Helping Children with ASD Reach Their Full Potential

Working with children with autistic spectrum disorder can be greatly rewarding. The key is in understanding them and being open to thinking differently. Teaching children in general can be a challenge and at times difficult. All students have needs to be met; the need to feel supported, accepted, safe and valued. As a Teacher’s Aide supporting a student with ASD, you have a crucial role in providing extra support to meet these needs and to assist the student to actively participate within learning activities and experiences.

What you will learn in the Certificate IV in Education Support

This qualification will provide you with the practical skills and knowledge to assist teaching staff in schools and provide care and supervision of children. You will gain an understanding of how ASD affects development and learning and you will learn how to provide support to teachers of ASD students by being able to identify, maintain and prepare suitable resources for students. Communication techniques for engaging students with ASD in the education context, how to encourage acceptable behaviours and how to address the characteristics of rigidity and inflexibility are some of the key areas of focus within the Certificate IV in Education Support.

What is ASD?

Autism spectrum disorder covers a range of disorders with the most common being Autism and Asperger Syndrome. The severities of the symptoms do vary however these disorders all impact upon and exhibit themselves in three major aspects of a child’s life; social difficulties, communicative difficulties and rigidity and inflexibility. Useful speech may fail to develop, comprehension could be limited, there may be an inability to successfully respond to others within social interactions, failure to understand the consequences of actions, resistance to change and repetitive play patterns are some of the characteristics.

ASD can occur in children of any intelligence level and in approximately 30 percent of cases, ASD is also accompanied by an intellectual impairment. The symptoms of ASD present themselves early on in a child’s development and are usually lifelong. The extremity and pattern of the symptoms can also change over time.

Snapshot of the role of a Teacher’s Aide in supporting students with ASD

Children with ASD can often feel frustrated and anxious as they try to make sense of and interpret the world around them. By developing an awareness of the characteristics of ASD and accepting they are a consequence of the disability and not a deliberate act of misbehaviour you can begin to support the student. Your patience, understanding and positive attitude will affect the social, emotional and physical environment to the benefit of the student. You will be directed by the class teacher on how to manage and implement behaviour strategies. This may involve your participation in the goal setting for the student as part of an education team. You will develop good communication practices with students to negotiate, clarify and problem solve, provide opportunities for students to develop a positive self image so they can successfully operate within the education environment, support teaching strategies and work in collaboration with the class teacher.

Written by Tracy Chanoff, B Online Learning, Learning Coach for Education Support qualifications.