Working with Your School to Help your Child with Autism

Your child with autism can be rapidly integrated into a mainstream classroom by working with your school to help your child with autism. You can do this by making sure you have an IEP in place. An Individualized Education Plan documents what services your child will receive when in school.

These services can include para educator support, occupational therapy, speech therapy, modified work plans, communication devices, and many other types of therapies and support systems. Your child will spend many hours at school.

Developing a good relationship with your school district is essential for the long term success of your child with autism.

Tyler's Notes:

First transition from the house. School! I have had so many great stories relating to school; It was one of the best things that has happened to me. The environment, the teachers, even the kids; Lots of times, I would feel very excited to go to school. There were the...

Many children with autism watch the same video over and over again. The question is: Should you let your child with autism watch the same video over and over again.

The answer is yes! Most likely they are using that part of the video to develop language, or are using it as a “touchstone” to help them handle the sensory input around them.

You can use that repetitive activity as a bridge into other interests. It may seem strange at first, but once you understand the reason that your child with autism watches a video over and over again, you will learn how to use that as a took for their development.

So next time that they are watching the same thing repetitively, sit with them, be interested in what they are doing, and have them show you the specific part of the video they are watching.

Look for faces, mouth movements, and other clues as to why your child might be watching that particular section.

Most likely they are trying to add that specific activity to their world,...

How do you help your child with autism make friends? Friendships and relationships in general are hard for someone that has autism. Many times those with autism have a difficult time “putting themselves in another person’s shoes”.

That analogy alone is difficult for someone with autism to even understand.

Friendships can be formed with a understanding peer group. Those groups can be found in your general community, as part of your church, at school, a formal social skills group, or a wide variety of other places. It does take effort and some trial and error to find a workable solution.

Once you have an understanding peer group you can then start modeling behavior. A person with autism must create thousands of desperate social files, that can eventually be weaved together to form a framework of friendships and relationships.

It takes a lot of time, but it’s well worth it in the end, as your child develops the potential to have lifelong relationships.

Red Shirt
Name: Sally

5 Favorite Hobbies:

1. Reading
2. Watching nature documentaries
3. Researching frogs
4. Playing around with sound design on the computer
5. Doodling on her tablet

5 Favorite Things:

1. Frogs (would catch one and keep it as a pet for one day before letting it go)
2. Fast food
3. Animated shorts
4. Sports (Baseball’s her favorite sport)
5. Even with being caught up on new technology, she has a soft spot for tech from the 90’s and early 00’s (2000’s).

5 Strengths:

1. Friendly
2. Interested in all kinds of people, autism or otherwise
3. Detailed oriented
4. Organised
5. Never afraid to ask for assistance; whether it’s for her or for other people

5 Weaknesses:

1. Even with a tablet, she would still be afraid of whether or not she will say the right words
2. She cannot talk (oftentimes would wonder what she would sound like)
3. Difficult to make clear eye contact; May look like she’s not paying attention or not interested but she in most cases, she always is interested
4. Would...

Name: Mabel

5 Favorite Hobbies:

1. Drawing portraits
2. Picnics out on the field or by the beach
3. Riding her bicycle
4. Baking and cooking
5. Jump roping

5 Favorite Things:

1. Movies
2. Her two rabbits (Beatrix & Carl)
3. Cartoon shows
4. Baked sweets (peanut butter cookies are her favorite)
5. Marine Biology

5 Strengths:

1. Her portraits are a joy to look at! She draws in a quality cartoonish kind of way
2. Shows an interest in learning a variety of subjects
3. Patient with her friends
4. Comfortable in social situations
5. Smart and isn’t afraid to share common sense with others that don’t have it all down entirely  

5 Weaknesses:

1. Hard to understand people at times. Relates more to fictional characters.
2. Gets very sad and lonely sometimes
3. Distracted
4. Feels that she’s not good enough and needs to try harder in her talents
5. Socially insecure

Family:

• Single Father
• Mabel’s dad works as an online teacher
• Mother’s deceased

Bio: Mabel is the only one that does not have autism. Her...

