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All About Autism A Practical Guide For Primary Teachers

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Autism in Primary Schools: a Comprehensive Neurodiversity-Affirming Guide

Understanding Autism as Neurodivergent Experience

Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition that affects how people process information, communicate, and experience the world. Rather than viewing Autism as a disorder requiring fixing, we understand it as a natural variation in human cognition and experience. The autistic brain works differently, not defectively.

Language and Identity Matter

The way we talk about Autism significantly impacts how autistic people are perceived and treated. The preferred terminology is “autistic person” rather than “person with Autism” - this reflects identity-first language that most autistic adults and children prefer. Functioning labels like “high-functioning” or “low-functioning” should be avoided entirely as they create harmful assumptions about capabilities and prevent appropriate Support.

Many autistic children desperately desire friendship and social connection but face significant barriers due to misunderstandings from Neurotypical peers and adults. This challenges the stereotype that autistic people are anti-social or prefer isolation.

The Double Empathy Theory

This crucial concept explains that communication struggles work in both directions - autistic children struggle to understand Neurotypical social cues, AND Neurotypical people equally fail to understand autistic Social communication patterns and cues. This means social “deficits” are not individual problems to fix through isolated “social skills training,” but rather bidirectional communication mismatches that can be addressed by teaching both autistic and Neurotypical children to understand each other’s communication styles.

Communication Differences and Support

Autistic children often learn language fundamentally differently than Neurotypical children through gestalt language learning patterns - acquiring whole phrases connected to specific contexts rather than learning words individually (a process called echolalia). Some autistic children don’t develop speech, some speak late, and some speak very early with extensive vocabulary but struggle significantly with pragmatics (social language use) or semantics (understanding word meaning).

Literal Thinking and Clear Communication

Many autistic children are literal thinkers and may miss inferred meanings from Body language or nonverbal cues. Teachers should express verbally exactly what they intend nonverbally rather than relying on tone or gesture. For example, instead of saying “do you want to put your coat on?” (a question that offers a choice), say “it’s time to put your coat on” (a clear directive).

Eye contact is often challenging or painful for autistic children and should never be insisted upon. Teachers who require eye contact create unnecessary distress and fail to recognize that autistic children can listen and process without making eye contact.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (aac)

Many autistic children benefit from AAC tools such as Core-word boards, Talk Mats, or software like Proloquo2go. These are not crutches or signs of limitation; they are essential communication supports that enable expression and learning. The presence or absence of speech does not correlate with understanding or intelligence.

Stimming as Self-regulation

Stimming behaviors - repetitive self-stimulating actions like humming, rocking, hand-flapping, or object manipulation - are self-regulation and communication methods that should never be stopped unless directly harmful. Stimming helps autistic children cope with stress, process information, and find comfort. Suppressing stims increases anxiety and distress.

The Masking Phenomenon

One of the most consequential and under-recognized aspects of Autism in school settings is masking - the process by which autistic children, particularly girls, suppress their autistic characteristics and difficulties at school to avoid rejection, anxiety, and trauma. A child can appear completely “fine” to teachers while experiencing severe emotional distress and daily meltdowns at home.

This masking is driven by intense rejection sensitivity and panic about “being found out,” and often leads to dissociation from the child’s own identity. When parents report daily meltdowns at home but teachers see no problems at school, this signals masking - not parental exaggeration.

The effort of masking is exhausting and unsustainable. As social demands increase in pre-teen years, masking often begins unraveling, sometimes leading to severe school refusal, anxiety crises, and significant mental health challenges.

Sensory Processing and the Eight Sensory Systems

Autistic people process sensory information fundamentally differently than Neurotypical people, affecting access to environments, communication, social interaction, emotions, thinking, and learning. The degree of sensory sensitivity varies greatly between autistic individuals and can fluctuate throughout the day or with stress levels.

Understanding Sensory Profiles

Sensory systems can be hypo-sensitive (under-responsive, seeking more input) or hyper-sensitive (over-responsive, overwhelmed by input). Each system can vary independently, and the same person may be hyper-sensitive to one input while hypo-sensitive to another.

The eight Sensory systems are:

1. Sight

Autistic children may experience face-blindness, Irlen Syndrome, fractured visual perception where they see only narrow details in sharp focus while missing the broader picture, or conversely have extreme focus on narrow details to the exclusion of context. They may be distracted by movements, displays, colors, or light levels.

