New Student Profile for Autism or Special Education Classrooms

When teaching learners with Autism Spectrum Disorders, learning about a new student can take LITERALLY your entire year! There is so much to discover, including finding out their mode of communication, preferences, patterns of maladaptive behavior as well as environmental triggers, and of course, identifying existing and missing skills and effective teaching strategies! And don’t forget how challenging transitions can be for our students! Very often adapting to changes in routines can be challenging for individuals with Autism. Preparation is KEY!

Here are some tools and resources than can help expedite (and organize) the process while continuing to support your students’ needs.

Included in this resource are:

o Transition Guidelines (PDF only): Covers steps such as learning about your new student prior to their arrival, preparing the student for the change, exposing the student to their new class/program & pairing the new environment and staff with reinforcement.

o Transition Checklist & Timeline (PDF & Editable Version): Includes 14 tasks to be accomplished during the transition process and sets timelines for completing each task.

o Transition Questionnaire (PDF & Editable Version): This questionnaire can be used to guide conversations with the previous teacher/therapist/case manager, the parents, and (whenever possible/appropriate) the student in order to identify key information about the student, his/her skills, supports needed, behavior challenges, strengths/weaknesses, medical information, etc.

o Transition “At a glance” Sheet (PDF & Editable Version): This is a form where you can quickly input information from the questionnaire into a condensed format that can easily be shared with other staff in your classroom/program.

Fonts in this product created by:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kimberly-Geswein-Fonts