Starting School

The term ‘neurodiversity’ is often used to describe the natural variation in the way an individual’s brain functions. It refers to the differences in the way people behave, and how they experience, understand and interact with the world around them. 

As each individual is different, the term ‘neurodiverse’ applies to everyone, including 'neurotypical' people. The term ‘neurotypical’ simply refers to a person with a more common type of brain (also known as a neurotype) in terms of how they sense the world and people around them, and how they think, feel and respond. When you are neurodivergent, you differ from the from the ‘typical’ or more common type of brain. Autistic people are neurodivergent, as are people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or with learning differences such as dyslexia or dyspraxia. About 1 in every 5 or 6 children has variations in their brain development (raisingchildren.net.au, 2022).

Notes on language

When referring to neurodivergence, disability advocates encourage the use of inclusive and non-judgmental language. Some disability advocacy organisations suggest that person-first language (for example, ‘a student who has autism’) is the preferred way to address disability. Research indicates that a large proportion of the autistic community prefer identity-first language (for example, ‘an autistic student’). It is helpful to speak to a student’s family about their preferred choice of language rather than making any assumptions.

This resource uses both person-first language and identity-first language. We acknowledge that individuals choose how they wish to be identified. 

No two students on the autism spectrum present in the same way. Autism is described as a spectrum, which means that individuals are likely to have a different profile of strengths and needs in various areas of functioning.

Signs and behaviours of autism are often present before the age of 3. However, characteristics of autism may not be detected until a child starts primary school. Young children may experience difficulties adjusting to the school environment and new social situations. The transition to school might feel quite overwhelming for the child.

Some of the indicators of autism might include delays in communication, narrow interests, lack of social interaction or interest in other people (which may include reduced eye contact with others), emotional regulation difficulties, sensory sensitivities and repetitive behaviours.

Autistic students may also present with exceptional strengths, which can be incorporated into learning activities at school. Common strengths include:

• strong visual skills and ability to pay attention to detail
• problem-solving and logical thinking skills
• memory skills
• hyperlexia (ability to decode written language at an early age)
• good understanding of and adherence to rules
• special interests in particular topics
• ability to focus and pay attention for extended periods
• exceptional honesty, reliability and loyalty.

The term ‘twice exceptional’ is used to refer to individuals who are both neurodivergent and gifted. Twice-exceptional students are likely to perform inconsistently at school, presenting with uneven skills and asynchronous development (that is abilities that are developing at different rates). Having an awareness of twice-exceptionality may enable you to help these students to succeed at school.

Characteristics

A twice-exceptional student may demonstrate:

• significant creativity in one or more areas
• hyper-sensitivity to sounds, tastes, smells, etc
• perfectionistic traits
• superior critical thinking and problem-solving skills
• strong sense of curiosity
• high-level abstract thinking
• difficulty with the development of early reading and writing skills due to deficits in cognitive processing
• low self-esteem
• underdeveloped social skills
• strong ability to concentrate deeply in areas of interest
• behavioural issues due to underlying stress, boredom, under stimulation, or lack of motivation.

Adjustments

Teachers can support twice-exceptional students by making adjustments that acknowledge their individual learning needs. These can include:

• nurturing their strengths and interests, using their strengths to plan learning and teaching sequences
• supporting their social and emotional development
• identifying gaps in their learning and finding ways to support any relative weaknesses.

If you believe a student is showing signs of being neurodivergent, it is important that you first discuss your observations with the school support team. Collectively, you can decide on the best way to raise your concerns with the student’s family. Your discussions with the family must focus on observations of the student’s presenting behaviours, challenges and strengths, and ways you might support the student at school. Focusing on observations opens the way for transparent conversations around topics that families may find sensitive.

Importantly, as an educator, you are not qualified to, nor are you expected to, diagnose a child with a disability. However, you and the school support team may impute that a disability exists in one of four categories: physical, sensory, cognitive or social/emotional. This means you believe, based on reasonable grounds and supported by documented evidence, that the student has an undiagnosed disability as defined by the Disability Standards for Education 2005  that has a functional impact on their capacity to access and participate in learning on the same basis as their peers. For  more information, go to the 'Schools' obligations to students with a disability' topic below.

