Simple classroom adaptations to support autistic young people and their attention & listening and to help finish curriculum tasks.
Seating: talk to the student to find the best place for them to sit in lessons, this might be at the front, where there are less distractions, it might be near the door so that they can leave without being noticed if they feel overwhelmed, it might be sitting with particular people who they feel comfortable with. You will only find out by discussing seating with the young person. Once you have found the best seating arrangement for the young person that helps them focus, listen, and work, keep them there! Do not move them around or change their seat.
Sensory support: sensory support can regulate sensory processing and emotions, which can help young people focus and listen. An occupational therapy assessment is helpful to know what kind of sensory support young people need but you might be able to find out enough information from the young person and by using a downloadable checklist to do a sensory audit on the environment. https://education.gov.scot/media/i3nm5bkt/sensory-audit-tool-for-environments.pdf
Visual support: auditory processing differences make it hard to filter out background noise, sensory differences can exacerbate this, slower processing means that working memory fills up quickly and but is slow to empty, which can affect understanding language. These differences can increase anxiety and stress about not being able to follow instructions, access tasks, being told off, making mistakes, etc. Visual support can reduce pressure on auditory processing and working memory, which in turn reduces anxiety. For example, pictures, key information written on the board, power points, making sure that slides are kept on the board long enough for young people to read, typed instructions and steps to do curriculum tasks so that young people do not have to try to remember them.
Anxiety: we all have different things that make us feel anxious, we know that autistic people are more vulnerable to anxiety, and we know that difficulty managing uncertainty is often involved, e.g., change, transitions, unplanned and unexpected events and experiences. Visual support can make routines more predictable, e.g., using a class calendar, talking about anxiety in PSHE sessions can help raise awareness of what anxiety is, when it helps us, when it does not, what helps us to manage some anxiety. Use Plan A / Plan B to help manage some uncertainty, e.g., “Plan A, if it’s sunny tomorrow, we will do PE outside, Plan B, if it’s raining, we will do it in the hall.” Sensory triggers, e.g., loud noises, crowded places might increase anxiety. Talk to the young person to try to discover what makes them feel anxious so that you can then problem solve together about how to reduce anxiety. https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/professional-practice/anxiety-classroom
