Teaching Autistic Children Essay

Teaching Autistic Students Teaching art to children with autism is always going to be challenging because of the inherent nature of the diagnosis – each child has different sensitivities, triggers, and aversions (Furniss, 2007). Many educational professionals may perceive these students as exceptionally high maintenance and potentially become extremely overwhelmed, wanting to lump everyone together with the same expectations as the other children. (While “othering” can be very isolating for special needs children, “mainstreaming” has a tendency to neglect the special needs aspect of their learning, regardless of whether or not there is an IEP on file.) However, it is possible to be successful depending on the professionalism of the instructors and their understanding that these are still children who need to be treated with the same respect and dignity that they would afford any other child in the classroom. Some simple behaviors on the part of the teacher in the beginning …show more content…
Ask the parents questions. Does the child like art? What are the strengths of the child’s creativity? What types of art does the child usually make? What is the context in which is art is made? Specifics are also critical to students with spectrum disorders, as they tend to become lost when their choices are not clear or too open-ended. Many children with ASD or ADHD tend to “lawyer” (aggressively negotiate) or “apocalypse reason” (automatically and immediately assume the worst possible case scenario) the most mundane situations. Limiting their choices can make their decisions easier and less distracting for them (Furniss, 2007). Digital technology offers these options of limitation without limiting creativity; however, instructive guidance is still strongly recommended, as the available options can be quite overwhelming even for an average adult. Providing a student with well-defined goal-oriented procedural steps is crucial to productivity for