In the Classroom: Teaching Children on the Autism Spectrum

Find fresh ways to welcome and teach students with autism. The book includes ​forms, checklists, and planning tools that make it easy for teachers to implement the suggested strategies; photos of curricular adaptations, sensory supports, and classroom scenes; and tips on improving literacy, implementing positive behavior support, and collaborating effectively with families. This updated edition also includes information on fostering friendships, building communication skills, planning challenging and multidimensional lessons, and adapting the curriculum and the physical environment. 

These ready-to-use, research-based adaptations enhance motivation and improve achievement for all children — including English-language learners and students with autism, emotional disabilities, cognitive disabilities, learning disabilities and other special needs. Includes easy adaptations in 10 key areas: organization; environment and sensory; technology; communication and participation; behavior and motivation; teaching and learning; literacy; math; study and review; and assessment

When learners with autism have deep, consuming fascinations — trains, triangles, basketballs, whales — teachers often wonder what to do. This concise, highly practical guidebook gives educators across grade levels a powerful new way to think about students’ “obsessions” — as positive teaching tools that calm, motivate, and improve learning. Written by top autism experts and nationally renowned speakers Kluth and Schwarz, this guide is full of easy tips and strategies for folding students’ special interests, strengths, and areas of expertise into classroom lessons and routines. 

An an essential “literacy meets autism” primer for general educators and reading specialists, this book provides the know-how for bringing quality, meaningful literacy instruction to students with autism in grades K-12. Teachers will learn research-based practices in reading and writing instruction; ideas for planning lessons, differentiating instruction, and designing a classroom environment that promotes literacy learning while addressing the individual needs of learners with autism; techniques for assessing students who cannot show their literacy learning in traditional ways due to communication or learning differences; and much more from the authors’ own extensive classroom experience.

Teachers know that half the challenge of teaching is setting up an effective learning environment. This book is designed to help you structure your classroom so that even kids who struggle with sensory overload (like many kids with autism do) will feel comfortable. The author places an emphasis on using data from student observations to craft a classroom that will support your specific students and their needs.

One look at the table of contents and you’ll likely recognize behaviors you deal with on a daily basis like “Bumping Into Other Students,” “Breaking Pencils” and “Difficulty Lining Up.” The solutions are practical and positive and explain the reasons behind the sometimes challenging behavior. Written by a pediatric occupational therapist, a parent of a child with autism and a director of special education, this guide has practical tips for teaching students with autism. This book is designed to be an at-your-fingertips resource. You can quickly consult the table of contents to find the section on the issue, learn what is potentially at the root of the behavior, and find possible solutions to implement immediately.

Individuals with ASD are supported by a variety of people throughout their day, at school, work, and home. Parents and teachers can help build independence in children with autism by using structured work systems. In this book, you’ll learn how to set up structured work systems that provide visual information about tasks, task completion, and transitions to what comes next.

With even the best curricula and interventions, students with autism spectrum disorders will not learn unless the classroom environment is organized with their specific needs in mind. In this book you’ll find clear, brief text and lots of photos how to determine what type of furniture and materials to choose for various types of classrooms and how to arrange them in a way that creates an effective learning environment while reducing anxiety and preventing problem behaviors. It uses evidence-based practices of structure and visual supports to enhance the well-being and success of students.

Now completely updated and expanded, this guide supports teachers every step of the way in creating a classroom that is responsive to the needs of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder — while keeping your other students and yourself going strong. With 1 in 68 children currently diagnosed with ASD, this is a useful resource for K-8 teachers. Learn how unique individuals on the autistic spectrum differ in their abilities and how these differences may be incorporated in reaching them and teaching them.