Classroom Management Strategies In The Autism-Based Childcare Center

Different classroom management strategies and behaviours support strategies were adopted in the two centres. In the long day care, the educators use finger play to attract children’s attention and quiet them down in the class. Educators also taught children about different emotions and taking turns during group time proactively. Children could identify different emotions but they could not share their toys by taking turns at times. In the autism-based childcare centre, challenging behaviours occurred frequently. Educators would try to stop children’s challenging behaviour by telling them ‘I do not like it (the challenging behaviour)’. If the behaviour resisted, educators would use other interventions and evidence-based practices. For instance,

Parent involvement and family support is critical to achieve children’s individualised goals in every day routines (Salazar, 2012). Educators recognised parents’ role in making children’s individual education plan and interact with them by using different methods such as face-to-face communication during the pickup time. Children in this centre did not have much interaction with other children. Some children called other children’s names and tried to invite them into their games, while most of the children played on their own. Educators were emotionally available and respond positively to children’s attempts (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, 2009). For instance, when a boy wanted to give up painting, the educator kept encouraging him by saying: ‘You can do it.’ After a few minute the boy gave up painting, but the educator was not disappointed with him but she said: ‘I am happy with that, at least you

I have a deeper understanding of inclusive education. My attitude towards working with children with special education needs become more positive as I saw some theories and strategies worked effectively in the centres. For example, curriculum was adjusted to cater children with ASD’s needs including using technology in the class. Both centres employed the universal design for learning, and they had different classroom management strategies such as doing finger play to attract children’s attention during group time. To address children’s challenging behaviours, educators used the replacement skills and consequence strategies. Members in the learning support team showed good collaboration, and they share the responsibility with each other to achieve the mutual goal. Three articles were picked for review to provide suggestions about how to improve children with ASD’s social interaction skills and engage them in the general inclusive classroom, such as choose an appropriate social toy to create opportunities for children to interact with other