Podcast Episode Notes

Here is the first episode of the Autism Spectrum Teacher Podcast #1: Successful Teaching and Support Strategies (that will not just benefit autistic children, but all children!)

Being as it is the first episode, I have given an introduction to myself and why I started the podcast.

My vision for the podcast is:

Sharing knowledge, information and practical advice related to autism through having conversations with autistic individuals, parents, carers, teachers, educational professionals and service providers. 

The first episode is just me and I will be discussing successful teaching and support strategies that will not just benefit autistic children, but all children. I have based these strategies on regular themes that come up during my outreach and consultancy visits to different schools.

Future episodes will include special guests!

 #1: Inclusive teaching and support strategies (that will not just benefit autistic children, but all children!)

1. Always Think about the Sensory Input in the Environment

The sensory input in the environment can really have an impact on an individual. There is often a lot of sensory input going on around us all of the time. In today’s classrooms, there is a lot of sensory stimuli. For example; busy, colourful classroom displays, lots of resources around the room on tables and shelves, bright lights, lots of different smells and different sounds. Sometimes, autistic children can find it difficult to block out different stimuli or experience the input differently to you and much more sensitively.

There is what’s known as hypersensitivity, which is being very, very sensitive to sensory input, or hyposensitivity which is being under sensitive or perhaps not register specific sensory input. Every individual is different and can be both over sensitive and under sensitive to different sensory input. We always need to remember that everyone is experiencing the sensory input around them differently and this is especially true for an autistic individual. I will give examples about how you may observe this and potential strategies to adapt the environment to support different sensory needs and in turn, promote a conducive learning environment.

I discuss more about sensory needs in the blog post – ‘Sensory needs, autism and our class ‘exercise’ activity’ and ‘Sensory equipment for children with autism’.

FREE EBOOK Supporting Sensory Needs, grab your copy here.

2. Adapting Our Use of Language and Communication

A child will get a diagnosis of autism because they have differences in their receptive and perhaps their use of expressive language. Each individual will have very different communication needs. It could be that one person doesn’t develop any verbal language and has challenges with understanding the language and communication used by others. Perhaps another person has very advanced expressive language skills and can talk very well. However, they may experience difficulties in understanding non-verbal communication or some of the language from others around them. 

I will discuss different strategies to enhance your own communication, such as using very specific language, ensuring your communication is clear, reducing language to the important key words, using visuals or objects to enhance language, using Makaton sign, giving time to process information after giving a child an instruction, using one instruction at a time and other strategies related to adapting our language and communication to support a child.

I discuss this further in the blog post ‘Why the choice of language you use to communicate with an autistic child is so important’.

3. Be Consistent

Consistency in our approach is extremely important. Ensuring there is familiarity and routine can enhance predictability. This can be especially important for an autistic child. A lack of consistency, whether it be in the way you manage behaviour, your use of language or the morning routine, will increase anxiety and confusion for any child. I will discuss examples of this.

4. Be Organised

Organisation is extremely important. I will give examples of how being ultra organised made an impact on my lessons and some strategies I used for keeping organised and ensuring the school day runs smoothly!

There is further information about the organisation of a classroom in my blog post ‘What to consider when setting up a classroom for children with autism’.