How to Teach the Alphabet to Autistic Children

Teach autistic children the alphabet.

Autistic children learn best with the use of visual aids. Teaching an autistic child the alphabet will be most successful if you use tangible alphabet letters. Educators must be willing to alter their teaching style to meet the needs of autistic students. Practice modeling the alphabet song and allow students to be hands-on while identifying the correct letters. Be patient while your special needs student learns this new material. Autistic children can successfully learn the alphabet, they just need the help of educators to adhere to their learning styles.

Sing the alphabet ("ABC Song") with your autistic student daily until they are able to sing it on their own. Show your student how to point to each letter one at a time as you sing the song. Have the student point as you sing.

Ask your student to identify uppercase letters by pointing to a letter and stating what letter it is.

Ask your student to identify lowercase letters by pointing to a letter and telling you which letter it is.

Place both uppercase and lowercase letters in front of your student. Have them match the uppercase and lowercase letter together to make a pair of letters.

Sarah Mollman began writing for "The Northern Iowan" newspaper in 2005. She was awarded scholarships from the Department of English at the University of Northern Iowa for Outstanding Short Story and Outstanding Personal Essay in 2008. Mollman holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Teaching from the University of Northern Iowa.

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