Name: Arnold

5 Favorite Hobbies:

1. Catching bugs
2. Puzzles
3. Putting together models with his parents
4. Baseball
5. Yo-Yo

5 Favorite Things:

1. Hotdogs and pizza are his favorite foods
2. School and academics
3. Computer games
4. Comic books
5. People

5 Strengths:

1. Loves to talk and being around people! Since his parents own a local comic book store, there are a lot of people that Arnold finds very interesting, oftentimes based on what the content provides in the bookstore
2. He isn’t afraid to say what’s on his mind
3. A genius in math and science
4. Can be a total goof at times getting a few laughs here and there
5. Very good at sports (baseball being his favorite sport)

5 Weaknesses:

1. Very closed minded when it comes to food
2. Doesn’t know when to stop talking about his favorite things at times (even though he admits that he needs help in some areas)
3. He rambles on whenever he’s afraid in trying something new. Whether that’s with food or going to a new place. Even if it’s...

Name: Ella

5 Favorite Hobbies:

1. Spending time with her sisters
2. Drawing abstract art
3. Picking flowers
4. Playing the Piano
5. Photography

5 Favorite Things:

1. Playing with her dog “Daisy”
2. Eating ice cream
3. Doing things with her Family (she prefers family over friends)
4. Computers
5. Art museums

5 Strengths:

1. Amazing at drawing designs and adding color to them during her free time
2. Talented singer
3. Knows all of the bells and whistles in photography editing
4. Her family and friends adore her bright beautiful smile
5. Excellent at math, and writes the answers in an artistic kind of way

5 Weaknesses:

1. Extremely shy
2. Often times she isn’t strong or confident in what she does
3. Hard to stay focused at school, and very insecure about her outward appearance, and her mind is typically on when she will see her big brothers again.
4. Tends to get lost when people (other than family) come up to her to say hi or have a conversation.
5. Doesn’t know how to use body language in a social situation

...

Name: Tyler

5 Favorite Hobbies:

1. Writing
2. Snowboarding
3. Dancing
4. Reading
5. Competing (in sports or other games that can be challenging)

5 Favorite Things:

1. Animals
2. Toys
3. Video Games
4. Things that go fast (cars, planes, and trains for example)
5. Music

5 Strengths:

1. A colorful mind in the world of imagination (cleverly creative)
2. Open minded to any kind of entertainment such as music and movies
3. Fearless
4. Focused
5. Fast learner

5 Weaknesses:

1. Finding his words in the correct order when talking
2. Gets a bit upset when people don’t understand him or when they see him as questionable
3. Facial expressions can be difficult at times when expressing emotion
4. Loud noises and vibration on the ground is overwhelming
5. Embarrassing moments keep coming back to him, and whenever he thinks of them, he’s not fully in the present. Extremely hard to forget them and wishing it could have all been different.

Family: Divorced parents and raised by his mother from the time he was eight years old; his father is...

The very first discovery when having autism is innocence.

In the beginning, many children would not know that they have autism. Should someone let them know early or later on? It depends; Every parent is different when breaking the news to the topic of autism with their children. For my case, I didn't learn about this information until I was thirteen. Here's why.

I had the help at school. With the para pros, the tests, and all of that good stuff to assist me because of autism, but was not told that I have had it. I retained my innocence and went on with whatever went on.

Felt happy in a way not knowing about the whole autism thing as I was growing up. Next to the extra help, I had my share of fun moments with other children in elementary school. In all honesty, I believed we shared the same innocence together. Learn, laugh, run, and play; Didn't matter if you were dumb, deft, or blind, or anything like that, along with things I have had; One thing we all had in common was that we...

It is strange to me.

Used to want to be like everyone else. The looks, the way people talk, even the popular trends that would be discussed. Now a days, I look, and see if it is okay to touch. In other words, if there's something that's popular, I tend to ponder over it and decide if I want to be a part of it. A running gag, a fashion style, a popular television series, even the way people think about stuff.

Trends sort of became a curiosity to me. If I don't be a part of it, I would be left out and unnoticed by the community. Is that a bad thing? Depends on how ya see it.

Got nothing against trends. I like'em! Trends feel like discoveries that someone has shared with me when I take the time to make my own discoveries. Take for example, music. Most of the time I like to fire up a music streaming service and go find bands that aren't really heard in the radio. Many times even today I would listen to the same song over and over again, and would take a while to go listen to something...