The classroom is a very social place. In the age of standards focusing on understanding processes, much of our curriculum requires students to collaborate to determine answers to problems. One of the areas where students with autism and other social challenges struggle is when they are asked to work in small groups. They often will take one of two approaches. Some students always have to be the leader, ignoring the other students demonstrating leadership in the group. Some students just withdraw and choose not to participate in the group at all. Many struggle with determining what their role should be in the group. While this is usually worked out tacitly by typical students, for students with social challenges, this set of the hidden curriculum or unstated expectation is not as easily understood.
