Divergent Tabletop Wiki

The Autism Resource Manual

28 min readEdit

The Autism Resource Manual: a Practical Guide for Mainstream Education

Foundation: Understanding and Supporting Autistic Pupils

Core Philosophy: Ask the Pupil First

The fundamental principle of working with autistic pupils is recognizing that autistic pupils think differently—not just from Neurotypical peers but from each other. This makes it critical to ask directly about their perceptions, what helps them succeed, and their ideas for solutions rather than making assumptions about why they behave certain ways.

Instead of punitive responses to behavior, educators should have visually-supported conversations in calm, comfortable environments. Sit at right angles to avoid forced eye contact, use drawings, mind maps, flow charts, sticky notes, small world play, or puppets.

Replace accusatory phrasing (“Why don’t you…?” “What’s the problem with you?”) with curious, exploratory language: “I wonder why…” or “I wonder what was difficult about…”

The goal of every conversation is three-fold:

  1. Understand the pupil’s perception and perspective
  2. Discover what helps them succeed
  3. Agree on strategies collaboratively

This foundation prevents educators from making incorrect assumptions and builds trust, which is non-negotiable for autistic pupils—broken agreements are interpreted as lies and rarely recovered from.

Anxiety As the Primary Driver

Anxiety is the core driver of non-attendance, disengagement, meltdowns, and behavioral challenges in autistic pupils. Unlike Neurotypical peers who relax during unstructured times (breaks, lunch, recess), autistic pupils find these periods most stressful, often lacking any respite from arrival to dismissal.

The Cumulative Stress Model

Autistic pupils often have no respite from arrival to dismissal, leading to cumulative exhaustion that manifests as:

  • Late arrivals and sporadic absences
  • Disengagement during lessons
  • Behavioral escalations
  • Complete school refusal

Early intervention is critical—watch for patterns in missed days or lessons to identify specific anxiety triggers.

Common triggers include:

  • Uncertainty about the day ahead
  • Arrival transitions
  • Unstructured times
  • Sensory overload
  • Social pressure
  • Fear of mistakes
  • Speaking in class
  • Changes to routines
  • Loss of control

Support Strategies

Once underlying reasons are identified through visually-supported conversations, implement specific adaptations:

  • Reduce classroom participation with quiet alternatives (library work, adapted timetables with visual supports)
  • Access calm outside areas during breaks for healthy stress release
  • Relieve pressure (no detentions, homework, or test pressure during high anxiety periods)
  • Create reduced timetables ensuring full-day attendance but with alternative learning spaces

Critical principle: Never break agreements—autistic pupils interpret changed plans as lies and rarely trust that adult again.

Communication and Social Understanding

Arrival Anxiety and Predictability

Autistic pupils struggle on arrival due to uncertainty about the day ahead. They need certainty and specific detail rather than approximations.

Strategies include:

  • Create a quiet corner with comfortable seating and calming materials (favorite books, comfort toys, soft fidgets)
  • Designate a “Meet and Greet” staff member for brief check-ins
  • Allow registering elsewhere (Learning Support office, library) in calming environments
  • Maintain predictable and consistent arrival routines

Speaking Out in Class and Selective Mutism

Many autistic pupils avoid speaking in class due to:

  • Fear of giving wrong answers
  • Worrying peers think them stupid
  • Discomfort with being watched

Never sanction or express anger at refusal to speak—this may indicate Selective Mutism requiring language therapy referral.

Alternative responses:

  • Mini whiteboards or sticky notes
  • Whispering to a peer
  • Processing time (ask question, return in few minutes)
  • Repeat questions exactly (changing phrasing requires restart)
  • Allow facing away or using puppets for register responses
  • Build confidence gradually with step-by-step approaches

Understanding and Expressing Emotions

Many autistic pupils struggle to recognize, name, and express emotions. Some confuse excitement with anxiety; others feel emotions intensely but can’t manage them.

Support strategies:

  • Use discussion books like “When My Worries Get Too Big” by Kari Dunn Buron
  • Draw outline figures with speech and thought bubbles to identify physical signs and thoughts
  • Use color scales (rainbow or thermometer from yellow to purple) for anxiety intensity
  • Provide worry notebooks or worry boxes
  • Offer “Worry and Well” notebooks recording both concerns and positive moments
  • Conduct walk-and-talk sessions for physical outlets without forced eye contact

The 5-Point Scale

The 5-Point Scale is highly effective for emotional regulation. Create a scale from 1 (calm) to 5 (full meltdown) with four columns:

  1. Severity ratings
  2. Physical signs they experience at each level
  3. Internal feelings
  4. Calming strategies they’re willing to use

Implementation:

  • Staff use rating numbers during incidents (“that comment was a 4, please change it to a 2”)
  • Pupils learn to self-advocate: “I’m at number 3, may I go for a walk?”
  • This prevents escalation and teaches emotional regulation
  • Helps build interoception awareness (internal body signals)

Negative Outlook and Building Self-Esteem

Some autistic pupils interpret everything negatively—assuming peers talking together are mocking them, perceiving accidental contact as intentional, or believing poor marks mean teachers dislike them.

