5 Tips to Help Autistic Students with Transitions
Transitioning can be difficult and stressful for people with autism spectrum disorder. Here are five techniques that can help to reduce anxiety and give a sense of predictability to transitions.
1. Create a Schedule
Create a schedule the student can refer to. This can be a simple written list of activities or a sequence of pictures or both. Schedules can prepare a student for a transition by allowing them to anticipate upcoming activities and understand the sequence of events that will occur. Using schedules can decrease transition time and lower anxiety and melt downs.
2. Show Activities as Finished
Marking activities as finished naturally prepares the student for the next activity. If using a picture schedule have a finished pocket for the student to place the picture of the completed activity in. For routine schedules, laminate the schedule with a box next to each picture that the student can check off as complete. Or simply use a piece of paper and write out the schedule and allow the student to cross each item off as it is completed.
3. Use a Timer
Time is an abstract concept that can be difficult for autistic students to understand. Using a timer gives students a visual of how much time is left before a transition. It can also help to keep some kids on task for projects they don’t like, because they can see it has an end. Some timers, like the Time Timer give an additional visual of the countdown of time.
4. Make sure there is ample time for transitions.
Rushing to stay on schedule is stressful for anyone. Especially with new routines at school allow adequate time for autistic students to process the transition and move on to the next activity.
5. Give the student a transition item.
Sometimes carrying a familiar item during a transition can add a sense of continuity and comfort. Some students keep an object with them throughout the day. For others it’s helpful if they get the item after they have completed a project. Allowing the student to get the transition item may help prepare them to move on to the next activity.


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Pay Attention to Sensory Stimulation

Once you’ve gathered ABC behavioral data, it’s time to actually put it to work. The next step in using ABC data is to look for patterns in the student’s behavior and form a hypothesis. Once you form a hypothesis you may need to gather more evidence to to make sure your hypothesis is correct. You can gather more information about the child’s behavior through interviews with members of the child’s IEP team, parents, and other support staff. The cause of a behavior usually becomes more apparent when there are consistencies in both ABC data observations and functional assessment interviews.
When developing an IEP for an autistic student, it’s important to observe the child’s behavior to look for patterns, functions, and preferences. Because autism spectrum disorders have a direct impact on behavior, it’s important to develop a plan using behavioral data so that it’s easier to tackle communications challenges, social interactions, sensory needs, and other important goals in an IEP.
IEPs can be very stressful for teachers of any grade level or experience. However, there are things that parents can do to help reduce the stress on the special education teacher so that an autistic child gets the highest quality of care and guidance possible. A happy teacher can help to make a child’s educational experience – and IEP – even better. As an educator, it’s your responsibility to start building strong partnerships with parents, rather than administrators, to ensure that the IEP gets carried out easily and effectively.
As Summertime approaches, we are often asked, “What are some good travel toys for kids on the autism spectrum?” So, we at National Autism Resources wanted to share with you a list of our best travel toys for those with autism:![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=84ff3f64-f662-4a43-8b84-36204e39ecb0)
They happen with all children, but sometimes, dealing with an autistic child having a meltdown can be an entirely different and more challenging experience. As an educator, you have the responsibility to keep order in your classroom while at the same time enforcing positive behavior in an autistic child. To help you manage meltdowns, here are a few tips: