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Autism 101: Supporting Our Neurodivergent Learners: What is Autism?

As more and more autistic students are registering for college, we need to make sure we and they are prepared for the college environment. This guide gathers together resources, information, first-hand accounts, and further reading.

Behaviors

Communication Skills

  • slow processing
  • take things very literally
  • large vocabulary
  • don't stay on topic
  • repetitive phrases or questions

Social Skills

  • don't understand other's perspectives
  • don't make eye contact
  • social anxiety
  • don't understand classroom etiquette

Sensory Differences

  • strong reaction to lights, sound
  • distraction
  • typical touch, clothing may be painful
  • needs a sensory item

Motor Skills

  • writing may be challenging
  • clumsiness
  • unusual gait

Learning Style

  • excellent memory
  • poor executive functioning
  • very literal
  • bored easily
  • need to understand why something is important

Coping Skills

  • stress relieving activities that look odd, e.g. rocking, pacing, flapping, chewing, talking, 
  • leaving classroom abruptly

Brain Processing

Communication Skills

  • receptive processing disorders
    • slow, misunderstanding
  • expressive processing disorders
    • trouble initiating
    • slow
    • idiosyncratic

Social Skills

  • extreme anxiety
  • slow or different processing

Sensory Differences

  • cannot filter out multiple senses
  • feels pain from senses
  • synesthesia - actual information of one sense is accompanied by perception in another part of the body

Motor Skills

  • motor planning
  • awareness of body in space

Learning Style

  • executive functioning challenges
  • high stimulation to retain focus
  • too much stimulation is overwhelming

Coping Skills

  • calming techniques
  • may or may not be able to stop

Accomodations

Communication Skills

  • providing lecture notes
  • note taker
  • study guides
  • allowing verbal responses to test questions
  • allowing most communication to be in writing
  • clear, concise, concrete, and logical
  • don't assume

Social Skills

  • allowing short breaks
  • social buffer e.g. computer or book
  • no required eye contact
  • forming and monitoring groups
  • written rules for classroom and logistics

Sensory Differences

  • hats, sunglasses, etc to dim lights
  • ear plugs or headphones
  • seat choice
  • alternative writing instrument
  • small sensory items
  • breaks or timeouts during class

Motor Skills

  • allowing computer use during class
  • note taker
  • more time, slower pace
  • models and step-by-step instructions
  • reader or computer that reads
  • scribe

Learning Style

  • review sheets
  • checklists
  • check-ins between due dates
  • hands on learning, models, visuals
  • peer mentors
  • encourage tools like calendars, timers, and alarms

Coping Skills

  • discrete check-ins about overwhelm
  • allow coping behaviors unless they are disruptive
  • allow sensory items
  • agree on cues for when student is disruptive because they may not know