Strategies:

  • Give classroom responsibilities (shutting down computers, specific daily tasks)
  • Create “light bulb ideas board” to celebrate unusual or creative ideas
  • Use “Antidote cards”: identify negative thoughts on red cards, create positive counterarguments on green cards
  • Encourage after-school clubs (art, crafts) where unusual ideas receive positive feedback
  • Color-code impressive work sections in margins
  • Teach alternative explanations using illustrations and discussion
  • Encourage “positives diary” recording three positive things nightly

Facial Expression Recognition and Eye Contact

Forcing eye contact is counterproductive—research shows that when autistic pupils concentrate on looking at your face, they absorb less of what’s being said.

Teaching strategies:

  • Use real-time classroom moments—point out emotions as they occur
  • Sing short songs at circle time while expressing different emotions
  • Hold up photographs of matching Facial expressions
  • Create mirror activities where pupils make emotion faces
  • Teach pupils to find a comfortable “staring spot” (shoulder, ear, earring, or space behind speaker’s head)
  • Accept responses to “look this way” without insisting on sustained eye contact

Implied Meaning and Literal Interpretation

Many autistic pupils struggle to identify and understand implied meaning in spoken words, written text, films, and plays.

Common misinterpretations:

  • “Showing interest” → “interrogating me”
  • “Asking you to…” → “making me because you’re the teacher”
  • “Helping” → “interfering” (implying lack of capability)
  • “I don’t agree” → “you’re not listening to me”
  • “Commenting” → “criticising”
  • Authority comments → “shouting”

Support strategies:

  • Make it clear whether you’re joking or serious
  • Give explicit and clear instructions at all times
  • Ask “What does that mean?” to encourage working out implications
  • Avoid idioms or explain them clearly
  • Use “First…then” structure to help recognize sequences
  • Never assume they understand the “teacher look” that signals to stop

Understanding Spoken Instructions

Many autistic pupils struggle with understanding instructions due to:

  • Information overload
  • Processing difficulties
  • Sequencing problems
  • Working memory issues
  • Distractibility

Support strategies:

  • Create large symbols for class commands
  • ADD pupil’s name explicitly to class instructions
  • Provide visual Support on whiteboard with symbols
  • Have Support assistant write/draw numbered steps on individual whiteboard
  • Hold up equipment items as you say them
  • Tell them what they should do, not what they shouldn’t
  • Use summarizing technique: “So the task is this…” followed by clear numbered steps

Processing Time and Working Memory

Pupils with processing difficulties need extended time to process verbal information. They often forget questions while processing them, take a long time to answer, or recall only the last part.

Support strategies:

  • Allow processing/thinking time
  • Ask question then return in few minutes rather than expecting immediate answers
  • Have Support assistants write questions on sticky notes beside pupils
  • Use the “two doors” analogy: words spoken calmly, orderly, and measured are processed far more efficiently than rushed words

Repetitive Questions and Phrases As Anxiety Indicators

Autistic pupils repeat questions or phrases for two main reasons:

  1. To process answers (needing time to absorb verbal information)
  2. To create sameness when something has changed (providing reassurance through predictable responses)

Recognize this as an anxiety indicator—more repetition signals higher anxiety or excitement.

Support strategies:

  • For repeated questions: tell pupil you’ll answer three times, then show written answer without speaking
  • For phrase repetition: allow if not distracting others, encourage quiet voices
  • Use “cueing” technique where some pupils provide the exact response they need
  • Use their words at first, gradually adding your own until they accept flexible responses
  • For schedule questions: use visual timetables with symbols or words, removing completed tasks

Behavior and Regulation

Recognizing and Managing Meltdowns and Shutdowns

Autistic pupils experience four stress responses:

  1. Fight (meltdowns—crying, shouting, shaking, self-harm, aggression)
  2. Flight (running away)
  3. Freeze (rooted to spot, unable to move/speak)
  4. Flop (dropping to ground, shutting down)

These occur when stress builds beyond capacity to control emotions.

