Children with autism may have difficulties within the classroomwith issues such as listening and communicating with their teacher and peers.
A normally developing child will have the ability to read facial and body language and will be able to understand subtle vocal noises or suggestions. The autistic student will lack this ability.
Autism educators should try and remember that the autistic child will have difficulties with things like interactive lessons, pretend play and shared reading etc
The autistic child,may have trouble following classroom directions and rules. Their lack of social understanding and need for repetition can lead to bullying and social isolation.
Teaching students with autism is made more difficult because children with autism will present problems with imagination, which can hamper some teaching strategies.
Their lack of imaginative or creative play will often mean lack of friendships and solitary play at recess. This is not uncommon; most children with autism prefer to be alone.
Teaching students with autism within the autism classrooms is not easy, lack of eye contact coupled with a lack of social skills maybe stressful.
Autism classrooms and autism educators can find help using autism social stories as an effective autism resource for managing, teaching and coping with autism behaviors and issues.
Research proves autism educators can benefit from introducing autism social stories to the autism classroom to help manage autism behaviors. Autistic students have shown great response to the use of autism social stories, using them as coping strategies within the autism classroo
Autism social skills stories are used as a resourcefor all situations within the school that the autistic student is struggling to understand and deal with.
Social skills storiesgiving all children with autism clear instructions on how, to deal and cope with school, helping them to comprehend and manage their learning, autism behaviors and social skills.
Have you ever stopped to consider how often you use visual supports during the day? How about when you look at a TV Guide, use a recipe, look at a map…
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All of these are visual supports. Yes of cause we could live without visual supports, but just consider how limited our lives would be…no internet, newspapers, maps etc!
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A similar rule applies to autism, autistic people also need visual supports, and pretty similar to the visual supports we ourselves use “everydayâ€.
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Visual supports in autism include visual timetables, autism social stories, communication systems, PECS, flashcards and other visual supports used for autistic coping strategies.
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As we are already aware autistic children and people think and learn visually.
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Therefore, it is essential that “visual supports in autismâ€, is given great consideration. Autistic people have difficulties with communication, and sometimes will lack the ability to speak, or their language may be restricted.
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Which in itself can cause problems, but when this is coupled with their lack of social awareness also, it can prove to be a recipe for social mistakes.
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Social mistakes can cause embarrassment and stress, which can lead to anxiety and sometimes trigger violent or aggressive outburst, which then can become a vicious circle.
One excellent tool is the use of autism social stories. Social Stories can be used for teaching social skills to children with autism and related disabilities.
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Social skill stories present appropriate social behaviors for situations, which include answers to questions the autistic person will need to know to interact appropriately with others…for example, answers to who, what, where, when, and why.
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Autism social stories can provide an individual with accurate information about those situations they may find difficult or confusing.
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The social story will describe the situation in detail and focus is given to a few key points. These are the social cues…the events and reactions the individual may expect in the situation, the actions and reactions that might be expected of them, and why.
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Using Autism social stories will increase your child’s understanding of why things happen and why they are expected to act in certain ways or do certain things, like washing their teeth, or using public toilets.
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You can see an example social story at www.autismsocialstories.com Studies have shown autistic people respond well to social stories. Visually social stories can be pictorially rich and colorful-giving the autistic person clear social cues and prompts for managing and understanding the situation, task, event or activity.
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Immediately download and begin using appropriate visual supports in autism such as autism social stories, to help your autistic child, teen or adult find appropriate coping strategies for all situations they find stressful, confusing or difficult.
To view an example social story and immediately download appropriate autism social stories visit us at:
More often than not autistic people will have social impairments and lack the ability to “mind read†or understand what others maybe thinking. They will not have the ability to understand body language or facial expression. Something we as a whole take for granted.
Social impairments become apparent early in childhood and continue through to adulthood.
Autistic children will pay less attention to social stimuli, they will probably smile a lot less and won’t be interested in engaging with others, they may also respond less to their own name.
You may find your autistic toddler for example, will give less eye contact, may respond less to his/her name, not be as cuddly and is more likely to communicate by pulling on your hand and leading you to what they desire.
By the ages of between three to five years old most normally developing youngsters will understand facial expressions, body language and non-verbal communication skills…and most definitely learnt how to manipulate their parents!…
Autistic children are less likely to exhibit any social understanding, they will almost certainly be less likely to approach others spontaneously, imitate and respond to emotions, and still not grasp the concept of turn taking.
However, autistic children do form attachments to their primary caregivers, parents, and teachers. They will undoubtedly display less attachment than that of a normally developing child though.
Children with less severe Autism Spectrum Disorder, like aspergers or mild autism may be more likely to form stronger bonds, but as they grow older studies have shown they perform slightly less on tests of face and emotion recognition.
Making and maintaining friendships often proves to be difficult for those with autism. For them, the quality of friendships, not the number of friends, predicts how lonely they are.