2. Hearing

Sound sensitivity is extremely common in Autism. Teacher tone, multiple voices speaking simultaneously, unexpected noises, loud or sudden sounds (sirens, fire alarms, school bells), and certain tones trigger significant distress. Some autistic children have auditory processing difficulties alongside hearing sensitivity, making it hard to extract meaning from speech.

3. Smell

Cooking smells, perfume, body odor, carpet, toilet smells, and other environmental odors can overwhelm autistic children. Conversely, some autistic children have poor smell sense and can’t detect body odor or burning smells, affecting food variety and self-care awareness.

4. Taste

Limited food palates due to texture, smell, or taste sensitivity are common. School lunch environments - with combined Sensory overload from noise, rushing, and eating in front of others - compound Sensory overwhelm and can trigger anxiety about lunch. Some autistic children eat non-food items (Pica) for Sensory stimulation rather than hunger.

5. Touch

Light touch may feel like hot pins or not register at all. Autistic children may intensely hate unpredictable proximity, crowded spaces, specific clothing textures, seams, labels, or shoe discomfort. Some seek touch (hugging, stroking, deep pressure); others develop touch fears or use repetitive grounding actions.

6. Vestibular System (Balance/Movement)

Autistic children may have poor balance and motion sickness or excellent balance and climbing ability. Many seek movement for regulation (rocking, running, climbing) and struggle with PE or being stationary. Movement breaks and opportunities for fidgeting are regulatory needs, not distractions.

7. Proprioception (Body Awareness)

Under-sensitive proprioception (often related to Dyspraxia/Developmental Coordination Disorder) causes fidgeting, sluggishness, or difficulty regulating stillness. Autistic children may need deep pressure, movement breaks, and fidgeting to provide their brain feedback about body location.

8. Interoception (Internal Sensations)

This is critical and often overlooked. Interoception allows people to recognize internal body signals like hunger, toileting need, pain, sickness, tiredness, and emotions. Autistic children often have poor interoception, leading to toileting, eating, and sleep difficulties.

Alexithymia - difficulty recognizing and naming emotions - is common in Autism and rooted in interoceptive challenges. Some autistic children experience huge emotional reactions (often dismissed as over-reacting); others have delayed emotional registration where they don’t recognize worry or upset until 2 days to 4 weeks later.

Creating Autism-Friendly Classroom Environments

Creating Sensory-accessible, visually clear, predictable classroom environments is foundational to all other Support.

For Early Years Classrooms

  • Simplify the physical layout to create clear routes between areas
  • Reduce visual clutter and excessive displays
  • Create quiet spaces where children can retreat
  • Zone different areas using colored paper for navigation
  • Remove distracting equipment and unnecessary items
  • Provide special interest areas with duplicate items to reduce sharing conflicts and anxiety

For Lower Primary

  • Ensure clear routes between seating with no obstacles
  • Provide predictable carpet spots marked with specific cushions or carpet squares
  • Account for personal space needs (some children need more distance than others)
  • Minimize displays and visual noise
  • Use clear walls where children can sit comfortably without visual overwhelm
  • Make carpet time optional - children experiencing anxiety or overwhelm should be permitted to sit nearby with a quiet activity

For Upper Primary

  • Recognize that Sensory needs do not diminish with age
  • Expectations increase (longer sitting, less movement, more complex social demands) while Sensory sensitivities often intensify
  • Adaptations should be maintained rather than removed as children age
  • Consider seating arrangements carefully
  • Involve students in organizing their spaces
  • Maintain safe regulation places
  • Offer three-sided privacy screens for focused work
  • Remember that puberty can intensify Sensory sensitivity

Specific Sensory Adaptations

These benefit all children:

  • Solid blinds or blackout shades to control light and reduce flickering from fluorescent lights
  • Rubber stoppers on chair legs to reduce scraping noise
  • Closed doors to reduce hallway noise
  • Timing PE and music away from lunch and other noise-intensive activities
  • Removing perfumed or heavily scented products from classrooms
  • Creating calm corners accessible to any child
  • Offering alternative seating (wobble cushions, standing desks, floor cushions)

One school redesigned classrooms using soft palettes (browns, greens, creams), hessian-backed display boards with clear spaces between items rather than fully covered walls, plain walls in most areas, and regulation stations in every classroom where any child could access Emotional regulation time without needing permission or explanation.

Communication Supports and Verbal Strategies

Beyond understanding communication differences, teachers should implement specific verbal strategies and visual supports to enhance understanding and reduce anxiety.