Prevention Strategies

  • Reduce Sensory stimulation
  • Offer low-stimulus environments
  • Use Exit Cards for pupils to leave without attention
  • Allow movement around school

During Meltdowns

  • Adults must remain completely calm
  • Speak quietly with minimal language
  • Avoid asking questions
  • Never discuss the incident until pupil is fully calm

During Shutdowns

  • Never pull a pupil from under a table
  • Don’t remove coverings from their head
  • If they cover their head, offer familiar item like parent’s T-shirt to use instead
  • Use quiet Support: sit nearby (if consented), write keywords, use “I wonder…” phrases

After Incidents

  • Wait until completely calm (sometimes taking an hour or more) before discussing
  • Discussion while stressed re-ignites anger and returns pupil to meltdown
  • Use visual storyboard method: draw what happened in sequence using stick figures
  • Identify where “it went wrong”
  • Draw alternative better response
  • Discuss both outcomes
  • Accept that pupil’s account may differ from others’—acknowledge different viewpoints without calling them liars
  • Introduce “Plan A, Plan B”—two pre-agreed strategies for managing future stress

Inappropriate Actions and Comments

Autistic pupils are still learning what socially acceptable behavior is—they don’t automatically know. They struggle recognizing:

  • Appropriate familiarity levels
  • Reading social cues about unwanted contact
  • Understanding impact of practical jokes

Teaching strategies:

  • For playground issues: use PSHE lessons or circle time with labeled circles (at school, with friends, at home) to discuss appropriate vs. Inappropriate play behaviors
  • Always teach what pupils should do, not what they shouldn’t—specify replacements for unwanted behaviors
  • Use the mantra: “Once is funny, twice is silly, three times gets a sanction”
  • Model correct ways to say things: “Pushing your coat at me is rude. Please ask like this: ‘Please help’”
  • For inappropriate comments: calmly ask them to speak again, explaining they sounded rude
  • For pupils who correct others rudely: teach them to raise hands and ask: “Please may I question something?”

Disengaging and Leaving the Classroom

Autistic pupils disengage when anxious, stressed, unable to understand, bored, or seeking control. Rather than viewing this as defiance, recognize underlying causes.

Exit Cards System:

  • Create Exit Cards pupils can use when building anxiety requires leaving
  • Agree in advance where they go and what they do
  • Ensure consistency across staff
  • Have safe, calm space available
  • Track patterns to identify trigger times and ADD supportive strategies
  • Allow extended time to calm—sometimes an hour or more
  • Never punish successful returns to the classroom; recognize the courage it takes

Accepting Responsibility and Apologizing

Autistic pupils often struggle accepting responsibility or apologizing. Some genuinely don’t understand they did anything wrong; others understand but can’t express remorse appropriately.

Support strategies:

  • Never force apologies—they become meaningless
  • Focus on understanding what happened and preventing recurrence
  • Use visually-supported conversations to explore incident from pupil’s perspective
  • Discuss what went wrong and alternative actions for next time
  • Some pupils need to rehearse or role-play apologies first
  • Accept alternative ways of showing remorse (written notes, actions demonstrating change)
  • For serious incidents, discuss how they could “show sorry” through tangible actions

Sanctions and Consequences

Autistic pupils respond poorly to traditional punishment-based systems. They don’t link similar behaviors to similar consequences the way other pupils do.

Effective approaches:

  • Create visible list of misdemeanours and their consequences for consistency among staff
  • Make sanctions relevant to the offense (if they threw toys, they tidy toys; if rude to a teacher, they help that teacher)
  • Use immediate sanctions (same day), not delayed ones
  • Internal exclusion is better than sending home, as many pupils are relieved to escape school
  • Use sanction time to teach what they could do differently next time
  • Avoid punishing Autism-related behaviors (poor time awareness, fidgeting with ADHD, no eye contact, involuntary noises, poor coordination)
  • Use brick-stacking (the “Scales of Justice”) to make consequences tangible and fair

Reward Systems and Positive Approaches

Collective reward systems (house points, team points) rarely motivate autistic pupils. The “Random Giving system” is far more effective: give reward points randomly (never conditional on achieving a specific goal).

Implementation:

  • Keep pupils motivated because they never know when they’ll receive points
  • Use visual, interest-based rewards:
    • Puzzle method (cut reward pictures into 4-12 pieces, pupil earns pieces randomly)
    • Hole-punch cards (punches earn five-minute rewards)
    • Collectibles (stickers earned individually)
  • For older pupils struggling with attendance: use home rewards (extra gaming time, favorite takeaway, money for apps) with grids at home that parents and teachers sign

Positive Feedback Techniques

Many autistic pupils struggle to accept praise—they may have negative outlooks, not recognize sarcasm, dislike attention, or find praise triggering of confusing emotions.