The school support team may determine that there is a need to provide further supports for the student. Before making any educational adjustments, it is advisable to meet with the student’s family to discuss your concerns and to co-plan appropriate adjustments. The family could display mixed emotions in the meeting. They might feel a sense of relief that you share their concerns, or it may come as a surprise to them that their child is not adjusting to school as expected. For more information, go to the 'Discussing observations' topic below.

More information and guidelines about the assessment and diagnosis process can be found on the Autism CRC website.

In some instances, the family may not engage with the school about the need for educational adjustments or not agree with the school’s observations regarding the student. In these cases, it is still in the best interests of the student to support their learning in the most appropriate way, as determined by the school support team. The school must still make reasonable adjustments to support the student to access education on the same basis as their peers.

• Communication and consultation with families are key, including using information provided (such as observations and transition statements) by families about the student.
• Consult with your support staff, the student and their family to implement reasonable adjustments to support the student.
• Observe the student in your classroom and communicate regularly with the student’s family.

There is evidence of a strong link between feeling positively connected to school – where children feel accepted, respected and included – and a range of outcomes such as academic success, high self-esteem, positive affect, optimism, hope, life satisfaction, and positive long-term life outcomes. A sense of belonging and connectedness at school supports an inclusive school culture. Schools that build supportive classroom cultures establish positive learning experiences for all students throughout their schooling experience. Using inclusive teaching approaches such as Universal Design for Learning will engage and support the needs of all learners in the classroom, including autistic students.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a comprehensive framework that is used to support teachers to address diversity of learning in the classroom. It was developed by researchers at the Centre for Applied Special Technology (CAST) and is based on decades of neuroscience research, leading to the understanding that learners are different in many ways and need a range of teaching approaches and resources to be successful.

UDL supports teachers to design learning environments and teaching approaches that are accessible for all children. The guiding principles of UDL support you as a teacher to set learning goals and plan curriculum-based activities, assessment, teaching strategies, and resources to meet individual learning needs.

The UDL framework has three guiding principles you can use to provide multiple ways of engaging children, representing knowledge, and demonstrating understanding.

As teachers, working with children in the first year of schooling, knowing your students' strengths, challenges and interests helps you to identify multiple ways to motivate and engage students in learning.

Young children with diagnosed or undiagnosed autism may have differences or difficulties socialising and communicating with other children. They may have particular interests and fixations on topics and are likely to have sensory needs that impact on their participation in the first terms of school. For example, children may be frightened of loud noise, may find bright lights overwhelming, or they may get anxious with large groups of children. These sensory issues do not mean that the child cannot learn and participate in the classroom, but they may have an impact on their learning if not addressed. 

You can make a positive difference in the early education years by providing multiple means of engagement in the classroom.

How might this look in a classroom?

• Provide choices in learning activities and topics, or where and how children learn.
• Find out what your students are interested in and be flexible in how you engage them in the curriculum.
• Structure learning by breaking down the steps. Use visual prompts to support students to understand and follow expectations.
• Support the sensory needs of autistic students. Develop an understanding of the range of sensory needs that they may have.
• Provide options to use: noise-cancelling headphones in some noisy environments; eyeglasses, sunglasses or hats for areas with bright lights.
• Recognise behaviour triggers early. If students become anxious, they may need to move or fidget with an object or tool of their choice.
• Provide responsive spaces for students who need a safe and calming space at times due to sensory overload, anxiety. These types of spaces can also provide stimulation for students who need to be active with their hands, body and feet.
• Have discussions with your student’s family about possible behavioural triggers that indicate the students need to have time and space to be calm.

Representation refers to the ways that educators present information to children. Neurodivergent students need to be able to access and understand the information presented to them. Students in the first terms of school will benefit from structure, routines and explicit instructions that meet the needs of children on the autism spectrum. You might find these strategies good for the whole class.

Offer students different options to demonstrate what they know and what they can do. Supporting students with different opportunities to use their strengths and to engage in the classroom can make a positive difference. Providing students with choices in how they communicate and interact with class activities and each other will ensure a more inclusive and successful environment for everyone.

How might this look in a classroom?

• Plan the use of flexible assessment, such as additional time, and adjustments, such as technology and quiet space.
• Support students with organisation to start, continue and complete tasks.
• Provide alternative ways to communicate, such as hand signs, images/symbols, and augmentative or assistive technologies.

Not every classroom is specifically designed to respond to the needs of all students. There are simple changes that can be made to make the classroom environment a comfortable and calming space for all. 