Autistic children like all normally developing children do need friends…and as a parent or teacher of an autistic child there are ways in which you can help them understand the importance of being a good friend. As well as helping them learn the skill of making friends, something again we take for granted, as an autistic person this skill does not come naturally, but needs to be learnt.
As a primary caregiver, parent or teacher, you can help by introducing the idea of autism social stories as a technique of explaining how we make friends, why we need friends and how to then maintain those friendships in easy to understand language.
These valuable short pieces of text are an excellent tool which you can use with your autistic child to help them understand and control situations.
Appropriate autism social stories are well written in the first person and will have images and or photos showing your autistic child in a clear helpful manner how, why, where and when they should do something. They will give the appropriate responses the autistic person may expect and also the responses they themselves should expect from others.
As more and more special needs students with autism are coming into mainstream regular classrooms, teachers are faced with the challenge of meeting their needs as well as the needs of all students within their classroom.
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So how do teachers cope with autism in the classroom? Autism and classroom accommodations need to be put in place before the autistic student starts school.
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Nurturing the parent-teacher relationship is key. A meeting with the child’s parents should be held prior to the start of the school year. Parents can help identify the pragmatic skills in the autistic child, learning patterns, current cognitive skills, and the behavioral techniques that are used with the child.
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All autism classroom accommodations should be noted and all the appropriate adults in the child’s care team should be involved, like school speech therapist, occupational therapist, special education teacher.
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Students with autism will often struggle to express what they need or what they don’t understand.
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Autism in the classroom can be helped by using visual cues around the classroom, for example above the bathroom a picture of a toilet, sink with the written word on show also. Using visual cues can help the autistic child quickly identify certain areas, without feeling frustrated.
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Pictures and words should be used all around the classroom to help identify areas such as where coats and lunches are stored, pencils are sharpened, and books are put on the shelf.
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As well as visual cues the teacher should have the appropriate autism social stories
….Autism social stories are designed as a tool for helping parents, teachers of autistic children better cope with challenging and often frustrating behaviors.
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Social stories will act as a best friend to the autistic child…helping them cope with all the daily activities in school, as well as helping with all classroom accommodations and as an aid in pragmatic skills in autistic children.
Self-injury is probably one of the most distressing and difficult behaviors that any parent, carer, family member and autistic person can be faced with.
Mostly the causes of this behavior are quite complex and the level of risk to the autistic person’s safety and well-being can at times be quite high.
Normal behavioral intervention is not always appropriate; but it is generally felt that professional help should be sought to help deal with this problem.
What is self-injurious behavior?
Sometimes referred to as self-harming behavior, self-injury takes many different forms, such as:
head banging (on floors, walls or other surfaces)
hand or arm biting
hair pulling
eye gouging
face or head slapping
skin picking, scratching or pinching
Forceful head shaking.
Autistic people who have complex needs and who have concurrent learning disabilities are more likely to engage in severe self-injurious behaviors.
However, people across the spectrum and of all ages may engage in self-injurious behaviors at some point.
Individuals who engaged in self-injurious behaviors as children may return to these as adults during times of stress, illness or change.
Causes of self-injurious behavior
The reasons a person has for engaging in self-injurious behavior, is almost alwaysfound to be varied, and will involve numerous different factors.
For example an Autistic child may have begun head banging as a form of sensory stimulation (stimming, repetitive behavior) at first, and has now learnt that the head banging is a way to avoid certain situations.
Hitting the face or head may initially have been a response to earache or maybe toothache. Which may have led on to being a way to have wants or needs met.
Some possible causes that should be considered when thinking about self-injurious behavior:
Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, you should consider when dealing with self-injurious behavior, is there a possible medical or dental problem that the Autistic individual may be having.
Autistic people may have some difficulty in telling others that something is wrong physically and some self-injurious behaviors (such as ear slapping or head banging) may be their way of dealing with pain or communicating discomfort.
Here are some examples of medical and dental problems which may be expressed through self-injurious behavior:
Some illnesses such as: colds, flu, viruses or infections such as sinus, ear or urinary tract infections.
Pain such as: earache, headache, toothache, pre-menstrual tension
Seizures, some types of epilepsy
General feelings of being un-well such as: rashes, constipation, indigestion, heartburn, flatulence.
There is also research to suggest that there may be some connection between types of self-injury and tic disorders plus compulsive behaviors.
If your autistic child is using self-injurious behaviour and you need help, visit us now at www.autismsocialstories.com.
…To obtain excellent social skills stories which will help your child understand and control behaviors. Studies prove social skill stories are an excellent tool in helping autistic children better cope with confusing and often stressful situations…helping you to cope with their often aggressive and sometimes self-injurious behaviour.
Touching or manipulating an object (kinesthetically or ‘hands-on’ learning).
An example of these would be, looking at a picture book or reading a textbook, this would be visual learning. Listening to a c.d., or going to a lecture this would be learning through hearing…and pressing buttons to determine how to operate a DVD involves learning kinesthetically, through touch and feel.
Mostly we learn through two or more of these learning skills. How we learn will determine how ell we do at school.
