Upper Elementary Honoring Diversity
Sydney Weitz
This activity is meant to bring awareness to autism and to promote respect for students with autism.
It is planned for a grade 4-6 classroom, but could be easily modified and adjusted for different age groups as well!
Specifically, this activity will help students to better understand how students with autism may feel when trying to communicate with others.
To carry this out, there are a few materials you will need. They are:
- a plate
- a fork
- a spoon
- a knife
- a cup
- a napkin
- a picture of a table setting
Have all these items scattered on a table at the front of the class and have the photo of the table setting off to the side and not visible to the students. Ask for or choose a student volunteer. Have this student sit at the table facing the class.
Ask the student if they can hear you clearly and then tell them to listen very closely to all your instructions about the task they have to do. Ask them to arrange the items on the table into a table setting, but in a different language (if you know one) or using nonsense sounds and syllables. Repeat your non-understandable instructions a few times, acting increasingly more impatient with the student. After a while, take out the picture of the table setting and show it to the student and point to the items. They will hopefully be able to set the table according to the picture.
Follow this activity by having a class discussion. Start the discussion by talking about what autism is and how it affects people. Many students at this grade level will not be familiar with this disability. Ask the student that participated:
- why he/she did not follow instructions?
- did he/she know that you wanted them to do a task?
- how did you feel when you didn't know what to do?
- was the picture (visual support) helpful for the task?
Ask the rest of the class if they knew what the student was supposed to do. Discuss how some students have a hard time understanding oral instructions and how pictures and drawings can be very helpful. Also, discuss how every student has a different learning style. No two students are the same!
This activity is taken from: http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/ed_autisminc.pdf
This activity is meant to bring awareness to autism and to promote respect for students with autism.
It is planned for a grade 4-6 classroom, but could be easily modified and adjusted for different age groups as well!
Specifically, this activity will help students to better understand how students with autism may feel when trying to communicate with others.
To carry this out, there are a few materials you will need. They are:
- a plate
- a fork
- a spoon
- a knife
- a cup
- a napkin
- a picture of a table setting
Have all these items scattered on a table at the front of the class and have the photo of the table setting off to the side and not visible to the students. Ask for or choose a student volunteer. Have this student sit at the table facing the class.
Ask the student if they can hear you clearly and then tell them to listen very closely to all your instructions about the task they have to do. Ask them to arrange the items on the table into a table setting, but in a different language (if you know one) or using nonsense sounds and syllables. Repeat your non-understandable instructions a few times, acting increasingly more impatient with the student. After a while, take out the picture of the table setting and show it to the student and point to the items. They will hopefully be able to set the table according to the picture.
Follow this activity by having a class discussion. Start the discussion by talking about what autism is and how it affects people. Many students at this grade level will not be familiar with this disability. Ask the student that participated:
- why he/she did not follow instructions?
- did he/she know that you wanted them to do a task?
- how did you feel when you didn't know what to do?
- was the picture (visual support) helpful for the task?
Ask the rest of the class if they knew what the student was supposed to do. Discuss how some students have a hard time understanding oral instructions and how pictures and drawings can be very helpful. Also, discuss how every student has a different learning style. No two students are the same!
This activity is taken from: http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/ed_autisminc.pdf