Alternative praise methods:

  • Written praise notebooks
  • Specific praise (not just “good job” but “good sitting” or “you remembered capital letters”)
  • Indirect praise (mention their achievement to another adult within their hearing)
  • Praise displayed on visual boards
  • For pupils who dislike attention: give praise at lesson’s end discreetly
  • Use photographs of good behavior as visual reminders
  • Celebrate “brainwaves”—original, off-topic ideas—in a notebook or display

Social Skills and Relationships

Friendship Challenges and Formation

Autistic pupils face multiple barriers to friendship:

  • Some find initiating conversation too stressful
  • Others approach peers too intensely or without recognizing if their company is wanted
  • Many struggle to understand what constitutes friendship versus casual acquaintance

Practical strategies:

  • Organize break-time equipment-sharing activities (hoops, balls, skipping ropes)
  • Arrange games clubs using board games or card games like Uno
  • Provide “starter topics” (prepared conversation openers about pupil’s interests, with up to three options)
  • Assign peer mentors who meet regularly, ideally alongside an activity (art, walks, board games)
  • Encourage enrollment in school clubs linked to lifelong interests (chess, karate, drama, orchestras, sports)
  • Teach explicit definitions of friendship (real friends share conversation, time, interests, and activities together)
  • Use visual supports for older pupils to understand healthy relationships

Critical safety concern: Some autistic pupils are naïve and vulnerable to exploitation—teach the mantra “not everyone who is nice to me is my friend”.

Obsessive Friendships and Boundaries

Some autistic pupils become obsessively attached to one friend, preferring rigid predictability while their Neurotypical peers need flexibility and variety.

Strategies:

  • Have visually-supported conversations with both pupils about meeting other peers while remaining friends
  • Encourage the friend to have set times for other activities as part of a routine
  • Provide the autistic pupil alternative peer groups or tasks during agreed separation times
  • Encourage both to befriend additional lonely peers

Recognition of acceptance guidelines:

  • Ask a question
  • If no answer or one-word response with turning away = not interested (say goodbye and leave)
  • If they answer and ask you back = happy to talk (continue)
  • If unclear, ask another question on a different topic

Friendship Maintenance and Repair

Once friendships form, maintaining them presents challenges, especially for pupils with rigid thinking, strong sense of injustice, poor perspective-taking, or tendency to catastrophize.

Common difficulties:

  • Giving up on friends who displease them
  • Placing all blame on the other person
  • Frequently switching friendship groups
  • Needing to control the friendship
  • Becoming overly dependent

Support strategies:

  • Create class “How to Get Along” books with scenarios about repair
  • Use Lego model analogy to teach that relationships have difficulties but can be repaired
  • Use visually-supported discussions about friends having other friendships
  • Define “good friend” qualities through group activities
  • Teach explicit rules about banter and teasing (only acceptable if everyone is willing and happy every time; use “Stop” to end it)
  • Mini mantra: “Respect stop. Say stop. Obey stop.”

Understanding Banter, Teasing, and Bullying

Distinguishing between friendly banter and intentional cruelty is particularly challenging for autistic pupils.

Teaching principles:

  • Banter is only appropriate when all participants are willing and happy
  • Use “Stop” as a boundary that everyone respects
  • Use scenario work to help pupils distinguish teasing from bullying
  • Create explicit rules about distances, acceptable language, and when to report concerns

Staff and Peers “out of Favor”

Autistic pupils often have limited tolerance for those who annoy or offend them, with some describing it as a hierarchical system where people move “down floors” with each transgression.

Staff response strategies:

  • Understand that autistic pupils perceive logic in their negative reactions
  • Ask the pupil to explain what went wrong
  • Avoid taking offense
  • Use repair strategies such as the “river and bridge” visual approach
  • Not everyone is expected to become close, but working together professionally should be achievable

Group Work Challenges

Autistic pupils struggle with group work for various reasons:

  • Some wish to lead and control
  • Others believe their ideas are always best
  • Many have limited Social communication skills

Strategies:

  • Gradual integration: parallel work at next table → same table → one peer at table with group
  • Role cards: manager, equipment collector, feedback speaker, admin officer distributed randomly
  • Lego-based therapy: social development program using Lego building with designated roles (engineer, supplier, builder)
  • Create group activities around pupil’s special interest with clear, specific roles
  • Visual brainstorming on large paper with marks out of ten
  • Time-limited initial participation with gradual increases
  • Avoid leader-selection systems that leave autistic pupils chosen last

Preference for Solitude

Some autistic pupils genuinely prefer being alone at school rather than socializing, having exhausted their emotional and cognitive reserves just coping with the school day.