Most mainstream school adopt all of these learning methods, we visually learn through reading books and texts, we learn through listening to out teachers and we practice tasks to learn.
With autistic children they will nearly always be visual learners. Some autistic children will also be kinesthetic learners and may well benefit form their teacher or helper actually guiding their hand while they undertake tasks.
Therefore, it is important that a teacher assess each autistic child in the class to determine which kind of learning skill they prefer. The teacher can then adapt the teaching style to suit the autistic child’s need’s and build on their strengths.
However one very important thing to remember when assessing an autistic child is their need for repetition and sameness. Keeping this in mind when setting lessons will be of benefit.
A visual timetable should always be in place for the autistic student to refer too.
As with a normally developing child autism learning skills, can be enhanced by following these simple rules. Another good idea is to set up autism social skills stories
These help keep the autistic child on task, and work as an excellent tool in helping teachers explain why, what and how to their autistic students.
Using autism social skills stories will benefit the autistic student as they will encompass all autism learning skills, they can be read, auditory, they have appropriate pictures and images plus some text, visual and they can be handles kinesthetic, or used as a visual aid with attachable pictures etc…
…However you decide to use them they will nevertheless prove to be a valuable asset to autism learning skills.
Autistic children on the whole have issues when it comes to making and keeping friends.
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Sometimes they can find themselves as the targets for bullies, because of their lack of social understanding and on occasion’s odd behavior, language and unusual pre-occupations and tendencies.
Their lack of understanding and ability to respond in socially expected ways to nonverbal cues can lead to conflict or being ignored by others. Children with Asperger’s syndrome will sometimes be extremely literal and may find interpreting and responding to sarcasm or banter difficult….And may well not understand what has been said or done.
Therefore, the sooner an autistic child learns how to make appropriate friendships the better. It can help reduce problems, like bullying and lead to better relationships with people who aren’t on the spectrum.
It is easy as a non-autistic person to forget how complex social skills are;
For example:
• How to enter into other children’s activity
• How to allow another child to enter into your own game or activity
• Knowing when someone needs help, and how to find help, also how to get help from others.
• Giving and receiving compliments at the right time.
• Understanding about positive criticism, when and how to give.
• Being able to accept and handle criticism from others
• Accepting the ideas and suggestions of others, and what to do with them
• Controlling negative situations and turning them into a positive
• Learning how to act appropriately at home and in public
• Understanding body language, and facial expressions
• Understanding and using “nick namesâ€, appropriate use of words, like swear words, or rude gestures and words.
• Taking part in conversation.
• Managing disagreement with compromise instead of aggression or emotional outbursts
• Accepting not everybody will agree with you, and recognizing peoples opinions can at time vary.
• Empathizing with others in both positive and negative situations
• How to leave an activity or situation without causing offense.
Non-autistic children will learn these social skills in an unconscious and intuitive way, by observing and interacting with everyone around them.
However with autism these skills are not normally learnt in such a way, and need to be learnt in a more definite manner.
Using autism social skills stories can increase your child’s ability to make and maintain friendships-by giving your child clear social cues on how to get and keep a friend.
 Plus how to act in all situations and activities, making your child more confident and ultimately helping them to make those friendships they need to fit into their environment.
We all need friends, a food friend can be like gold dust, and by using social skills storiesyour autistic child can maintain normal friendships.
To obtain specific and even personalized social skills stories for your autistic child
We all love going out to eat…But when your child is autistic this family treat can become a family nightmare.
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There are various ways to prepare your autistic child for eating out.
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You could start by a simple role play of the eating out experience…
Maybe you could show your autistic child a sample menu…Introduce this at your own family meal time…â€Isn’t this fun…can you choose your dinner from the menu (add name)
Autism Social Stories are an excellent tool at this time…Introduce your autistic child to the idea of eating out. By using theses simple but effective social skills stories, the social skill stories will explain, what happens in a restaurant…what is expected of them and also what they can expect from others.
Have a rehearsal in a small fast food restaurant or salad bar first
Try to visit the restaurant to familiarize your autistic child with the establishment first.
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A few things you may want to keep in mind before the actual eating out experience are:
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Have you prepared your child enough before actually setting the date
Have you introduced an appropriate autism social story- explaining what is going to happen, and when it is going to happen.
Make sure you have taken the time to check the restaurant is the same as when you bought your child along for a visit …No re-decorating has happened etc..
Have you practiced with your menu at home? It may be an idea to actually bring along some food from home-just incase.
To be on the safe side bring along a social skills story for using the bathroom while you are out “autism social stories and going to the bathroomâ€. You may want to have already introduced this story to your child before the meal out - to be on the safe side.
Try and choose a restaurant where the service is normally very fast, or try and have a quiet word with your waiter and explain your child is autistic and could he please hurry your orders and service along.
Remember to always keep one eye on your autistic child…he wont think twice about helping himself to the kid on the next tables burger or fries…Or shouting out. Be aware of the people on the tables near to yours.
