How To Teach Adults With Autism

Teaching adults with autism is much different than teaching normal adult students. Those with developmental disorders learn differently than the average person. Teaching adults with autism requires patience for and respect of the individual, as well as a complete understanding of the characteristics of the individual’s disability.

Step 1

Contact your student’s health care providers. These professionals can give you a clear idea of the characteristics of your student’s disability. Each individual with autism carries different traits and abilities. In order to teach your student effectively, you need to understand and have knowledge of every aspect of their disability. This will help you develop the right teaching plan for your student.

Step 2

Build a good relationship with your student. The more comfortable the student is with you, the more likely you will be to be successful in teaching them. This can be difficult with people with autism, but it can be accomplished if you are patient, understanding and respectful of boundaries.

Step 3

Establish the right atmosphere for learning. You will need to establish a very relaxed environment for your student. This means that you cannot push them and they should not feel as though they are being competitive in any way. Soothing music in the background can help keep autistic students calm, as can using calm and soothing voice while teaching. You can also have the walls painted soothing colors, and keep everything as neat and uncluttered as possible.

Step 4

Build your lesson plans on what works best for the autistic student. Through careful observation you should be able to determine what your student is good at and how they learn the best. You can use this information as a springboard for your lesson plans.

Step 5

Target the senses as much as possible. Students with autism are not going to remember things they have learned as easily. The more they use their senses to learn, the more they will be able to remember of what they have learned later.

Step 6

Promote independence in everything that you do with your adult student with autism. As tasks are performed each time, assist the student less and less each time. Give assistance when it is needed, but always try to see if the student can accomplish the task on their own. Independence is the goal of any teaching with adult autistic students.

Additional tips and suggestions

Teaching adult autistic students requires a lot of patience, perseverance and consistency. You will need to be constantly observant of what works best for your student, and be ready to tailor your lesson plans to fit those strengths. You should also familiarize yourself with autism and your student’s individual traits in order to best teach them.

• Required items
• Books on autism
• Contact information for health care providers
• Teaching materials

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