What simple changes could you make to make your classroom a more inclusive space? Audit your space with the Assess your classroom environment tool. 

What are some things to consider when developing a trusting relationship with a student on the autism spectrum?

• Find out about the student’s strengths and interests.

• Find out about the student’s sensory preferences and sensitivities.

• Observe the student in their interactions with peers and adults.

• Schedule brief and regular activities that draw on the student’s topics of interest.

• Use visual aids (photos, objects, videos) to support discussion with the student.

• Ask the student about their favourite activities at school.

• Show interest in their activities after school.

• Use a communication book or learning portfolio with sections on ‘What I have learnt’, ‘What I tried hard to achieve’ and ‘What I need support with’.

• Encourage the student to take on roles in class with your gentle guidance.

• Express in explicit ways your pride for their hard work, effort and curiosity for learning.

• Establish a plan with the child and their family about when and how to take breaks.

How can I support these students in their schooling experience in the community?

• Make a list of the community places your students visit often with their families.

• Drawing on that list, plan for community activities throughout the year related to the Australian Curriculum.

• Create social stories about familiar community activities.

• Practise behavioural routines and expectations in the classroom to prepare students for community contexts.

What can I do to build a relationship with the families of autistic students?

• Send a personal email to families introducing yourself and your teaching philosophy and your values, emphasising your high regard for effort and resilience rather than performance.
• Offer options to communicate with you: by email, phone, in person, communication book.
• Schedule sufficient time for meetings with specific discussion topics.
• Acknowledge families as the experts on the child.
• Use active listening in your spoken communication.
• Have an observer in meetings with families to reflect on your communication skills, and be receptive to their feedback.
• In your communication with families, show genuine interest in their child’s daily life, their habits, interests and hopes for the school year.
• Take notes on what has worked really well and what did not.
• Talk about activities within the school, seeking to understand their concerns and expectations.
• Talk about activities in the community, aiming to support their child’s equal participation in these events.
• Express your interest in meeting with any allied health professionals that support the student so that you can use similar strategies for engagement and learning.
• Invite constructive feedback as part of your self-reflection as an educator.

• Social learning is as important as academic learning. Both form part of a holistic learning process.
• Heightened anxiety in students reduces their capacity for social participation and therefore affects their learning.
• Intentional and systematic observation of students’ responses to activities is a key step for effective teaching.
• Monitor social interactions with peers to check that students are not being bullied or excluded from activities.
• Use the students’ interests to teach them new skills.
• Spend time familiarising the students’ peers with their ways of working and communication system or approach.
• Support students’ peers with opportunities to work together in pairs or groups with students on the autism spectrum.
• Schedule time for reflection on learning activities with the student to guide self-regulation.
• Create a circle of trusted peers with shared interests for specific group activities.
• Schedule time for mindful body-awareness activities.
• Create a visual aid to help the student keep track of their progress towards achievement of big social or academic goals.
• Set up a work system for learning activities that sets out the steps to be completed, the materials required, highlights the completion of activities and states what happens next.
• Set up routines with embedded visuals for unexpected changes to the routines.
• Organise whole-class activities to raise awareness of human diversity (including autism).

As an educator, making observations of student behaviours is an important step in building your knowledge of the student and establishing a positive relationship with them. Planning time for observations is good practice, and observations can be conducted by you or in collaboration with other professionals supporting the education and care of the student. When observations are made and recorded regularly and consistently, they offer valuable information to inform successful practice.

Making observations:

• offers valuable information about the student’s strengths and abilities
• enhances knowledge of suitable supports for the student
• develops understanding of the student’s emerging skills
• illuminates the events and student’s needs that are driving behaviours, such as stimming or hand flapping
• monitors social interactions with peers
• informs personalised planning
• creates a sound basis for a constructive discussion with the student’s family and other professionals.

Educators can use consistent and accurate observation records as evidence for developing student learning and behavioural profiles.

Drawing on your knowledge of student development and behavioural expectations in school, you can develop student learning profiles targeted to your students’ needs. Your observations can form a basis for attributing student characteristics to differences requiring further attention from an expert team. In addition, you can draw on these observations in your communication with school leaders and allied health professionals to seek input on suitable additional learning or behavioural supports for your students.

As an educator, you cannot make a diagnosis. You can share your observations with families to help them in seeking further support from other professionals or a diagnostic team. 

