Great tips for teachers!
I found this great post through Autisable called Setting Up an Autism Classroom on a Budget that has pretty good and well-explained tips on how to set up an Autism friendly classroom on a budget. I think it actually makes perfect sense to publish it now, as you need to have an eye out for yard sales and store sales over the summer.
Other useful articles on setting up a classroom for ASD children:
Autism Classroom Organization
12 Tips for setting up an autism friendly classroom
Just a few random thoughts of my own:
*For goodness sake, keep the globes out of reach when wanting ASD children/teens to focus! I mean, maybe it’s just me, but when I’m around a globe, I don’t give a darn about what a teacher is saying. Seriously, in preschool you probably found me playing with the globe. And what happened in high school when the teacher handed out globes? Yep, spinning! You see in the movies when people go “Ooo, shiny”? It’s kinda like that, except “Ooo, spin!”
*What on Earth is with giving people the wrong size chairs/desks? If a person can’t *sit* without discomfort, how do you expect them to get anything done? I’ve gone in classrooms where I’ve been offered a chair not close to the right size. I actually notice in both myself and the kids in Sunday School that beanbags are easier, but that’s not always possible.
*I love when the teacher has a schedule. Even when I took dual enrollment English (basically, college English in high school) I loved having a syllabus to know what was happening, when. I wasn’t great at creating my own schedules, but they were appreciated. (Even when I insisted I hated them, I needed them)
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I’d have to argue about the second part of that. You can’t budget to have different sized desks and chairs for different sized kids in the same classroom all over the school. That’s way too much of a waste of money and space. Also just because they are in a uncomfertable chair or desk does not mean they can’t concentrate. I hate to find ways around that myself in high school and having RLS and ADD. You just have to overcome things.
Can’t really say too much about the the other two things though.
I think that your advice is sound in any classroom!
I found that having something for some children in my class actually helped and calmed them down. Others it was a distraction like you said. In my preschool class all the learning is mainly by playing anyway. A circle time lasts no more than 10 -15 minutes and often is less if children need to move. Moving is the best way to learn according to brain research so if I teach a child colors while walking around the room finding colors that match it is better than flashcards saying what is this color.
I agree about the chairs!!! I have child size chairs in my room and a variety of sizes. I let some kids sit on the floor if they prefer. I also have pillows available.
Good point on the globes. Been there and done and learned my lesson. A picture from the front of the classroom works way better in this case.