Autism - Students

Tips from adults with ASD

• Advocate for yourself - ask for what you need. If you don't know what you need, just say something doesn't feel right. Ask your parents and teachers to help.

• Ask for direct instruction if that would help.

• Remind yourself that some things might not make sense to you because your brain works differently - and that's okay.

• When you feel overwhelmed or lose words, that may be a result of sensory overload, and is not a failure. You need a break!

• Do the things you love.

• Look up ASD so you can recognize the behaviors and thought processes you use, such as masking, involuntary stimming, or what causes meltdowns. Then you can address things that may need to be addressed.

Autism Spectrum Disorder varies greatly from person to person, so that makes it hard to give advice on it. What works for you may not work for everyone. Be kind to yourself. Ask for help.

From Elise Henricksen in Seattle, WA and Haley Pierson-Cox in Brattleboro, VT

Self-management strategies can help you engage in appropriate and desired behaviors.

1. Self-monitoring

   • Assess your own behavior and record your results.

   • This can reduce frequency or intensity of a current behavior.

2. Self-instruction

   • Talk yourself through a task or activity. Tell yourself to stop doing something you don't want to do and do something else instead or to do something that you want to do.

3. Goal setting

   • Set a goal and monitor the progress towards that goal.

4. Self-reinforcement

   • You get some kind of reward for reaching a desired behavior goal.

References

The IRIS Center. (2016). Autism spectrum disorder (part 2): Evidence-based practices. Retrieved from https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/asd2/