How to Work With Autistic Children Under Age Six

Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder. People with autism have difficulties with social interactions as well as problems with communication. Autism varies in severity. Mild autism may show the minimal signs of a learning disability, while people with severe autism can have extremely repetitive, self-injurious and aggressive behaviors. Working with children with autism can be challenging. These children often engage in all the characteristic behaviors of autism and require learning modifications.

Instructions

• 1

  Use visual aids and individual interests to motivate learning and keep the child's attention. Autistic children are visual thinkers and learners. Visual aids can help autistic children learn numbers, words and directions, which are difficult for people with autism.

• 2

  Use direct communication and encourage human interactions. Be careful not to more words than needed, and stick to simple explanations and instructions, repeating them as often as needed. Autistic children often find verbal cues particularly challenging. Use visual representations when giving instructions.

  It is important that young children are encouraged to interact with others. Encourage games and activities that include interaction. This can simply involve commenting on what the student is doing while she is doing it. To initially engage a young autistic child, try gently copying his sounds and actions in order to create an interaction. This can work especially with a nonverbal autistic child, who has not yet developed language skills. Some people with autism have a difficult time processing and integrating visual and verbal information, preventing them from developing verbal language skills. For these children, work with pictures or sign language when communicating.To encourage language skills in young children, use games that involve two-way interactions, such as rolling a ball to each other.

• 3

  Understand triggers for violent and self-injurious behaviors. A major cause of these behaviors for autistic children is sensory sensitivities. For instance, certain types of lights, sounds or touch can be very upsetting to autistic children and may cause physical paint and discomfort. Violent and self-injurious behaviors, such as shirt biting, hair pulling and other type of acting out, may be a reaction to overstimulation. Activities such as shirt biting may be an attempt to self-soothe. Offer an alternative to these aggressive activities that will help the child soothe herself. For instance, if biting is a problem, give her an acceptable alternative, such as a toothbrush or chew ring. This will help to calm her without causing her or anyone else harm.

  Also, keep track of the types of sounds and visual stimuli that can upset the child and try to minimize these. As a general rule, if you are working with a child who is over- or underaroused by a certain activity or environmental stimuli, offer her the opposite experience: an stimulating activity should be given to a child who is bored and a less-stimulating one to a child who is overly excited.

• 4

  Autistic children often become fixated on one area or develop one specific talent. Use this interest. For instance, if the child is interested in bugs, incorporate bugs into counting games and word recognition. Taking a child to find bugs outside may also be a way to help the child learn about the tactile world, especially if he has difficulty with sensory stimulation.