1) Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are visual learners who benefit from visual cues and structure to help organize their learning, understand expectations, and motivate them. 2) They tend to think concretely and can struggle with social situations, ambiguity, and changes in routine. Using visual supports like social stories, role playing, and clear error correction can help. 3) Their interests are often narrow and they have difficulty seeing the big picture, so breaking tasks into steps and using their interests can aid engagement and comprehension. Structured routines, checklists and ignoring distracting behaviors also support their learning and self-regulation.

1. How Students With
Autism Think and Learn
Understanding Inclusion

2. Organize and Provide
Structure
Students with ASD are visual vs. auditory learners.
Provide pictures and other visual cues across
environments.
 Enhance understanding
 Help organize and sequence
 Help initiate activities
 Help motivate

3. Organize Environment
For example, structure where to turn in assignments

4. Provide Visual Cues
This example is a board on the classroom door displaying the
required student materials that need to be brought to class.

5. Provide Predictable Routines

6. Concrete Thinking
Students with ASD tend to think concretely.
Often confused by social situations or conversations.
Lack understanding of ambiguous rules or rules that
don’t make sense.
Prefer familiarity (repetition, routine, consistency.

7. Interventions
 Visual cues for rules and instructions.
 Social Stories ™.
 Learn by “doing” or role-play.
 Error Correction – “Try again” with demonstration.
 Highlighting appropriate behaviors and giving
social praise.

8. Visual Road Map

9. Use First/Then
“first do this, then get that” for directions and schedules.

10. Details and Narrow
Interests
 Students with ASD see the world in a more narrow
way and are more intensely focused on details and
narrow interests.
 Hard to see the “big picture” which is necessary for
awareness of concepts, making connections,
generalizing and seeing things in context.

11. Interventions
 Role play with analyzing what is “right and
wrong”.
 Road Map.
 Cause-and-Effect planned ignoring: “first get calm,
then I will talk with you”.
 Use narrow interests to increase engagement.

12. Distractibility and Self
Regulation
 Sensory stimulation can be disruptive to the
student.
 Modify environments to decrease sensory
distractions or increase engagement.
 Teach awareness and expression state of arousal.

13. Executive Functioning
Students with ASD have difficulty with cognitive
flexibility.
Cannot apply social rules flexibly.
Difficulty controlling impulses.
Difficulty with initiating activities, organizing and
sequencing tasks.
Provide structured routines and scaffold with
checklists.