Unfortunately, these kind of special needs private schools tend to exclude children with autism. If you can find a non-specialized special needs private school for your child, you may have a terrific experience. Often, children with special needs are more tolerant of differences.
So How can you help them learn? When teaching in an inclusion class, it is important to involve every child. Learning some simple tips for encouraging autistic students to participate will be more helpful. As children with autism have difficulties communicating and poor social skills. As there is a large spectrum of symptoms that fall on the autistic scale, the severity of the disability can vary widely between two different students. Even so, there are some generalities that will help teachers include these students more in the classroom. Here are some strategies to help autistic children in school :
Daily Classroom Routines : As students with autism thrive on a predictable routine. When something unexpected happens, an autistic child has difficulty copying and may demonstrate some stereotypical autistic symptoms such as rocking, and repeating the same word or phrase. Hence, you can have the class routine written down so that you can refer to the schedule often throughout the day. Having a schedule taped to the student's desk may help you as well. This way the child can look at the schedule himself and know what is coming next.
Reduce Distractions in the classroom : Reducing the excess stimuli in the classroom will help prevent the student with autism from becoming overwhelmed. When students become overwhelmed, quite the class, slow down the pace of the activity, or allow the student to move to a quite area of the room to calm down and continue working.
Simple Testing Methods : Ask simple questions and instead of giving open ended questions, and provide options. Remember to give more wait time than usual for the student to answer a question, and be sure to use vocabulary that the child understands. Reword questions instead of repeating the same question if the student does not understand or does not respond.
Remember that the child may take a longer to process a request, and may also be hesitant to try something new. When speaking to the child, work on getting the child to make eye contact. Do as much concrete teaching as possible instead of requiring the student to draw an inference. Be sure to involve all of the child's senses in the learning process.
Working with an autistic student in an inclusion setting has its challenges. Patience is a huge key in helping the child be successful. By setting a routine, reducing distractions and implementing some simple teaching strategies, an autistic child will be able to participate more, and learn more in your class.
Other than the above mentioned steps involvement of Mothers in their children learning process is also effective in bringing better results. It is the mother-child combination that many experts aim to teach, and not just the child. Therefore, teaching the same way at home as in the school manner shall work quite faster.
Educating autistic children doesn't only mean that they are taught only to interact, or improving social skills instead, early intervention of a challenged child since the time he/she is 6 months old, till the completion of class XII boards/Graduation. The child will be assessed for his individual capability and skills, his level of personal development and expression. Leadership qualities amongst these children are identified and then cultivated.
The education process involves recognition and differentiation of letters, oral expression of numbers and alphabets, counting, addition, subtraction, calculation of time, value of money, on to writing, drawing, craft and thereafter subject wise learning till an attempt can be made at the National Institute of Open Schooling.
The down side of a school for children with autism is the world unto itself. While at school, children experience only people who understand and care for them. Their peers are all autistic. Even when the school deliberately creates opportunities for inclusion in the typical world, those opportunities are carefully contrived and controlled. All these are just the sign that means your child with autism will have relatively few opportunities to learn the coping skills they're likely to need when they graduate.