Before supporting friendship-building:

  • Ask pupil directly whether solitude is by choice or circumstance
  • Discuss with parents to understand their perspective and out-of-school friendships
  • Ensure pupil can still work, talk, and collaborate in paired/group work when required
  • Inform staff so they can protect pupil from teasing or negativity
  • Monitor for isolation as pupils age and friendship groups become tight-knit
  • Encourage participation in interest-based school or community clubs if willing

Class Police Officer Behavior

Some autistic pupils develop a need to police others’ adherence to rules, correcting peers’ methods, reporting rule-breaking, or interfering in incidents not involving them.

Support strategies:

  • Organize small-group collaborative problem-solving where pupils discuss multiple valid approaches
  • Set firm, clear rules applied to all pupils
  • Teach concept of hierarchy and responsibility
  • Explain consequences of getting involved (risk of injury, escalation, misunderstanding)
  • Use scenarios and flowcharts to demonstrate action-consequence relationships
  • For younger pupils: clear rules about distance or actions
  • For older pupils: one-to-one discussions about why controlling others triggers bigger problems

Sensory Processing and Environmental Considerations

Overview of Sensory Sensitivities

Sensory sensitivities significantly impact autistic pupils’ ability to concentrate, learn, and feel safe. Heightened or reduced Sensory processing is not a behavioral issue but a Neurological difference requiring Accommodations. Schools have a legal duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments.

Sound Sensitivities

Common manifestations:

  • Heightened awareness and difficulty filtering background noise
  • Certain sounds being irritating, uncomfortable, or even painful
  • Misophonia—excessive reaction to specific sounds (eating, sniffing, coughing)
  • Background sounds heard at same intensity as foreground sounds

Support strategies:

  • Move pupils away from continuous background noise (humming radiators, whirring fans)
  • Allow ear defenders/plugs/pods with clear ground rules
  • Provide pre-warning before addressing class loudly
  • Keep Support staff voices measured and low
  • Ensure Support assistants don’t speak to pupils while teachers are talking
  • Treat reactions to noise sensitively rather than with discipline

For pupils who make vocal sounds themselves:

  • Recognize this as a coping strategy
  • Allow sound-making during appropriate times
  • Teach control in preparation for theatres, exams, interviews
  • Some pupils dislike silence intensely—provide alternatives like audiobooks

Visual Distractions and Classroom Design

Challenges:

  • Sharp visual acuity and eye for detail can become problems
  • Some unknowingly stare at others intently
  • Many focus on irrelevant background details during video clips
  • Visual distractibility heightened by ceiling mobiles and busy displays

Autism-friendly classroom design:

  • Keep displays on designated boards only, avoid windows/ceilings
  • Use pale colors with low contrast
  • Choose clear, readable fonts
  • Remove information from walls, provide laminated copies instead
  • Maintain ordered and tidy spaces
  • Select calming wall colors (aqua, turquoise, greens, blues)
  • Ensure clear surrounds on whiteboards

Workspace Support:

  • Encourage tidy desks
  • Offer desktop privacy partitions (plain cardboard boxes)
  • Fold worksheets to show one section at a time
  • Mark “Start” clearly, draw arrows showing sequence
  • Avoid decorative backgrounds
  • Provide larger writing spaces
  • Cut worksheets into achievable pieces

Visual stress: Some pupils experience visual stress—text appearing distorted or moving. Assessment by trained staff can determine if colored overlays or Irlen lenses would help. Use buff/off-white paper rather than white.

Touch Sensitivity

Touch sensitivity presents in highly individual ways:

  • Some pupils avoid touch while others seek it excessively
  • Preferences for tight vs. Loose clothing
  • Unusual pain responses (oversensitive or insensitive)
  • Dislike of specific textures, cold materials, or rain

Greetings evolution:

  • Young pupils naturally hug teachers → gradually transition to age-appropriate greetings
  • Progression: shoulder squeeze → high-five/fist bump → handshake by teenage years
  • For excessive hugging: teach “must ask permission every time”
  • For inappropriate touching: use color-coding or establish clear touch rules

Self-regulation Support:

