Autism difficulty following instructions

“Autism difficulty following instructions.” For many parents and teachers, these words go together.

It’s a classic problem for many students, but those with autism, ADHD or related learning challenges often experience more difficulty than their peers.

The adults want to know what to do to handle the problem. It all depends on what is causing the difficulty.

Of course, there are many reasons there can be problems. Here are some examples.

The student:

The environment:

The communication partner:

There can also be a combination of several of these factors that occur simultaneously.

Will therapy solve the problem?
I’ve seen IEP objectives that say things like,

“Student will follow 1-step directions . . .” or
“Student will follow 2-step directions . . . .”

Then therapy activities include multiple trials of stand up, sit down, point to your nose and other specific directions.

Here’s my question
Why is the student having difficulty completing the requested task?

Will practicing “following directions” help the student to improve his ability to respond if the problem is that the teacher talks too fast? Will it help when the classroom is too noisy?

Are there solutions?
In reality, these students spend a major amount of time in less than optimal environments.

Visual strategies solve many problems
Using something visual is a simple way to eliminate a lot of challenges.

Visual supports reduce the stress and frustration for both the student and the communication partner.

Visual strategies offer a simple solution for chronic communication problems. Those visual supports help teachers and parents manage the situation of autism difficulty following instructions.