How do I Teach Children with Autism about the “Big” Picture?

People on the spectrum often have issues with part-to-whole or whole-to-part thinking. This occurs due to defects in the Corpus Callosum, located in the Upper brain.

Many people on the spectrum see and hear the details but cannot see or understand the whole of what is being communicated. So many students with autism can remember and recite details in what they have learned, but can’t easily summarize their own or another person’s ideas.

More rarely, some people on the spectrum see the whole but are less able to focus and understand the parts.

In order to teach children with autism, you may scaffold information into a larger pattern to help the student get the big picture.

For example, have the student write sentences using a pattern. Create a guide paper with the following headings: 

Later add the why and other patterns for more complex sentences.

Learn More… Take this course: Introduction to Autism

Discuss Here: What are some methods that you use to teach children with autism?