Autism in the Classroom: How to be Autism-Affirming

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Autism Acceptance In the Classroom 〰 Autism Acceptance Infographic Series

April is Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month, a time to celebrate the culture and diversity of the Autistic community and promote acceptance and understanding. As an Autistic person, "autism acceptance" and "autism awareness" are big words that don't mean much to me until we break them down into actionable, concrete steps. That's why I'm continuing my series on autism acceptance, focusing on concrete ways to practice it in different contexts. In this article, I will focus on autism in the classroom.

Autism in the Classroom

In this blog post, I'll be exploring what autism acceptance looks like in action in the classroom. Autistic students often have different learning styles and needs compared to their neurotypical peers, and it's crucial for educators to create an inclusive and accommodating environment that supports the learning and well-being of all students. I'll be sharing some practical steps that educators can take to embrace autism acceptance in the classroom, such as normalizing stimming, embracing whole-body listening, providing sensory breaks, and accommodating interoception differences.

While this is not an exhaustive list, it's a starting point for incorporating autism acceptance into action in the classroom. By implementing these practices, educators can help create an environment that respects and accommodates multiple neurotypes and bring actionable acceptance of Autism in the classroom.

Ideas for Autism Acceptance in the Classroom

Autistic learners experience many barriers in modern-day classrooms. In the classroom, Autistic students may have different learning styles compared to their neurotypical peers. As educators, it's important to create an inclusive and accommodating environment that supports the learning and well-being of all students.

Normalize Stimming

Self-stimulatory behavior, also known as stimming, is a common behavior among Autistic individuals. Stimming helps regulate our emotions and focus and is a natural response to sensory overload or stress. Educators can embrace and normalize stimming in the classroom. This can include allowing students to use fidget toys, encouraging movement breaks, and educating the class about the benefits of stimming.

Embrace Whole-Body Listening

Whole-body listening is a technique that encourages active listening and engagement. For neurodivergent individuals, whole-body listening may involve fidgeting, avoiding eye contact, moving their bodies, or doodling while listening. Educators can embrace this technique and provide opportunities for students to engage in whole-body listening during class discussions and activities.

Minimize Visual Clutter

For some Autistic individuals, visual clutter can cause sensory overload and lead to cognitive and sensory overwhelm. Educators can minimize visual clutter in the classroom. This may include decluttering classroom walls, reducing bright colors, and avoiding patterns and designs that may be distracting.

Encourage Sensory-Regulation

Sensory regulation is foundational for well-being. Sensory regulation is foundational for emotional regulation, executive-functioning regulation, and more. When we are sensory dysregulated, we aren’t able to learn and struggle to regulate our behaviors. Educators can encourage sensory regulation by providing sensory breaks and sensory detox areas. This can include quiet spaces for students to relax, sensory bins with tactile materials, and movement breaks throughout the day.

Accommodate Interoception Differences

Interoception is the ability to perceive and understand internal body sensations. Some Autistic individuals may struggle with interoception, which can lead to difficulties with recognizing and responding to our bodily needs. This may mean a student doesn’t know they need to eliminate or use the bathroom until it’s urgent. One way to accommodate this is by creating a system that allows students to use the bathroom when needed (and urgently!) rather than waiting to be excused on a rigid schedule.

Provide Clear & Direct Instruction

Clear and direct instruction is important for all students, but particularly for Autistic students who struggle with processing and understanding vague or top-down instructions. Additionally, providing work examples and templates provides visual context for the assignment, which is helpful for many Autistic learners. By providing clear and concise instructions, breaking down tasks into manageable steps, and providing examples and templates when possible, we help make learning more accessible to all learners.

Provide Visual Aids

Many Autistic people are highly visual. Visual aids can be a helpful tool in education. In addition, it helps students who struggle with executive functioning. Providing visual aids and written instructions can help Autistic students better understand and complete tasks. Breaking complex tasks into visual steps can make the task seem less overwhelming and easier to start. Visual aids may include visual schedules, checklists, and graphic organizers.

Allow for Sensory Breaks

Sensory breaks can be helpful for all students, but particularly for Autistic students who may become overwhelmed by sensory input. In addition to sensory breaks, we can encourage the use of accommodations such as noise-canceling headphones or fidget toys in the classroom.

Incorporate Students’ Special Interests

Special interests are a powerful force when it comes to motivation and engagement! Incorporating students' special interests into learning activities can increase engagement and learning.

Create Low-Stimulation Areas

Many schools are a high sensory experience! When students are not sensory-regulated, learning, attention, focus, and emotion regulation are not possible. Having safe sensory spaces within the school where individuals can go to sensory detox and have time to manage sensory input helps students to stay sensory-regulated. Low-stimulation areas can be helpful for managing sensory input and avoiding overload.

Break Down Large Projects, Create Actionable Steps

By creating a system for breaking down assignments and projects into smaller, more manageable tasks, we support students with executive functioning struggles. It not only helps students with executive functioning struggles to get started on projects but also functions to build executive functioning skills as it teaches students about how to break down large projects into smaller tasks. This can include providing a checklist of steps or breaking down the project into smaller components.

Provide Visual Schedules

Visual schedules can be helpful and align with the highly Autistic visual brain. Visual schedules also are helpful for children who struggle with executive functioning and managing time. Visual schedules that outline the day's activities, tasks, and deadlines also help to reduce uncertainty. This can help students better understand what is expected of helps them with transitions and task-switching.

Summary: Autism in the Classroom

In summary, creating an inclusive and accommodating environment for Autistic students is crucial for the success of autism in the classroom. By embracing autism acceptance, we can create an environment that respects and accommodates multiple neurotypes. This can include normalizing stimming, embracing neurodivergent whole-body listening, minimizing visual clutter, encouraging sensory regulation, and accommodating interoception differences. Providing clear and direct instructions, visual aids, sensory breaks, and low-stimulation areas can also help support the learning and well-being of students with autism. Ultimately, by creating an inclusive and accommodating classroom that brings actionable acceptance of Autism in the classroom, we can help all students thrive.