Three Approaches to Problem Behavior

Let me tell you a story about David.  David is a student with autism who has many problem behaviors, including biting other people.  His mother says he gets upset easily because he has a unique way of thinking and people at school don’t understand him.  His teacher says he behaves this way because he doesn’t [...]

Deep Interests and Talents

Although autism can bring weaknesses in social and communication development, it can also bring surprising strengths. Strong rote auditory memory means a child may have an excellent capacity for remembering musical tones and patterns, playing and tuning instruments, or for reading and performing poetry. Strong visual memory can lead to talents in art, computer modeling, mapping, and architecture. A strong ability to focus on and remember details can lead to talents in detecting errors and patterns, such as in quality assurance or decoding work.

When educators and parents can recognize these strengths in their children and build on them, the rewards for everyone are [...]