If at all possible ask to be seated in a quiet part of the restaurant away from others.
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Remember restaurants are full of stimulation, smells, noises, sights, lights. You will need to be very aware of these. But as long as you have prepared your child by using an appropriate autism social story, your child should already be aware of these and you will be able to take appropriate actions to avoid certain situations.
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You can obtain suitable autism social skills stories from:
It can be very difficult to motivate an autistic child, mainly because of their lack of imagination and communication skills..
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A person’s motivation is mainly influenced by their experiences, their desires and imagination…As well as past experiences, learning, and history.
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Therefore motivation and interest come from past experiences and the desire to learn and have new experiences. Â Challenges which trigger memories of past anxieties or failures will mostly stimulate avoidance reactions and self-preservation responses.
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Motivating an autistic child can be helped by understanding the child’s interests or preoccupations, fascinations however bizarre you may find them!…Use these interests as the bases of expanding the child’s sometimes limited area of interest.
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Try and avoid any tasks that trigger anxiety in the autistic child…these will only lead to avoidance.
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Give re-assurance and keep the tasks small to begin with…Give reinforcement regularly…Make the task milestones very small to begin with, then give positive reinforcement…Gradually increase the milestone to be reached before positive reinforcement is given.
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Keep a record of all anxiety triggers and how they were dealt with…what positive reinforcement was used?
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Make certain everybody included in the child’s care is following the same strategy.
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Create or obtain good social skills stories to help explain to the autistic child what they are doing for example a school trip or play, Christmas, making cards…The social story should be pictorially rich, most autistic children are visual learners.
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Autism social stories are an excellent tool for helping an autistic child make sense of the world around them…giving them clear social cues as to how to act, what is expected of them, why we do certain things and what others are expecting of them..
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They will explain why things happen and what they need to do..For example a new school, house, car, holiday etc..
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Obtain pictorially rich autism social stories now from
It is not un-common for an autistic child to become aggressive as they enter the teenage years, whether this is due to hormonal changes or the rebellious onset of teenage years as a child becomes more independent of their parents we don’t know…
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However as your child grows and enters the teenage years, if you are finding aggression a problem there are a few ways you can find help.
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Autistic aggression can be sudden and quite out of the blue, one of the first things you need to remember is the safety of the child as well as his/her peers and any other person within the vicinity.
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You will need to first of all determine what is causing these violent aggressive outbursts.What sort of signals do they send before an upset? Can you read his/her body language to know when he/she is becoming upset?
What sort of things are causing the behavior? Are the outbursts connected to school work? To how he/she is feeling physically? To the amount of sleep he/she had? To the clothes he/she wearing, or the clothes of a peer, or maybe teacher? To a scent/smell? To who is near him?
Some experts will suggest not to react to this behavior…however this can be hard and certainly easier said than done. So what do you do when faced with an autistic teenager who is becoming increasingly more aggressive?
People with autism tend to be stronger visually than auditorally. This means they take in information better that they can see, rather than what they can hear. Unfortunately, we as parents, helpers and teachers are talkers. We will talk to explain, we talk to connect. And when we are upset, we tend to talk even more.
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An autistic teenager, even one who is highly verbal, when under stress will have increasing difficulties understanding what it is you’re saying. Â Thus when he/she does not respond appropriately, the chances are you will talk even more trying to make them understand, which will actually compound his/her stress even further, rather than decreasing it.
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It may well be a good thing to remember when a situation arises it’s better to talk less, far less than you would want too. In fact, ideally do not talk. During the outbursts, anything you may say will do little other than aggravate the situation.
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Instead, when you do need to speak, try and keep your sentences short and blunt – a mere one word would be best. You could then couple the words you use with visuals or hand signals.
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Try and remember that your autistic teenager will take in information better when it is visual (i.e. what he/she can see), rather than what he/she hears.
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Because of the problems many autistic and asperger kids have making sense of the world, they often appreciate having rules and expectations set out clearly for them. Â Autistic people respond well to repetition and sameness. Therefore it has been found that they will respond well to, “The rule is…”. Â This simple technique can have a great impact in many situations.
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“Establish rulesâ€.  You will need to make them clear and precise.  Then stick them in every place that your autistic teenager will go to. It won’t work if you simply tell him/her the rules or discuss them - they have to be visual.
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You may well want to consider doing the same thing with the consequences you’ve set up for rule infractions. Therefore when you feel an incident or outburst may be building, rather than issuing verbal warnings, tap on the visually posted rule.
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Also remembering autistic people are visual learners a visual concise timetable should also be put in place if it has not already been done.
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Plus social stories should be introduced. They are an excellent tool for letting a child know what is going to happen and what is expected of him. Thus taking away some of the anxiety triggers that can cause the outbursts. When using social stories ensure they are pictorially rich showing the autistic teenager visually what is expected, “The rulesâ€, and giving them clear cues for behavior and what is expected of them in any given situation.
