of typical students (Slavin, 2003).
Instructional Approaches and Classroom Rules
According to Slavin (2003), teachers who are able to engage the attention of the students, emphasize on-task behavior and cultivate the students' desire to succeed will be able to manage their classrooms effectively. Therefore, the choice of specific instructional approaches to help students perform their learning tasks is critical to classroom management. In the case of students with special needs who are unable to attend to tasks and are easily frustrated, the teachers will have to utilize instructional approaches that will help them focus on the tasks and increase their likelihood of success. Furthermore, tools used for instructional approaches can also be employed to reinforce students' understanding of classroom rules.
Because students with special needs, especially children with autism, have difficulties with listening, communication and attending to the teacher, visual aids such as pictures and written cues are helpful in supporting their learning efforts. Using the visual aids, the teacher can provide sufficient time for the students to process the information as the visual aid can be examined and read as long as they are needed. Different types of visual aids such as pictures, photographs and graphic symbols can be used in a variety of ways:
First, visual aids can be used for daily schedules and mini-schedules to help students transition from task to task throughout the day. They can also be used to enable students to make choices among various activities. Second, visual aids can be employed to label objects in the classrooms to help students identify them. Finally, the teacher can utilize visual aids to enforce the students' understanding of directions including class rules and instructions for performing specific tasks. Through pictures and written cues, the students can be taught about expected behavior in the classroo...