  • If young pupils engage in genital self-stimulation: provide wipes and fidgets with discrete visual sequence
  • For taking shoes off: create silhouette where pupils place removed shoes, or provide alternative soft footwear
  • For messy activities: allow disposable gloves initially, then gradually remove fingers

Smell and Taste Sensitivities

Smell sensitivities:

  • Some pupils so sensitive they become sick, develop headaches, or feel unwell
  • Food smells in canteens can interfere with their own food’s smell/taste
  • Provide early-access cards to cafeterias before odors build up
  • Allow eating in quiet areas away from others
  • For cooking activities: allow masks, open windows, temporary room-leaving

Taste sensitivities:

  • Some prefer bland foods, others seek diverse, highly-spiced flavors
  • Food at school often tastes different from home
  • Create acceptable food lists for caterers
  • Involve parents in reward-based plans broken into tiny steps
  • For tasting activities: offer very small bite-sized pieces with no pressure

Interoception Difficulties

Interoception—the ability to sense, interpret, and integrate internal body signals—may not reach awareness until overwhelmed:

  • Needing the toilet and urgency level
  • Hunger/fullness
  • Thirst
  • Heart racing from exercise/fear/excitement
  • Distinguishing excitement from anxiety
  • Butterflies/nervousness
  • Feeling sick from illness versus anxiety
  • Body temperature
  • Internal pain location

Support strategies:

  • Use visual outlines to locate pain
  • Ask PE teachers to help pupils recognize heartbeat and physical sensations
  • Use number scales (1-10) for pain/hunger/thirst/stress levels
  • Gradually fill in “how do you feel inside” worksheets

Prosopagnosia (face Blindness)

Prosopagnosia affects some autistic pupils—they have difficulty recognizing faces, focusing on single facial features or avoiding eye contact.

Support strategies:

  • Create matching games with 2-3 classmate photos, progressing from small groups to whole class
  • Match identical pupil photos to name pegs or cards, reading names aloud
  • Play verbal games (say a name, pupil chooses correct photo)
  • Practice gradually while others do group activities

Synaesthesia (mixed Sensory Responses)

Synaesthesia causes involuntary, confused cross-Sensory responses:

  • Grapheme-colour synaesthesia: seeing words as particular colors
  • Visualizing spoken words
  • Seeing sounds
  • Smelling/hearing colors
  • Linking people to colors
  • Tasting shapes
  • Feeling sounds on skin

Support strategies:

  • Talk with pupils about this—reassure them you believe them
  • Provide adjustments: use black/dark grey fonts, allow headphones, schedule calming breaks

Sensory Overload

Sensory overload occurs when multiple sources combine to trigger overwhelming Sensory input beyond capacity.

Prevention strategies:

  • Start at the end of activities (send pupils in near end so they leave with peers)
  • Gradually extend time from the end
  • Switch off classroom lights if class becomes excitable
  • Allow short corridor breaks
  • Alert pupils which senses to use
  • Create quiet corners in busy rooms
  • Provide early passes for pupils overwhelmed by crowded corridors

Sensation-Seeking Behaviors

Some autistic pupils, especially those with ADHD, instinctively seek sensations:

  • Rocking, chewing, balancing, tipping chairs
  • Walking around with school bags on or sitting on coats

Chewing Support:

  • Special chew items designed by occupational therapists from medical-grade material
  • Send home daily or clean overnight at school
  • Allow chewing during breaks and listening times
  • Include very chewy/crunchy foods in lunch boxes

Warning: If pupils chew non-food items (paper, Blu Tack, rubbers), this may indicate Pica—advise parents to seek medical advice.

Sitting Difficulties

Sitting difficulties from poor proprioception or vestibular needs:

  • Try wobble cushions with bobbled surfaces
  • Use mantra “Six for safety” (four chair legs + two legs = six)
  • Offer permitted movements: rocking with folded arms, seat push-ups, corridor walks, wall push-ups
  • Allow lolling at certain times while requiring upright sitting at others

Fine Motor Challenges

Investigation strategies:

  • Try various chunky or slim triangular-shaft writing implements
  • Let pupils try before purchasing
  • Triangular shapes encourage proper grip
  • Ensure proper writing position: both feet on ground, both arms on table
  • Teach pupils to hold paper still with non-writing arm
  • For handwriting causing physical discomfort: provide laminated sheets
  • For poor handwriting quality: consider occupational Therapy Assessment

Learning and Academic Support

Instruction Clarity and Academic Engagement

Autistic pupils often struggle with verbal instructions, particularly when detailed or complex.

