Teaching Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

by Clarissa Willis

What do you do when a three-year-old with autism falls on the floor kicking and screaming? How do you communicate with a child who looks away and flaps his hands? Who can help if you suspect a child in your class has autism? Preschool can be overwhelming for a child with autism. Autism affects how a child communicates, behaves, and relates to others. Teachers need to know what they can do to help children with autism reach their full potential. Teaching Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder is a straightforward, easy-to-understand guide to working with children who have autism. It explains the major characteristics associated with autism and helps teachers understand the ways children with autism relate to the world. Each chapter offers specific strategies for teachers to use, including setting up a proactive preschool environment, helping children learn life skills, managing behavior, helping children with autism communicate, encouraging children with autism to play, helping them to get along with others, and working with families. Teaching Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder helps teachers connect with all children in meaningful ways, allowing children with autism to learn and grow. Chapters

Genres: Education, Autistic Spectrum Disorder

224 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2006

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book offers a number of activities and strategies to deal with autistic children. Unfortunately, although the author explains that ASD can cover a wide-range of capabilities, the activities seem meant for those on the lower levels of the spectrum. I found very little that would be useful with my higher-functioning autistic child.

[Eshaneh · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this book at my library. It is outdated and the author makes a lot of unfortunate generalizations about autistic children (I use identity-first language, which is important to Autistics). The most disturbing suggestion in this book was the use of hand cut-outs so that autistic preschoolers would not flap their hands. My grandfather was born left-handed and his left hand was tied behind his back as a child, so that he would have to use his right hand. The cut-out suggestion is actually pretty similar to what my grandfather experienced. The book included a section on social development and then there were no real suggestions in trying to meet autistic children where they are at developmentally. Floortime/DIR was not even mentioned as a possible method, which is a shame. The behavioral methods suggested in this book are alarmingly common in preschool settings, and from a neurodiversity paradigm standpoint, potentially harmful to the self-esteem of autistic children; not to mention harmful to their actual development. Bypassing developmental readiness with behavioural short-cuts designed to make it appear that a child has hit some developmental milestone or "improved independent learning skills" means that autistic children don't get so many opportunities to problem-solve and think symbolically. I felt disappointed about just about everything I read. Sadly, not much has changed in the eleven years since the book was published.

[Ashley Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty basic info, some of which is outdated. Still, a decent introduction to educational strategies that can be helpful in any preschool classroom.

[Katelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this book at the library and took it home to take a look. I thought it was a really neat resource. The book is written mostly for teachers who have autistic children in their classrooms, but I thought it was helpful as a parent as well. There are different activities in the book that I found could be helpful to use at home with my son. I would recommend taking a look at this book if you have an autistic child, or work around any children with autism.

[Amy Hendrickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reference for the early childhood classroom.