i autistic 我自闭

Education should remove unnecessary barriers, develop the abilities a student can learn, and distinguish their own understanding from the work other people do for them.

I was diagnosed with autism only during my polytechnic studies. When I later described my school experiences to parents and teachers, it was easier to name accommodations than explain what I wanted them to achieve.

I wanted written instructions, but also an explanation of the work’s purpose. Help recognising names and faces mattered, but so did having fewer interactions to manage; I would personally have preferred a class of five to seven students. I wanted safety and uninterrupted time, ownership of my achievements, opportunities to use my abilities in competitions and school activities, and one or two friends with whom to explore and experiment.

These are my preferences, not an autistic template. The practical question behind meaningful inclusion is how to organise an ordinary school day so that this particular student can learn, participate and take appropriate responsibility.

Rehearsing the first morning at school

“You are going to school” can be a very incomplete explanation of what a first morning will involve.

Before the first day, help the student encounter some of the real places, objects and steps. Show photographs of the school entrance and classroom, look through the books or materials they will use, and arrange a visit where possible. Seeing a classroom in use can answer questions that an empty room cannot.

At home, the student can try the uniform and practise an appropriate part of the routine. Keep the rehearsal small enough to be useful. There is no need to recreate an entire school day at once.

For example, walk through arriving, meeting the relevant adult, finding the classroom and putting the bag away. Use the actual arrangement where it is known. Where something is undecided, say so rather than rehearsing a promise the school may not be able to keep.

Include a way to ask for help. The student needs more than a route that works when everything goes correctly. They also need to know whom to approach, what message or signal to use, and what to do if the expected adult is unavailable.

A simple change can be rehearsed too: the usual entrance is closed, so the agreed adult shows another route. The point is not to surprise or test the student. It is to make the response to a change understandable while help is available.

Notice what the rehearsal reveals. An uncomfortable uniform, confusing sign or unclear handover is something to address, not a failure by the student. Adjust the preparation to the person’s communication, comfort and pace.

Preserve initiative, not unnecessary hardship

Shadow teachers and classroom aides can make mainstream education accessible. But support can also take over the very abilities school should develop. Where an autistic student can learn to manage a responsibility, we should teach and expect them to do so, rather than have everything served on a silver platter.

To manage my auditory processing difficulties, I immediately wrote down whatever I heard, checked it with the classmate sitting next to me, and telephoned a classmate after school to confirm the homework assignment. When I noticed reluctance or annoyance, I learned to rotate whom I contacted rather than repeatedly calling the same person.

I was recognising uncertainty, devising a checking system, seeking assistance and adjusting to other people’s limits. I still needed help, but I took the initiative to obtain and use it. Needing assistance did not make one particular classmate permanently responsible for me.

An aide could have helped me improve that system. An aide who automatically recorded everything, checked every assignment and contacted everyone on my behalf could instead have removed those opportunities. Completed homework might then demonstrate the adult’s competence while concealing how little responsibility I was learning to take. The Education Endowment Foundation warns about both excessive and insufficient support.

Written assignments would have spared me unnecessary checking, and schools should provide accessible instructions. Preserve the problem-solving, not the hardship. Classmates should be free to decline requests; they are not a substitute for accessible teaching.

In adulthood, instructions may be incomplete, plans may change and a familiar helper may be unavailable. Where the student has the capacity, school should provide practice identifying missing information, finding a reliable source, asking a specific question and choosing a safe next step. Initiative is not knowing every answer; it is learning what to do when nobody has supplied one.

I would agree a practical teaching plan with the student, teacher and aide: model an achievable step, allow processing time, offer a hint where needed and gradually hand over responsibility. For example, teach the student to consult an accessible homework list, notice a missing deadline and ask for clarification. Do not silently fix every omission or leave a distressed student struggling in the name of independence.

Keep direct contact with teachers and classmates available rather than routing every exchange through the aide. Staff need training, preparation time and a shared plan; the teacher remains responsible for teaching and assessment. The EEF’s teaching-assistant guidance provides a framework for this work.

Reducing reminders to consult a checklist is different from removing the checklist. Written information, communication aids, sensory adjustments or help initiating tasks may remain necessary. Judge readiness for the particular responsibility through supported practice, not fluent speech, good marks or one successful lesson. The goal is less avoidable reliance on someone else’s direction, not proving that the student needs nobody.

In Singapore, MOE describes transition-aide support as planned and time-bound, with defined targets. This is distinct from school-based support from teachers and Special Educational Needs Officers.