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These short pieces of text can be like the autistic teenagers best friend not only are they visual but there is text to accompany the images giving your aggressive autistic teenager clear social cues for their expected behavior, giving them the rules and possible consequence of inappropriate behaviors.
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By using the techniques set out above and the introduction of social stories, aggressive outburst should be kept to a minimum.
To immediately download autism social stories visit
Getting a hair cut for most of us can be quite a pleasant experience. We look forward to the time out, chatter and being pampered.
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From an early age we take our normally developing children along to the hairdresser or barber. Where they sense the relaxed calm atmosphere, and will generally pick up on the body language, given off by customers in the shop enjoying a haircut.
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However, if your child is autistic this normal everyday activity can be a distressing and painful experience.
The first thing to consider is why?, an autistic child may not understand the need to have a haircut, why should they want to get their hair cut when to them it is just fine the way it is…
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They will not understand the need to go to this strange and smelly place and sit in a chair that to them may feel uncomfortable and wear a gown from material that may be harsh and hurt their skin.
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A simple hair wash…using smelly shampoo that may be offensive to their oversensitive noses, the feel of the shower spray on their head can cause discomfort. A towel around their neck again could feel uncomfortable, abrasive and harsh. The act of rubbing the hair dry could cause anxiety triggers also.
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Then brushing the hair, maybe the hairbrush is the wrong color or too hard… The scissors may actually hurt their head as they cut the hair, the noises going on around them the low drone of the hair clipper. The noise of people talking, sudden laughter, all noises we can block out as background noise…to an autistic child these noises can be over powering…the sharp clatter of scissors a blow dryer…
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The smell of hair products, perfume, deodorant, aftershave…can all be over powering to an autistic persons senses.
Having an autistic child is never going to be easy and a normal everyday thing like a haircut is always going to be difficult…However, there are some steps you can take which may help make this activity a bit easier to cope with..
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Try taking along a toy or portable DVD player a distraction of some sort, to distract away from some of the sensory happenings around them.
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Get your self autism social stories and begin to implement these before the event, get your autistic child used to the idea of getting a haircut by reading the social story to them.
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A good autism social story will explain to your child why we need to visit the hairdresser and what we can expect when we get there as well as what other people will expect of them.
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These valuable short pieces of text can actually help parents better cope with this and other challenges having an autistic child brings up.
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Get social skills stories for getting a haircut and others from
For most of us a visit to the dentist is a scary thought, with a large number of the population actually experiencing an un-rational fear of the drill noise, smells and even the dentist himself!
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This fear of going to the dentist is picked up on by our children and the never ending cycle of dreading the 6 monthly check-up takes root.
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However with autism, this fear and dread are not always picked up, autistic children and adults, don’t have the ability to “mind read†or read other peoples body language.
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So what are the difficulties with a dental visit for your autistic child?
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Well for a start there is the first hurdle, why do I need to see a dentist? This man or woman wearing a white coat, who expects them to lay in a chair with a bright light shining in their face, while they look into their mouth using strange equipment.
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Although you yourself understand why it is important to have a regular check-up and keep your teeth and gums healthy. Your autistic child may not understand what healthy hygiene habits are, and indeed the importance of having healthy teeth and gums.
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So what do you need to be aware of once you have actually gor your autistic child into the dentist…
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Autistic children are very sensitive, and your mouth is one of the most sensitive areas on your body, so this it-self may cause an anxiety trigger for your autistic child.
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The feel of the cold instrument entering their mouth, the drill sensation, the water spraying, the taste of the mouth wash or paste, all these things could be anxiety triggers..
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The feel of the dentist chair, the rubber gloves the dentist will wear, the bright light above their face, even the goggles they may be asked to wear are these colored, if so this could also be an anxiety trigger.
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The perfume or aftershave, deodorant the nurse or dentist is wearing, the smell in the dentist room, even reception area, the lady opposite you waiting maybe she has perfume on that will trigger an anxiety attack along with these factors comes the uncertainty of why they are even there, why they need to let this dentist look in their mouth.
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All these things need consideration before you even step foot into the dentist…One tool you can use to help explain why we need to visit the dentist and some of the things that will happen while they are there is something many parents have found helpful; “autism social storiesâ€.
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These small carefully written social skill stories will give your autistic child clear instructions and explanations as to what is happening, why it is happening, and what they can expect from others at the time, and what others will be expecting of them.
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Armed with a good social skills story you can help your autistic child better cope with visiting the dentist as well as many other activities and events they will come across in their everyday lives, things we take for granted as “normalâ€. But to an autistic child can be distressing even frightening…
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To immediately download autism social stories to help your child visit
Being a teenager is a difficult time, being the parent of a teenager is also a challenging time. But if your teen is autistic, this can be not only challenging but very difficult…
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For a start how do you explain what will happen to their body. What resources are there available to help you, and how do you access these.
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Then there is the hormonal changes, an increase in hormones can sometime trigger seizures in autistic teen’s so you will need to be aware of these. Not all seizures involve falling to the ground and shaking…This kind of seizure is not that common. A lot of seizures are noticed as absences, a blank stare, etc. if you think your autistic teenager may be experiencing seizures of any degree, however small, l you should take them along to your G.P. to be checked out.
