the child's hands
and
move the child's hands over his foot so he feels and understands the
shape
of his foot. The next step is feeling the inside and the outside of a
slip-on shoe. To put the shoe on, the teacher guides the child's
hands to
the shoe and, using the hand-over-hand method, slides the shoe onto
the
child's foot. This enables the child to feel the entire task of
putting on
his shoe.
28.) Fussy eating is a common problem. In some cases the child may be
fixated on a detail that identifies a certain food. Hilde de Clerq
found
that one child only ate Chiquita bananas because he fixated on the
labels.
Other fruit such as apples and oranges were readily accepted when
Chiquita
labels were put on them. Try putting different but similar foods in
the
cereal box or another package of a favorite food. Another mother had
success
by putting a homemade hamburger with a wheat free bun in a McDonald's
package.

December 2002



Jamie


For me, words are a form of action, capable of influencing change.

Ingrid Bengis

--- End forwarded message ---