Using structured teaching strategies in mainstream classrooms: Research to practice

Students on the autism spectrum can find the self-management and organisation required when participating in mainstream educational settings challenging. They may experience difficulty transitioning between tasks in the classroom, as well as staying on-task and working independently during activities with multiple steps. Structured teaching strategies, such as visual schedules and work systems, have previously been used in special education settings to support students on the spectrum. Recent research has shown how visual schedules and work systems can be adapted for use by teachers in mainstream classrooms and confirmed their effectiveness in helping students on the spectrum to stay on-task. Visual schedules inform students about a sequence of events and help make transitions more predictable, while work systems inform students on organising a task and state what to do, the steps to complete, how to tell they are finished, and what to do next. This chapter will describe the theoretical foundations for these structured teaching strategies and outline the research supporting their use. Additionally, this chapter will provide practical examples and suggestions for their use by teachers in mainstream education settings.