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Being a teenager is quite confusing, you’re no longer a child, with this comes the pressure of exams, growing sexuality, peer pressure, and all the other things that come with the onset of your teenage years.
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At school and at home your life begins to take on new dimensions, you begin to start planning a career and mapping out a future for yourself. The teenage years are a very social time, relationships are formed and people treat you more grown up.
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For an autistic teenager, this time can and will be stressful. Their friends will mature and expect them to mature with them… If your autistic teenager has high functioning autism or asperger, chances are they attend a normal school. They will have formed friendships with normally developing children of their own age.
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This is where autism social stories will be of benefit to your autistic or asperger teenager, a social story can and will explain all the changes happening to their bodies as well as the changes to their friends bodies.
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Why for example all of a sudden they need to use deodorant, maybe people are beginning to complain they smell…Susie might not now be happy to allow them to sniff her hair. Maybe your autistic or asperger teenager is female; a social story can explain menstruation and how to cope with the onset of periods.
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Social stories will cover puberty; swear words, taking care of themselves and so much more. Autism social stories are used by many parents to help their teenager better prepare and manage the teenage years.
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An excellent source of specially written social stories just for the teenage years can be found at:
Shopping is an essential part of our every day lives, we need to shop. However even a normal task like shopping can become a nightmare for an autistic child.
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Autistic children have difficulties processing the different sensations we all experience in the environment on a daily basis. This is mainly because children on the spectrum can either be hyposensitive (under sensitive) to sensory input in the environment, or hypersensitive (over sensitive) to sensory input in the environment.
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Autistic children may have difficulties blocking out what other people may be able to ignore as background noise, for example a low drone of chatter, the ring of a till, an escalator, the noise of a shopping trolley, the list goes on, all meaningless noises we can filter out and ignore.
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For an autistic child these noises are all equal, they can not shut them off and ignore them in the same way we do. They will be aware of each noise, and added to these noises will be the sudden noise; for example an announcement over the tannoy, or a child scream out someone dropping something, again the list goes on.
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There are not only the noises to consider when shopping with your autistic child. There are also smells; all smells we again ignore, some ones perfume the odour from different foods, like fish or meat a perfume counter.You may find that certain areas of the shop can cause the child to become upset and it could be a certain scent is causing distress.They may find it difficult to distinguish between different smells and be overwhelmed.
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The fluorescent lights in the shop may hurt their eyes, there may be a lot of differing displays, light settings, and the whole visual effect of the shop may be confusing to them.
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Sometimes autistic children can be affected by the feel or touch of different fabrics, trying on new clothes or shoes can sometimes cause pain and distress, coupled with the noise and light sensations this whole experience can cause an autistic child a lot of upset.
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So how as a parent can you help your autistic child cope with these things? One suggestion is the introduction of social stories.
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Social stories can be used as a tool for helping your autistic child understand and deal with all these sensations. Helping them to understand what is going on in the shop, what they can expect and what others will be expecting of them.
A good social story can help you turn what potentially can be a nightmare shopping trip into a bearable experience.
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Autism social stories to help with shopping trips as well as other activities can be downloaded at www.autismsocialstories.com
There are more children now being diagnosed autistic than ever before.
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Autistic children are all different; they will have different degrees of severity, and different need’s.
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However they will all have certain things in common like:
Communication problems
Social interaction problems
Behavior issues
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Plus some autistic children are especially sensitive to their environment. Noise, bright colors, strong smells, can all cause stress and even real physical pain.
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In a school environment other pupils may well consider an autistic child “oddâ€
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One thing a teacher need’s to keep in mind is that each autistic child will react in different ways. If you have an autistic child beginning in your class it may help you to speak with the child’s classroom helper, or assistant, before they start in your class. If there is no helper to speak with, then making time to talk to the child’s parents will be a good idea.
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You need to establish from them exactly which conditions are most conducive to learning and good behavior. In addition, you can help by:
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Having a clear structure to the day/lesson, with a visual timetable displayed to show what is going to happen.
Minimize any changes to routine by always telling the autistic child in advance, and possible help them by introducing a social story to help them cope with the change and be prepared for it.
Take all autism classroom accommodations into account by setting up a quiet place “Time out†area for the autistic child to use, as and when appropriate.
Try and keep in mind an autistic child may not understand facial expression and figurative language, “theory of mind†Explain everything clearly and concisely.
Remember that you need to include the child by using their name they may not understand that ‘everyone’ includes them.
Use visual signs/symbols to back up verbal and written instructions.
Using autism social stories preferably printable ones the child can carry with them, to teach about social interaction and appropriate behaviors for different situations.
Be clear and firm but gentle about behavior and apply the school rules with consistency. Remember autistic children need repetition and things to stay the same.
You can also help support an autistic child by talking to other member’s of staff and explain what autism is and how the behavior of an autistic child will differ from that of a normally developing child.
