People with autism benefit from having information presented visually, such as a chart, a booklet, or an electronic device. Using personalized teaching stories provides a visual aid for people with autism to know what to expect in different situations and to learn what is expected of them in these situations.

Through pictures and simple language, these stories can make everyday social situations more predictable for people with autism, as well as giving them strategies for navigating these situations more effectively.

Personalized Stories:

* Going to a Restaurant
Help our students know what to expect when they go to a restaurant.

* Going to the Store
Help explain what to expect when your family goes to the store to your child.

Social skills groups offer an opportunity for people with autism of all ages to practice their social skills with each other and/or typical peers on a regular basis. Many groups follow commercially available social skills curricula. 

Effective Social Skills groups should*:

• Provide structure and predictability

• Break down abstract social concepts into concrete actions

• Simplify language and group children by language level

• Work in pairs or groups with cooperation and partnership encouraged

• Provide multiple and varied learning opportunities

• Foster self-awareness and self-esteem

• Provide opportunities for practice so that skills are used beyond the group in real life settings.

Utilize token economy apps like iRewardChart or Choiceworks to reinforce positive behaviors and track progress toward rewards. Implement a First-Then schedule to help the child understand the sequence of tasks and expectations. This creates a home base of how behavior should be managed for the child, and gives them a structure.

Piper Phillips

Clear and constant schedules, like the list of activities and times completed in a school day posted on the whiteboard. When teaching a lesson, staying consistent with how the lesson is taught so the student knows what to expect.

"Pair companions or staff appropriately for challenging activities or times: Some people are more calming than others in certain situations. If going to the store with dad works better than with mom, focus on that and celebrate successes."

Find those people that will help students thrive. If they do better with one person over the other try to have them interact with that person as much as possible.

Home - this could be implemented in the home where the parents can use that to have them know what to do at specific times, even to keep them safe.

School - This could help in schools by helping the students know what they need to do at specific times and follow procedures.

Community - This could be helpful in the community by helping the student know how to be safe (tornado alarms and such)

By: Caitlyn, Aubri, Morgan

Prompting is a cue designed to get a student to perform a specific behavior in promoting students achievement.

School: This can get your student back on task or set them up to get their tasks done. This also can help them know explicitly what they are supposed to be doing.

Home: This can help your child get their basic needs done whether it is brushing their teeth or just eating lunch. This can help them learn how to accomplish these things and learn new skills.

Community: This can help is they have a job. This can be employed for effortless learning of the skills they will need for their job.

Have Dedicated places for learning and being calm. You could have a space for playing, a space for reading, and place to color. Children with autism like routines and sameness so this helps to have that feeling.

Priming:

Parent, para-professional, teacher, or a trusted peer reviews the content that the student will go over in a future activity/prior to a lesson or activity done by the student. Priming provides the student with a lessened amount of stress and anxiety put towards a lesson or activity.

Effects on the home...

-Priming can be done in the home and provide the student with more preparation without the stress of school. The parents will be sacrificing their own time to learn and teach and review the material. The home could inherit some of the added stresses.

Effects on their schooling...

-The student will be impacted in their in the sense that the teachers and the content will be fully impacted on the student as they will be able to communicate better in the classroom and participating in class discussions. The understanding of the content will come easier.

Effects on their community...

-There may be instructions and skills that are reviewed in which will impact the students social life within their community.