Families logo

The Manual That Does Not Exist Autism Manual

Autism Tips and Tricks for Schools and Home

By Angie WilsonPublished 2 years ago 5 min read
Like
Autism does not define anyone. It is just part of the journey. Angela Bain, M.Ed.

I am a mom first and foremost. I have learned about Autism through real life experiences, education, and a lifelong journey wanting to learn more. I can never know everything about anything. I hold a bachelor’s degree in education, a Master’s in Instruction and Curriculum, and I am a doctoral student. Most of my work has been tied to Autism.

This is a brief booklet of things I’ve learned related to Autism in the last 30 years. There is one thing that I am certain about, this journey has been rewarding but hard. If I can give any parent a sliver of advice, then my job here is done. Autism does not define anyone. It is just part of the journey.

After over two decades of teaching children with Autism, I have learned that there is no single way to work with these kids. Many hours of training and research was not the answer.

Learning my students was the answer. Patience was the answer. Some information in the book includes:

Chapter 1: Stimming

Why in the world would I start with ‘stimming”? This is one of the more prevalent characteristics that a lot (not all) people with autism exhibit. There are many kinds of stimming, I will talk about some of them later. The question is what is and why to people with Autism do it? Stimming, in my best explanation, is a way to express frustration, limit the number of stimuli the person is taking in, or self-sooth. I’ll talk more on all of these.

Chapter 2: Communication

This is one of the most important pieces to jumping through the “connection window”. I call it the “connection window” because at opportune times, I’ve been able to get into the kids bubble and trigger ways for them to express themselves. It’s, again, different for every person. I have used pictures, sign language, video, and communication boards. Some kids need a combo approach. Most all of them need a total communication approach. Talk to them. Interact with them. Give them whatever means they need to express what they want, need, or know. The highest level of frustration for kids with Autism seems to be when they can’t make you understand what they are expressing.

Chapter 3 Social Reciprocity

Although another piece of communication, social reciprocity, is equally important. The way I explain this to parents is it is how a student interacts during conversational speech. Does the child take turns in conversation? Stay on topic during conversation? Does he or she realize when they need to answer to continue a conversation? This is hard to teach from an educational standpoint. I can’t talk about social reciprocity and have a student understand thoroughly the meaning of it. I must lead by example and practice, practice, practice. Part of this relates to tone, affect, and interest. Having a flat affect can be a characteristic of Autism. It’s hard for the neuro-typical person to see through the tone and effect of speech to consider that the person sounds rude, possibly, but is not.

Chapter 4 Social Skills Strategies

For so long, I wanted Mason to play with other kids. I wanted him to talk to my mom. I wanted him to join in on family talks. I wanted him to order his food at a restaurant. Now, 15 years later, I still want that. Here’s the deal, though, some of it doesn’t matter. Do I do it for him or force hm to do it? Neither.

Chapter 5 Autism is Autism

As I’ve worked through years of changing methods in education, I’ve also heard of many different levels of Autism. I hear high/low functioning, Asperger’s, Level 1 Autism, Level 2 Autism, and more. My thoughts are that Autism is Autism. No matter the label, the characteristics are of Autism. Early screening and educational diagnoses are the most critical parts of intervention regardless of the “level”. With each different range AKA, the spectrum, we still treat kids with kindness and do our best to help them cope with the parts of Autism that affect them daily. I can’t change my own child, nor would I want to. I’ve met some severely affected kids. I wouldn’t want them any different, most of their parents would agree. It’s tough. It’s heart breaking sometimes—but what do we do? Keep pushing and keep helping them learn to manage their independent needs.

Chapter 6 You’ve Met One Kid with Autism

As I mentioned earlier, when you meet a kid with Autism, the characteristics that he or she exhibits related to Autism may be very different than the next. The spectrum covers all people with characteristics of Autism. What are the characteristics? That’s a long list. But the characteristics that we look for classically are social interaction deficits, communication deficits, rigidity, appearing to not be aware of other people, seemingly aloof, having a flat affect, stimming, and more. Now, with that, we sometimes see people with intellectual disabilities and

Autism. I’ve seen a lot of children diagnosed with Autism, that really were more just cognitively delayed. The main thing to focus on here is that a child may have Autism, but only exhibits a few of the characteristics. As a medical or school diagnosis, they look at anyone that has characteristics of Autism.

Chapter 7 Sensory Diets

I love the whole concept of Sensory Diets. I am on a mission all the time to find new things for my students and my kid. Sensory diets are not about food but can be. Sensory diets are ways that we can support a child’s sensory needs through adapting the environment or adapting an activity. This can incorporate any sensory need. The idea of using a sensory diet is to find the “right” diet that helps a kid cope with sensory overload, which can help eliminate tantrums, meltdowns, or eliminate idiosyncratic behaviors, allowing them to handle the things they are taking in.

There are more details in each chapter, and a total of 25 chapters. This article gave a very brief synopsis of the first 7 chapters.

Enjoy reading, and I hope you go take a look at the full version.

The whole book can be found at:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VYCSSCQ

Angela Bain, M.Ed.

advice
Like

About the Creator

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.