Visual Talk Mats

For different activity areas provide vocabulary scaffolding - showing symbols and words for available activities helps all children understand what’s available and supports children with communication differences.

Speech and Language Therapy Strategies

These must be implemented consistently across all settings and throughout the day, not only during isolated Therapy sessions, to be effective.

Effective Verbal Communication Strategies

  • Say exactly what you want rather than implying it through tone or gesture
  • Show how to do something rather than just explaining
  • Keep sentences short and clear
  • Use “and that means…” to clarify intent and connection
  • Leave processing time without jumping in with reminders (autistic children need longer to process language than Neurotypical children)
  • Comment rather than ask questions to model language (saying “you’re playing with the blue car” rather than “what are you playing with?”)
  • Frame instructions as directives, not questions (“it’s time to put your coat on” not “do you want to put your coat on?”)
  • Be aware of literal understanding and avoid double meanings
  • Remember that non-verbal children are not non-understanding children; they may hear and understand everything but feel vulnerable and unable to respond verbally

Executive Functions and Organization

Executive functions - predicting, planning, time estimation, Working memory, attention monitoring, and self-motivation - develop unevenly in autistic children and often remain challenging throughout life. Teachers must never blame children for developmental delays they cannot control.

Autistic children need scaffolding (temporary Support structures) including:

  • Written or visual task sequences
  • Writing frames
  • Vocabulary prompts and sentence starters
  • Visual reminders of materials and equipment needed
  • Guided listening strategies
  • Checklists and visual organization systems

Backwards-Chaining

This is an effective technique for teaching multi-step tasks: start by teaching the final (most rewarding) step, then gradually ADD earlier steps in reverse order, building independence and motivation.

Visual Timetables

These are essential tools that should be:

  • Checked at every transition with the child actively removing completed pictures from a “finished pocket”
  • Individualized to each child’s needs rather than generic
  • Include Sensory breaks and important activities, not just academic tasks
  • Updated when changes occur

Transitions Between Activities

These should:

  • Use games, chants, or marches to maintain spacing and purposefulness
  • Assign specific transition tasks (“put all bricks in the red box”)
  • Include five-minute lead-up warnings
  • Clearly communicate what’s next

Teaching the Curriculum: Flexibility and Meaningful Connections

Wellbeing is the foundation for learning. Autistic children must feel safe, understood, and sensorily regulated before they can access academic content. Just as stressed adults cannot focus or function effectively, stressed autistic children cannot learn regardless of curriculum quality.

Motivation Through Special Interests

Motivation comes through connecting learning to concrete experience and Special interests. Rather than offering Special interests as rewards after “real work,” teachers should build learning around autistic children’s enthusiasms as the primary pathway to engagement.

Monotropic processing is a strength that allows intense focus on specific areas. Rather than viewing this as a limitation preventing attention-shifting, teachers should harness monotropic focus by connecting new learning to existing interests, allowing the child to bring specialist knowledge into discussions and using it as a connection point for difficult subjects.

Curriculum Flexibility

This is permissible and effective. Teachers should explore different ways of recording and demonstrating learning. Technology (PowerPoints, filmmaking), drawing, making physical objects, and giving processing time help autistic children demonstrate what they’ve learned.

Mathematical Learning Support

This requires specific attention to the concrete-to-abstract transition:

  • Making mathematical vocabulary explicit with visual word lists (ideally on keyrings for reference)
  • Relating numbers to concrete, interesting contexts from the start
  • Using concrete apparatus in every lesson and modeling its use
  • Breaking lessons into smaller chunks with practice between explanations
  • Making connections clear through visual maps showing how previous learning links to current learning
  • Explaining mathematical language that differs in other contexts (e.g., “sum” vs. “some,” “table” for furniture vs. Multiplication table)
  • Using two-color highlighters for word problems—one for numbers, one for operations—to help children filter out distracting words
  • Teaching children that something is abstract, not assuming they’ll understand abstract concepts the same way as concrete ideas

Writing and Literacy Support

Some autistic children struggle with fiction because it “isn’t true” and therefore difficult to work with. Allowing them to borrow story structures from films or books they love - changing character names while using familiar plot elements - provides scaffolding.

Handwriting support addresses multiple underlying causes:

Solutions include: allowing preferred writing tools (felt-tip or roller ball pens on different colored or textured paper), occupational therapy Support for core strength and motor coordination, visual alphabet strips, and critically, technology access. Teachers should weigh whether the effort invested in pencil-and-paper writing justifies the output; laptops, speech-to-text, or symbol-supported software (Widgit, Clicker) may free children to write more effectively.

