1. The Basics of Autism
Spectrum Disorders
Training Series
Regional Autism Advisory Council of
Southwest Ohio (RAAC-SWO)
RAAC Training Committee

2. Training Series Modules
 Module One: Autism Defined, Autism Prevalence
and Primary Characteristics
 Module Two: Physical Characteristics of Autism
 Module Three: Cognition and Learning in Autism
 Module Four: Getting the Student Ready to Learn
 Module Five: Structuring the Classroom
Environment
 Module Six: Reinforcement in the Classroom

3. Training Series Modules
 Module Seven: Autism and Sensory Differences
 Module Eight: Sensory in the Classroom
 Module Nine: Communication and Autism
 Module Ten: Communication in the Classroom
 Module Eleven: Behavior Challenges and Autism
 Module Twelve: Understanding Behavior in
Students with Autism

4. Training Series Modules
 Module Thirteen: Social Skills in the School
Environment
 Module Fourteen: Functional Behavior Assessment
 Module Fifteen: Working Together as a Team
 Module Sixteen: Autism and Leisure Skills to
Teach
 Module Seventeen: Special Issues of Adolescence
 Module Eighteen: Safety and Autism
 Module Nineteen: Special Issues: High
School, Transition, and Job Readiness

5. Training Series Modules
 Module Twenty: Asperger Syndrome: Managing and
Organizing the Environment
 Module Twenty-One: Asperger Syndrome:
Addressing Social Skills

6. Big Idea
Communication may be very
difficult for someone with
ASD.

7. Communication
 Some students with ASD do not talk
 They may use sign language to communicate.
 They may use pictures to communicate.
 They may use a device that talks for them.
 Some students with ASD talk but are hard to
understand.
 They may get upset if you don’t understand them.

8. Communication
Some students with ASD may repeat what you
say.
 If you say “do you want juice” they may
repeat what you said. This is called Echolalia.
 This may be their way of saying yes.
 It might mean that they did not understand
what you said.
 It may happen more often when the student is
nervous or upset.

9. Communication
Some students with ASD have a hard time
making choices.
 Some students say “yes” to almost every choice
you give them, even if they don’t want it.
 Some students say “no” to almost every choice
you give them, even if they want it.
 Some students almost always choose the last
thing you said to them. For example: if you
say “do you want crackers or cookies” they may
say “cookies” even when they want crackers.

10. Big Idea
For students who have difficulty
making choices, we need to help them
by showing them
pictures, drawings, logos or the
actual items.

11. Communication
 Just because the student can say something, it doesn’t
always mean they understand what they are saying.
 Just because the student with ASD has done something
before, doesn’t mean that they will be able to understand
what is going to happen the next time.
 Students with ASD usually need pictures to help them
understand what is going to happen.

12. Communication
 Some students with ASD have trouble
understanding certain words
 time words such as “later,” “tomorrow,”
“after while”
 feeling words such as “share” or “be nice”
 sayings such as “shake a leg”
 slang words such as “cool”
 We have to “watch our language” and make
sure the student understands what we are
saying.

13. Communication Tips
• Use visuals – such as pictures to help the
person understand.
• Say things using simple words.
• Don’t talk too fast.
• Never talk about behaviors with the person while they
are upset.
• Never talk about the person with ASD to someone
else, as if the person weren’t there.

14. Big Idea
We could be the communication
problem. We need to watch what
we say and how we say it.