It will also be a good idea to explain to the other children in the class what autism is and how they can help support the autistic child by being patient and understanding.
You may also want to consider setting up a buddy system as autistic children find making and sustaining friendships difficult and can be at time easy targets for bullies.
A good source of autism social stories to help with the problems faced by autistic children, their parents, carer’s and educators can be found at:
Chances are an autistic child who is in mainstream education will not require special education, which means they are unlikely to have obvious learning disabilities. But that said they will still have special needs.
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The first thing as an autistic educator you should do is to speak to other members of staff and the SENCO in your school. Make sure that everyone understands what autism is and that they are aware of how this will affect the autistic child’s behaviour.
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Sometimes it is helpful to explain to the other children within the class what autism is. This will help to prepare them for the autistic child starting school. It will be helpful to explain that the new class member may act differently or strangely - for example they may shout out unexpectedly or laugh at inappropriate things.
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You ought to explain that although the autistic child may act inappropriately that this is not intentional and they too have feelings like everybody else. This is an important thing to stress as it will be very easy for the autistic child to become, the focus of taunts, bullying and teasing if the other children in the class and school do not understand the autistic child’s behavior and mannerisms.
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Probably one task as an autistic educator you should undertake before the autistic child begins in your class is to take a note of all the classroom accommodations.
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Autism classroom accommodations to consider:
Make a note of the autistic child’s special need’s for example going to the bathroom, with autism going to the bathroom can be an issue, find out how the child copes with this and if necessary add signs at the bathroom, (small picture cards with text) to avoid embarrassment and allow the autistic child to identify the bathroom.
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Ask the parents for a meeting and try to identify the autistic child’s strengths and weaknesses. You can build on the strengths and encourage these.
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Sometimes it may be necessary to appoint a helper (LSA) or classroom assistant, to help the autistic child within the classroom.
The autistic child’s  helper’s role should be to encourage the child to be more independent, work on task’s and to mix with other children.
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It will probably especially at first to keep an eye on the child at break times and during recess, when they might spend a lot of time on their own.
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Autistic children tend to like prefer their own company, however older children and teens may feel left out or lonely. Sometimes it can be helpful to structure break times to avoid any problems.
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Try and avoid metaphorical speech, for example “wait a minuteâ€, autistic children tend to very literal and will not understand. Avoid sarcastic language, or exaggeration, and nick names, both when you are speaking to the child and to the class as a whole. Always be aware of what you are saying and how it might be misunderstood by the child.
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You may need to repeat yourself during lessons and keep checking the autistic child is still listening, their attention span can be short especially when something is not of interest to them.
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When you are talking to a group, make sure you have the child’s attention. Especially young children they may not understand that they are included in the group, so you may need to include them by talking to them directly ie by saying their name or talk first, then to the whole class.
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As with listening to a foreign language or something you really have no interest in, we all tend to shut off to it. A child with autism is no different, as soon as a couple of sentences go over their head they will shut down their auditory system and stop listening reverting back into their own world.
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Try using visual aids when teaching a subject that requires abstract thinking. You could maybe use photographs or pictures to help keep the autistic child’s attention.
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Even at secondary school, it is still possible to use visual aids for example  illustrations or diagrams could be added to worksheets.
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Visual timetables are used with a great success, the autistic child can quickly recognise what is happening as has a visual cue for the various different times of the day, like break times, recess, p.e. lessons, home time etc.
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You may want to include time for the bathroom as this is a confusing time for most children with autism.
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You may also want to think about the use of autism social stories as a tool for helping children with autism stay on task and understand what is expected of them throughout the day and what they should expect from others.
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Autism social stories are used with great effect in classrooms and can be like a favorite friend to a child with autism, and an autistic educator a like! Used in conjunction with a visual timetable and set behavior plan,autism social stories will become invaluable.
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A good source for social stories is your OT or alternatively you can obtain autism social stories on line at:
Children with autism need to be taught social skills directly, as they do not easily pick up on these skills from their environment like a normally developing child will, children with autism tend not to pick up on social skills and are unable to understand body language or facial expressions, which makes interpreting the thoughts and feelings of other’s an impossible task.
It is very important to think about how you will help your child understand the need for certain social skills.
For example if you intend your autistic child to be included in main stream education a certain amount of social skills is important. The ability to wait your turn in class to ask a question, manners, good eating habits and the ability to toilet themselves appropriately for their age.
While most school’s will have thought about asperger classroom accommodations, or autism classroom accommodations, there is still the need for the appropriate social skills to be taught and re-enforced to make your child’s inclusion as easy as possible.
Children with Autism and Asperger Syndrome are often capable of working at the same level as their peer’s; but are at risk of not being included in a classroom because of behavioral issues or poorly developed social skills.
Success in teaching social skills to the autistic child can increase self-confidence and lead to positive result in other areas of the classroom and life in general for an autistic child.
A good social story will focus on a particular social situation or interaction. A trip to the dentist, moving school, going shopping, or recess - these are all good examples of situations a social story might focus on.
