Teaching Questions to Ask to Autistic Children

Framing Questions for Capturing Interest

• Autistic children can often get stuck on personal interests, including self-stimulating behavior such as spinning hands or twanging a rubber band, to the exclusion of all other incoming stimuli. When you first approach your child with the intent of setting up an interchange for a learning experience, have on hand a motivational item -- such as her favorite snack food or a special puzzle -- to entice her to focus on your communication. Explain to her that she's going to be playing a fun game -- everything should be framed as a fun game for youngsters -- and that when she's done she can eat the popcorn or play with the puzzle. When she's zeroing in on the learning activity, ask her general questions to determine her mastery level. For instance, if the activity is a homemade visual-image bingo game to identify animals, she may already know horse and cow. However, giraffe, ostrich and elephant may be new concepts that you can question her about using simple, short sentences sharing information on visual differences in the creatures. Questions might be, "What animal has the longest nose?" or, "Which animal has long feathers?" Your child may begin by simply pointing to the correct creature, and as time goes on by naming it.

Behavioral Teaching Questions

• When embarking on learning activities addressing behavior modification, always employ the interest-catching-question tactic paired with the motivational item. Autistic children can often appear to have low tolerance for new situations and can lag behind their peers in employing positive behavior strategies when confused, irked or feeling threatened. Behavioral teaching questions are created based on the particular negative behavior your child is exhibiting on a regular basis. For instance, instead of sharing group toys he corners the big yellow dump truck and hits other children who approach it. Begin with questions addressing the inappropriate behavior: "What did you do that was mean?" If he's nonverbal, then help him recall by acting out what he did. When he understands what he did that was not proper, ask him "What can you do next time that would be nice?" Show him what would be nice. Allow him time to practice sharing the toy. And don't forget to reward him for a job well done with the motivational item.

Social Interaction Teaching Questions

• After capturing your youngster's interest, you can set her up for learning about appropriate social interactions. The polite interplay of one child with another is one of the most challenging life skills an autistic child tackles. And yet mastering social etiquette is integral to his quality of life in years to come. Social interaction teaching questions best follow a social story -- reading a book on a particular social grace such as saying, "Hi," or sharing toys. Ask your child what happened in the book. Guide him with questions about what worked and what didn't for the main characters. It can often help your child's commitment level in learning the social concept by changing one of the character's names as you read the book to your child's name.

Academic Topic Teaching Questions

• Regardless of the academic topic to be taught, begin by arresting your young one's attention with a motivator. Approach any academic activity by reviewing with your child with questions determining what she may already know. Then build on her current knowledge with pertinent questions about the learning to take place. Ask her questions that help her to predict what may happen. For instance, if you're working on a transportation unit about forms of transportation, you could present her with flash cards with pictures of a horse and cart, a bicycle, an old model T and a new minivan. Ask her questions about the different modes of travel. If she's non-verbal, frame the questions in such a manner that she can point to the correct picture. For example, you might ask her, "What's the most modern way to travel on these cards?" or, "Which form of travel is called a bicycle?" Keep learning sessions short and always end with a note of praise along with that motivator.