students would normally walk their schedules for the first time with their parents, is usually loud, crowded, and confusing. I knew that would be overwhelming for Eric and not a good environment for him to learn his route to classes. We attended Open House, but after we had already walked his schedule at a quieter time.
The success of a student on the autism spectrum in middle school can be dependent on the amount and quality of communication between the school and home. Unfortunately, parents often find it harder to communicate with teachers in middle school and high school than with those in elementary school. Communicating the needs of your child to seven teachers is difficult. At many middle schools each teacher may have over one hundred different students a day. Daily communications or even weekly communications home are usually impossible.
It becomes more important than ever to meet with as many of the teachers as possible before the school year begins. When I met with the middle school teachers before school started I shared my concerns for Eric. I described what I thought would be difficult for him, and what information I would like teachers to relay to me about his progress or difficulties. I also emphasized to them that I was willing to support them in any way I could. If they wanted more information about autism or about Eric, I would be happy to try to answer their questions. I also volunteered to help in the classroom or on field trips. Meetings like this with parents before the start of school also gives teachers the opportunity to ask questions about the student and the disability and voice any concerns they may have.
A large number of people are going to have contact with your child in middle school. It helps to have at least one person at the school who knows your child and is willing to advocate for them. This may be a special education teacher, a guidance counselor, a principal, or a teacher. The guidance counselor was our consistent support person every year of middle school. I also found at least one person on Eric’s team of teachers each year who was particularly supportive and was willing to be a contact for me about my child. The teacher of the autism class at the middle school was also a good resource available to the other teachers. Even though she was not directly working with Eric, the teachers could contact her if they had questions about autism or wanted help developing strategies. It can be beneficial to have a student on the autism spectrum included at a school where a self-contained autism class is located. There is frequently more knowledge about autism at the school and the teacher and the classroom can be used as resources for the included student.
Organizational issues are often one of the biggest problems for included students on the autism spectrum in middle school. All teenagers have difficulty in this area to a certain degree, but for these students it can be a much bigger problem. For the first time, Eric was going to be changing classes seven times a day. He would have to keep up with assignments, notebooks, and books from seven different classes. I knew he would need accommodations and strategies to help with the organizational issues he would face in middle school.
The students at our middle school were required to have a small three-ring notebook for each class. Knowing Eric would not be able to keep track of so many notebooks, we requested he use one large notebook for all his classes. We used subject dividers with pockets between each class section. One pocket was designated for things to come home: assignments, notes to parents, etc. One pocket was for things to go to school: homework, notes to teachers, signed permission slips, etc. The notebook also had a clear cover under which we could place a copy of Eric’s schedule that would be visible from the outside of the notebook.
Eric’s middle school had a very complicated class schedule and no consecutive days had the same time schedule for classes. There were “block” days when certain classes were extended and certain classes were not on the schedule at all. This was going to be a challenge for Eric. To help with this, I made a simple, easy-to-read schedule that included each day of the week and placed it in the cover of his notebook. Each class was color coded on the schedule, green for science, blue for math, etc. so Eric could easily see on the schedule what classes he would have that day. I also included in the schedule possible times when he might go to his locker and to the bathroom if needed. I had to research this a bit, finding out when the classes were located near enough to each other to allow time to go to the locker or bathroom.
If you have ever been in a large middle school when the bell rings between classes, you know how chaotic and loud it is. The halls are suddenly filled with stampeding students, all talking at once, bumping into each other as they hurry to get to class or to their locker. It is very overwhelming, even for people without sensory issues. With all the noise and bedlam going on around them, and having to hurry too, it can be a real challenge for the student to concentrate on what they should be doing. The location of the locker for the student on the autism spectrum is important. We had Eric’s locker assigned near a supportive teacher’s classroom, someone who didn’t mind keeping an eye out for Eric between classes. Frequently, middle school teachers will be asked to stand in the doorway of their classroom between classes to help monitor the halls. You also want the locker located near as many of the student’s classes as possible. The time between classes is extremely short and students have to hurry if they want to go by their locker and get to class on time. Our middle school had top and bottom lockers in the hall and we always made sure Eric got a top locker and one on the end of a row. That way he was not crowded by students on both sides of him or above him and could have easier access to the locker.
The lock on the locker can be a problem for the student on the autism spectrum. Our middle school required a standard spin dial combination lock for the locker. With Eric’s fine motor delays, this kind of lock was very difficult for him, especially if he had to hurry. We arranged for Eric to use another kind of lock, a roll dial lock where he rolled in the numbers of the combination. As long as the school is given the combination of the lock, my experience is they are usually agreeable to this accommodation.
There are also ways to organize the inside of the locker to help the student. You can buy locker organizers that compartmentalize the locker so the student can find things more easily. We also found it helped to post a schedule inside the locker that told Eric what to put in the locker at each visit and what to remove. For example it might say: “Put in English and math textbook, take out social studies notebook and your lunch.” This strategy can be very helpful in the beginning and, as the school year progresses, the student may need less assistance of this type.
In middle school teachers expect more independence from their students. The homework assignments may be written on the board in the classroom each day before class. Students are then expected to take responsibility to write them down in their assignment book without reminders from the teacher. Then students must organize themselves enough to remember to have the correct textbook, notebook, and assignment for each class in their backpack at the end of school. This was very difficult for Eric. Many times when he would get home from school he would have the book and not the notebook, or the assignment and not the book. One helpful solution for us was to have an extra set of textbooks for home. This was included in the modifications in his IEP and saved us many unnecessary trips back to the school to get a forgotten book.
Many of the modifications available to students with learning disabilities are available for autistic students. Our middle school had highlighted textbooks that were prepared by the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and available for students with learning disabilities. The textbooks would have the key points in each chapter highlighted or underlined. This can be very useful to students who have difficulty determining what the important parts of a chapter are when it is time to study. As I mentioned earlier, in our middle school the students were assigned to “teams” for each grade. Each year we arranged for Eric to be on the team that included the students with learning disabilities. This team had an additional teacher, a learning disabilities resource teacher, who was available to the students on that team. They would go from one class to another to help when needed with testing, special classroom projects, etc. This team of teachers was already prepared to make modifications for the learning disabled students and therefore was more accepting of any modifications Eric might need.
In addition to the organizational