To learn more about autism social stories and how they can be used for teaching social skills to autistic children visit us at
Have you ever tried to understand the characteristics of autism and how an autistic mind works?
Autism may not have any external symptoms, and it may be almost impossible to recognize children with autism or aspergers.
The symptoms of autism in a child are not characteristic or common to all autistic children. Some children with autism may not display the expected repetitive behaviors we associate with autism/aspergers.
Some children with autism may be completely unconcerned about any dangers to them. For example, they may just stand in the middle of the street without worrying about a car hitting them.
They may show a dislike to playing pretend games, they will be un-willing to co-operate or join other children in group games like hide and seek, chase or board games, these are common autism characteristics.
Autistic children prefer to be alone and do not like playing with other children. They are not interested in being introduced to new friends or classmates, or spending time with other children.
They may throw temper tantrums over small things, and their behavior can be quite out of the blue at times. There tantrums may be violent. Sometimes children with autism can also be un-cooperative, and no amount of persuasion will make them budge. There reasoning is very different from that of a normal person.
Sometimes these characteristics of autism…like they may not return smiles when smiled at, sometimes they may not even respond to their own name can be distressing for a parent.
They may have little or no eye contact and may use pointing as a gesture to show what they want rather than asking or making eye contact, they may even just grab your arm and direct you to what they require.
Autistic children may also display selfish behaviors, for example getting things only for themselves.
These are just some of the characteristics of autism. Sometimes it can be hard for people to understand how an autistic mind works, and it can be very frustrating as a parent or educator trying to explain why your child or student is different from other kids.
This is where autism social stories can help…they can give the autistic child a clear understanding of why their behavior can be frustrating as well as help them find coping strategies for situations they struggle with like making friend, visiting grandparents as well as other situations they may struggle with.
Autism social stories are designed to give clear precise instruction and help for all situations and tasks. www.autismsocialstoris.com
Toilet training can be difficult, but when your child is autistic it can be even harder, autism and going to the bathroom can be a real problem.
Teaching new skills to children with autism/aspergers work best when the steps to the task are organized into simple pieces. Teaching this new skill to an autistic/asperger child must be consistent becoming repetitive and predictable to the child in terms of rewards and consequences.
In order for toilet training to be successful, the child must move from depending on reminders (timed trips to the bathroom) to recognizing the signs of a full bladder and taking the necessary actions him/herself.
Learning to use the toilet is part of socialization….
Most children enjoy the recognition they receive from their parents and other adults when they begin using the toilet as well as the rewards that come their way.
However, young children with autism have trouble applying the same social interaction reason to going to the bathroom. They do not like changing set routines and behaviors and may also not yet be aware of, or able to control their bodies.
Children with autism respond well to repetition….Social stories act as a tool in re-enforcing this, and teaching the autistic child the new skill.
The autism social story can be read as often as needed and will give your autistic child the repetition that is needed when trying to teach a new skill as well being an effective tool for re-enforce an already learnt skill.
Visit us for a comprehensive list of social skill stories for autistic children as well as teens and adults.
There are various types of self injury behavior that autistic children may engage in.
Children and adults with autism may engage in self-injurious behaviors, also known as self-harm. Self-injurious behaviors are actions that the autistic child performs that result in physical injury to the child’s own body. Typical forms of self-injury behavior include:
• Hitting themselves with their hands, objects or other body parts
• Head-banging
• Biting
• Picking at skin, scabs or sores
• Continuous scratching or repeatedly rubbing themselves.
What causes autistic children with self injury behavior to use these behaviors still remains a mystery.
There are various reasons that are thought to be the cause of these; and other stereotypical behavior in autism children; some reasons may be: caused by a chemical imbalance, sinus problems, headaches, attention-seeking, seizures, ear infection, frustration, seeking sensory stimulation/input, sound sensitivity, or to escape or avoid a task.
Autistic self-injurious behavior that results in bleeding and serious tissue damage is easy to notice and usually leads to frantic efforts to stop it. However, some repetitive behaviors and stereotypical behavior in autism can seem harmless for example; rubbing the skin, or lightly tapping the forehead; these also can have serious, consequences in time.
There are various methods to help manage stereotypical behavior in autism; and autistic children with self injury behavior….One specific method for helping parents, carers and educators cope with the frustrations and difficulties found in controlling and managing these behaviors is “Social Skills Stories”….
Social skills stories are used as a tool for helping to control awkward and difficult behaviors-whilst giving your child clear social cues and instructions for coping with stereotypical behaviors…. and finding ways to help deal with autistic children with self injury behavior.
Autism social stories are used effectively in the home and classroom to give autistic children clear coping strategies and techniques for dealing with frustrating, stressful, awkward, confusing and any situation or task they struggle to understand or cope with.
At autism social stories we aim to give clear social skills stories expertly written to help parents, carers and autistic educators of autistic children and adults. Visit one of our sites and download autism social skills stories.
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