

I’ve seen a standing desk, yoga ball, chairs with a built-in kick pads, and more. This might mean a seating pad on a regular chair, or a different kind of chair entirely. Special types of seating accommodations for autism So let them use stim devices in class, so long as they’re not horribly disruptive to the other students. And honestly, if you were to try and ban stim toys altogether, they’d probably find a way to use a random pencil, rubber band, or pebble to meet their needs. “Stimming,” or self-stimulatory behavior, is often an autistic person’s go-to tool for dealing with sensory information. This gives them a chance to get to and from their classes without being part of the hallway hustle that could cause sensory overload. Slightly altered schedule The idea is for the child to leave or arrive five minutes apart from the rest of students. Sometimes “preferential seating” means having the autistic child sit nearest to the board, or furthest away from vents, speakers, or the intercom. This one can mean many different things, and is usually critical for a child with autism, so listen up. Wherever you fall on the education spectrum (pun completely intended), let’s get right to it! Sensory accommodations for autism Preferential seating. However, many of these will be useful to parents homeschooling their autistic child. Since not all autistic children experience the same range of disability in each area, you can pick and choose which will work best for you & your child.įinally, some of these only apply to a child in the public school (like changing classes in an empty hallway). I’ve broken them up by categories: sensory, language, social/behavioral, executive functioning, and learning accommodations. While I can’t list every single accommodation under the sun, I’ve covered some of the most important.

So how is a parent supposed to wade through all the lists of accommodations out there? How can they understand what the terms mean, and evaluate if it’s right for their child? Kids with muscular dystrophy don’t need the same accommodations as an autistic, blind, or dyslexic kid, after all. But not every accommodation will help every child. I used dozens during my time as an alternative education teacher. There are a lot, I mean a lot of accommodations for autism, ADHD, anxiety, and more out there.