An observation guide is a tool to organise your information and help you when discussing your observations with the student and their family. Your school or system may have their own tools for recording student observations, or you may wish to use the Observation guide. Consult your school leadership regarding policies that determine what information can be shared or distributed. The guide is arranged in topics to help you consider the supports you could put in place for the student. All students are different, and the topics and questions are simply organisers. Complete only those sections you need to guide your discussions.

You can use this guide in your conversation with families to discuss the behaviours that can be prioritised as teaching goals, and which supports might be appropriate for achieving these goals.

Both educators and families can work together to support the child through positive discussions. The Conversation guide for educators pdf provides a list of topics and question prompts you can use when talking to the child's family about your observations you recorded in the Observation guide pdf which you can use to document your observations of the child. In taking a child-centred approach, you will be able to draw on the knowledge families have of their child and ensure productive discussions with them.

If you suspect that a student might experience difficulties with an upcoming event or change to the usual routine, it is important to communicate with the student’s family beforehand. Advance planning and preparation can help to make the change in routine more manageable for the student.

Children – like most people – can become more stressed, distressed or overwhelmed when they are unwell, tired or hungry. For children on the autism spectrum, stress, distress or overwhelming experiences at school can be a problem. If a student is not able to recognise when they are becoming stressed, distressed or overwhelmed, they cannot take steps to calm down or self-regulate, potentially resulting in behaviours that are governed by their emotional brain or their survival brain. If children enter into survival mode repeatedly, this can alter their brain chemistry, resulting in even more dysregulated behaviours.

Triggers can include:

• unexpected changes in routine or environment

• unexpected transitions or being asked to transition to another activity or task before the child has finished what they are currently doing

• sensory overload in loud, bright or cluttered settings

• difficulty with social interactions and communication

• overstimulation from technology or screens

• unfamiliar or challenging activities or tasks

• unfamiliar people or places, stress or distress due to a lack of object permanence leading the student to worry that their family, home or belongings no longer exist

• limited access to sensory or emotional regulation tools or resources

• unmet support needs in any area of functioning.

It is important to recognise that a student’s response may have been caused by a series of events, which may have started before they arrived at school, that have collectively built up resulting in what is sometimes called a ‘meltdown’. A student may not be aware or able to articulate the reason for their emotions or behaviours.

Working in partnership with the family to develop an understanding of a student’s triggers means that you can notice the signs that emotions or behaviours are escalating. You can then help the student by supporting them to regulate their emotions before they are overwhelmed.

Establishing a way that you and the family can share information about a student’s emotional state at the start and end of the school day will help you both plan the support required accordingly.

Self-regulation refers to the ability to manage one's thoughts, emotions and behaviours to achieve goals and maintain wellbeing. By developing self-regulation skills, students can better manage distractions, overcome obstacles, and control their impulses. This, in turn, can lead to improved academic performance, increased resilience, and enhanced overall wellbeing. To support the development of self-regulation in students, teachers can provide opportunities for developing and improving interoceptive awareness, learning about emotions and emotional expression, and model self-regulatory strategies themselves.

Interoceptive awareness or mindful body awareness activities can be structured into a school day in the morning session, after recess and after lunch to ensure children are ready to learn. These times of transition in the day are also when students are most likely to be dysregulated and struggling to settle. Regularly doing these activities will support children to recognise, understand and manage their emotions at school and develop self-regulation.

Find a range of interoception activities for the early years, and more information on how to implement these into classrooms in the Student Wellbeing Hub's Brain Break Bops and Get ready to learn resources.

The following are general strategies only – they may not be suitable responses for all students in all circumstances.

• Allow for unscheduled time during the day for the student to take a break, allowing them to do something they are interested in and that makes them feel calm, safe and happy. Breaks in themselves provide a distraction, which may be enough to support students to calm down. However, if students are highly stressed or in panic mode, a break may not be enough to allow them to neurologically and biologically calm down.
• Provide a quiet and calm space for the student to retreat to that is their ‘safe space’ (noting that the student should be visible to you at all times).
• Encourage sensory regulation activities such as wearing headphones, deep breathing, stretching, stimming or fidgeting.
• Encourage physical activity, such as going for a walk or playing outside.
• Create a visual schedule or countdown to help the child understand when a break is coming.
• Give them some time and space to relax, limiting conversation and interactions from others as much as possible.