NovWriMo Plus Forum

Cathie,

Sorry I took so long to respond. The students I used to teach with Autism - I don't have any this year - were eleven to twelve during the year I had them. I teach Science, and that allows for more hands-on projects, which autistic kids seem to mostly like.
Over the course of last year, my one student opened up and began communicating with me and other students in the class a lot more. I attribute this to several factors, including: the projects I mentioned (he loved making things), my persistence in engaging him (I made sure to speak directly with him daily - even if he didn't respond), his para-professional (she travelled into most of his classes with him, and she was very patient) and a few kind-hearted students (they reached out to him repeatedly - even when he initially didn't respond).

I also instituted a system to increse his work output. I focused on a reward system based on something he liked - animals and bugs. He would receive a school dollar (we use these as rewards for all students) every time I set a goal for him, and he achieved it. Once he accumulated the agreed upon number, he could buy an animal or bug-related object from me. It worked so well the third and final time that he literally jumped out of his seat and screamed out thank you, proceeding to give me a double high five when he received the dinosaur poster.

I hope this info. helps a little. Good luck on Nano.

Phoenix