Autism Activities

Autism is a developmental disorder of the brain that affects social interaction and communication. People who fall on the autism spectrum have varying degrees and symptoms of the disorder. There is no known cause. Children with autism are sometimes extremely intelligent but have difficulty in expressing themselves and relating in a socially acceptable manner. It is hard for them to understand social cues and respond appropriately.

Autism Activities

• Activities to help students with autism involve a lot of social interaction. They can help students practice dealing with social situations. Some include learning signs of emotions, such as facial expressions, and what that means the person is feeling.

Sponge Bob Square Pants

• This is an activity for autistic students to help them categorize emotions and what they look like. Begin by discussing several different emotions, such as happy, sad, angry, frustrated and bored. Then have the students sit as an audience and allow students to come up one at a time. Have each child pick and secretly tell you an emotion. Have him say, "Sponge Bob Square Pants," using body language and voice tone and volume to show the emotion. The students in the audience guess what emotion is being displayed.

Name Game

• Students all stand in a circle with the instructor. Instructor begins with a ball and models the activity. Begin by saying a student's name and making eye contact. When the student makes eye contact, pass the ball to her. Students continue to pass the ball to each other after saying the next person's name and making eye contact.

When I Grow Up

• Have students brainstorm jobs and professions they want to be when they grow up. After you have a list, call out the jobs. Students are supposed to act like they are performing the job without talking. After doing this a few times you can have students play a guessing game where they act out a profession or perform a task and allow other students to guess.