Presenter’s Script
Working with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
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Slide 1 – Welcome participants to the workshop, and let them know that you will
be talking about characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder, and activities to
help preschoolers with Autism in the classroom.
Slide 2 – Most of the content of this workshop comes from Clarissa Willis’s book,
which is a great resource if participants want more information.
Slide 3 – Autism starts before age three, but many children aren’t diagnosed with
until later, although earlier detection and diagnosis is becoming more common.
Slide 4 – Ask participants to list more words they think of when they hear
“Autism”.
Slide 5 – Each child with Autism falls somewhere on the spectrum, but no two are
going to exhibit exactly the same behaviors and symptoms.
Slide 6 – Tell participants that you will now describe three types of Autism
Spectrum Disorder.
Slide 7 – A child who receives the PDDNOS diagnosis is on the Autism
spectrum, but does not fall under any of the existing specific categories of
Autism.
Slide 8 – Asperger’s syndrome is diagnosed more often in boys than in girls, and
is considered the “higher functioning” end of the spectrum.
Slide 9 – Loss of muscle tone is one of the first signs of Rett’s Syndrome. While
the cause of most Autism Spectrum Disorders is unknown, 80% of girls
diagnosed with Rett’s Syndrome have a genetic mutation on the X chromosome.
Slide 10 – In order to get a diagnosis of Autism, the individual must have at least
6 from A, B, and C combined, with at least 2 from A and at least 1 each from B
and C.
Slide 11 – Autism is diagnosed more often in boys than in girls, and children with
a sibling with Autism seem to have a greater chance of having Autism
themselves. It used to be believed that children got Autism from having parents
that didn’t show them love – until a prominent doctor at the time had a child who
was diagnosed with Autism, and he worked to dispel this belief.
Slide 12 – Tell participants that you are now going to discuss the areas of life in
which children with Autism may be affected. Social interaction is a major one –
many children with Autism don’t see interaction with people as a priority the way
that typically developing children often do.
Slide 13 – Many parents of children with Autism say that they first noticed
something was wrong when their baby would not make eye contact during
holding, feeding, etc.
Slide 14 – Children with Autism may repeat a favorite commercial or lines from a
favorite television show. They may also repeat back what you say to them – ie. A
parent tells her child “Say goodbye, Billy.” And he says “Goodbye, Billy”.
Slide 15 – Waving goodbye when someone is leaving is often a skill that families
and teachers have to spend a lot of time practicing with children with Autism.
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Slide 16 – Children with Apraxia may have trouble moving their mouths in
certain ways when requested; however, they often can do so unconsciously during
play.
Slide 17 – Even a slight change in the daily routine may be too much for the
preschooler with Autism to handle.
Slide 18 – It is often said that children with Autism have brains that are “wired
differently” and that in order to work with them we must attempt to “rewire their
brains”.
Slide 19 – A communication system is key, especially for nonverbal children; we
need to teach them what is acceptable to do instead of the inappropriate behavior,
that will meet the same need.
Slide 20 – Some challenging behaviors can be decreased significantly by
modifications to the environment. For example, many children with Autism react
negatively to fluorescent lighting (it moves and emits a buzzing sound that most
of us don’t notice). A change to softer lighting may help in this case.
Slide 21 – An embedded schedule breaks an activity down into smaller steps for
the child with Autism, preferably using photos and words to describe each step.
For example, “have snack” would be broken down into 1) wash hands, 2) dry
hands, 3) go to snack table, 4) choose graham crackers or goldfish crackers, 5) eat
snack, 6) throw away trash.
Slide 22 – Finding out what the child with Autism likes best can be very helpful
because you can let the child work towards receiving that item when he/she
completes a desired task.
Slide 23 – Social skills training is critical to helping the preschooler with Autism
succeed in life, and needs to be a partnership between home and school if
possible.
Slide 24 – Tell participants that you are now going to describe some activities that
can be done in the preschool classroom to help the child with Autism. The first
activity deals with starting the day – if the child with Autism finds a way to enter
the classroom comfortably, the day is likely to go more smoothly for everyone.
You can find cue cards and more information for making a picture schedule at
challengingbehavior.org.
Slide 25 – Have participants sing the song with you.
Slide 26 – A “First-Then” board with cue cards can be very helpful here. For a
downloadable template and cue cards to create a “First-Then” board, go to
clallengingbehavior.org.
Slide 27 – Be careful to increase the amount of choices very slowly, so as not to
overwhelm the child with Autism. Some children may always need you to tell
them exactly where to go.
Slide 28 – The child with Autism will probably have some difficulty when you
are absent, but having the substitute follow the same routine will help.
Slide 29 – The “All About Me” activity will help focus on the classroom
community, and let the other children in the classroom get to know their
classmate with Autism.
Slide 30 – This activity also supports literacy development.
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Slide 31 – Make sure that you have permission from family members to use their
photographs in the classroom.
Slide 32 – The “Making New Friends” activity helps the preschooler with Autism
learn a way to communicate socially, even if he or she is nonverbal.
Slide 33 – Choose a symbol that you think this individual child will respond to –
it may not be a “stop sign” for every child.
Slide 34 – The child in your classroom who always likes to be “teacher’s helper”
can help the preschooler with Autism practice these social skills.
Slide 35 – This idea was suggested by the parent of a little girl with Autism – her
child’s preschool teacher took the initiative to share contact information, and the
two children have grown up together as great friends. Always make sure you
have permission to share contact information before doing this.
Slide 36 – Ask participants to share how this training has helped them have “new
eyes” about preschoolers with Autism.
Slide 37 – Ask for two volunteers to take turns reading the statements in each
column. Conclude the workshop by asking for questions or comments, and
complete evaluation surveys if you have them.