In Part 1, I described what Sensory Processing Disorder in autistic students may look like. In this post, I will discuss some things you may set in place in your classroom to help students cope with their day.
As well as these general guidelines, each child may have their own sensory diet, which the teacher can put together with the help of parents and the Occupational therapist, who may either visit your school or be part of your staff, in special settings.
Sensory Input
Autistic students may require chew toys to give them the sensory oral input they need. There is a range of chew toys available for students that can be found in websites catering for autistic chldren or through an Occupational Therapist.
There are also chewable necklaces and bracelets available, for the same purpose. I find that the student is less likely to lose these items.
You can also provide a student with ice to chew on, or a thick liquid to suck through a straw, or a range of chewy food.
Movement Breaks-Whole class and individual needs based.
Many children at special settings travel on buses for long periods of time so starting the day with movement breaks are a good idea. We used exercise, timetabled gym, movement to music, and morning walk throughout the week and this combination was successful.
Some children may need more timetabled time in OT room or gym. Use mini-schedules to add the movement breaks and show the student.
Options to help autistic students to remain seated may be weighted vests or lap pillows, chair bands around the chair legs, fitted chair supports, and different cushions and wedges. OT advice is invaluable here.
Allow time throughout the day for children to sit in beanbags, or other structures they may enjoy-pillows, under table, tent, painted cardboard box.
Making Allowances for Fine Motor Skills and Tactile Activities.
Many autistic students have fine motor difficulties so try to adapt learning activities by using concrete materials that they can manipulate. With some children, it might be necessary to put a limit on how many items in front of them as some students may get over-excited with 'quantity'.
Adapt worksheets to suit the needs of the students-laminate sheets and use textas, enlarge the writing, do cut and paste, or only paste answers instead of writing.
Be creative- use textures, such as shave foam, playdoh, rice play, paint for learning activities.
Give time to play with sensory bins. Some teachers schedule Sensory Play throughout the week as a whole class activity while some prefer to give them, when needed, on an individual basis.
Allow some children to have fidget toys at group schedules to help them sit calmly.
Listening Strategies
Autistic students will miss out on instructions so, as well as using visual sids, you can:
Use songs and rhymes to get their attention. You can also be creative and make up songs to teach life skills or academic concepts. I used music for learning and listening -sing an instruction, counting, part of story telling.
Ask the child to repeat an instruction.
Use musical apps and Youtube to teach concepts and skills.
Be aware of how loudly you speak, if you have students who are sound sensitive.
Allow students to wear headsets to block out noise, when necessary.
I hope these suggestions help you to provide the right learning environment for your student.
You can visit my shop in the menu to see the range of sensory toys that can be purchased or recommended for purchase for your school.
Remember to like or share my post on social media.