Colourful Semantics

This approach assigns colors to sentence elements (who, what, when, then starters, verbs, adjectives) which helps children understand sentence structure and assists gestalt language learners in breaking sentences into components.

Behavior As Communication: Understanding Distress

Challenging behavior communicates that something isn’t working - the child is distressed, not being deliberately difficult or “bad.” Before addressing behavior, ensure Autism needs are met: Is the child’s Sensory environment overwhelming? Can they communicate their needs? Are they being Bullied? Are they in pain? Are demands intolerable? Are adults’ arousal levels and stress appropriate for supporting the child?

Meltdowns and Shutdowns

These are brain crashes from extreme Sensory, communication, and social overload, not tantrums or deliberate misbehavior.

Meltdowns involve fight-or-flight responses (running away, lying down, hitting, throwing, screaming) in extreme distress.

Shutdowns involve freezing—the brain shuts down and the person cannot move or communicates minimally.

Less well-known is the “fawn response” where the person becomes an extreme people-pleaser to minimize fear and panic—often appearing as a “model pupil” masking severe anxiety.

Recovery from shutdowns is exhausting and may take 1.5+ hours. Prevention is key: reduce school stress by implementing all strategies in this guide.

When meltdowns or shutdowns occur:

  • Remove Sensory stressors (people, objects, bright lights)
  • Move to a quiet, safe, prepared place
  • Keep talking to a minimum (talking is overload)
  • Be patient and reassure the child they’re not in trouble, you’ll help, things can be repaired—but say little
  • Give time to recover (some need the rest of the day)
  • Repair only after recovery by reassuring they’re not to blame, something went wrong beyond their control, and discussing gently how to help them feel better or repair relationships (with humility from adults acknowledging their own contribution)

The Role of Teaching Assistants

Teachers and teaching assistants (TAs) must work as a team with clear role definitions. TAs should understand lesson content in advance, know which children need which Support, and avoid doing work for children when the learning process matters most.

For one-to-one TAs, relationship quality is paramount. The child must feel safe and understood. TAs should:

  • Know the child’s preferences, early signs of overwhelm, and regulation strategies
  • Prepare Sensory activities and resources in advance
  • Encourage problem-solving and independence rather than learned helplessness
  • Consider seating that respects Sensory tolerances and eye contact discomfort
  • Ensure consistent transitions when the TA is absent by involving the class teacher equally in building trust

Social Support and Peer Relationships

The Double Empathy Problem explains that autistic people find reading Neurotypical social cues difficult, and Neurotypical people find reading autistic social cues equally difficult—the problem isn’t one-directional.

Rather than isolating autistic children for “social skills” training, mixed-group activity-based sessions where adults facilitate cooperation, understanding, and mutual Support are more effective. All children benefit from learning to respect Neurodivergent differences.

Social confidence should be measured partly through the child’s own self-evaluation and sense of wellbeing, not just external conformity to Neurotypical norms.

Playtimes and Lunchtimes: Supporting Unstructured Time

Playtime and lunch are typically relaxing times for Neurotypical children but often the most stressful times of day for autistic children due to:

  • Unstructured time and unpredictable rule changes
  • Sensory overload (noise, movement, weather)
  • Complex social demands without adult scaffolding
  • Feeling exposed or vulnerable

For Primary School Support

  • Give children permission to have alone time, engage in calming activities, or do preferred jobs
  • For anxious children, TA Support may help; for others, peer buddy groups with explicit discussion of shared interests and problem-solving help
  • Breaktime clubs matching autistic children’s interests (dinosaurs, gaming, Lego, computers) provide socially plausible structure
  • Structured activities (card games, board games, crafts, shared projects) where the adult facilitates cooperation without forcing socialization work well

Lunch requires special attention. Lunch supervisors need Autism training given the combined Sensory and social demands of dining halls. Providing structured activities, allowing quiet spaces with chosen friends, or offering quiet lunch spaces with select peers makes enormous differences.

Bullying: Prevention and Support

A 2014 study found 62% of autistic children experienced bullying—deliberate provocation into meltdown, Sensory bullying, social exclusion, exploitation of social naivety, and cyber-bullying. Autistic children are often not believed by schools, which sometimes blame the child.

Importantly, autistic children are generally honest and accurate; few invent bullying stories. First response must be: presume competence and take reports seriously. Ask parents to keep factual diaries of incidents and the child’s interpretation.

