Autism Spectrum Disorder Brochure

Autism Spectrum Disorder This brochure is intended to inform, help. and navigate the educational experiences that your child with Autism might be experiencing. Although no two children are the same, Autism has a plethora of resources to reference over a wide range developmental skills. What is Autism? Autism Spectrum Disorder is a developmental disability that can cause signif i cant social, communication and behavioral challenges. Physically, a child with ASD might be hard to dif f erentiate from a typically developing child. The skills a child with Autism might be experiencing dif fi culties in revolve communication skills, social interactions, behavior/emotional regulations, and the overall way they learn. Autism has no boundaries in regard to race, ethnicities or social backgrounds. A child with Autism might be experiencing dif f i culty with reading, writing, anxiety, emotions, thought processing, attention span, sensory abilities and social understanding. These dif f i culties might difficult to notice at an early age, but as parent you will recognize and notice your child's development best. Specially Designed Instruction Strategies of Creating specially designed instruction for your child is something taken extremely seriously across all states. One strategy that can be used in the classroom to help your child succeed in the classroom is the use of visual support. This would include photos, signs, or symbols all relating to the lessons that your child can see and reference to understand any material that is being presented. Another strategy to use is implementing specif i c routines. Children with ASD tend to benef it from being able to see a daily schedule so that they can aroundmoothly transition throughout the day between subjects. For specif i cally a First-grade classroom, a large calendar can be created in addition to a daily schedule to review each morning so your child can visually see and understand what each day will look like. Another strategy to use is to rely on their interests as the point of concentration of their lessons. For example, if your child felt drawn to bees, a teacher could incorporate that into math, basking them to count bees, then science, aasking them the life cycle of bees and pollinating, and even writing, asking them to give a story about bees. At Home Strategies Strategies to use at home might look a little different in execution than in the classroom, however the goal for your child is the same, which is to promote communication, social and literacy skills. To promote communication skills, parents can create parts of their day that are centered around communication. For example, during snack time at home after school give your child a set amount of food to create the opportunity for them to ask for more. Another example of this is putting their favorite books or toys in an area out of their reach to create the opportunity for them to ask for specif i es what something is and where it is. To promote social skills, you can reinforce whatever your child does well socially with behavior specif i c praise. For example, "Great job putting your dirty clothes away!" or "I love it when you clean the table after you eat." These will help your child recognize how the behavior they demonstrate af f ects their homelife. Finally, to promote literacy skills, you can do a book each week or night and do a "walkthrough" with your child, as you read it. An example of a book walkthrough is showing your child the book and asking them to help find the title, the author Communication and Collaboration Strategies There are also a few communication and collaboration strategies that can be employed by the state, school, and service providers. One of these strategies could be the hiring of a Special Education Itinerant Teacher (SEIT), SEIT's are specific to New York and are praised members of school faculties. This designated person is meant to provide specialized individual or group instruction on an itinerant basis. This means the SEIT goes to the of educational setting where the child is during the day to help them when needed. SEIT's are extremely helpful in the classroom to give students with ASD the extra one on one attention they need, especially if the head teacher is available. Another strategy can be assigned group work during extracurricular activities to give opportunities for social interactions with their peers. This will help them understand social norms and cues on a realistic level. "Supporting social interaction is an important piece of the student's educational plan. Student's with autism often have the desire to interact with others, but do not have the skills to engage appropriately or may be overwhelmed by the process" (Strategies for Supporting Social Skill Development, 2018, p. 1). Another communication strategy is the creation of space in the classroom, or a separate designated classroom full of sensory tools for children with ASD to use to control emotions or behaviors in an expressive way.