Working with People with Autism - Basic Principles

Feb 28, 2011
Frances Williams

Suport People with Autism to Live Fulfilling Lives - By United Nations [Public domain, Public domain or Attribution], via Wikimedia Commons

Autism includes cognitive differences. We now have many strategies to enable people with autism to cope in a world that is not designed for them.

Autism is a cognitive difference – a different way of seeing, experiencing and understanding the world. Each person with autism has an individual profile in the way that autism affects them. Their personal life experiences add more individuality to the picture. Consequently, although all people with autism have difficulties with communication, social interaction and flexibility of thought, these difficulties vary to a great extent between individuals.

Supportive Techniques and Environmental Triggers

Making use of supportive techniques that strive to deal with anxiety before it reaches crisis level can reduce the amount of medication given to people with autism and even eradicate it in some instances. It challenges the medical model of autism as an illness rather than as a Pervasive Developmental Disorder. Using supportive techniques and attending to environmental triggers can dramatically reduce very challenging behaviour and inprove the quality of life of the individual and everyone in his or her support circle.

We Must Enter into the World of the Person with Autism

Because people with autism see and experience the world differently from those of us who are ‘neuro-typical’, it is crucial to try to enter into their world and see the world through each individual’s eyes. Only then can we begin to understand ways of helping them to bridge the gap between their world and ours. The purpose is not to make it clear to people with autism that our world is ‘better’ and that they are failing in it but to help them to function and to be as independent as possible in a world that is not designed for them.

Autistic People Need Lifelong Learning

Many people with autism have expressed the view that living in our world makes them feel like ‘aliens from outer space’. Our world can be a confusing and frightening place. This is especially true for people who have an added learning disability. However, people with autism constantly strive to make sense of the things we understand intuitively by using all sorts of cognitive strategies which they often develop themselves. We can support each learning style by offering experiences and activities designed to develop the strengths and address the weaknesses of each individual. It is through a philosophy of lifelong learning that we can help people with autism make the most of their lives.

Each person we support has a development plan which is individualised by looking carefully at how the triad of impairments affects them personally. It is crucial to have a person centred approach for each aspect of the individual’s life.
There is an assessment of their communication and a strategy is developed for them using a total communication philosophy
Their social skills are developed to enable them to experience the social world in a more fulfilling way. We use social stories and life story books, which are valuable tools in helping people with autism make sense of the social world. People with autism often have a small social network which makes them vulnerable to loss. We have a commitment to developing a social network for each person.
We give as many opportunities as possible for individuals to have experiences in lots of different settings in order to improve their abilities to generalise and therefore make more sense of the world

Focus on Strengths and Interests

Our challenge is to make this learning as interesting, as enjoyable and as much fun as possible by focusing on strengths and interests. We value differences and we want to support people with autism to express their differences in an environment in which they are respected and where they feel secure and supported. We want them to be as free as possible from the anxieties that characterise autism. We enter into their world to help them to feel comfortable in ours.

Frances Williams - Frances is an Autism specialist with post graduate qualifications but has had to take a career break. She is now a freelance writer. ...