Then focus on repairing relationships by building new connections through common interests, shared activities, and successful projects.

Emotional Regulation and Alexithymia

Many autistic children struggle with alexithymia—difficulty identifying and describing their own emotions. Generic emotion charts (weather boards, traffic lights) may be meaningless or stress-inducing.

Support includes:

  • First ensuring the school environment isn’t causing anxiety through poor Support, unclear communication, or bullying
  • Checking Sensory sensitivities, as these often underlie emotional reactions
  • Teaching how emotions affect the body physically and mentally (not just feelings)
  • Using visual resources like “The Incredible 5-Point Scale”
  • Acknowledging emotions as real even if they’re not “telling the truth”
  • Teaching problem-solving with visual maps showing how elements of feelings link to facts
  • Working on understanding what “calm” feels like (better baseline than “happy”)

Transitions: Daily and Developmental

Daily Transitions

These between activities challenge autistic children who may miss cues, be absorbed in activity, need more information, or experience paralyzing anxiety. Strategies include:

  • Five-minute lead-up warnings
  • Clear communication of what’s next
  • Adequate processing time
  • Making transitions positive and calm
  • Assigning specific tasks at transition time to create structure

Transitions to New Classrooms

These require building familiarity:

  • Positive regular visits to the new class in advance
  • Booklets with pictures taken home during holidays
  • Photos or videos of the new classroom sent before term
  • The first day’s timetable emailed on the inset day
  • Familiar items in the child’s seating area
  • Relating the new class to the child’s enthusiasms
  • Allowing earlier arrival to orient before other children arrive

Transition to High School

This is a major worry. Good secondary schools partner with families and primary schools. Primary teachers should:

  • Help the child understand whole-week visual timetables
  • Create year-long timelines marking key events to ease pressure about imminent transitions
  • Prepare the child for working with different TAs in different subjects
  • Consider extending to different classrooms for some lessons if possible
  • Celebrate achievements in the final year
  • Maintain familiar routines and visual timetables even after standardized tests

Cultural and Racial Considerations

Cultural and racial biases distort Autism identification: Black autistic children’s behaviors are frequently misread as aggression, opposition, or behavioral problems rather than recognized as Autism. This leads to under-Diagnosis, over-policing, and exclusion from school.

Research by Vanessa Bobb highlights that Black communities experience Autism under-Diagnosis due to these biases and missing representation in research and awareness materials. Teachers and schools must actively examine and counteract these biases to ensure equitable identification and Support.

Co-Occurring Conditions

Autistic children may also experience:

Each co-occurring condition requires specific understanding and Support strategies that complement Autism Support.

Professional Support and Referrals

This guide provides classroom strategies, but it is not a substitute for professional Assessment and Support. Teachers should:

  • Refer children to educational psychology services when concerns about learning, behavior, or development persist despite implemented strategies
  • Work with speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, and other specialists to understand specific needs and implement their recommendations consistently
  • Alert parents to professional concerns and Support referrals to pediatricians or developmental specialists when developmental delays are significant
  • Never attempt to diagnose Autism or other conditions; Support identification while recognizing that Diagnosis is a medical/psychological process

Technology and Digital Supports

Modern technology offers powerful supports for autistic learners:

Testing and Assessment Adaptations

Testing and Assessment create multiple stressors: time pressure, shifting attention between questions, Sensory challenges (lighting, sound), writing demands, and performance anxiety. Many autistic learners answer test questions literally (responding “yes” to “can you explain…?” without elaborating).

Support strategies include:

  • Providing advance notice with visual explanations of what assessments involve
  • Breaking assessments into smaller chunks with Sensory breaks
  • Having visiting professionals send photos and outlines beforehand
  • Adapting assessments to the child’s interests
  • Applying for legal reasonable adjustments (laptop use, extra time)
  • Finding alternative ways to demonstrate knowledge

Importantly, tests only measure certain things and don’t reflect many areas of brilliance.

Building an Autism-Affirming School Culture

Creating genuinely supportive environments requires whole-school commitment to:

  • Neurodiversity affirmation rather than deficit-based approaches
  • Staff training on Autism, Sensory processing, and modern Support strategies
  • Environmental modifications that benefit all students
  • Clear communication systems and visual supports throughout the school
  • Strong partnerships with families and autistic adults
  • Celebration of Neurodivergent strengths and differences
  • Anti-bullying programs that specifically address Neurodivergent experiences

Key Resources and Organizations