Teaching children diagnosed with autism is a great challenge. Individuals with autism share a diagnosis which includes a wide variety of characteristics. Each autistic individual will not react to the same set of educational teaching strategies with the same responses. Teachers of autistic students need to be aware of the individual strengths and weaknesses of their students and tailor their curriculum and teaching strategy to the goals set for each student according to the student's Individual Education Plan which was agreed to by the school and the parents. There are general guidelines as to the types of instruction which appears to be appropriate and effective with autistic children. It will be the decision of the student's teachers to determine the best approach to use with each child.
Autism is a unique disorder which exhibits itself as cognitive, social, sensory, and behavioral deficits in the autistic person. Each individual will have a unique set of deficits in these areas which, when combined, result in a set of behaviors and a learning style distinctive to that individual. These deficits often include limited and disordered language skills, unusual sensory processing, difficulty combining and integrating ideas, difficulty interpreting the underlying meaning or relationship of events they experience, problems processing multiple sensory stimuli, and resistance to change and unpredictability (Mesibov & Shea, 1996, p. 342). The goals will also affect the curriculum studied and the educational environment. In general students with autism function best in structured educational settings with a predictable routine. Teaching strategies which are appropriate for regular education students will usually be ineffective or detrimental to autistic children's learning. These include verbal explanations, modeling behavior, and a stimulating classroom environment.
One method of teaching children with autism has come from ...