Top Twelve Tools of a Successful Autism Classroom Series

Note from Chris: Just wanted to share that our book, Building Independence won Honorable Mention of the Eric Hoffer’s book award in the self-help category. You can read a great review of it here. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

It’s getting closer…that day when your alarm goes off and you have to start thinking about setting up your classroom. It’s OK, I’ll wait while you collect yourself. Better now? Good.

Now, I know that many of you have already started thinking about your classrooms….so I figured I better get this out there. In Setting Up Classroom Spaces, my co-author, Sue Kabot, and I outlined how to create the physical environment of classroom spaces for students with autism. We are both strong believers in the idea that you must have the tools to do your job to be effective. So, in the book we developed lists of classroom supplies that are needed for self-contained classrooms or resource rooms serving students with ASD. To start off this year, I thought I would do a series of posts on the 12 things that you must have to successfully set up a self-contained classroom for students with ASD. Mind you, you could get along without one or two and find substitutes, but to run effectively, they are important items. Oh, and we started with 10 but it grew to 12.

In creating the list, I assumed that the classroom would have furniture and the basic supplies. However, administrators and teachers are sometimes surprised about the unusual types of items that are needed in a self-contained classroom that are not “typically” important in other rooms. So, I thought this list might come in handy in prioritizing the materials I have found most needed in setting up a classroom. With each post I will also give some tips and ideas I have found in what kind of item to buy, what works best, etc. So stay tuned for the next 12 days to learn about one more item that can help you in the classroom with a couple of freebies on the way. And if you need more information on materials as well as setting up classrooms, check out our book through my affiliate link below. So, what are your essential materials?