Support strategies:

  • Verbally summarize instructions at end of explanations (“and so the task is this…”)
  • Support summaries with written lists on board or printed handouts
  • This visual reinforcement helps pupils understand expectations and reduces confusion

Motivation and Engagement Challenges

Autistic pupils have an “incredible ability to focus on an interest or obsession but if not interested many do not see the point of even trying.” Traditional reward systems are frequently ineffective.

Effective approaches:

  • Use random reward giving combined with rewards based on pupil’s interests
  • Provide continuous motivation
  • Recognize individual differences in response to teacher approval

For young pupils:

  • Use visual traffic light task breakdown: divide tasks into three parts using visual traffic light
  • As each section completes, pupil colors in one light
  • Provides clear task boundaries and visual progress tracking

Include symbols for mini-rewards in visual timetable strips at relevant points between task symbols

Interest-Based Learning and Projects

When a pupil shows enthusiasm for something unrelated to current lessons, harness that interest:

  • If interested in trains but not engaging in Victorian history, ask them to research trains in Victorian times
  • Create project folders with plain and lined paper containing curriculum-linked questions about their interest
  • Connect learning to intrinsic motivation

Control and Choice in Learning

Some autistic pupils are unwilling to comply with requests that give them no control.

Effective strategy:

  • Offer a choice between two options rather than single command
  • Example: Instead of “Get on with your work,” ask “Do you want to do this page or that page?”
  • Quiet work areas paired with pre-warning similarly effective
  • Being proactive is more successful than reacting to non-compliance

Worksheet Variation Through Chunking

To motivate pupils who find worksheets challenging:

  • Cut up worksheet sections (one task per piece) and place face down
  • Pupil chooses one to turn over and complete
  • Breaks task into small steps, gives control, shows visible progress

Positive Feedback and Task Clarity

Autistic pupils often only register negative comments, so even if you feel positive overall, one negative remark can make them forget all positives.

Effective feedback:

  • Instead of “You’ve only written one sentence. Hurry up,” say “Brilliant, you’ve written a sentence. I’d be really pleased if you could manage to write another one”
  • Make tasks achievable
  • Give explicit clarity about where tasks start and end
  • Specify how many sums or lines expected
  • Use color coding (green = do first, amber = try if time, red = leave out)

Future Planning and Relevance for Older Pupils

For older pupils who disengage because they don’t see school’s relevance:

Step 1: Help draw flowchart from present → school years → exams → college → future goal Step 2: List skills and qualifications needed, including life skills Step 3: Highlight skills they’re already learning in school Step 4: Place remaining skills on flowchart where they’ll be acquired Step 5: Optionally draw current trajectory and consequences in different color Step 6: Encourage choosing one “not yet learned” skill to target

Pre-Teaching and Vocabulary Preparation

Some autistic pupils are completely bewildered when new topics are introduced:

  • They miss context
  • Struggle with new vocabulary
  • Overwhelmed by information volume

Support strategies:

  • Introduce new topics, vocabulary, or methods to these pupils before whole class lesson begins
  • One-to-one pre-learning activities are effective
  • For new topics, provide autistic pupils with key word lists to take home
  • Ask parents to review vocabulary regularly the week before the topic

Independent Working and Support Documentation

Create system for annotating work to document Support received:

  • Slips with headings: date, lesson, supporting adult name
  • Categories ranging from “completed by adult” to “totally independent”
  • Circle appropriate categories
  • Staple or glue slips into exercise books or on work backs

Support skill transfer:

  • Once pupils learn skills in small-group interventions outside classroom, ensure same resources are available in classroom
  • This supports skill transfer and maintains access to familiar supports

Support Systems and Consistency

Support Assistant Dependency and Independence Building

Autistic pupils frequently become dependent on a single Support assistant, creating anxiety when that person is unavailable.

Five-step gradual approach:

  1. Start by having second assistant sit quietly nearby while first leaves for short periods
  2. Gradually increase duration and engagement of second assistant
  3. Expand to break times
  4. Continue process with additional staff members
  5. Until three Support assistants can successfully help pupil

Process typically takes 1-2 months and should be done slowly.

Parallel strategy:

  • Arrange regular weekly slots where pupil invites classmates to share activities with Support assistant
  • Help them understand turn-taking through explicit narration
  • For transitions to new schools: ensure pupils become accustomed to and trust wider number of adults

Consistency Across Staff and Settings

Inconsistent approaches devastate autistic pupils who need structure and predictability.

