Authored by Stacy Hensley in Child Education
Published on 12-08-2009

Lesson plans for children with autism are much easier to find than they use to be. The internet has brought with it sites that cater to pretty much anything you can think of, including lesson plans. If you still can’t find exactly what you had in mind, then you may be better off creating your own lesson plan.

Lesson Plans for Children with Autism-Create Your Own

Creating your own lesson plan gives you the ability to adapt the material to your students. Children with autism often have different learning abilities than other students. You can create a lesson plan based on the exact learning capabilities of your autistic students.

Learning Styles

Children with autism may respond better to certain learning styles. Some children with autism may learn more from verbal presentations, while others may understand things better if they are presented in a visual manner.

Adapting Materials and Equipment

Some autistic children may have trouble writing with pens or pencils. Creating a lesson plan that will allow them to use a computer may heighten their ability to learn.

Create material for the lesson plan that will accommodate their needs. This may mean that you need to do special worksheets, interactive activities, or other special learning material for different kids. This will take you longer, but will help the children comprehend the lesson plan easier.

Classroom Adaption

Some autistic children may lose focus easily if their are too many distractions. Try to set their desks as far away from windows and doors to alleviate the distractions of people or cars going by. Make sure squeaky chairs, rocking desks, or flickering lights are quickly taken care of so these things don’t distract the children with autism.

Lesson Plans for Children with Autism-Online Resources

There are many online resources that have lesson plans for children with autism. Some also have tips that can help you in creating your own lesson plan. Below is a list of some sites that offer autism teaching resources.

• Teachers.net has a nice list of lesson plans for children with special needs.
• LessonPlanet.com Autism has a big list of lesson plans for children with autism.
• AtoZTeacherStuff.com has lesson plans for special education students that are categorized by grade level.
• PositivelyAutism.com has worksheets, teaching materials, lesson plans, and other resources for children with autism.
• BrightHub.com has a long list of lesson plans for children with autism that cover different grade levels and subject matter.

Take the time to plan ahead so that you have plenty of time to search for exactly what you need. This way if you don’t find it, you still have the time you will need to create your own lesson plan if necessary.

Lesson plans for children with autism are the best way to address the educational needs of your autistic students. The goal is for the autistic students to learn using whatever tools are necessary to make that happen.