Group work: assess learning, not luck

Group work can combine subject knowledge, organisation, negotiation, communication and the suitability of assigned partners into one mark. If educators leave students to teach one another missing content, resolve every dispute and produce a shared submission without checking individual learning, they have transferred substantial teaching and assessment responsibilities onto the students.

My objection is not to learning together. It is to using a finished group product as proof that everyone learned the material. A student needing instruction is not the same as one deliberately avoiding an agreed responsibility; neither problem should automatically become the strongest teammate’s burden.

For an autistic student who interprets rules rigidly, experiences unfairness intensely or struggles with negotiation, being told that everyone must contribute while watching a non-contributor receive the same mark can be particularly difficult. Unclear expectations turn the project into a conflict over fairness and control.

I would separate three judgements, drawing on the distinctions in Carnegie Mellon’s assessment guidance:

A student’s subject-knowledge mark should not fall merely because a partner failed to deliver or spontaneous group conversation is difficult for them. Equally, producing one excellent fragment does not establish understanding of everything they were required to learn.

Where collaboration is an essential course outcome, explain why, teach it and provide accessible ways to demonstrate it. Report it separately from subject mastery, with transparent weightings in any combined result. A qualification should not certify an undemonstrated skill, but neither should unrelated social barriers distort an academic judgement.

During drama class, I was made to leave a group where I was already working well and join another group to perform an autism skit. The change ended with my friend shoving me and the class being interrupted. In When Inclusion Felt Like Quarantine, I describe what happened and why I suspect that sorting perceived "problem" students into one group mattered more than preserving my existing participation.

Teach teamwork before judging it

Structure the task. Agree roles, deadlines, communication methods, assessment criteria and how to raise problems. Singapore Management University’s guidance emphasises transparent criteria and attention to individual contributions. Essential information should not depend on membership of a friendship chat. Provide preparation time, written discussion or quieter meetings where appropriate, without demanding public disclosure of a diagnosis.

Intervene before the final mark. Teach handovers and disagreement procedures, check progress and identify an educator who can address missing knowledge, exclusion or non-participation. Consider reassignment or an equivalent assessment when a partnership becomes unworkable. Use proportionate records of contributions, including planning and checking, not message counts or character dossiers. Peer feedback needs evidence, educator scrutiny and a route to challenge inaccuracies; it should not become a popularity vote.

Observe individuals within the team. Borrowing a principle from assessment centres, I would use short, structured activities and observe planning, handovers and responses to difficulties. Gather evidence across more than one occasion or grouping where practicable, with advance explanation and suitable support. For consequential decisions, use trained assessors and moderation. Simplify the task when resources are limited rather than pretend a shared mark measures individual ability.

Two teams might miss the same deadline, yet one student completed an agreed contribution and sought help over a missing dependency, while another withheld work despite suitable support. The identical outcome conceals different performances. Check the circumstances rather than assume intention from the result.

Assess cooperation, not social conformity. Did the student make information available and consider relevant objections, or did the assessor simply dislike their tone or lack of eye contact? Directness is not the same as intimidation, and observation is not automatically free of bias.

Autistic students also have responsibilities. Technical competence does not establish teamwork competence. A wrong calculation needs correction; a teammate’s different but acceptable method may not. Before taking over, identify the requirement that is not being met. Concern for quality should not become a claim to control every decision or prevent others from learning.

A useful request is: “I am willing to practise collaboration. I need clear roles, an early route for resolving problems and an individual check of my understanding.” Preserve evidence of your work while seeking review; refusing everything may leave your knowledge unassessed.

Technology can become another shadow teacher

Accessible teaching comes first. CAST’s Universal Design for Learning guidelines support different ways to access information and demonstrate learning. Start with clear written briefs, examples and manageable response options, rather than requiring an aide or app to make an inaccessible lesson usable.

Put students into the homework information loop. Use one reliable place for current assignments and amendments, with age-appropriate routines and reminders. A parent who receives every notification and directs every step can become an off-site shadow teacher. Teach the student to check the system, recognise gaps and request clarification.

Check automated information. Captions and transcripts can help, but automatic caption errors can change meaning. Provide checked teaching materials and authoritative written instructions. Use approved recording arrangements that protect classmates’ privacy, and teach students to question discrepancies rather than trust machine-generated text automatically.

Use AI to develop understanding, not conceal its absence. Singapore’s Student Learning Space includes AI-supported learning and feedback, with teacher-set interaction limits for its Learning Assistant. In a 2025 high-school mathematics experiment, an AI interface without learning safeguards improved practice performance but harmed subsequent unaided performance; a safeguarded tutor largely mitigated that harm. I would favour hints and explanations, then check application to a new problem. Retain access aids while excluding assistance that supplies the answer being assessed, and allow teacher review of disputed automated feedback.

