Practice makes Perfect!

Each afternoon I do individual reading with each of my students. Some students are able to sit and attend to a story and others are not yet ready to read. 

I have a student called Benjmain who has recently been able to show me many of the skills he has. After 9 weeks at school he is now able to sit at his seat for the majority of circle time, attend to a shared reading book and complete a work task. I knew that if i persevered with trying to get him to participate in reading he would become familiar with what is expected. 

After 2 weeks of bringing him to the table and getting him to point to the words and turn the page, he started to stay in his seat for longer and longer. At first he would turn one page and walk off; over time he increased the sitting time and participated more and more. 

Benjamin will now sit and participate in individual reading for the duration of a story. 

I am also able to send his reading book home so that he can read at home. His family commented that they were surprised he was able to sit for the length of time as he had never shown much interest in books. For the family, this was a huge milestone and one they were able to see him achieve at both home and school. 

ASD and Building Routines

The importance for building predictable routines for children with Autism is paramount for learning however it is important to ensure that the child doesn't become too obsessed with routines. I often hear of families having to drive the same route each day to ensure that the child with Autism doesn't get upset, or wearing the same clothes and eating the same food.
I believe that providing a structured learning environment helps the child to focus on what they are meant to be doing and to block out overstimulating environments. Routines also help to build expectations and  ease anxiety for children who cannot decode what is happening in their environment.
Now that my students are familiar with our class routine i am starting to make small changes to make our routine slightly different. This way they learn how to cope with change in a safe environment because life isn't always going to be predictable. I do this by taking a trip to the swings after morning tea instead of reading our big book, or timetabling a surprise on their individual timetables so they cannot anticipate what is going to happen.

If you have a student who cannot cope with transitioning between tasks then start by
- building a predictable routine (use a visual timetable to help)
- once they are familiar; start making small changes to their day
- adding "surprise" on their timetable

https://www.autismspectrum.org.au/content/establishing-routines