Supporting Autistic Learners

Supporting Autistic Learners The session offers a sophisticated exploration of how autistic young people perceive, process, and engage with learning environments that are often fast paced, language heavy, socially complex, and sensory intense. Autistic cognition is positioned not as a barrier to learning, but as a valid and valuable form of human diversity that requires environments to be intentionally designed for access. Attention is given to the the visual approaches that align well with the learning preferences of many autistic young people, and to how visual approaches can function as access tools, supporting comprehension, predictability, emotional regulation, and independence across subject areas. Participants will gain insight into: How visual approaches support executive functioning, comprehension, and self-regulation in post primary classrooms. Why visual supports should be understood as structural access supports, not individual accommodations. How visual tools can support autonomy and reduce reliance on repeated verbal instruction. Ways to embed visual supports across timetables, classrooms, assessment formats, and transitions. A range of adaptable visual approaches that respect the young person's identity, interests, sensory experiences and access needs, and each young person's rightful place within the learning community.