Remote learning has been a massive issue for parents across the world through the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s true for parents who have children with ASD. With that in mind here are some of the key strategies you can explore to keep them engaged.
Use The Right Technology
First, you might want to think about using the right tech to engage autistic students or your child with autism. Children with ASD are often fascinated by technology and some have a special talent with games or even coding. As such, it does make sense to include tech in your remote learning plans. Teachers should encourage parents to engage with kids through tech. This could include educational games. that can be found from a variety of different online resources. Tech can also be used in a rewards-based system to encourage kids to engage.
Give Them A Structure
A big issue that you might have with a child who has ASD in terms of remote learning is that there’s no real structure in place. If you have a child with autism you will know that they need structure to function. Anything that disrupts this can cause them immense levels of stress. As such, you need to make sure that you are quick to adapt to an artificial school structure at home. This includes set times when they start and finish work as well as when they take breaks. If you do this, then they will be far less resistant to the concept of learning at home.
Make It More Entertaining
You also need to make sure that you are exploring ways to make learning from home more entertaining for children with autism. One of the ways that you can do this is by making sure that you don’t forget about the fun lessons that they probably enjoy more at school. Key examples would be art as well as drama. It might seem like it’s going to be quite difficult to make things like drama work through remote learning. However, experts like Taron Hensley have some great ideas on how to approach this challenge the right way.
Focus On Their Interests
Finally, if you want a child with autism to engage then you need to make sure that you latch onto their interests and what they find fascinating about the world. For instance, your child could love superheroes and there are ways to incorporate this interest into a lesson plan at home. In terms of English, you can think about getting them to write a story about their favorite hero or even a piece about why they like a particular hero. This is just one example and the path you choose here will depend on the individual child as well as their age.
We hope this helps you understand some of the key ways that you can keep a child with autism engaged through remote learning. There is no denying this is going to be challenging for both parents and teachers. But with the right strategy in place, you can give them the foundation they need to thrive.