Implementation strategies:

  • Teachers should swap tips after school
  • Agree on responses to major behaviors
  • Trial strategies for three weeks before adapting
  • If pupil behaves well for one teacher but challenges another, difference often lies in seating, tone, or consistency
  • Place pupils on classroom edges with only one neighboring student who concentrates well
  • Be explicit about temporary rule relaxation

Whole-School Awareness

Annual assemblies on hidden conditions build peer understanding:

  • Autism, ADHD, dyslexia
  • Invite autistic pupils to share experiences in assemblies or via pre-recorded video
  • Peer voices have more impact than staff presentations
  • National Autistic Society provides free assembly resources during National Autism Awareness Week (typically April)

Calming Strategies and Brain Breaks

Brain breaks prevent meltdowns by allowing pupils to reset:

  • Play peaceful music with heads down
  • Practice yoga poses
  • Doodle

Calming fidgets:

  • Offer age-appropriately discrete options (small Blu Tack for teens)
  • Let pupils choose their own safe space in school where they can go to calm
  • Offer low-Sensory environments: quiet rooms with lights off, soft fidgets, minimal visual clutter
  • Some pupils respond better to sitting quietly in lessons even if not engaging

Environmental Design and Resources

Autism-friendly Classroom Environment

Key elements:

  • Keep classrooms ordered and tidy
  • Use pale wall colors (aqua, turquoise, greens, blues)
  • Minimize displays (designated boards only)
  • Use clear fonts on displays
  • Remove information from walls, provide laminated copies
  • Ensure clear board surrounds
  • Avoid overhead mobiles
  • Keep workstations plain

Additional Accommodations:

  • Felt pads under chair legs prevent scraping sounds
  • Hand dryers can be switched off with paper towels provided instead
  • For pupils struggling with focus: create dedicated quiet tables facing blank walls
  • Include visual timetables, equipment trays, discrete fidgets

Individual Workstations

For pupils needing additional Support:

  • Tables against blank walls, possibly with booth sides
  • Facing away from classroom
  • Include visual timetables, equipment trays, discrete fidgets
  • Keep workstations tidy and undecorated to maintain low Sensory input

Important Notes and Considerations

Mental Health and Counseling Referral Indicators

Watch for:

  • Pupils who cannot identify happiness or emotional states
  • Persistent difficulty recognizing internal emotions
  • Signs of Depression, Anxiety disorders, or selective mutism requiring speech/language Therapy referral

Action required:

  • Discuss wellbeing with parents
  • Consider counseling referral
  • Recognize that refusing to speak may indicate neurologically-based condition, not defiance

Safety Concerns: Vulnerability to Exploitation

Key teaching points:

  • Teach explicit mantra: “not everyone who is nice to me is my friend”
  • Watch for peers taking advantage (doing homework, giving away lunch, conveying inappropriate messages)
  • Monitor for vulnerability requiring direct safety teaching and staff monitoring

Limitations of This Manual

This manual focuses on mainstream school settings and doesn’t cover:

  • Specialized interventions (occupational Therapy, speech/language Therapy)
  • More severe behavioral challenges requiring external referral
  • Crisis management procedures
  • Safeguarding protocols

Use alongside professional Support teams—not replacement for Diagnostic Assessment or individualized education plans.

Avoiding Shame and Damage to Self-Esteem

Important principles:

  • Never communicate to pupils that they’re “broken” or “less than”
  • Actively celebrate strengths—remarkable abilities in focus, detail, logic, creativity, persistence, honesty, loyalty
  • Build self-esteem through responsibility assignments and strength-based feedback
  • Make unique contributions visible

Transition Planning

Minimize transition anxiety:

  • Introduce pupils to new adults before transitions
  • Ensure new staff understand pupil needs
  • Maintain consistent approaches across settings
  • Provide visual information about new environments

Key Takeaways

  1. Always ask pupils directly about their needs rather than making assumptions
  2. Understand that autistic pupils experience school fundamentally differently—unstructured times are most stressful, not restful
  3. Teach what pupils should do, not what they shouldn’t—provide specific positive guidance
  4. Consistency and trust are non-negotiable—broken agreements destroy trust permanently
  5. Anxiety manifests as repetition—recognize it as a signal, not defiance
  6. Create opportunities for autistic pupils to see themselves as capable
  7. Use visual supports consistently for processing and retention
  8. Recognize that behavior communicates unmet needs—address root causes
  9. Sensory sensitivities are Neurological differences requiring Accommodations
  10. Motivation requires individual understanding—generic systems often fail
  11. Pre-teaching prevents bewilderment and builds confidence
  12. Offer control and choice to dramatically increase compliance

References and Resources

Books and Materials

Organizations

Professional Support

Therapeutic Interventions