If you’re a parent or educator, it’s your responsibility to help the children in your care learn and fully develop their potential. This remains true if a child in your care has special needs, as the right of children to an education is enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and further protected under Singaporean law.
Regardless, creating a positive learning environment for special needs children can be a challenge, particularly when it comes to supporting those with misunderstood conditions like autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Fortunately, ASD is a well-studied condition, and there is a plethora of proven strategies that can be used to help affected children enjoy a more positive learning environment.
In this article, we’ll look at ten frequently recommended strategies for supporting children with autism in their learning environment. If you’re not sure if your child has autism, please find options for autism assessment Singapore childcare specialists trust.
Create a Predictable Routine
Children with autism can become stressed out if they’re forced to continuously meet unpredictable challenges. Generally speaking, most children with autism thrive in structured learning environments that offer a high degree of predictability. Having a consistent day-to-day routine can help affected children feel more comfortable, which may be crucial in helping them find the confidence to face more serious challenges later on.
Use Visual Aids
Visual aids such as pictures, diagrams, and charts can help children with ASD understand various concepts and routines. Visualizations can be especially useful for teaching affected children abstract ideas. These aids can also be used to assist caretakers in communicating with the children under their care.
Incorporate Sensory Activities
Controlled sensory activities like finger painting and listening to music are an important part of creating a positive learning environment for children with autism. Individuals with ASD often have trouble processing sensory information, particularly in highly stimulating environments. Engaging their senses in a controlled manner can help them get a better handle on their surroundings which, in turn, will help them better understand the world around them.
Provide Clear Instructions
Children with ASD often need time to understand context clues and social cues that are immediately clear to other children. A reliance on subtext and a lack of clarity may cause some children to feel anxiety or frustration as they try to process information that doesn’t make immediate sense to them. Given this, caretakers need to be aware of this possibility and strive to be as clear as possible when communicating with children on the spectrum.
Use Positive Reinforcement
Praising and rewarding good behavior is generally a good idea for teaching all children, not just those with special needs. It’s especially important to keep this in mind when teaching children with autism, as their learning difficulties can wear down and frustrate their caretakers. Positive reinforcement isn’t just more effective than traditional punitive discipline, but it’s also crucial for building a constructive relationship with the children in one’s care.
Break Tasks and Ideas into Smaller Pieces
Apart from being patient and concise with your communication, it’s a good idea todeconstruct difficult tasks and concepts into bite-sized pieces. Compared to their peers, children with ASD can find larger problems and ideas too much to process, which can create feelings of anxiety. If they are pressured to tackle these problems as is, this anxiety can then further develop into frustration. By breaking things down, caretakers can make complex ideas less overwhelming for children on the spectrum.
Offer Choices
When possible, let children choose between a few simple options. Doing this can help them feel more in control, and it may help reduce feelings of helplessness that can come with unaddressed ASD. With time, children who are given these simple choices may even become more confident and capable of proactively making decisions.
Encourage Social Interactions
As mentioned earlier, children with autism may struggle with social cues, ultimately limiting their ability to interact with others. However, social skills can be built up provided that they can be practiced. Encouraging children with ASD to interact with peers or join extracurricular activities can help them cultivate important social skills, increasing their confidence later on.
Allow for Movement Breaks
Children with ASD may occasionally have difficulty sitting still, which may disrupt their ability to learn. Allowing for this and providing them with periodic movement breaks can help them release pent-up energy and refocus on their learning.
Share the Responsibility
It takes a kampong to raise a child, and this is more true for children with special needs. Having frank conversations with other people involved in raising the child can help ensure that strategies are implemented consistently between home and school. It can also give caregivers a much truer picture of how a child is progressing, making it possible to adjust strategies to match the child’s stage of development.
By implementing these strategies and adjusting them to each child’s needs, we can create an empowering learning environment for children with autism. Additionally, seeking the advice of qualified therapists can give parents and other caregivers a set of go-to plans for handling different issues related to each child’s learning situation. With time and consistent application, caregivers should be able to help children on the spectrum learn and live a fulfilled life.