Protect necessary device access. Singapore’s secondary-school smartphone and smartwatch restrictions extend throughout school hours from January 2026, with smartphone exceptions possible where necessary. Agree approved access or an effective alternative for needed communication tools and digital checklists. Do not remove someone’s means of communication as though it were recreational screen use.

Make the whole school day usable

I find four kinds of space useful when considering what a student needs:

Physical space: A quiet corner or small “cave” for recovery, with voluntary access, appropriate supervision and a way to return and catch up. It must not become confinement, punishment or somewhere the student is routinely sent instead of receiving teaching.

Emotional space: Opportunities to connect through interests without constantly performing enthusiasm, conversation or agreement. Ask whether the student wants company, a shared activity or time alone.

Social space: Meaningful roles, such as photographing an event, testing a design or caring for equipment, with suitable support. Interest-based activities can connect students across classes or year groups. Being exceptionally useful must not become the price of belonging.

Exploration space: Manageable choices from childhood, with understandable limits and opportunities to try again. Let the student choose between suitable materials, clubs or task formats. I discuss supported choices more fully in Persuading Autistic People.

Support must also be usable. Agree a discreet signal or accessible message, a staff contact and a backup, and share only information needed to implement the arrangement. Do not require repeated public explanations at the moment a student is overwhelmed. Include writing, pictures, gestures and communication devices when seeking their views, with supported observation where needed.

Connect separate skills sessions to ordinary lessons and breaks. Singapore’s TRANSIT programme teaches self-management skills to identified Primary 1 students. For any such intervention, ask whether the skill transfers, who supports its use and what teaching the student misses. Repeatedly missing the same subject for support calls for a timetable review.

Where behaviour points or reward charts are used, examine what earns approval. Asking for clarification or a necessary break should not be treated as failure merely because it interrupts a smooth lesson. Quiet compliance does not establish understanding.

Offer relationships, not compulsory friendship

A buddy can help someone find a classroom without becoming a close friend. A classmate can be a worthwhile project partner without wanting contact outside school. Offer shared activities without permanently casting one student as the helper and another as the dependent. Friendship cannot be assigned. Ask whether solitude is chosen or the result of exclusion.

Bullying requires a separate response: adults should investigate, protect the student and provide a usable reporting route. A child should not have to purchase classmates’ protection through favours or usefulness. Teaching friendship skills is not a substitute for addressing mistreatment. My account of why reporting bullying was difficult describes barriers that made asking for help harder. In How I Spend My Time, I recall not yet recognising that I was being bullied.

When a lecturer left during a test

During a polytechnic test, a lecturer intentionally left the classroom. I suspected that the purpose was to give the class an opportunity to score more points and pull up their grades. Many of my classmates were struggling academically and needed the boost.

I regarded this as an unauthorised breach of academic conduct, not a legitimate way to help students learn. A higher mark obtained by relaxing proper test supervision would not establish that someone had understood more of the subject.

Let an interest open into wider learning

A strong interest can be an entry point rather than the limit of a child’s education. A child interested in buses can investigate engines through physics, routes through geography, fares through finance, and transport networks through questions about connections and scheduling.

The same subject can lead to regulation, workers’ needs, design, marketing and the customs of the people who use the service. Show a connection, invite a question, and help the learner find out more. The learner can then explain a discovery, compare alternatives or use the idea in a different example.

For instance, planning a bus route could involve a map, journey times, passenger needs and a limited budget. Different constraints produce different reasonable designs. The interest supplies motivation while the task develops understanding that can travel beyond buses.

Neither suppress the interest nor secretly direct the child towards a predetermined career. Make room for broader learning and for the interest to remain enjoyable. An effective starting point for education is not automatically a viable job: community expertise and employable contribution require separate consideration.

Judge progress beyond the report card

Review an ordinary week: lessons, transitions, breaks, homework and recovery afterwards. Consider the student’s account alongside work samples and observations. Good marks or completed worksheets do not settle whether the arrangement is sustainable or whose understanding they demonstrate.

The same applies to emotion-matching exercises. Correctly naming an expression does not establish that the learner understands its personal significance, can choose a response, or can anticipate the consequences of repeating a behaviour. Recognising Emotions Is Not Enough examines those missing connections.

Choose a specific difficulty, agree a change, identify who will implement it and set a review date. Check whether learning, initiative and participation improve without excessive exhaustion. Fewer support hours are not progress if access or safety deteriorates; urgent protection should not wait for a routine review.

The aim is neither permanent rescue nor unsupported struggle. It is a student who understands more, takes responsibility for what they can manage, and knows how to use appropriate help when they cannot.