It's extremely important to develop belonging and affiliation in general education classrooms for students with autism. Students with autism have difficulty with social skills and friendships. Teachers may use different types of strategies to promote membership for students with autism in the general education classroom. The primary focus of these strategies are used for students in the primary grades, kindergarten through third.
Introduction.
Though the classroom environment can be a helpful aspect into promoting friendship, sometimes other children aren't so accepting. With the absence of friendship and good social relationships many things can happen. Among them a decreased likelihood of one day obtaining employment. A decreased likelihood of living independently, and a decreased life expectancy (Strain, 2001a). Children with autism have difficulty engaging in social activities, and social interactions. Amid them, language, social cues, physical contact, and nature of pretending (Clark & Smith, 1999). To avoid these problems teachers must do a number of things. They must promote positive interactions, reinforce positive interactions, limit the amount of adult interaction, and educate everyone about diversity. Teachers must also give choices. By giving choices positive antecedent intervention will help. Children with autism will interact more with peers. This will also be a naturalistic intervention, and is an important variable for a student with autism (Carter, 2001). Teachers must also use peers as social models, by direct instruction, and by developing social skills. This can be done by developing friendships, and playing with children who have a variety of disabilities. Teachers can also teach children to engage in social play with children with autism (Turnbull, Turnbull, Shank, & Leal, 1995).
Environment.
To promote friendship, affiliation, and belonging in a general education classroom, for a child with autism many things must be done in the classroom.
