Key Strategies for Supporting a Student with Autism - Assist Communication - Provide Structure - Foster Understanding

Sep 25, 2026

Uploaded by Angel

Key Strategies for Supporting a Student with Autism focuses on practical, classroom-ready supports that reduce anxiety and build independence. It explains why visual supports matter for communication, offering examples such as visual schedules, first/then boards, reward charts, and individualized options. It also addresses break-time challenges by increasing structure during recess and lunch, managing sensory load, and strengthening support during free play. Finally, it presents a Positive Behaviour Support approach, emphasizing proactive prevention, environmental modification, and increased predictability through scheduling rather than punishment.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryGeneral

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time2 min

AccessFree to download

Assist Communication: Use Visual Supports

Why are Visual Supports important?

How do Visual Supports help?

What types of Visual Supports are there?

Provide Structure: Manage Recess and Lunch

Why is managing recess and lunch important?

How can we help?

Foster Understanding: Adopt a Positive Behaviour Support Approach

Why is Positive Behaviour Support important?

Key Strategies for Supporting a Student with Autism Below are some strategies that will help you to support a student with Autism, starting with some speci c strategies and nishing with some overarching ones. Assist Communication: Use Visual Supports Why are Visual Supports important? People with Autism often have dif culty with communication and nd it hard to: • Express themselves • Understand verbal language (i.e. they may need more time to process spoken information) • Sequence, retain and retrieve information, and solve problems – all of which are involved in communication exchanges How do Visual Supports help? Visual Supports allow the student with Autism to see what you mean, rather than only relying on their ability to understand what they hear. Some Visual Supports, such as a Visual Schedule, can allow the student to see the sequence of events that takes place over a session, a day or week and predict what will happen next. This can help to reduce anxiety and increase independence for the student as they are less likely to have to rely on verbal prompts. See p55 for a Visual Schedule example and template. © Copyright 2018 Autism Association of Western Australia. All rights reserved. What types of Visual Supports are there? The types of Visual Supports you can use range from the easiest to understand to the most complex, including: • Objects or part objects (e.g. a real apple or toy apple) • Photographs of the actual objects to be used (e.g. a photo of the speci c type of apple to be eaten) • Photos of generic object (e.g. a photo of any apple) • Pictures (e.g. line drawings or picture symbols) • Written words It is important to remember that all Visual Supports need to be ‘individualised’ or tailored to the student’sown level of ability, understanding, needs and preferences, as well as the purpose and environment. Example Visual Supports The Autism Association has some Visual Support templates available for download on our resource page ([https://www.autism.org.au/our-services/school](https://www.autism.org.au/our-services/school)aged/online-resources/for-teachers-and-educators/ ) that you can adapt for your student, including a: • First/Then Board – shows a short sequence of activities, including a ‘must-do’ task in the ‘ rst’ half and a reward in the ‘then’ half • Reward Chart – gives a tangible visual representation of your student’s progress towards a preferred reward, such a favourite activity or object that relates to one of their special interests • Visual Schedule – displays a sequence of events that will happen within a set period of time Provide Structure: Manage Recess and Lunch Why is managing recess and lunch important? Break times can be dif cult for a student with Autism because there is: • Less structure, which makes it hard for the student to predict what is going to happen and may increase their anxiety • More sensory information, which can be overwhelming if the student experiences differences in the way they process sensory information (e.g. multiple sensations in a noisy and unpredictable environment can be dif cult for some children to process) • A set of unspoken ‘social rules’ that underlie free play, which the student may have dif culty understanding (and they may not have developed effective and socially appropriate play skills) How can we help? Organise an Educational Assistant (EA) to support the student during breaks – this can often be a much better use of EA time than having them only work alongside the student in the classroom • Enforce a strong ‘zero tolerance’ approach to bullying • Offer the student the option of engaging in quieter or preferred activities • Encourage duty staff to stand back and observe the student during free play – this is useful for identifying components of the break time that can be modi ed to increase the student’s opportunity to participate in play and engage with their peers Foster Unde

FAQs

Why are visual supports important for students with autism?

People with autism often have difficulty with communication, including expressing themselves and understanding verbal language. Visual supports make meaning visible and reduce reliance on spoken prompts.

What types of visual supports can be used?

Visual supports can range from objects and photographs to pictures and written words. They should be individualized to the student’s needs, preferences, and ability level.

How should teachers manage recess and lunch for a student with autism?

Break times may be harder due to less structure, increased sensory input, and unspoken social rules. Support through additional supervision, options for quieter or preferred activities, and strategies to identify what parts of break time can be modified.

Sep 25, 2026

Uploaded by Angel