autistic students

A student participates in class, follows directions, completes assignments, and appears to interact comfortably with classmates. From an educator’s perspective, the student may seem to be doing well. Then the student gets home and is exhausted. They withdraw, become overwhelmed, or need significant time to recover from the school day. For some autistic students, the […]

Anxiety does not always look like anxiety. In the classroom, a student experiencing anxiety may not say, “I’m worried” or appear visibly nervous. Instead, an educator might see a student refusing to begin an assignment, repeatedly asking the same question, becoming upset when plans change, withdrawing from classmates, or struggling to enter the classroom. For […]

Walk into almost any classroom and there is a lot happening before instruction even begins. Fluorescent lights illuminate the room. Student work and colorful posters cover the walls. Chairs scrape across the floor. The air conditioner hums. Students talk with one another while backpacks are opened, materials are organized, and announcements interrupt the morning routine. […]

For many years, public understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) was shaped by a fairly narrow picture of what autism “looks like.” Educators were often taught to recognize students who displayed obvious social communication differences, repetitive behaviors, or significant support needs. While these characteristics certainly describe many autistic students, they do not represent everyone’s experience. […]