Autism Book For The Classroom

Autism In The News
March 11, 2008

One of the biggest challenges for teachers and parents to an autistic student is dealing with the classmates. Navigating the school playground and recess social scene can be daunting even for the regular population but imagine having communication difficulties or ticks that make you stand out in a crowd. In my experience it's best to introduce and explain the classmate's autism as early as possible and to encourage inclusion. The parents and teacher need to be on the same page about this mind you. Communication is vital and best if it's daily in written form. The teacher shouldn't wait for a problem to go away or get out of hand to start addressing the issue. An example of this would be to ignore instances of teasing and bullying. A recent book "A Is for Autism, F is for Friend: A Kid's Book on Making Friends with a Child Who Has Autism" by Joanna Keating-Velasco was developed as a resource for teachers and students. See the article below.

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